Thunder vs. Blazers Game 2 Betting Preview: Can OKC Steal One In Portland?

Game 2 Betting Odds: Oklahoma City Thunder at Portland Trail Blazers

• Spread: Blazers -2
• Over/Under: 221.5
• Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
• TV Channel: TNT
• Series Score: Blazers Lead 1-0

>> All odds as of Monday night. Download The Action Network App to get real-time odds and live win probabilities on your bets.

Seeds of a close series were further sowed in Game 1, hence another close spread in Game 2. So where's the value? Our analysts discuss.

Betting Trends to Know

The Thunder shot their way out of Game 1 with a 5-of-33 (15.2%) performance from behind the arc — the lowest 3-point field goal percentage in NBA playoff game history (minimum 30 attempts). The worst they had shot from 3-point range heading into Game 1 was 21.2%.

So, what are the chances OKC bounces back?

Since 2005, teams are 82-65-6 (55.8%) against the spread in the playoffs the game after shooting worse than than 20% from 3.

The Thunder shot 39.8% from the field in their loss to Portland. They're averaging 45.7% from the field in their past nine games after shooting worse than 40%, while the past four opponents that the Trail Blazers have limited to worse than 40% from the field since New Year's shot an average of 48.2% from the field in their next game. — Evan Abrams

Since 2005, it's been profitable to bet the under in high-total games (200 or more points). The higher the total, the more profitable it's been to wager on the under.— John Ewing

Moore: Who I'm Backing

The Thunder held the Blazers to 36% shooting after the first quarter, won the second and fourth quarters, lost the third by just a point and outscored Portland 74-65 after the first quarter.

Oklahoma City just fell apart to start the game and spent the rest of it trying to get back over the hump, coming very close late in the game. Portland got a huge first quarter from Enes Kanter, but he had just 12 points and was a net zero in plus-minus after the first quarter.

OKC will be more disciplined in attacking Kanter after Game 1. Terry Stotts lauded Kanter’s defense. But, I mean, he's still Enes Kanter:

It took an apocalyptic shooting performance (even for a bad-shooting team), Paul George;s shoulder injury (which he says has improved) and OKC being caught flat-footed to start the game for the Blazers to win by five.

My confidence isn't supreme here, but I will once again ride into the shark-infested playoff waters of trusting the Thunder to simply play to their capacity.— Matt Moore

Barkley: Buy a Discounted Thunder 

It's almost like these are two really even teams statistically that are going to play a very close series, isn't it?

Game 1 didn't do anything to dissuade me from that opinion. I projected this series (along with Houston-Utah) to go about six games (projection was a little over six, but you don’t play 0.2 games).

The spread doesn't do much for me here. It might be a tiny bit short for Portland — these are two very even teams before factoring in home court (and Portland’s home-court is good) — but we're talking about MAYBE a point; a little less in reality.

What I will say is that series-pricing wise, I would buy the Thunder now.

I was on the Blazers at plus-money to start the series and my opinion was that, which team kept pivoting to plus-money throughout, that was the team I was interested in. You're getting a pretty hefty discount on the Thunder (55 cents-ish) despite the fact that all they did was lose a road game in which they shot atrociously. Not bad at all. Even if they lose Game 2, you no longer have the most valuable price, but you also have a team that STILL would have not lost a road game.

If you have no position in the series (or a Blazers one that I advocated), let’s start playing the other side and keep building each one up as we go to Game 7. — Ken Barkley

Editor’s note: The opinions on this game are from the individual writers and are based on their research, analysis and perspective. They are independent of, and may not always match with, the algorithm-driven Best Bets from Sports Insights.