Cleveland Cavaliers vs Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Pick 1/27/22

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder are set to meet on Friday night in the NBA. That will be the second road game in as many nights for the Cavs, while the Thunder will look to get to within a game of the .500 mark at home. In our NBA picks for Friday night, we take a closer look at Cavaliers vs Thunder from Oklahoma City.

Cavaliers vs Thunder Betting Pick

This game will be played at Paycom Arena at 8:00 PM ET on Friday, January 27, 2023.

Why Bet The Thunder:

✅ This is a road weary Cavaliers team at this point in time. This game will be their third in four nights on the road, and the second of a back to back, which will cause them some headaches against a young, underrated Oklahoma City squad.

✅ Even without the significant rest disadvantage that they are dealing with, the Cavs are just not a good road team. They are 10-15 on the road, compared to 20-5 at home, and their road woes will persist.

✅ Meanwhile, the Thunder are a lot better than people think. They have a winning record at home, a positive point differential, and have beaten some quality opponents this year such as the Celtics at home.

Jan 27, 2023 08:00 PM

Cleveland Cavaliers

VS

Oklahoma City Thunder

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Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off of a win on Thursday night, having beaten the Houston Rockets in resounding fashion. Cleveland has been toiling on the road of late, losing to the Knicks in New York before their win over Houston. Against a hungry OKC Thunder team, the Cavs cannot afford a letdown on the road in Oklahoma City.

It will be interesting to see if the Cavs opt to rest any of their players on the second leg of a back to back here. Donovan Mitchell is just coming back from some time off, and how Cleveland handles him could have an impact on the way this game unfolds. Even with Mitchell, the Cavs have a losing record on the road, and cannot count on name recognition alone to win this contest.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder lost their last game, but have been playing good basketball of late. They have won seven of their last 10 games, and are in 11th place in the Western Conference. Here, they are looking for a win that would help them stay right near the teams in the top-10, as the Thunder hope to become a playoff team this season.

For the Thunder, the key to this game is going to be defending the guard duo of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, if they are both available on the back to back. We know the Thunder have offensive weapons on the perimeter, but getting lit up defensively would render those weapons meaningless.