Road to the NBA Finals: NBA Playoff Predictions, Picks for Spurs vs. Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 2

The San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference Finals matchup already has the makings of an instant classic.

Game 1 went to double overtime with the Spurs pulling out an upset win behind 41 points and 24 rebounds from superstar big man Victor Wembanyama. He outdueled two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (7-for-23 in Game 1), and is looking to stake his claim for the best player in the world title.

Now, the Spurs are underdogs in Game 2 on Wednesday night, with oddsmakers expecting the defending champion Thunder to even the series. There are a ton of ways to bet on this matchup, but in the Road to the NBA Finals challenge, there’s only one bet to make.

I’ve challenged myself to bet on every game of the NBA Playoffs this year, but only making one wager for each matchup. The rules for the challenge are quite simple:

Bet on every game through the play-in tournament and playoffs
Bet can be a spread, total, moneyline, player prop or game prop
ENJOY POSTSEASON BASKETBALL!

In Game 1, I took the Spurs to cover the spread as 6.5-point underdogs, and they ended up winning outright.

I’m looking to keep the winning going, this time with a total for Game 2.

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder UNDER 215.5 (-110)

Every day, I write an NBA Best Bets column – Peter’s Points – for Sports Illustrated, and this play on the total was one of two picks that I made for Game 2:

These teams were No. 1 and No. 3 in defensive rating in the regular season, and they’re currently No. 1 (San Antonio) and No. 6 (OKC) in defensive rating during the playoffs.

Game 1 of this series was tied at 101 at the end of regulation, and it needed two overtimes to go well over this total. If we don’t see overtime in Game 2, the UNDER is a terrific bet, as these teams have combined to allow just over 210 points per game in the playoffs.

Both of these teams shot under 43 percent from the field in Game 1, and Spurs turned the ball over a whopping 21 times, really limiting their ceiling on offense despite Wemby dropping 41 points.

Mitch Johnson had the Spurs doubling SGA quite a bit, and San Antonio seemed comfortable leaving OKC’s lesser offensive players open from beyond the arc. That certainly limited the Thunder’s explosiveness on that end, and poor showings from Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell led to OKC scoring just 115 points in the double-overtime loss.

During the regular season, the Thunder were the No. 1 defense and allowed the second-fewest points per game in the NBA. If they want to get back in this series, they’re going to need to rely on their defense to lead the way.

After these squads were set to come up well short of this total in Game 1, I think we’re getting a pretty favorable – if there isn’t overtime – in Game 2.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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