{"id":655114,"date":"2026-03-12T21:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655114\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T21:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:39:56","slug":"nba-picks-odds-best-bets-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655114\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA picks, odds, best bets Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our\u00a0editorial standards<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

Oscar Season is upon us, and the Thunder have been doing their best version of \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d lately.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been in three straight clutch-time thrillers and came out on the other side victorious, buoyed by MVP-level performances from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He hit crucial 3-pointers in all three games to seal wins against the Knicks, Warriors, and Nuggets.<\/p>\n

Now the Thunder welcome the Celtics to Oklahoma City for a potential NBA<\/a> Finals preview sans some key players. Jalen Williams is still out with a hamstring injury, Alex Caruso hasn\u2019t played since sustaining a hip injury, Isaiah Hartenstein is nursing a calf injury, and Chet Holmgren has the flu.<\/p>\n

Celtics vs. Thunder prediction, best bets<\/p>\n

Missing key players has not changed the way OKC plays on a nightly basis. It\u2019s one of the most fascinating things about this team. <\/p>\n

When Gilgeous-Alexander was sidelined before the All-Star break and missed nine games, the Thunder went 5-4 in his absence, then ripped off six straight wins after he returned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over that 15-game stretch, their offense hasn\u2019t been up to par, but their defense was virtually unchanged. They managed to post an 11-4 record, equal to the Celtics over that same time frame, with a Net Rating that is 5.3 points lower than Boston\u2019s.<\/p>\n

To their credit, the Celtics have played most of the season without Jayson Tatum and have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

\"BostonBoston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) drives to the basket. AP<\/p>\n

Their performance this season has been wildly impressive, and Tatum obviously raises their ceiling<\/a>, but the immediate impact of having Tatum back throws off the chemistry they\u2019ve taken months to build.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question the Celtics can hang with the Thunder and beat them with both teams at full strength. <\/p>\n

That said, it\u2019s hard not to love OKC\u2019s relentless defensive pressure being a constant no matter who they put on the floor. Put Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor with four of their bench players, and they still look like a 60-win team.<\/p>\n

Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n

As has happened to them over the past four games, I expect this game to come down to clutch time, and that\u2019s where the Thunder have an edge over every team in the NBA.<\/p>\n

They lead the NBA in clutch scoring and plus\/minus, and if this game goes down to the final minutes, I expect Gilgeous-Alexander to deliver.<\/p>\n

The Play: Thunder -6 (-114, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He\u2019s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,212,75,6,214,179,66,215,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-655114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-betting","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sports-betting","16":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116218378097583782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}