Russell Westbrook has obviously been setting a furious pace this season, and he may be able to do something no one in the NBA has accomplished in 55 seasons. It really is the best thing the Oklahoma City Thunder has going for them right now, as they get ready to play the Portland Trail Blazers in a 10:35 PM ET start at the Moda Center in Portland. This game will be televised live by ESPN, and BetAnySports customers know that even if they miss the opening tip, they can be very much involved in the action, as they access the state-of-the-art software available through Live Betting Ultra.

Westbrook is averaging a triple-double this season, and that has not been done in the NBA since Oscar Robertson, who accomplished that in his second season for the Cincinnati Royals in the 1961-62 campaign. Until his last two games, when he's had nine rebounds, he was on a streak of seven triple-doubles in a row. And aside from leading the league in scoring with his 31.1-point average, he is also second in assists and tenth in rebounding, which is kind of incredible for a 6-3 guard.

In a way, this level of participation was made necessary with the departure of Kevin Durant, who left as a free agency for the greener pastures of the Golden State Warriors. And the Thunder, who have won seven of their last eight games (going 6-1-1 against the basketball pointspread during this time) are sitting with a 15-8 record, which is very good, though not enough to give them home court advantage in a first-round playoff series if the season ended today.

In the NBA basketball betting odds posted on this game by the people at BetAnySports, the Blazers are slightly favored:

Portland Trail Blazers -1.5
Oklahoma City Thunder +1.5

Over 218 points -110
Under 218 points -110

So why are the Trail Blazers laying points to such an awesome force as Westbrook? Well, part of it involves the man whose absence would cause a few problems for the Thunder at both ends of the floor. Victor Oladipo, the incredibly athletic guard they acquired from Orlando in a trade that sent Serge Ibaka over to the Magic, is the team's second-leading scorer with 16 points per game. And he is also a valuable perimeter defender. But he went up to contest a shot against Boston on Sunday and came down on his wrist, spraining it. And his status is iffy at best. That comes into play in a big way here.

And that is because this shaped up to be a real "strength vs. strength" matchup in the backcourt. BetAnySports patrons obviously know that the Blazers have that stellar guard combo of Damien Lillard, who can do a pretty good Westbrook imitation some nights, and CJ McCollum, who was the NBA's most improved player last season. These guys have combined to score over 50 points a game, and with Oladipo in the game, at least Westbrook would get something of a break from guarding them, with Andre Robertson, the defensive stalwart, available.

But when there is one less player in there, that serves to take some energy away from Westbrook, or, more likely, detracts from the overall defensive effort, because after all, the guy is looking to get his numbers. Not to be discounted either is that OKC is compromised in terms of the number of genuine offensive options it has on hand. General manager Sam Presti hasn't exactly built a deep roster. So we'll see more offensive involvement from Enes Kanter, whose Usage figure is second-highest on this team to Westbrook's bloated 41.4. But Kanter is not a highly-regarded defender, leading us to look "over" in this one

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