Thunder Look to Continue Momentum: Break Playoff Drought

• After beating the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, the OKC Thunder now move on to face the Minnesota Timberwolves for the final playoff spot.
• The Timberwolves on the other hand lost to the Lakers and now face elimination unless they can triumph over the Thunder.
• Despite losing Jaden McDaniels for the rest of their postseason run, the Timberwolves welcome back Rudy Gobert after suspending him last game.

MINNEAPOLIS – With the eighth seed of the playoffs on the line, the Oklahoma City Thunder look to break their three-year playoff drought while the Timberwolves are fresh off a pair of losses that saw several chemistry concerns by players like Rudy Gobert.

Contrary to the majority of the season, the Timberwolves finally have a healthy Karl Anthony-Towns and will also be welcoming back the previously suspended Gobert. Now for the fourth time in five games this season, the Timberwolves are the favorites on legal betting sites vs the Thunder, this time at -195 odds.

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves Odds

• Money Line: Thunder (+165) vs Timberwolves (-195)
• Spread: Timberwolves -5.0
• Total: 227.5

Player Props take Advantage of Soft Matchups

The OKC Thunder have been among some of the most approachable big-man defense throughout most of the year especially in the rebounding department and with the Timberwolves being armed with both Karl Anthony-Town as well as Rudy Gobert, there is certainly value to be had in their props.

Season data on this is quite difficult, as KAT missed the majority of the year with injuries, but the recent injury to Jaden McDaniels should provide the duo of big men to coexist with sufficient minutes.

A rebounding prop for Rudy Gobert to reach over 12.5 comes in at -120 odds, and in games where the French rim-protector played at least 25 minutes, he has reached at least 13 rebounds in seven of his last eight matchups, including two with the Timberwolves where he logged 15 and 16.

There may be some worry that Anthony-Towns will threaten this rebounding total, but they have generally meshed well in recent games with KAT taking a more outside role and letting Gobert handle the glass cleaning. There is also the possibility that the Thunder will try to run Gobert off the court with a smaller lineup, but the loss of McDaniels leaves Minnesota ill-prepared to run small-ball themselves.

Timberwolves Spread Offers Value from Past Matchups

In terms of the game lines, the Timberwolves do not sport much value for their money line, but have won both times when Gobert and Town are in the lineup against OKC. With the franchise player now healthy and at full-strength, the spread of -5.0 looks like a great value with -110 odds on NBA sportsbooks.

In those games they won with KAT and Gobert playing, their average win margin was a bit over eight. All of this makes the Timberwolves quite the value play at -110 to cover the spread and advance to the playoffs behind the top-tier frontcourt duo of Gobert and Towns.