Free NBA Pick: Suns vs. Thunder NBA Odds
Looking for Phoenix Suns vs. OKC Thunder free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Suns taking on the Thunder on Thursday, February 24th, 2021 at the Paycom Center. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Suns Thunder matchup.
2022 NBA Handicapping
(48-10) Phoenix Suns vs. OKC Thunder (18-40)
Date: Thursday, February 24th
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Venue: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
NBA Moneyline Odds: Suns -481 | Thunder +450 (Bet Now!)
NBA Betting Odds: Suns -9.5
NBA Betting Total: 215
Thursday, February 24th, finds the Phoenix Suns facing the OKC Thunder for the third of four occasions this season. Phoenix won both prior meetings on December 23rd (113-101) and 29th (115-97) while OKC will host the final meeting on April 3rd.
Both teams last played Wednesday, February 16th with Phoenix beating the Rockets 124-121 to extend their winning streak to seven in a row while the Thunder lost 106-114 to the Spurs.
Last season the clubs played three times with the Suns winning two of the three games in the season series. The Suns hold the all-time record with 132 wins in 247 matches versus the Thunder.
Phoenix Suns
Although the Suns navigated injuries to their frontcourt and a brief period where Devin Booker missed time they return from the break having to face the biggest adversity they’ve had all season with Chris Paul out between six and eight weeks after a thumb fracture.
Through all the other injuries they just kept rolling along and winning but to ignore the big reason for that success had a lot to do with how CP3 was able to get every big who stepped onto the hardwood producing like an All-Star.
This will be their greatest test, as Booker and Cam Payne will need to step up in his absence to retain their top seed and fortunately they have a 6.5 pad over the Warriors with only 24 games remaining.
If Paul is out six weeks his return date would be late March (30th) and if he needs the full eight weeks he would be out until April 13th meaning after the regular season has finished and just in time for the first round.
They have the sixth easiest strength of schedule to finish the season 14 road games including three sets of three-game road trips and 10 home matches and will face 11 top-eight seeded clubs primarily at the end of the season with six of their last eight matches against that group.
Landry Shamet (ankle) and Cameron Payne (wrist) were upgraded to probable for Thursday versus the Thunder. Chris Paul (thumb) will miss six to eight weeks. Frank Kaminsky (knee), and Dario Saric (knee) are out indefinitely.
OKC Thunder
If you wondered whether the Thunder were going to try to play spoiler down the stretch a quick glance at the injury report should offset that delusion as it’s inevitable the stretch run for OKC will be strewn with copious players missing games.
One player who should be back is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who missed the last 10 games prior to the break and 15 in total so far this season.
OKC has the 14th ranked strength of schedule to finish this campaign with 11 road games and 13 home matches. They’ll face 13 top eight seeds with most of those occasions in the front segment of the post-break schedule with seven of those in the first nine games.
Ty Jerome (hip), Luguentz Dort (shoulder), and Kenrich Williams (knee) were all downgraded to out on Thursday versus the Suns. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (foot) and Mike Muscala (ankle) are out indefinitely.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The teams are 5-5 in the last 10 head to head
- The Thunder is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings between the clubs
- The over/under is 5-5 in their last 10 head to head matches
- Phoenix is 7-0 SU in their last 7 games.
- Oklahoma City is 1-6 SU in their last 7 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Phoenix’s last 6 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Oklahoma City’s last 13 games against an Western opponent
Free Phoenix Suns vs. OKC Thunder NBA Prediction:
It’s no secret the Thunder are vying to land one of the bottom three seeds to improve their draft lottery odds and have some work to do. Two teams (Pistons/Magic) have five fewer wins than OKC while the Rockets have three fewer wins.
In terms of the loss column that trio has three (Rockets), five (Pistons), and seven (Magic) more losses than the Thunder and they also have to keep their eye on the Pacers who also have 40 losses but have two additional wins to OKC.
That factor alone should translate into OKC being desirous of losing more than it wins and bodes well for the Suns as they begin the stretch run without CP3 although I still like the Thunder to keep the final score closer than 9.5 points.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Thunder +9.5
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