The Oklahoma City Thunder return home to host the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. This will be the season’s second matchup between the two squads. OKC won the first way back on Nov. 29.
The Thunder (64-13) tasted defeat for the first time in a while. They suffered a rare double-digit loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday to snap an 11-game win streak. Jalen Williams had an efficient 33 points but that wasn’t enough.
Meanwhile, the Lakers (47-30) enjoyed a much-needed blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Luka Doncic led the way with 35 points. Austin Reaves also had a monster outing with 30 points.
For live updates and highlights from the Thunder’s game against the Lakers, regularly check back to this post:
Thunder: Jaylin Williams (ankle sprain) is out. Ousmane Dieng (calf strain) is out. Ajay Mitchell (toe sprain) is out. Nikola Topic (torn ACL) is out. Alex Ducas (quad strain) is out.
Lakers: LeBron James (groin strain) is probable. Maxi Kleber (foot fracture) is out
This isn’t quite the Lakers’ final exams, but it’s still one heck of a test.
They begin the final week of their regular season Sunday in Oklahoma City, facing the NBA’s best team, owners of the third-best offense and, by far, the league’s best defense
It’s a great test. They’re obviously a really good team with probably the front-runner for MVP right now,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “So, a team that plays hard every possession and guards at a very high level. And then on the other end, they play with space. Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] does what he does, but it’s a good test for us to match up with the No. 1 team in the West and see where we’re at right now and continue to try to prove that we’re a good team too.”
A scheduling quirk has the Lakers playing a pair of games on the road against the Thunder to kick off the final seven days of the regular season. It comes at a time when the Lakers are in a good position — third in the conference — but with little cushion.
Denver, Golden State, Memphis, Minnesota and the Clippers are within two games, and while the Lakers have tiebreak advantages over most, a tumble into the play-in round isn’t out of the question.
A winning week, 3-2, would guarantee the Lakers at least fifth place, while four wins would lock up home-court advantage for at least the first round. But the first win, one in Oklahoma City, is going to be toughest.
“’I’m glad that their team and their program, people are realizing how good that organization is and what they’ve built,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said Friday. “And I watch them a lot. They’re really hard to score on. They have a number of high-level defenders.”
The Thunder’s defense is one of the few in the NBA with the personnel to match up with the Lakers’ stars, who are showing signs of finding rhythm with one another.
Luka Doncic bounced back from a rough game in a loss to the Warriors and a miserable first quarter Friday to get back in rhythm in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
LeBron James has now played eight games since missing two weeks because of a groin injury and his energy, efficiency and three-point stroke have been moving in the right direction.
Reaves is one of the hottest shooters in the league, having made 15 threes in his last two games, with James hyping him up in the locker room postgame Friday.
“LeBron throws me good passes, Luka throws me good passes and I just shoot it with confidence,” Reaves said. “That’s really it.
The Lakers are catching the Thunder after a loss to the Rockets. It’s also the Thunder’s first chance to see Doncic on the Lakers after he and his previous team (Dallas, Wednesday’s opponent) knocked them out of last year’s playoffs.
“It was a very physical series. We were all very tired after that series, but it was fun. Definitely fun,” Doncic said. “OKC’s a tough matchup. But those matchups are special. And like I said before, it’s gonna be a big challenge for us. But also it’s the games that, it’s fun to play.
It’s Sunday, April 6, and the Sacramento Kings (37-40) and Cleveland Cavaliers (62-15) are all set to square off from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
The Kings are currently 18-21 on the road with a point differential of 0, while the Cavaliers have a 9-1 record in their last ten games at home. Sacramento won the only meeting of the season at home versus Cleveland, 123-119 on March 19.
Cleveland won three straight games and six of the past seven, while Sacramento is coming off a win, but are 2-7 since beating the Cavaliers.
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That gives the Kings an implied team point total of 117.42, and the Cavaliers 122.63.
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The Defensive Player of the Year race is heavily favored toward Draymond Green, so Evan Mobley will have to make a strong impression to close the regular season. Mobley is coming off a three-block and one-steal performance versus San Antonio and recorded two or more blocks in six of the past seven games. In most games, this prop is juiced heavily or 3.5, but because he had one total block and steal, the value on this is an even -115 either way. I have to lean the Over for Mobley.”
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today’s Kings & Cavaliers game:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Cleveland Cavaliers on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Sacramento Kings at +10.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the under on the Game Total of 237.
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The Cavaliers have won 8 of their last 10 games against teams with losing records
4 of the Kings’ last 5 matchups with the Cavaliers have gone over the Total
The Cavaliers are 1-4 against the spread in their last 5 games
The Cavaliers have won 13 of their last 16 games at home
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NBA Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
They all realize what’s at stake and that having a healthy Kawhi Leonard gives the Clippers their best chance to win now when it matters so much in the jumbled Western Conference.
So on Saturday when Leonard played in back-to-back games for the first time in more than a year, it was clear how significant this game against the Dallas Mavericks was to the Clippers.
When Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said “we’re fighting for our lives” and that “right now we need all hands on deck,” it was clear that they were doing all in their power to stay alive for the sixth seed in the West, the automatic playoff spot, and avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament.
The Clippers are still in the hunt for a top-six spot because their big three of Leonard, James Harden and Ivica Zubac were the forces during their 135-104 win over the Mavericks at the Intuit Dome.
For Leonard to reach this point, the medical staff had to approve him playing in back-to-back games. He had 29 points and six rebounds in 25 minutes.
Everything has been going well,” he said. “So we had discussions and we all thought it was a good time to play.
“Like I said, it was just about listening to them, about their scenarios, how they calculate things. And then just me listening and not trying to be a superhero and just trying to stay healthy, really. That’s my No. 1 goal, like I always said, for this year is coming out of this season healthy.”
Harden had a double-double with 29 points and 14 assists as the Clippers won their fourth straight game.
Zubac had his career-high 11th consecutive double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, which gave him 4,238 boards as a Clipper and pushed him past Bob McAdoo for sole possession of fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list. Zubac was 11 for 11 from the field while making all three of his free throws.
Those three guys were really good tonight,” Lue said. “Just having a professional win to come out the second night of a back-to-back and play the way we did was pretty impressive.”
