The Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets meet for Game 2 on Wednesday night.
The pregame narrative: Nikola Jokic and Co. authored a come-from-behind win to snatch the series opener on Monday. But OKC has been the best team in the league all season and is heavily favoured to level the score this evening.
Check out my Nuggets vs. Thunder SGP predictions, featuring Chet Holmgren and Russell Westbrook.
Game 2 Boost: Thunder -9.5, Gilgeous-Alexander 35+ points & Jalen Williams 20+ points. Bet now!
Nuggets vs. Thunder predictions
Parlay: Thunder -2.5 | Holmgren 2+ threes | Westbrook over 7.5 rebounds and assists (+350)
Thunder -2.5 (-500): It looked like OKC had Game 1 wrapped when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 11 with 4:30 to go.
Denver stormed back and won, but that won’t put me off backing the Thunder tonight.
- OKC is a league-best 55-29-4 ATS this season. That includes a 29-13-2 ATS record as a home favourite.
- The Thunder posted a +12.7 net rating in the regular season, the second-highest all-time behind the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
You can’t count a team out with Jokic at the helm, which is why I’m teasing this spread down a ton. But I would be truly shocked if Denver walked out of OKC with a 2-0 series lead.
The Thunder are 19-3 in their last 22 games, covering this spread in 17 of those contests.
NBA SGP legs
Holmgren 2+ threes (+100): Holmgren had an ugly night on Monday, finishing with just 12 points on 0-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc.
But there’s good reason to believe he responds in Game 2:
- Holmgren averaged 2.8 threes on 42.3% shooting in the opening round.
- He was 6-2 against this line in his last eight games before Monday.
Denver has consistently struggled to defend the perimeter this season, ceding the 11th-most 3s per game (13.9) at the eighth-highest clip (36.4%).
Westbrook over 7.5 rebounds and assists (-117): I backed Westbrook to clear an 8.5 rebound/assist line in Game 1, and he fell woefully short — logging two of each in the win.
I’ll go back to the well with this wager for a few reasons.
Westbrook averaged 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game this season, well above this number. In four regular-season games against OKC, he averaged 12.6 rebounds/assists and cleared this mark each time.
The veteran guard was in a shoot-first mindset in the series opener, but I don’t expect that to continue for long.
He logged double-digit rebounds and assists in Games 6 and 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Nuggets vs. Thunder predictions made at 12:30 p.m. ET 05/07/2025.
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.