Thunder – Raptors

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Toronto Raptors as a 3,5 point favorite on Wednesday night, as NBA action continues in the third day of Christmas.

The OKC Thunder (19-15, 13-4 home) had a difficult start after making some big moves in the Summer, but lately they seem to have found the winning formula and are 14-3 in their last 17 games. That includes a 5 game winning streak in which OKC often played like the title contenders they were supposed to be at the start of the season. Last time out, the Thunder beat the Rockets at home on Christmas day.

Toronto (23-9, 11-8 away) was arguably the most in form team in the NBA with 12 wins in 13 games until Tuesday night, when they lost to the lowly Mavericks in Dallas. Last night Toronto was lit up by Dirk Nowitzki and JJ Barea, who are 73 years old combined, so that is definitely not a good sign for the Raptors coming into this clash.

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Team news: OKC has reported a clean bill of health, while the Raptors only miss Nogueira, who is a long term absentee.

The Raptors have been in fantastic form recently and it would be wrong to judge them based on last night`s performance in Dallas. They were awful, but that only means they should be better this time around, as players like DeRozan or Lowry are unlikely to have two horrible nights in a row.

However, the Raptors are back to back on the road. DeRozan and Lowry both played 35 minutes last night, so that will be a problem for Toronto, particularly against a resurgent OKC team which defends extremely well and is also a better side overall.

The Thunder themselves have played very good basketball lately and they are just as in form as Toronto. They are at home and face a Raptors team which is back to back on the road. The Thunder should be able to win this game and I`m surprised that they are only 3.5 point favorites. When I first saw the odds, I presumed OKC has some injury problems, but that is not the case.

Backing the Thunder to cover the point spread is very tempting, but they do tend to get involved in close games pretty often, and to a lesser extent so does Toronto. Given the fact that the odds for a straight OKC win are very competitive, I will choose that instead of the handicap.

My tip is OKC Thunder to win straight up. It may be hard or it may be easy, but I reckon they have all the tools to claim victory here. Prediction: OKC Thunder – Toronto Raptors 107 – 100.

Pick: Thunder
Odds: 1.64 @ 1xBet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.12
Event date: 28 December