Oklahoma City Thunder at Charlotte Hornets Betting Pick

The Oklahoma City Thunder begin a two-game weekend road trip when they face the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.
This is just the perfect kind of matchup to spend your Friday night watching. Two scrappy teams that have been better than many expected them to be, making them dark-horse playoff contenders.
Oklahoma City had a nice winning streak of games that they faced large deficits in before falling to Memphis Thursday night in surprise fashion. All three of the Thunder’s point guards have been effective this year and are hoping to keep it going. Chris Paul has been a truly fantastic leader for the Thunder.
Charlotte, on the other hand, took a surprising loss to the Cavaliers last week and has had some other iffy performances of late. But the Hornets are led by their new backcourt of Terry Rozier and Devonte Graham. These are two guys that weren’t expected to break out, but they’ve both played well.
Graham is being lauded by guys all over the league for his wild improvement in year two, while Rozier is showing he can be a solid starting point guard. The two of them are fun to watch together.
Oklahoma City finds itself favored by three points Friday night, with the over/under set at 210.
Looking To Get Back To Winning
One loss won’t set the Thunder back too far, but when you get hot and rattle off several wins in a row, a loss to a team that you were expected to beat may not sit so well. Without Danilo Gallinari, the Thunder are a bit thin at the forward spots, with Darius Bazley, Mike Muscala and Abdel Nader picking up the slack.
We have seen a lot of Terrance Ferguson playing the power forward spot in crunch-time situations as well, definitely making things interesting. Gallinari will remain out Friday night, the team’s smoothest scorer once again having to be replaced by committee.
Look for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to have a big night against a struggling Hornets defense in this one. He and Paul are the keys for a good start, with Dennis Schroder looking to close the game on a high note for his guys.
Wanting A Home Win
It will be on Graham and Rozier to hold it down for the Hornets as PJ Washington continues to remain out of the lineup. Charlotte changed the starting lineup several games back to bring Bismack Biyombo to the first unit and shift Cody Zeller to the second. It gives the Hornets a true rim-protector and a guy who can be more active on the boards and not worry about getting outside shots.
Biyombo has played well, even given that he is making way too much money this season. And Zeller has done a good job of providing energy with the backups.
The Hornets could use a nice performance from Miles Bridges to help boost them in this one. When he’s on, the team follows suit.
Oklahoma City Gets Road Win
This will be a good win for the Thunder as they climb back over .500. It will be a tough loss for James Borrego and company, but they will bounce back.
Free Play: OKC -3