New Orleans Hornets at Oklahoma City Thunder Betting Odds


Opening Line: New Orleans +7 / Oklahoma City -7 O/U 203

Time: 8 PM EST Wednesday March 10, 2010 on KSBIHD

Tonight in the nation's heartland the Oklahoma City Thunder host the New Orleans Hornets. The Thunder have been playing well for the last couple of months and they look like a playoff team this season. They have won 2 in a row, are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and currently are in the 6th position in the Western Conference.

Things have not gone as well for the Hornets and even though they are getting solid rookie play they miss the leadership and play of injured superstar Chris Paul. The Hornets are coming off a win, but are only 4-6 in their last 10 games. New Orleans has to really start winning to make the post-season, as they are in the 11th position in the West and trail 8th place Portland by 4 games.

This season the Thunder are 19-11 at home and 37-25 ATS and the Hornets are 11-21 on the road and 30-33-1 ATS.

In their last games the Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings 108-102 on Sunday and the Hornets won a barnburner beating the Golden State Warriors 135-131.

Rookie PG Darren Collison (11 ppg) has done a good job in filling in for Paul, especially on offense, but he will have to play good defense tonight on Thunder PG Russell Westbrook (16.7 ppg), who has averaged 20 ppg and 9.8 assists over the last 10 games.

The Hornets come into this game shorthanded not only missing Paul, but they also may be without sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic (12.6 ppg), who is questionable tonight with a groin injury.

The Hornets have to hit the boards as a team and not let the Thunder win the battle of the boards. This season the Thunder have a rebounding differential of +2.4 rpg while the Hornets are only at -1.8 rpg.

Kevin Durant (29.6 ppg) has been on a scoring tear for a couple of months and the Hornets, especially Emeka Okafor and David West have to play good D and not allow him to have a huge scoring game.

If Stojakovic can't go tonight other players have to hit the outside J in order to create some spacing on the floor.

New Orleans is 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 road games, 19-8-1 ATS in their last 28 games against teams with a winning record, and has an Over record of 8-2 in their last 10 road games.

Oklahoma City is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following a win, and has an Over record of 4-1 in their last 5 games.

In the last 5 meetings between these 2 teams the total has gone Over 4 times.

Our Selection :Yes the Thunder should win this game especially with the absence of Hornets' Peja Stojakovic who will be out nursing an abdominal strain. However, we feel that without Stojakovic New Orleans will have trouble scoring. The Hornets have averaged only 95.2 points in their last 4 road games and we don't see them matching that total tonight. Oklahoma City has been lighting it up as of late, but have averaged just 101 points at home this season. 5Dimes is hanging a 202 on this game and we're going to bite. Take Under 202 points.


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