NBA Playoff Odds: Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals takes place on Wednesday on TNT as the San Antonio Spurs host the Oklahoma City Thunder. The San Antonio Spurs have the home court advantage in this series and while home court is important, the San Antonio Spurs had almost as many wins on the road. The San Antonio Spurs finished three games in front of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record in the Western Conference. Let’s take a look at Game 2 on Wednesday night and NBA playoff picks.
Does Regular Season Series Success Mean Anything?
The San Antonio Spurs opened up as 2-1 favorites to win the Western Conference Finals even though they had dropped 8 of the last 10 in this series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder won all four of this season’s meetings and they had won five straight overall. Can the Oklahoma City Thunder carry over that regular season success into the playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs?
The Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2012 Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs but in that series the Thunder had James Harden to go along with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. They no longer have Harden and they will also be without their third best player in Serge Ibaka who is out due to injury.
Matchups and Coaching
The Oklahoma City Thunder have Durant and Westbrook and not much else. They won’t have Ibaka so there is no real third scoring option. The San Antonio Spurs have Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard. The advantage in depth is definitely with the San Antonio Spurs. They also have a huge edge behind the bench as Gregg Popovich is a far superior coach to Scott Brooks.
NBA Playoff Picks
If the Oklahoma City Thunder had Ibaka then they might have had a chance in this series. It is hard to see how they can play enough defense to win this series as the San Antonio Spurs can match them offensively and now stay with them defensively as well. I will lay the points and take the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and also play the game over the total.
