The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves square off for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Timberwolves are 5.5-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under is set at 228.5 (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our NBA odds page). 

Before making any Thunder vs. Timberwolves picks, you NEED to check out the NBA predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past four-plus seasons. The model enters the 2023 NBA Play-in Tournament a stunning 71-36 on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning more than $3,000. Anyone following it has seen HUGE returns!

The model knows Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a downhill scorer with superb length. Gilgeous-Alexander gets into the lane with ease and can absorb contact at the rim. He was fourth in the NBA in scoring (31.4) with 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. In Wednesday's win over the Pelicans, Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 32 points, five rebounds, and three assists.

The model also knows Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns has been a smooth offensive threat. Towns uses his jumper to space the floor and is a consistent rebounder in the paint. The Kentucky product logged 20.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per contest. In his last outing versus the Lakers, Towns had 24 points, 11 boards, and five assists. 

Now, it has set its sights on Thunder vs. Timberwolves. We can tell you the model is leaning Under on the point total, and it also says one side of the spread hits in almost 60% of simulations! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any NBA picks.

So who wins Thunder vs. Timberwolves? And which side of the spread hits almost 60% of the time? Join SportsLine now to find out, all from the model that has crushed its top-rated NBA picks against the spread!