The Milwaukee Bucks are finally showing signs of life with back-to-back victories over Boston and Orlando. More importantly though, their defense has stepped up to the challenge and held both of those teams to under 100 points which isn’t a common occurrence when it comes to the Doc Rivers led team. Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t play in the Orlando game, Bobby Portis filled in the game with 30 points, however those type of efforts probably aren’t sustainable in the long run. Giannis’ status is unknown for this game, as is Dame Lillard’s, Brook Lopez’s and Khris Middleton’s. As a result we get a massive 14.5 point spread on the visitors here, a tempting bet for a team that’s gone 6-0 SU in the last 6 meetings with OKC and has covered the spread in 5 of those games.
With just 2 games remaining the Thunder are still in the running for the 2nd seed, with Denver most likely clinching the best record in the West. OKC has won 3 games in a row, but they need the Timberwolves to slip up in order for them to finish ahead. We should expect a completely healthy Thunder team here, led by the MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who is looking to regain his form following a quad injury that has cost him a few games in the latter stages of March and the beginning of April. These two teams actually played each other not too long ago with the Bucks routing the Thunder 118-93 on the road, so this is a bit of a revenge spot for the young OKC team. They’re 14-2 SU in the last 16 home games and 13-6 SU in their last 19 overall.