Spurs vs. Thunder Game 6: NBA Picks

By: Jordan Sharp

The San Antonio Spurs were once favored to roll past the Oklahoma City Thunder and right into the finals, but now they find themselves facing elimination in Game 6. What are the odds makers offering us, and where are we placing our NBA picksin this game?

We finally had a road team victory in the conference finals, as the Thunder outplayed the Spurs in all angles in San Antonio. Now the Thunder face a dream scenario that no one could have thought after Game 2. The Thunder can close out the Spurs in Game 6 at home, and make their first trip to the NBA Finals. 

After opening at -4, the public has pounded the spread up to -5 in favor of the home Thunder. The total is still a low 201 ½, even after going over in three of the five games this series. 

After winning twenty straight games, the Spurs have now lost three straight games against the Thunder, and look as if they have run out of tricks to fool the Thunder. Will the Spurs return the favor and win in Oklahoma City, or will the very young Thunder make it to the Finals? 

Old…finally?

It has been a long and incredible run for this group of guys, andmuch like the Celtics in the East, this could be it for the Spurs. I know it’s not over; trust me. However, the Thunder made the Spurs look bad in Games 3, 4, and 5 for the first time since the first half of this regular season. 

Greg Popovich said it best, "Championship teams win on the road." Oklahoma City just did it, and if the Spurs can’t do it Wednesday evening, they aren’t the championship caliber team that everyone (very much including me) thought they were. It takes a certain art form to handicap the NBA, but no one saw this coming. That’s called unlucky, folks. 

I am still on the Spurs until the clock strikes zero and they have less points than the Thunder in one of the next two games. It’s hard for me to turn my back on a team with that many rings and after how well they played up until Game 3 of this series. However, this will be one of the toughest games in Spurs history. 

Dynasty in making 

Simply put, the Thunder are going to dominate in the West for years, and when I mean years, I might just mean a decade. Think about it for a moment. Kobe is close to being done, the Spurs might just be done now, and everyone else is either rebuilding, or building up. 

The core guys the Thunder have now are so young and so good already, it’s hard to see them not dominating the West for the next ten plus seasons. Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka are either 22 or 23 years old. 

The Sharp Picks 

It’s do or die time, and I’m still siding with the team with the rings. It may not be smart, but I don’t see anyway the Spurs don’t come out and play well in this game. I know they are on the road, and that is why I’m teasing them again. It is so hard to beat the same team four games in a row, especially at this level of the playoffs. I’m playing it way safe, however.

I’m also going with the over again. Both of these teams are patented Western Conference teams that score 100 points a game. They both play at a high pace, and I can’t believe the books have not upped the total back up to around 204. Give me the over in Game 6.

My Picks: OVER 201.5½ +++