The set-up: The 35-26 Oklahoma City Thunder lost 114-109 last night in Portland and now visit the 19-42 Phoenix Suns, who scored 120 points last night at home in beating the Hornets by 17 points. The Thunder are battling the Jazz for first-place in the Northwest Division (OKC currently trails by two games), while the Suns are going head-to-head with the Lakers (also 19-42), to see which team finishes with the West's worst record (will the loser actually WIN in that race?).

Oklahoma City: Russell Westbrook (31.4-10.6-10.1) just may match the Big O's triple-double season of 196-62 but his 45-point effort Thursday wasn't enough as the Thunder suffered a 114-109 road loss at Portland. He's now scored 40-plus in seven of the past 15 games. However, for OKC to seriously threaten in the postseason, the Thunder will need more than Westbrook. The team's second-leading scorer, Victor Oladipo (16.1), will sit out his fifth consecutive game tonight with a back issue, which is NOT good news. Center Kanter (14.4 & 6.9) did not miss as much time as was feared and returned four games ago. He's averaged 17.7 & 9.3 the last three, which is great news. The 'wild card' for OKC's playoff hopes could be the Chicago duo of Gibson and McDermott, which OKC recently acquired. Gibson's averaged 10.0 & 4.5 and McDermott 8.8 & 4.5 in their four games.

Phoenix: The Suns ended a three-game slide by shooting a season-high 59.7 percent from the floor in Thursday's 120-103 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Six different players scored 14 or more points in a well-balanced offensive effort that also featured a defensive charge that held the Hornets to 12 fourth-quarter points. Defense is not something we see often from the Suns, who allow 112.6 PPG, ranking 29 of 30 NBA teams. The youthful but very talented backcourt duo of Bledsoe (21.2-5.0-6.4) and Booker (20.8) remain the Suns' core but center Tyson (8.4 & 11.4) and Knight (11.0), who was the first guard off the bench for most of the season, have both been benched. Neither has played at all in the last four games and the standout recently has been the 6-7 Williams, who in just under 24 minutes per game, has averaged 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in these last four. Also, rookie power forward Marquese Chriss scored a team-best 17 points last night and has now reached double digits in four of the past five contests. Backup PG Tyler Ulis played 23 minutes last night, handing out a season-high eight assists wile scoring eight points.

The pick: The Suns are playing loose and while I like the additions of Gibson and McDermott, I've never been much on either Westebrook or OKC. The Thunder are a poor road team (12-18 SU), so why play them as a road favorite? Make Phoenix an 8* play.