…with apologies to Oklahoma native Garth Brooks, of course.  NBA betting fun at your local sportsbooks tonight involves the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Washington Generals of the West Coast, aka the Los Angeles Clippers.  The Thunder have become a very good team, led by scoring machine Kevin Durant and are currently in 6th place in the NBA West just 1 game behind 5th place Phoenix.  The Clippers have a firm grasp on 10th place, a mere 10 1/2 games behind Portland for the 8th and final playoff spot in the conference.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER VS. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

The Thunder have been on a tear since late January winning 12 of 15 SU (8-7 ATS).  The Clippers on the other hand have lost 13 of their L18 games, failing to cover in 11 of those.  Since they’ve shown little interest in playing defense, interim coach Kim Hughes has tried to make the Clippers play up tempo.  It hasn’t worked particularly well, with the team scoring 100+ p0ints in only 4 of their L18 games.  The Clippers are ranked 26 of 30 teams in points scored per game, and that won’t get it done against the Thunder.

One of the reasons OKC has been an attractive betting proposition this season is that they’ve got something of a chip on their shoulder and actually take losses personally.  This game sets up particularly well as the Clippers beat OKC at home back in November, and the Thunder got routed at Denver last night.  Oklahoma City is 19-11 ATS in revenge situations this year and a perfect 7-0 ATS after a loss by 10+ points.  Clippers are 2-5 ATS as a home dog of 3′ to 6 points this year and should get waxed by a focused Thunder squad.

PLAY OKLAHOMA CITY -4′ OVER LA CLIPPERS