Durant, Thunder Face Surly Nuggets Tonight After Heartbreaking Loss

Kevin Durant has been getting the “superstar calls” lately, but with an overtime win on the line against the Utah Jazz in the season’s highest scoring game, the refs ignored a blatant foul on the Thunder star. With their four-game winning streak snapped due to a set of blind referees, Oklahoma City has every reason to charge towards the playoffs with a defiant amount of resolve. The Thunder can continue to climb up the insanely tight Western Conference standings by playing catch-up against the Denver Nuggets, whom they host tonight.

Normally I would be all over this game for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who I think have great matchups considering their youth and exuberance. But it’s hard for me to talk myself in to thinking that the Thunder can be at their best after playing an overtime thriller in Utah last night where they had to drop 139-points. The Thunder are 4-1 ATS in their past 5 games, but I’m unsure if they can get over the stiff schedule of playing Utah and Denver in back-to-back efforts in two different locations.

The Thunder have been a polished NBA betting team for quite some time and against the Denver Nuggets they’re a solid 4-1 ATS in their past 5 meetings despite going just 1-4 SU during that stretch. Still, as slim home favorites tonight, they’re going to have to win the game to cover the spread. That’s not good.

Denver Nuggets (50-27) vs. Oklahoma Cit thunder (48-29)

Wednesday, April 7th — Ford Center — 8:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: OKC -1.5 (212)

The Nuggets are stuck without Chris Anderson and Kenyon Martin, meaning their interior defense and scoring doesn’t have the depth or swagger that we’re accustomed to seeing from them. K-Mart is still out indefinitely due to a knee injury while Chris Anderson could potentially play in spite of a sprained ankle.

Denver is also struggling to find bench leadership as George Karl continues his cancer treatment away from the team. Interim head coach, Adrian Dantley, is now suffering from kidney stones. Nobody is safe on the Nuggets, which means that they could lose home court advantage for the playoffs, especially if they lose to the Thunder tonight. You’d think they’d be a no-brainer NBA bet tonight considering they’re playing on three days of rest. The last time they played was against the Clippers on Saturday.

What I can’t get over is my strict allegiance to numbers. The Nuggets are 1-9-1 ATS in the past 11 games, and 0-4-1 ATS in their past 5 games on the road. Without a fully healthy Chris Anderson to step in for the injured K-Mart, I don’t know if they can slow down the sharp scoring trio of Durant-Westbrook-Green.

I also think Kevin Durant is pissed. I’ve never really seen him blow up at refs, but last night he was livid and tonight he’ll take out some vengeance against Denver. You’d think that OKC would be tired after the game last night, but this is a very, very young team. They won’t be 139-point worthy tonight, but OKC is beating the NBA betting spread and the Denver Nuggets tonight.

Furious Free Pick: Oklahoma City -1.5 (OVER)

Get in on the action now – SIGN UP HERE