Durant of Oklahoma City.(credit:
Wikipedia)
Kevin Durant's dominance and Oklahoma City's winning ways make their longshot odds worth betting for post-season success.
The Oklahoma City Thunder look like they could be a 4 seed during the NBA playoffs this year in the Western Conference. They are still behind the Utah Jazz for that position, however the lead the Jazz hold is slight and Oklahoma are gaining ground.
The Los Angeles Lakers are not as scary as their odds of -250 (2/5) to win the Western Conference suggest and there could be a second round upset brewing here as Oklahoma City have the players that could pull it off.
Kevin Durant, who is an MVP candidate, leads the way in OKC with his near 30 points per game and his 7.6 boards per game. Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green are both very strong in support which is of vital importance as it takes away the double teaming options and, at the time of writing, Oklahoma City have a 5 game winning streak going.
The Thunder have only lost 3 games since the start of Febuary and their victories include wins over Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, and Utah. When you look at the 24 losses Oklahoma have suffered on the year 14 of them came before Christmas as they struggled in the early going of the NBA season. However, this team has really found it's stride and you would be smart to throw out their overall record and instead treat this team as though they were a threat in the post-season instead of just a normal 4 seed, the place that they are anticipated to finish in.
With Players Only the Thunder still have really long odds at +2000 (20/1) to win the Western Conference title. Here are the other teams and their odds at this point:
Oklahoma City Thunder +2000
San Antonio Spurs +1800
Utah Jazz +800
Dallas Mavericks +400
Denver Nuggets +350
Los Angeles Lakers -250
Oklahoma are better than the Jazz, they are better than the Spurs, and they are at least as good as the Nuggets. While Dallas and Los Angeles are threats to Oklahoma, at +2000, the relative odds really make the Thunder look like a fanastic value pick. Look for the odds on the Thunder to shorten to +1200 before the playoffs start, especially if the Lakers keep playing weak and that makes now the time to bet this team.
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