Thunder vs. Timberwolves Prediction
The spread is small for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they hit the road to face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at 8PM ET. Can Minnesota pull off the upset?
563 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 564 Minnesota Timberwolves
Monday, January 13, 2020
8PM ET – Target Center
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Public Betting Trends
According to the latest oddsmakers, the Thunder are the favorite on the road, as they are getting odds of -2.5 points against Minnesota. The over/under total is listed at 219.5 points. The public betting currently has 80 percent going on the Thunder as the road favorite. This information is subject to change, however, so be sure to check out our NBA Public Betting Page for updated figures on the game.
Thunder end cover streak
Oklahoma City is coming off a surprising 125-110 loss at home to the Lakers on Saturday, as Los Angeles was without both LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That ended an 8-game cover streak for the Thunder. OKC is 22-17 on the season, 9-10 on the road, 26-13 against the spread and 22-17 with the under.
The Thunder are a strong defensive team, allowing just 107.4 points per game this season while holding opponents to 45.4 percent shooting. Offensively, OKC is putting up 108.9 points per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is leading the team with 19.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest. Danilo Gallinari adds 18.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest.
Minnesota covering as of late
The Timberwolves are coming off a 139-109 loss at Houston on Saturday for a third loss in six games. However, the T’Wolves are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven. Minnesota is 15-23 on the season, 6-11 at home, 16-20-2 against the spread and 20-18 with the over.
Minnesota is putting up 111.8 points per game on offense this season, but shoots just 43.2 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from the arc. Defensively, the Timberwolves are giving up 114.7 points per game while allowing opponents to shoot 45.6 percent. Karl-Anthony Towns has been out lately with a knee injury and he is listed as questionable for this game. Towns hasn’t played since Dec. 13. He averages 26.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game for Minnesota. Andrew Wiggins is adding 23.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest.
NBA Betting Trends
Oklahoma City
The Thunder are 10-1 against the spread in their last 11 road games and 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games playing on 1 day of rest.
Minnesota
The Timberwolves are 11-5 against the spread in their last 16 Monday games, but just 3-9 ATS in their last 12 home games.
Prediction:
These two met back on Dec. 6 in OKC and the Thunder got the 139-127 OT win at home in the infamous game where Chris Paul got the refs to hand Minnesota a technical foul in the closing seconds of regulation over an untucked jersey. That may actually spark the Timberwolves in this game. Minnesota doesn’t show much motivation and perhaps playing OKC will help that. It’s just hard to trust the T’Wolves and the Thunder are coming of a loss where they seemed to overlook a short-handed Lakers team. I think that could be a wake-up call for OKC to let them know they have to bring it each game. Had the Thunder not gotten run in their last game, I would take Minnesota. However, I like OKC to bounce back and just out-hustle a Minnesota team that tends to lack energy.
NBA Prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder -2.5