The Oklahoma City Thunder head into Game 2 of their NBA playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies riding high.
The pregame narrative: Oklahoma City demolished the Grizzlies by 51 points and I’ll take OKC to cover the spread once again on Tuesday. Picks on Ja Morant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander round out this +370 same-game parlay recommendation.
Check out my Grizzlies vs. Thunder first-round SGP predictions for Game 2 on April 22.
Grizzlies vs. Thunder predictions
Parlay: Thunder -11.5 | Morant 6+ assists | Gilgeous-Alexander 30+points (+370)
Thunder -11.5 (-162): Things couldn’t have gone better for the Thunder in the opening game. OKC walked away with a 131-80 win that was never close.
Although not to the same degree, this has been the story between these two teams this season:
- Dec. 29: Thunder win 130-106
- Feb. 8: Thunder win 125-112
- March 5: Thunder win 120-103
- March 27: Thunder win 125-104
In fact, Memphis has lost 10 straight games in this matchup dating back to 2022. Eight of those losses came by double-digit points.
I don’t expect the Grizzlies to lose by 50 again, but they’ve shown nothing to suggest they can compete with the Thunder.
NBA SGP legs
Morant 6+ assists (-152): In his very limited 23 minutes of action in Game 1, Morant still managed to record four assists on 12 potential assists.
The Grizzlies shot a putrid 32-for-93 from the floor (6-for-34 from three).
If Memphis makes a few more shots, Morant clears this mark even in the blowout.
I fully expect Morant to play 30-plus minutes in Game 2 and continue being the lead facilitator for his squad.
He cleared this total in 12 of the final 14 games before the postseason and both outings against Oklahoma City during the regular season.
Gilgeous-Alexander 30+ points (-159): The leading MVP candidate fell well short of this line on Sunday, scoring 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting (1-for-7 from deep).
He played just 23 minutes in the dominating win, but that’ll surely be an outlier when this series is over.
In the regular season, SGA dominated the Grizzlies:
- Dec. 29: 35 points
- Feb. 8: 32 points
- March 5: 41 points
- March 27: 37 points
That averaged out to 36.3 points per game across the four meetings on 53.4% shooting. I’m predicting a bounce-back performance.
Grizzlies vs. Thunder predictions made at 3:24 p.m. ET 04/21/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.