Social media has been in a frenzy lately after the first two games of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers.
If you’ve been paying attention to the NBA playoffs or even have a lick of simple basketball knowledge, then you would be able to see how rigged the NBA is towards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (RefGA) and the Thunder.
In the last two seasons, which includes the playoffs, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in fouls drawn by 94 (1073 fouls drawn).
Game two might go down as a top three most rigged moment in NBA history, it was actually incredibly hard to watch as a lifelong basketball fan. Whether it was the unnecessary flopping or the easy and quick whistles, it was a very hard watch.
When you have a team with as much young talent as the Thunder have, it’s a damn shame to see them ruin the game of basketball and it’s even worse to see the league and their referees allow it to happen.
With that being said, I fully believe with all of my heart that the Los Angeles Lakers will upset the Thunder in Los Angeles as an 8.5 point underdog (+290 ML) and take game three of the series, here’s how.
The NBA is weird in a lot of ways, specifically in the fact that if they mess up and mess up badly, oftentimes teams and or players will get rewarded with a good whistle. Maybe it’s not a good whistle, but you can feel a different level of energy and urgency out of a team that has been wronged the game before, especially in the playoffs.
Given the fact that this series returns to Los Angeles, a primetime Saturday night playoff game at Crypto Center is always a hot ticket that will bring in a celebrity packed crowd to watch the Lakers, it’s been like that for years now.
The Lakers, or what I should really be saying is, LeBron James, the greatest basketball player to ever step foot on the face of planet earth, debatably the greatest athlete sports has ever seen, is not going to get swept in the postseason.
In the 300 playoff games that James has played in, averaging 28.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists, James has a 3-6 record in game threes where he’s down 0-2, with a 3-5 series record overall when down 0-2.
Trends this, trends that, the bottom line is that there is great value on the Lakers moneyline in at least one of the next two games in Los Angeles and I strongly believe game three will be the lucky winner.
The Thunder took game two by a final score of 125-107, but the Lakers were down 97-92 with 8 minutes remaining before the referees started their closing act.
The Lakers have weapons, Austin Reaves (23.3 PPG in 2025) scored 31 points on 10/16 shooting in game two, was damn near assaulted all night by Thunder defenders.
Jaxson Hayes off the bench looked really good, but only managed 15 minutes as he dealt with foul trouble.
I have no secret intel on either side in this game, I’m simply a sports gambling entrepreneur that is looking at a gold mine investment opportunity, and the odds are too good to be true in my book.
If you have $100 just laying around, take the Lakers on the moneyline to win you $390 (may vary).
In all seriousness though, the NBA is on the verge of falling off a cliff if these trends continue and in my head, it makes all the sense in the world that the Lakers come out with something to prove on Saturday night, potentially having the refs whistle on their side live we’ve seen with the Thunder so far this postseason.
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