Vegas Play of the Day: San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder

By Taylor Bern

Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | 9:05 a.m.

Here’s the latest installment of the Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point. Our three sports writers started with a $10,000 bankroll — fictional, of course.

San Antonio Spurs plus-2.5 at Oklahoma City Thunder: $440 to win $400

Serge Ibaka’s return added some much-needed life to the Western Conference Finals. Without him, the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like it had no chance of stopping the oncoming train that is the San Antonio Spurs right now.

Instead, Ibaka and the Thunder played great in Game 3 and we may have a series on our hands. Tonight’s Game 4 is the pivotal turn. A Spurs win pretty much ends things, since NBA teams with a 3-1 series lead win 96 percent of the time.

I’m certainly cheering for the Thunder to continue the series, but I’m having a hard time adjusting the mentality from ‘San Antonio is clearly superior’ to ‘This could go seven games.’ Ibaka is important, but he doesn’t fix everything for Oklahoma City, which will forever (or at least the rest of these playoffs and likely until it gets a new coach) rely too much on isolation plays that can be hit-and-miss compared to the Spurs’ well-executed sets.

The best-case scenario is the Thunder wins by one or two, because I do want a competitive and fun series. As far as my (fake) money is concerned, though, I want to be with the better team looking for a bounce back.

Standings: Bern (27-18-1, $11,900), Keefer (22-26, $8,288), Brewer (18-26-3, $4,890)

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.