Betting preview: Russell Westbrook, Thunder aim for road win vs. Bulls

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 4-2 straight up and 5-1 against the spread over their last six road games.

Author:
OddsShark
Publish date:
Mar 5, 2015

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 4-2 straight up and 5-1 against the spread over their last six road games. The Thunder will try to keep their strong road play up this Thursday night in Chicago when they take on the Bulls.

Oklahoma City is a 4-point road favorite in Chicago according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. With Russell Westbrook leading the way and the supporting cast playing well, the Thunder will be tough for Chicago to beat even at home.

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Even without the injured Kevin Durant, the Thunder have looked the part of a legitimate contender in recent weeks. Oklahoma City entered Wednesday's overtime victory against the Sixers on an 8-2 SU and 9-1 ATS run in its last 10 games, with Westbrook then going off for 49 points against Philadelphia.

With Durant out, players like Serge Ibaka, Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters have also stepped up their games to pick up the slack on offense. On the season, though, Oklahoma City is just 14-19 SU and 13-19-1 ATS away from home.

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The absence of Derrick Rose has been obvious in Chicago's production on offense over its last five games. Since averaging 104.2 points per game over their previous six games, the Bulls have averaged only 90.4 points per game over their last five. The team is still 3-2 SU and ATS over that stretch thanks to its strong defense.

Against a team like Oklahoma City, Chicago will have to contain Westbrook and be at its absolute best on defense as it can't afford to get into a shootout with this offensive makeup.

Thursday night's total is set at 200.5 points on the NBA betting lines. The UNDER is 10-3 over Chicago's last 13 games while the OVER is is 9-3 over Oklahoma City's last 12 games.

Oklahoma City is a perfect 5-0 SU and 4-1 ATS in its last five games against the Chicago Bulls according to the OddsShark NBA Database. For things to be different on Thursday the Bulls will likely need Westbrook to have an off night. Unfortunately for Chicago, those off nights have been few and far between for the star guard of late.

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