NBA Playoff Betting – After Throwing One Away, Thunder Seek Redemption Against Clippers

The Oklahoma City Thunder had an opportunity to really take command in their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series against the Los Angeles Clippers, but they fumbled it away. Up 22 points at one time, they instead went into a collapse that provided the Clippers with their biggest comeback of the season. Now this series is knotted up at two games apiece, and Game 5 takes place on Tuesday night, with NBA playoff betting action scheduled to tip off at 9:35 PM ET at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

It is hard to say exactly what happened to OKC on Sunday, but there is simply no excuse for losing a game when you’re up by 22 points in the first quarter. And people have to give all the credit in the world to the Clippers for coming back. Of course, they got a couple of very special efforts from the point guard position.

In the NBA playoff betting odds that have been placed on this game by the people at Get That Bet, Oklahoma City is the favorite:

NBA playoff betting odds courtesy Get That Bet USA Online and Mobile Sportsbook

Oklahoma City Thunder -5
Los Angeles Clippers +5

Over 213.5 points -110

Under 213.5 points -110

One of the people who really came through for the Clippers in Game 4 was Darren Collison, who played right alongside Russell Westbrook at UCLA, and put himself into the spotlight with a brilliant fourth-quarter performance. Collison had 18 points overall off the bench, but a dozen of those points came in the final stanza, and eight of them were in the last three minutes, as he seemed to be an unstoppable force. At the same time, Westbrook was trying to outdo him, and in the process probably tried to do too much by himself down the stretch. Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 67 points, but together they were only two out of 11 from the three-point arc. They also took 46 out of the 75 total shots for the Thunder, and NBA playoff bettors know that can’t be the ideal for what coach Scott Brooks is looking for in his offense. Durant did not handle the ball well, turning it over eight times.

The bench did not do well for Oklahoma City. To illustrate this, Kendrick Perkins, the starting center, and a +22 plus/minus rating, but Reggie Jackson, the backup point guard, was at -22. Some of this had to do with the fact that the Clippers put some very strong people into the game on the second unit, most notably Jamal Crawford and Collison, who combined for 36 points. Certainly Get That Bet customers noticed that the Clippers were not accurate at all from three-point territory, hitting three out of 21 shots. Matt Barnes was ice cold, missing all six of his attempts, and Paul, who opened the series with an eight of nine performance from the arc to help engineer the Game 1 victory, missed all four of his three-point tries.

However, Paul came through big on the defensive end, taking on the responsibility of hounding Durant in the fourth quarter, during which time the current NBA MVP, who was about seven inches taller, had numerous problems with Paul’s quickness and the double-teams that the Clippers were employing. Also, the Clippers had a huge edge in points in the paint (52-32). DeAndre Jordan had 14 rebounds in the game, but was also yanked with about nine minutes left, after he had missed six of his seven free throws and compiled a -22 rating (the difference between points for and points against while a player is on the floor).

There are some significant adjustments Oklahoma City (now -175 to win the series at Get That Bet) has to make in this game. They allowed 64% shooting as the Clippers scored 38 points in the fourth quarter, which is unacceptable. And Westbrook simply has to play under better control; he made some great individual plays down the stretch, but he also could have helped distribute the ball more evenly. Durant scored 40 points in Game 4, but he would go several possessions at a time without touching the ball.

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