NBA Picks: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors

The NBA playoff picture will get a bit clearer on Friday night in the Great White North, and BetUS Sportsbook has our NBA picks for the duel between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors.

The Thunder is coming off of a 100-92 loss in Charlotte to start this brief three-game East Coast swing. The defeat left them tied with Phoenix for the #5 spot in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City is two games behind Utah for home court advantage in the first round in the NBA playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Raptors are just trying to hold it together. They just snapped a five-game skid with a 106-105 victory at home against Atlanta, but they're still just barely hanging on to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The good news for Toronto is that it is just three games short of Milwaukee in the #5 position. The bad news is that the Bulls are only 2.5 games back at #9.

Oklahoma City Thunder (41-25, 39-27 ATS) vs. Toronto Raptors (33-33, 29-37 ATS)

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Oklahoma City Thunder -1
Toronto Raptors +1
Game Total 209.5

F Kevin Durant got his 26 points and ten rebounds in against the Bobcats, but the rest of the team really let him down, particularly on the defensive end of the court in that loss two nights ago.

Only forcing nine turnovers isn't acceptable for a team that thrives on takeaways and fast break opportunities the other direction. G Russell Westbrook had a bad shooting day, going just 6/16 from the floor, but Durant's 9/26 didn't help matters, as the Thunder shot just 45.1 percent from the field for the game.

The Thunder played without G James Harden on Wednesday, and he won't be able to suit up in this one either. The former Sun Devil looks to be on pace for a return to the line-up next week.

Following Monday's loss against Portland, F Chris Bosh essentially asked the media what more they wanted him to do than to average over two dozen points and nearly a dozen boards per game.

On Wednesday, all he did was hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left on the clock.

Bosh finished the day with just 14 points and 10 rebounds, but he was the sparkplug that led to a big 31-19 fourth quarter to pick up the victory.

Defense is still a major issue for this team though, as it has conceded at least 105 points in six straight games.

NBA Insider Betting Tip: The Raptors are just 1-11 ATS in their L/12 games overall.

Not good, Toronto.

Pair that with Oklahoma City's 7-1 ATS mark in its L/8 Friday night fights, and all signs point to making NBA picks on the visitors in this one.

The matchup is just too juicy to ignore. Yes, Bosh can body with Durant in the post, but the bottom line right now is that the team surrounding the former University of Texas star is just better than the one that Bosh has in his corner. We're not convinced that the Raptors have figured it out yet in spite of the narrow home win against a good Atlanta team two nights ago.

Expect to see the Thunder strike the Raptors down on Friday night.