Although the Oklahoma City Thunder came into the contest as underdogs, they're on track to steal the victory from the Los Angeles Clippers. Oklahoma City has emerged as the frontrunner after one quarter and is ahead of Los Angeles 35-26.
The Thunder have been relying on center Moses Brown, who has eight points and two assists in addition to nine rebounds and two blocks, and power forward Aleksej Pokusevski, who has 13 points along with two boards. The Clippers haven't had any offensive standouts so far with all players held to seven points or fewer.
This is the first time Los Angeles has been down going into the second quarter in the past six games.
Los Angeles @ Oklahoma City
Current Records: Los Angeles 47-24; Oklahoma City 21-50
The Oklahoma City Thunder haven't won a game against the Los Angeles Clippers since Dec. 22 of 2019, but they'll be looking to end the drought on Sunday. Oklahoma City will play host again and welcome Los Angeles to Chesapeake Energy Arena, where tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. Allowing an average of 115.69 points per game, the Thunder have been asleep on the defensive side of the ball and will need to wake up before the contest.
The matchup between OKC and the Utah Jazz this past Friday was not particularly close, with OKC falling 109-93. OKC was down 92-66 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. Power forward Aleksej Pokusevski had a pretty forgettable game, finishing with only six points on 3-for-10 shooting and turning the ball over four times in his 31 minutes on the court.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles came up short against the Houston Rockets this past Friday, falling 122-115. The losing side was boosted by center Serge Ibaka, who had 15 points along with seven rebounds.
Oklahoma City is expected to lose this next one by 7.5. Those sticking with them against the spread have guts, to put it politely, as the squad has let down bettors in their past five games.
Both teams will surely be fighting tooth and nail to get back into the win column after losses last week. Check back to see which squad is able to work their way into the win column.
The Clippers are a big 7.5-point favorite against the Thunder, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Clippers as an 8.5-point favorite.
Over/Under: -111
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Oklahoma City have won 11 out of their last 21 games against Los Angeles.
