The San Antonio Spurs had one of the best regular seasons in NBA history. They finished with a team-record 67 wins and tied the league record with a 40-1 home mark. But that means squat in the playoffs and the Spurs now find themselves in an elimination Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals on Thursday night in Oklahoma City. The Spurs did open as slight favorites on NBA odds.
How To Bet San Antonio at Oklahoma City NBA Playoffs Odds Game 6 & TV Info
When: Thursday, May 12, 8:30 PM ET
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City
TV: ESPN
NBA Odds: Spurs -2.5 (195.5)
Spurs at Thunder Historic Betting Trends
If San Antonio loses this game, it’s likely the final game in the Hall of Fame careers of Tim Duncan, maybe the best power forward in NBA history, and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili. Both are expected to retire after the season. Duncan has been invisible this series and is averaging just 4.4 points in the playoffs. He looks done. Bad news for the Spurs: when facing a road elimination game under coach Gregg Popovich, they are 2-10. The Spurs have rallied from a 3-2 deficit only once in their playoff history, winning the final two games in 2008 to defeat the then-New Orleans Hornets.
Oklahoma City won for a second time in this series in San Antonio on Tuesday, 95-91. The ending was controversial like OKC’s Game 2 win there was. With the Thunder up one point and with possession in the final seconds, Dion Waiters threw an inbound pass to Russell Westbrook moving toward the near corner. Westbrook caught the ball and began dribbling away from defenders. Kawhi Leonard, who was guarding Westbrook, then basically grabbed Westbrook around the waist to get a foul called and put Westbrook on the line with about 8 seconds left. But the refs didn’t call the foul. Instead, Westbrook kept playing until he heard a whistle, and drew a foul at the rim on LaMarcus Aldridge. Westbrook scored, made the free throw and gave his team a four-point lead, which basically ended the game.
“He fouled him,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich afterward. “It was pretty obvious he fouled him, but every call doesn’t get called. That’s the way the game is.”
San Antonio had been 38-0 at home this season when leading after three quarters. The Thunder held the Spurs to 6 of 21 shooting from the field in Tuesday’s fourth quarter. This performance came two days after they held the Spurs to 16 fourth-quarter points in the Game 4 victory. The Spurs led 88-82 with four minutes to go Tuesday, then scored just three points on their final eight possessions.
Westbrook was great in Game 5 with 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Kevin Durant added 23 points. The Spurs trio of Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Danny Green each scored at least 20 points Tuesday, marking the first time since 1996 a threesome accomplished the feat without the involvement of at least one player named Duncan, Ginobili or Parker. But Aldridge made only one shot (1-of-11) outside the paint in Game 5 and was 6-for-21 overall. Oklahoma City also outrebounded the Spurs by 18, a number that registers as the team’s third-worst rebound differential in a playoff game in the Popovich era.
Expert Betting Prediction
When Oklahoma City leads 3-2 in a best-of-seven series, it has won nine of 10 series all-time. The Thunder finish it off on Thursday and advance for an epic showdown against Golden State, a team the Thunder nearly beat three times this season but ended up losing all three. The Spurs are just 3-12 ATS in their past 15 at OKC.
