The Denver Nuggets gave the Oklahoma City Thunder all they could handle, but the Thunder prevailed 125-93 in Game 7 on Sunday to advance to the Western Conference finals.
They will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team returning to the conference finals for the second straight season after beating the Golden State Warriors in five games in the second round.
Oklahoma City opened as a big -375 favorite in the series at BetMGM, with the Timberwolves coming back as +300 underdogs. The Thunder are the biggest favorites in the conference finals in the franchise’s history, even dating back to their Seattle SuperSonics days.
The SuperSonics were -270 favorites in the 1996 Western Conference finals series against the Utah Jazz, according to Sports Odds History’s database and the Thunder were underdogs in their previous four conference finals appearances (2011, 2012, 2104, 2016).
After the Thunder went 55-23-4 against the spread (70.5%) this season — the best regular-season ATS in 35 years — they have struggled against the number in the playoffs, going just 4-7 ATS. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, have been terrific to bettors this postseason, going 8-2 against the number, including two outright wins as underdogs in their first-round series against LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Thunder are 7.5-point favorites at BetMGM in Game 1 in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, with a total of 214.5.
