NBA Basketball
2025-05-15 - Oklahoma City Thunder at Denver Nuggets
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball Playoff Second Round Game 6
Thursday 15th May 2025 - Scheduled 8:30pm
1:30am (British Time)
Preview
It has been a real battle of a Second Round Series with the Oklahoma City Thunder trying to show how much they have learnt from their exit in this Round of the Playoffs twelve months ago. With some of the top Eastern Conference teams struggling, a real opportunity has opened up for those in the Western Conference and the Thunder have long looked the team best equipped to win a Championship.
Proving that on the court is always the challenge and the Thunder are being given everything they can handle by the 2023 Champions Denver Nuggets, although the younger Oklahoma City team may feel they have broken the back of the Series with the pivotal Game 5 win.
That makes it back to back wins for the Thunder to take a 3-2 lead, but it is also the manner in which they were able to win Game 5 that feels very important. They were down double digits in the Third Quarter and as many as 8 points behind with less than eight minutes remaining in the Fourth Quarter, while the Thunder then closed with a strong run to show they can come up trumps in the clutch for a second game in a row.
Oklahoma City have shown a real confidence in their depth and you do have to wonder how much the Denver Nuggets have left, even as they prepare to host Game 6 of the Series.
Having struggled at times in the Series, Nikola Jokic produced a massive game for the Nuggets with 44 points scored and 15 boards brought in, but the Thunder were happy to restrict those around the Serb. Jamal Murray played his part, but Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr, Christian Braun and Russell Westbrook were a combined 11/39 from the field with 27 points scored and all are going to need to be a lot better if the Nuggets are going to be able to force a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City.
The lack of rest and recovery between games makes that challenging and the two teams may not be as strong as they were Offensively in the last game. Even then, the total points came up short of the line set and we could see something similar in Game 6.
The last fourteen Game 6s played in the Second Round have finished 10-4 in favour of the 'under', while Denver may take some encouragement from the way they have been pushing the Thunder in the last three games. Stronger Defensive effort may be needed to slow down the three point efforts from the Number 1 Seed, which proved to be very important to the final outcome in Game 5, and we could see a bit more fatigue built up in this one.
It can only aid the chances of this Game 6 finishing below the total points line set and that is the play for a second straight time in this Series.
Prediction
Look for the two teams to combine for fewer than 218 total points as tiredness perhaps creeps into the play.
The Pick :
Denver Nuggets 105-102 Oklahoma City Thunder
