NBA Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder at Atlanta Hawks

Added on Mar 04, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Non-conference basketball betting action tonight as the Oklahoma City Thunder head to the Phillips Arena to take on the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta is coming off a very solid victory over the Chicago Bulls, while the Thunder beat Indiana last time out to break a three game losing streak (albeit against the cream of the NBA crop–the Spurs, Lakers and Magic).

Oklahoma City Thunder at Atlanta Hawks
March 4, 2011 4:35 PM Pacific

Some concern about Kevin Durant’s ankle heading into this game–he left the game against the Pacers with a sprained ankle and returned to the sidelines wearing a walking boot. He sat out of practice on Thursday and Thunder coach Scott Brooks originally characterized Durant as ‘doubtful’ for this game. Earlier today, however, Durant was upgraded to ‘probable’ for tonight. OKC will be without reserve point guard Nate Robinson as well as recently acquired Kendrick Perkins–both are expected to miss several weeks. Atlanta will play without Josh Smith.

In an earlier post today we spoke of the ‘letdown spot’ facing the Orlando Magic coming off that monumental victory over Miami last night and although they won’t be doing it on back-to-back days the Hawks are facing a similar dynamic. Atlanta erased a 17 point halftime deficit to the Chicago Bulls with a 50-30 second half edge and pulled out a 3 point win over the #3 team in the Eastern Conference. That’s a dangerous situation for a team that’s only 10-17 ATS at home.

The Thunder are a breakeven pointspread team in most situations though they are 10-8 ATS as an underdog this year. They’ve dominated the Hawks in head to head play dating back to their time in Seattle as the Supersonics. Since 1996 the Thunder/Sonics are 18-9 SU/17-8 ATS against Atlanta including a record of 10-3 SU/11-1 ATS at the Phillips Arena (and before that The Omni). Since 2008 OKC is a perfect 4-0 ATS with a 2-0 ATS record in Atlanta. In a made to order letdown spot for a Hawks team that receives tepid at best home court support we’ll hope Durant’s ankle holds out and look for the Thunder to pull off the outright win as a short priced road underdog.

Bet Oklahoma City Thunder +3′ over Atlanta Hawks