Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Prediction: Can Steph Curry, Warriors Light Up Scoreboard?
Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Prediction: Can Steph Curry, Warriors Light Up Scoreboard?
The NBA in-season tournament begins tonight with group play, leading up to the month-long tourney that ends in Vegas on December 9th. The NBA added this mid-season tournament for a few reasons, one of which is to motivate players early in the season with a hefty 500k bonus check for each player and coach of the winning team. Tonight's first slate of tourney games features 14 teams across seven games, including the Golden State Warriors visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder. What can we expect tonight in this matchup?
Warriors vs. Thunder Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: November 3, 2023
- Game Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
- Where to Watch: NBA League Pass
Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Prediction
The Warriors dropped their season opener against the Phoenix Suns without Draymond Green, but they have gone 4-0 since then, now sitting at 4-1 on the season. The team is healthy with Draymond back, and the Splash Brothers have been doing their thing, now with Chris Paul on the team to help dish it out. Steph Curry continues to solidify himself as one of the best shooters of all time, as he has started this season 45.9% from three.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have started 3-2 this season and have playoff aspirations. The Thunder have a very young and talented team, led by leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has 24.8 points per game through the first five games. Chet Holmgren started on the team to begin the year after spending last year developing after getting drafted in 2022. He is averaging 15.8 points per game.
Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey are two more young players who help on offense. The team is still developing, but the Thunder have a lot of good pieces and can score from anywhere on the floor. However, their defense could use some work, which in part comes from their youth and size. The worst news for the Thunder tonight is that their leading scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will be out tonight with an injury.
The Thunder currently rank seventh in pace in the NBA while Golden State ranks 14th. These teams jack up a LOT of threes, and they both love to run up the court and score quickly. Oklahoma City scores a lot in transition and doesn't set up their positions a whole lot.
This matchup has produced a LOT of points recently. Last year, these two teams played four times, and all four flew over the total, and it wasn't even close. The lowest score of all four meetings ended 128-120 for 248 combined points. That was the lowest. The Highest was 265. Three of the four totals last year were lined in the 240s. This one is 224.5 Sure, SGA being out maybe means slightly less scoring for the Thunder offense, but not enough to justify a 224.5 line. This game flies over.
Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Pick
Pick: Thunder/Warriors Over 224.5 -110 Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
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Article Author
Ben Rajavuori is a handicapper out of Minneapolis, MN. He has been creating sports content for almost four years now and is an expert in all things NFL, MLB, NBA, UFC, and NCAAB. Ben thrives on diving deep into statistics to find the best angle on every bet. You can follow him on Twitter @WeBeatTheSpread.