Game 2 of opening night and we have the NBA champions, 3 peak seeking Golden State Warriors hosting OKC Thunder. Warriors will be looking to continue their dominance for yet another year and a win over their Western conference rivals would be a sweet way to start. Meanwhile, Westbrook-less Thunder are coming into this game huge underdogs and will be hoping that they surprise everyone by beating the Warriors.
Golden State Warriors
Golden State are coming into this match a little banged up but despite that they’re still highly favoured to win. Livingston is questionable, Cousins is out, Green will be on minutes restriction while Curry suffered an illness during the final preseason game but should be fine to play here. Despite Cousins being out, the Warriors still have their 4 other allstars and will be hoping to kick start yet another season with a win. Kevin Durant has dominated his former team many times since moving to GS and will hope to do so yet again. With Green on minutes restriction and Cousins out we can expect Looney, Bell and Damian Jones to get opportunities for GS here while Quinn Cook will take Livingston’s minutes if he doesn’t play.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City are coming into this game without their star player Russell Westbrook who is out with an injury meanwhile Andre Roberson is out and Steven Adams is questionable to play with lower back stiffness. The newly acquired Dennis Schroder will come in for Russell Westbrook to start at Point Guard as he will hope to make a big impression in his OKC debut. During the off-season OKC added depth and got rid of Carmelo Anthony which many people see as a huge improvement and they will hope to make a run in the West. OKC tipped as huge underdogs but their tough play has caused Golden State problems last year and they’ll hope to do so again.
Key Facts
Since Kevin Durant joined Golden State, they are 6-2 against the Thunder (5-2 in games KD played)
These teams went 2-2 against each other last season
On average there were 209.8 ppg scored in this match up last season. OKC averaged 105 while GS averaged 104.8.
Despite it being so close on average, 3 of the 4 match ups were blowouts last season with OKC winning by 17 and 20 while GS won by 32 and 4.
Kevin Durant averages 32.7 ppg against his former team in 7 meetings. 35 ppg At Oracle against OKC whole the other star Curry only averages 22.8 against OKC when he plays alongside KD which shows that KD is pretty much always the main guy in these matchups.
Golden State are 11-2 against the Thunder in their previous 13 meetings at Oracle
Warriors are 180-27 at the Oracle under Steve Kerr including the playoffs.
OKC were just 1 game above .500 with a 21-20 record on the road last season
Paul George averaged 21 ppg against GS last season
Last season Westbrook missed 2 games, in those games Paul George put up 29 and 33 points (31 ppg)
Betting Tips and Predictions
This is a tricky game to bet on. OKC got missing pieces but Golden State themselves aren’t exactly 100% either and a championship hangover could make them play a little below their level which is why -12.5 is a bit too high of a handicap to bet on. However a bet that we’re looking at is OKC under points (anything around 102-105 is good enough). Obviously OKC lose explosiveness with Westbrook out and if the Warriors defense shows up they can totally clamp OKC up to even less than 90 pts, PG alone can’t do it, we’ve seen GS suffocate stars before on their own. Schroder is a very talented PG but he’s no Westbrook and that will be the reason why OKC will struggle to score. Any KD point total up until 29.5 is worth betting on the over too, he Always torches OKC and should do so again.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Golden State Warriors Win – 1.09 (Regular Time – 1.11)
Oklahoma City Thunder Win – 8.98 (Regular Time – 9.98)
Overtime – 15.00
Match Start – 17th October 2018 – 3:30am UK Time
