The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Los Angeles Clippers in a Western Conference clash on Thursday’s NBA schedule. Oklahoma City is 37-17 overall and 21-6 at home, while Los Angeles is 36-17 overall and 16-11 on the road. The teams have split their two matchups this season, with the home team winning each time. OKC is 33-20-1 against the spread in the 2023-24 NBA season, while Los Angeles is 29-24 versus the line.
Tip-off is at 8 p.m. ET at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Thunder are favored by 1 point in the latest Clippers vs. Thunder odds, per SportsLine consensus, and the over/under is 235.5 points. Before entering any Thunder vs. Clippers picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past five-plus seasons. The model enters Week 18 of the 2023-24 NBA season on a sizzling 60-36 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning nearly $2,300. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
The model has set its sights on Los Angeles vs. Oklahoma City. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA odds and betting lines for Clippers vs. Thunder:
Thunder vs. Clippers spread: Thunder -1
Thunder vs. Clippers over/under: 235.5 points
Thunder vs. Clippers money line: Thunder: -115, Clippers: -105
Thunder vs. Clippers picks: See picks at SportsLine
What you need to know about the Thunder
The Orlando Magic typically have all the answers at home, but last Tuesday the Thunder proved too difficult a challenge. They beat the Magic by the very same score they won with last week: 127-113. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Thunder. OKC’s success was spearheaded by the efforts of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 32 points to go along with five assists and two steals, while Jalen Williams dropped 33 points.
OKC is arguably the best-shooting team in the NBA, leading the league in free throw percentage while ranking second in both field goal percentage and 3-point percentage. It also brings it defensively, leading the league with 6.7 blocks per game and ranking third with 8.1 steals per night. The Thunder have the second-best cover percentage in the NBA, but they are just 3-6 ATS over their last nine games. See which team to pick here.
What you need to know about the Clippers
Meanwhile, Los Angeles didn’t have too much breathing room in its matchup against the Golden State Warriors last Wednesday, but it still walked away with a 130-125 win. The Clippers were down 59-44 with 1:21 left in the second quarter but they still came back for the handy five-point victory. Among those leading the charge was James Harden, who scored 26 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists, while Norman Powell had 21 points off the bench.
Kawhi Leonard did not play in that game, but L.A. has no injuries to report for Thursday’s contest. In his 12th NBA season, Leonard is shooting career-bests from the field (52.7%), from the 3-point line (45.3%) and from the free throw line (89.1%). Los Angeles owns a 27-8 straight-up record this season when it has Leonard, Harden and Paul George in the starting lineup, and when Russell Westbrook is not in the starting lineup. See which team to pick here.
Key Betting Info
Gilgeous-Alexander will likely loom large in the final result, win or lose. For the season, he has averaged 31.1 points, 2.2 steals, and 6.5 assists.
Some of the betting trends to consider are:
The Clippers are 2-5 against the spread in their last 7 games when the spread was between +1 to +3.5.
The Thunder are 15-7 against the spread in their last 22 games when favored at home.
The Clippers are 3-6 against the spread in their last 9 games as the road underdog.
How to make Thunder vs. Clippers picks
The model has simulated Clippers vs. Thunder 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that hits well over 50% of the time. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.