Yahoo Sports The Daily Sweat: The Thunder and Timberwolves meet as the top two teams in the West
The top two teams in the Western Conference square off Tuesday night in Minneapolis as part of the NBA in-season tournament.
The Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Minnesota Timberwolves as the Wolves lead the Thunder by a game in the conference. Minnesota is a 3.5-point favorite as it looks to stay alive in the in-season tournament race. The Thunder are already eliminated from tournament contention.
Minnesota is atop the West at 12-4, while the Thunder are 11-5. The Wolves are 9-7 against the spread, while OKC is the fourth-best team against the spread in the NBA so far this season. OKC is 12-4 ATS and behind only Orlando, Brooklyn and Houston in terms of profitability.
Tuesday night’s game will be a contrast in playing styles and sizes. Oklahoma City loves to go small with a lineup that features Chet Holmgren at center surrounded by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams on the perimeter. While Anthony Edwards has emerged as the star for Minnesota, the Wolves can hunt size mismatches against OKC’s small lineup with both Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. Backup center Naz Reid is also the team’s third-leading scorer in just 21 minutes per game.
If the Wolves can control the glass against the smaller Thunder, they should have a significant advantage. But don’t discount the way Oklahoma City has been shooting the ball from the outside. The Thunder lead the league at 40.5% from behind the arc.
Other big matchups
It’s a great night of NBA action. The Milwaukee Bucks visit the Miami Heat in a rematch of their first-round playoff series from a season ago. Milwaukee is a 2.5-point road favorite after a 26-point comeback was needed to get a win over the Portland Trail Blazers at home Sunday.
The Kings and Warriors also meet in a first-round rematch as Sacramento is a 1.5-point home favorite. Tuesday night’s game is set to be the first back on the court for Draymond Green after his five-game suspension for putting Gobert in a headlock.
The biggest mismatch of the evening comes in Boston as the Celtics are 13.5-point favorites at home over the struggling Chicago Bulls.
Miami heads to Kentucky
The biggest college basketball game of the night is in Lexington as No. 8 Miami visits No. 12 Kentucky as part of the ACC/SEC challenge. The Hurricanes are 5-0 off their Final Four appearance a season ago but have not played a ranked team so far this season. Kentucky is 5-1, and the Wildcats’ lone loss came to No. 5 Kansas.
Kentucky is a 5.5-point favorite.
Who cashed tickets Monday?
The Bears won as road underdogs in a 12-10 “thriller” over the Minnesota Vikings. Chicago kicked four field goals and the two teams combined for six turnovers. The Philadelphia 76ers easily covered against the Los Angeles Lakers in a 138-94 home win that was the worst loss of LeBron James’ career. The Denver Nuggets also got a 113-106 road win at the Los Angeles Clippers as Nikola Jokić sat out the second game of a back-to-back. DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Jackson — seriously — combined to score 56 points against their old team.
