After seeing the Minnesota Timberwolves punch tickets to the Western Conference finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder will go for the kill in Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets. Denver, however, has the home-court advantage, and it hopes to feed off the energy of the crowd at Ball Arena to force a Game 7.
Catch this game live on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8:30 AM, Manila time.
Away: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-2)
Projected Starting Five:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Luguentz Dort
- Jalen Williams
- Chet Holmgren
- Isaiah Hartenstein
The Thunder are the road team in Game 6, but they clearly have the momentum after winning Game 4 and Game 5. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has shown the way for the Thunder in those contests, during which he averaged 28.0 points on a 47.6 FG% despite an ugly 12.5 percent shooting from behind the arc.
As a team, Oklahoma City has shot a horrendous 31.4% from deep in the last two outings, but that’s skewed by the Bolts’ 10-for-41 shooting from the 3-point area in Game 4. They have already turned things around in that department in Game 5, where OKC hit 12 threes on 29 attempts. Meanwhile, the Thunder’s bench continues to outplay Denver’s. In Game 5, Oklahoma City relievers had 24 points to just 10 by the Nuggets’ backups.
The Thunder are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 games as the road team.
Home: Denver Nuggets (2-3)
Projected Starting Five:
- Jamal Murray
- Christian Braun
- Michael Porter Jr.
- Aaron Gordon
- Nikola Jokic
The Nuggets have zero room for error, as Game 6 could potentially be their last this season. If there’s one thing Denver has learned from their last two losses, it’s that Jokic can’t do it all. Despite Jokic scoring 44 points and hitting absurd shots in Game 5, the Nuggets still fell short, as the Serbian’s monster performance couldn’t compensate for the poor shooting of other Denver players.
Michael Porter had two points on 1-for-7 shooting while Christian Braun went 3-for-12 for eight points. Denver’s bench shot 3-for-8 with four turnovers. The hope for the Nuggets is that they recapture their offensive touch as they feed off the energy of their home crowd this Friday. The Nuggets’ offensive rating at home in the series is 112.7 and their true shooting percentage is at 57.2 – higher than their 107.8 oRTG and 53.4 TS% in Oklahoma City.
Denver has covered the spread in all of their last four home games, including Game 3 and Game 4 versus the Thunder.
Picks
Spread: Denver Nuggets (+4.5)
Over/Under: Under (216.5)
