Tip-off: Thursday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: Golden State -3, Total: 211.5

Two of the hottest teams in basketball square off in a marquee matchup on Thursday night when the Thunder visit the Warriors.

Oklahoma City had a rough go of things to start the season, mostly due to the fact that its two superstars were sidelined with injuries, but since both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are back in the lineup, the team has gone 7-1 SU (5-3 ATS) while coming into this one with seven straight victories. During the win surge, they have shot better than 47% from the field five times and have averaged 105.9 PPG. They most recently took down the Kings by a score of 104-92 as 8-point favorites on the road this past Tuesday night. In the contest they held Sacramento to 42.9% shooting and forced 17 turnovers while giving up the rock just 10 times themselves. Golden State has been the story of the season so far, as it just had a franchise record 16-game winning streak snapped. Over that time the club was 11-4-1 ATS while defeating opponents by an average of 12.4 PPG. The Warriors finally had their streak stopped by the Grizzlies on Tuesday night when they traveled to Memphis as 3.5-point underdogs and left with a 105-98 loss. It was their worst shooting performance (41.1% FG) since Nov. 23 (12 games) as they could just not overcome the stingy Memphis defense. The road has caused the Thunder some headaches so far on the season, as they are 5-8 SU (4-8-1 ATS) in away games while the Warriors have done a great job holding down their home court with an 8-1 SU record (6-3 ATS) at Oracle Arena. When these teams met earlier in the year on Nov. 23, it was one of the uglier basketball games so far with both offenses shooting worse than 36% from the field in a 91-86 win by Golden State on the road as an 8-point favorite. Oklahoma City was still without both Westbrook and Durant at that point, and in the previous two seasons, the Thunder had gone 5-2 (both SU and ATS) in the series while taking 2-of-3 games in the 2013-14 campaign. Some trends bettors should keep an eye on include that Oklahoma City is 15-5 ATS (75%) in road contests after scoring 100+ points in four straight games over the past two seasons while the Warriors are 48-27 ATS (64%) after one or more consecutive losses in the past three years. Injuries no longer plague the Thunder with just PF Mitch McGary (tibia) out indefinitely while C Andrew Bogut (knee) and PF David Lee (hamstring) continue to miss time for Golden State.

Which red-hot team will win on Thursday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. While StatFox Forecaster has a stellar 60% ATS record (70-47-1) in featured games this season, the five experts have also caught fire with a collective 66% ATS mark (46-24-2) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29. StatFox Brian is 13-3 ATS during this timeframe to give him a 61% ATS record (23-15) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Gary is 10-3 ATS since Nov. 29 to improve to 61% ATS (22-14) in NBA Best Bets this season. Also during this surge, StatFox Dave is 11-4-1 ATS.

Overall on the season, the Thunder are putting up just 95.7 PPG (8th-worst in league) on 43.9% shooting (9th-worst in NBA), but that is a trend moving upwards, and triple-digits should be expected from this point on. Their defense has remained impressive though, in allowing a league-best 93.9 PPG to the opposition as it shoots a mere 41.8% from the floor (2nd in league). PG Russell Westbrook (26.4 PPG, 6.8 APG, 5.8 RPG, 1.9 SPG) is playing at a MVP level right now and is doing all of this in just 29.6 MPG. He is coming off another huge performance (32 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and should continue his run of excellence since he has averaged 21.8 PPG (44% FG), 7.1 APG, 4.8 RPG and 2.9 SPG against the Warriors over 20 career games. SF Kevin Durant (21.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG) is now off of his playing time restriction after logging 35 minutes in his last game in which he scored 26 points. He’s always relished his time against Golden State, and in 24 career starts he has tallied 30.8 PPG (51% FG) to go along with 8.6 RPG, 5.1 APG and 1.3 SPG. PF Serge Ibaka (14.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.3 BPG) has actually been more efficient (51% FG) and a better shot blocker (3.1 BPG) since Durant’s return, and he swatted seven shots away on Tuesday night. Last season, Ibaka had some of his best games when facing the Warriors, as he produced 22.0 PPG (64% FG) to go along with 11.3 RPG and 2.3 BPG in the series.

Golden State’s offense has once again been very impressive, as it is scoring 107.2 PPG (3rd in league) behind some tremendously efficient shooting (47.8% FG, 3rd in league). They have also continued to dial it up from behind the arc (37.1% threes, 6th in NBA) and have scored fewer than 100 points just once in their past seven contests. PG Stephen Curry (23.5 PPG, 7.6 APG, 5.2 RPG, 1.9 SPG) has been elite this season and still managed to put up a nice game (19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals) against Memphis despite going a mere 9-of-25 from the field; including just 1-of-10 shooting from behind the arc. He didn’t do all that well the first time he faced the Thunder this season (15 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds), but should turn things around on Thursday as he has averaged 23.2 PPG (49% FG), 6.9 APG, 4.3 RPG and 1.7 SPG over 18 career starts. SG Klay Thompson (21.7 PPG, 44% 3PM) has scored at least 20 points in all eight of his December games while doing well with his defense in that time as well with 1.3 SPG and 1.3 BPG. He was able to get 23.0 PPG (47% FG) and 4.0 RPG while hitting 14-of-27 threes (52%) in his three games facing Oklahoma City last season. SF Draymond Green (13.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG, 1.2 SPG) does a little bit of everything for the team, and has totaled 11 blocks over his past three performances. He was just 3-of-11 from the field for 10 points against the Thunder the last time they went head-to-head, but managed to fill up the rest of the stat sheet (9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal) in the victory.