The Oklahoma City Thunder are playing for their season late Tuesday night as they are down 3-1 in their Western Conference first-round series with the Portland Trail Blazers. Damian Lillard & Co. are home favorites on the NBA Betting Lines to close it out.
Thunder vs Blazers 2019 NBA Playoffs Odds & Game 5 Analysis
An exciting Game 4 win on the road, but still work to be done. #RipCity | #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/SOR2XejM32
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) 23 de abril de 2019
- When: Tuesday, 10:30 PM ET
- Where: Moda Center
- TV: TNT
- Live Stream: NBA League Pass
- Radio: Blazers Broadcasting
- 2019 NBA Playoffs Odds: Portland Trail Blazers -4 (Total 219)
Why Bet on Oklahoma City?
As good as Oklahoma City looked in winning Game 3, the Thunder looked that bad in dropping Sunday’s Game 4, 111-98. Russell Westbrook hit just 5-of-21 shots, 2-of-7 3-pointers and 2-of-4 free throws for 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists on Sunday’s loss. He was 0-for-7 in the second half, the worst half of his playoff career.All told, Westbrook is averaging 21 points, eight rebounds and almost 10 assists per game against Portland but is doing so with terrible efficiency, connecting on just 36 percent of his shots and 30 percent of his threes.
Westbrook missed at least 15 shots for the 29th time in his playoff career, the most in the league since 2009-10 (his first playoff appearance) by eight games. Westbrook relied heavily on his jump shot, taking only three shots in the paint in Game 4 and missing all three. It was only the second time in Westbrook’s playoff career he went scoreless in the paint.
Paul George hit 8-of-21 shots, four 3-pointers and 12-of-14 free throws for 32 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block in Sunday’s loss. George picked up three quick fouls and spent a lot of the first half on the bench, but still got loose for a big game.
George is balancing his shooting woes some by aggressively going to the basket, attempting more than 10 free throws a game — almost twice as many as Westbrook. This postseason is on pace to be the third straight for the Thunder (all since the departure of Kevin Durant) in which Westbrook shoots worse than 40 percent.
During the 2018-19 regular season, Oklahoma City posted the best record in the NBA against the other seven Western Conference Playoff teams by going 15-11 in those games. The Thunder recorded the fourth-best defensive rating in the league (106.4) and scored the most second-chance points (15.5), the second-most points off opponent turnovers (19.2), the fifth-most fast break points (18.2) and the sixth-most points in the paint (51.8).
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 113.93
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.20
- Three-Point Percentage: 34.63
- Free Throw Percentage: 71.67
- Total Rebounds: 47.91
Defense
- Total Score: 110.99
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.89
- Three-Point Percentage: 35.81
- Free Throw Percentage: 76.38
- Total Rebounds: 45.65
Why Bet on Portland?
If they put the Thunder away, they’ll get the winner of the Nuggets-Spurs series. The Blazers have resoundingly bounced back after an embarrassing sweep last postseason, which highlighted 10 straight playoff losses. After Jusuf Nurkic was injured, the Thunder were the popular pick in the series, but the Blazers were undeterred.C.J. McCollum hit 10-of-20 shots and five 3-pointers for 27 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal, and two blocks to lead the Blazers to the Game 4 win. Damian Lillard hit just 7-of-19 shots, but also hit 4-of-8 3-pointers and 6-of-6 free throws for 24 points, three rebounds, eight assists and a steal Sunday. Lillard has been relentless and had a big 15-point third quarter tonight to help the Blazers seal the deal.
The Blazers built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, riding another monster post-halftime surge from Lillard, who rebounded from an 0-for-6 start by scoring those 15 points and making all three of his three-point attempts in the third quarter.
Al-Farouq Aminu hit 7-of-16 shots and four 3-pointers for 19 points, nine rebounds, a steal, and a block. Aminu was fairly quiet in Games 1 & 2 but broke out in Game 4. Moe Harkless also did some damage, racking up 15 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and three blocks in the win.
Portland has held Oklahoma City under 100 points in each of their three wins. Portland went 22 of 23 from the free throw line in Game 4. Despite early struggles at the rim, the Blazers outscored the Thunder in the paint 36-22. Portland had 18 second chances points on eight offensive rebounds. The Blazers totaled 10 steals, eight blocks, and 20 fast break points.
Portland entered the 2019 playoffs with home court advantage in the First Round for the second year in a row and the 14th time in franchise history. Portland went 6-7 in the previous 13 series. The Trail Blazers are 82-42 (.661) all-time at home in the Playoffs (42-27 at home in the First Round). The Trail Blazers have won 10 straight home games between the regular season and the playoffs. Portland had a record of 32-9 at home this season and was one of two teams to have two separate home winning streaks of at least eight games this season (Denver).
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 114.40
- Field Goal Percentage: 46.60
- Three-Point Percentage: 36.12
- Free Throw Percentage: 81.38
- Total Rebounds: 47.87
Defense
- Total Score: 110.10
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.47
- Three-Point Percentage: 35.66
- Free Throw Percentage: 77.02
- Total Rebounds: 42.88
Thunder vs Blazers 2019 NBA Playoffs Betting Trends
- Under is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Portland
- Favorite is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings
- Home team is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings
- Portland is 10-6 straight up against Oklahoma City over the last 3 seasons
- 10 of 15 games in this series have gone Under the Total over the last 3 seasons
