NBA Picks & Predictions: Thunder vs. Lakers (Monday)
The NBA playoffs roll on Monday night with two more games. The Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers continue their Eastern Conference Semifinals series at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock, while the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder look to eliminate the Los Angeles Lakers at 10:30 p.m. ET in Game 4 of their Western Conference series on Prime Video. Let’s build our bankroll with our best NBA picks & predictions for Monday, May 11th’s game Thunder vs. Lakers.
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Monday’s Best NBA Picks & Predictions: Thunder vs. Lakers
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook | All bets are for 1 unit
Oklahoma City Thunder (-500) at Los Angeles Lakers (+375) | O/U 214.5 (-110/-110)
The defending NBA champions look poised to keep their belt, or at least make it extremely difficult for other teams to take it from there. OKC swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round, and it is on the verge of doing the same to LeBron James and the Lakers with a 3-0 series lead heading into Crypto.com Arena on Monday for Game 4.
Oklahoma City won and covered both games at home by 18 points, covering as a double-digit in each of the installments. In Game 3, OKC belted the Lakers 131-108 as an 8.5-point favorite, pushing the purple and gold to the brink of elimination. The Over (211.5) cashed in Game 3 for the second consecutive game.
Oklahoma City shot 56% (53-of-94) for the second consecutive game, and it was 45% (17-of-38) from downtown, while going 80% (8-of-10) from the free-throw line. The Thunder was plus-6 in the rebounding category, while posting six more steals in Game 3. It also had two more blocks, while Los Angeles committed seven more turnovers. The Lakers also conceded 30 points off turnovers, to just 11 allowed for OKC.
It’s been unfortunate for Los Angeles that Luka Doncic (hamstring) has been sidelined for the entire playoffs due to a strained left hamstring, and it’s uncertain how much of a difference, if any, he would have made in this series. OKC is rolling, but he certainly would have been extremely beneficial to L.A., and we might have had a little bit longer of a series.
The Thunder have won all three games in this series by 18+ points, an average margin of victory of 19.7 points per game (PPG). They’re also 3-0 ATS, while the Over has cashed in each of the past two outings. Why get away from what’s working? We’ll take the Thunder to get the job done, and we’ll go high on the total.
Picks: Thunder -10.5 (-115) & Over 214.5 Points (-110)
Joe Williams is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Joe, check out his archive and follow him @winwithjoe