A potential NBA Finals preview headlines Thursday’s NBA schedule as the Boston Celtics visit the Oklahoma City Thunder. Boston (43-22) is second in the Eastern Conference standings but is coming off a 125-116 Tuesday loss to San Antonio. OKC (51-15) has the league’s best record, is riding a six-game win streak and most recently knocked off Denver, 129-126, on Monday. Jayson Tatum (Achilles) and Derrick White (knee) are questionable for Boston, while Jalen Williams (hamstring) is out for Oklahoma City.

Tipoff is at 9:30 p.m. ET from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. This is the teams’ first matchup this season, while the Thunder swept last year’s series. The latest Thunder vs. Celtics odds from DraftKings Sportsbook have OKC as 6.5-point favorites, while the over/under for total points scored is 217.5. Before making any Celtics vs. Thunder picks, check out the NBA predictions and betting advice from the SportsLine Projection Model.

New users can target the DraftKings promo code, which offers $200 in bonus bets instantly after any $5+ bet:

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past eight-plus seasons. The model entered Week 21 on a sizzling 42-19 roll on top-rated NBA spread picks dating back to last season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.    

Now, the model has simulated Thunder vs. Celtics 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Celtics vs. Thunder:

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Top Celtics vs. Thunder predictions

After 10,000 simulations of Thunder vs. Celtics, SportsLine’s model is going Over on the total (216.5). The total has been very much one-sided in recent matchups between these two teams. Across their last nine meetings, the Over is 8-1. Six of their last seven matchups have far surpassed Thursday’s NBA spread as those six have all seen at least 230 combined points. Additionally, both teams surpassed the O/U in their most recent games this season.

Both squads rank in the top five in offensive rating thanks to elite efficiency. These two teams commit the fewest turnover per game as most possessions end with shot attempts rather than turnovers. Each team is projected to allow at least 4 more points than its season average due to the caliber of the opponents they’re facing. That allows the teams to combine for 225 points, per the simulations, as the Over is reached 60% of the time.

How to make Thunder vs. Celtics picks

The model also says one side of the spread hits over 60% of the time in an A-rated pick. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s NBA picks. 

So who wins Celtics vs. Thunder, and which side of the spread hits over 60% of the time in an A-rated pick? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Thunder vs. Celtics spread to back, all from the model that has returned well over $10,000 on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.

Rashid Khan fired a superb six-under 66 on the opening day to take the early lead.© PGTI

The small auditorium in a working-class neighborhood of Barcelona is packed with people listening to a middle-aged man in a suit tell them why he deserves their vote. There are campaign posters, a jingle blaring over loudspeakers, television cameras, lots of handshakes and selfies, and, of course, a stump speech full of pledges as well as barbs for the rival candidate. But this is not about deciding the town’s next mayor or filling a seat in a national legislature. This election campaign is to determine who will earn the job of running FC Barcelona, one of the world’s top soccer clubs, during one of its most turbulent periods as it struggles to emerge from a mountain of debt.

Barça (pronounced “Barsa” in English) is proud of its slogan of being “more than a club” for its attractive soccer, its connection with Catalan culture, and backing humanitarian causes.

But what really makes Barça stand out from other globally followed sports teams is the fact that it is owned by 114,000 due-paying club members, not a billionaire or some energy-rich Middle Eastern states like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

Those Barça club members are all called to cast votes on Sunday in Barcelona and three other cities in northeastern Spain, as well as neighboring Andorra, to pick the club’s next president and executive board.

“I really like the elections. It makes me feel part of the club. My father was a Barça supporter since I was a little girl. I’ve lived and loved Barça since I was little,” 96-year-old Rosa Capdevila, cane in hand, said at the recent event held by incumbent Joan Laporta.

Many voters, however, believe that their choice of president, who acts as a CEO of the club, will prove crucial to the future of Barça’s rare ownership model, which is threatened by the highest debt burden of any soccer club in the world, a staggering 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion).

Real Madrid is also member-owned, but president Florentino Pérez has presided over the club for all but three years of this century without any serious opposition. More comparable to Barça’s democratic model are fellow Spanish clubs Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna, and Portuguese majors Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon, which have leadership elections, while not holding the same rank as Barça does as an elite soccer club.

The election will hinge on voters’ views of how Laporta ran the club for the last five years under considerable financial strain.

Laporta, who successfully presided over Barça from 2003-2010 during the glory years of coach Pep Guardiola and a young Lionel Messi, returned to the office in 2021 and inherited some 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in debt due to the lavish spending of his predecessor and the impact on revenues of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laporta, 63, has repeatedly said that the club was ruined when he came back and that is a “miracle” it is still in the hands of its club members, instead of having been sold off to third-party investors, a move that its club members consider anathema.

But many members are critical of Laporta’s decision to sell some club’s assets, in moves he dubbed “financial levers,” including selling 25% of its Spanish league TV rights for the next 25 years, to generate quick cash for immediate needs and to sign new players.

Laporta’s push to finance a long-overdue renovation of the club’s Camp Nou, the largest soccer stadium in Europe, has only bloated the debt amount even further.

“These elections are very important because Barça in highly indebted,” club member Josep Maria Carbonell said at another campaign event. “So we need new blood to help put the club’s finances in order, because if it is economically sound the rest will follow.”

Víctor Font is Laporta’s only rival in the election after the other possible candidates dropped out for lack of support. Font, a local businessman, lost to Laporta in 2021 and has been preparing for a rematch ever since.

Font told The AP that he fears that Laporta will end up inviting in a big-time investor to become an owner, thus destroying its members-owned model.

Font envisions Laporta “asking to sell some 10 percent to an investment fund, so we can sort out our financial problems, and perhaps buy a great player.

“That risk is real. That is why it is so important to make a change in these elections,” he said.

Pérez announced last year that Real Madrid is considering allowing outside investors to buy a stake of up to 10% in the club.

Laporta vehemently denies that he is going to follow the same path as Pérez. Among his campaign pledges is the promise to reform the club statutes to include a requirement that any sale of the club, even partial, would have to be approved by members in a referendum.

He argues that the new-look Camp Nou stadium with more seating and other sources of income will boost revenues, thus making economic sense in the long term.

He also defends his financial management by highlighting the club has lowered its spending on player wages and boosted its merchandising sales. Barcelona generated the second-highest revenue for world soccer last season, some 974 million euros, only behind rival Real Madrid, according to Deloitte’s yearly Money League survey.

Laporta’s detractors point to his record of promises that didn’t pan out. In his first campaign back in 2003, Laporta promised to bring a still-young David Beckham from Manchester United, only for the English star to choose Real Madrid. Then in 2021 Laporta said he would find a way to keep Lionel Messi on the team, but once elected he said the club couldn’t afford to keep its star player.

In Laporta’s favor come Sunday are the trophies the team has won in recent years, including last season’s La Liga and Copa del Rey titles and the multiple successes of its women’s team, along with the discovery of a new star player in Lamine Yamal.

Laporta has proven campaign experience both from the world of soccer and also from a brief spell when he was elected to Catalonia’s regional parliament between his stints as club president.

He is now asking voters to let him finish the job he started “to save Barça,” while warning that Font lacks a deep sentimental connection to the club.

“We cannot leave Barça in the hands of a technocrat who understands Barça looking at his computer,” Laporta said about Font. “He hasn’t got Barça in his head or in his heart.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Democratic Republic of Congo have named their 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup intercontinental play-offs, leaving out two players who were highlighted in a formal complaint by the Nigeria Football Federation, a move that adds a new twist to an eligibility dispute still pending with FIFA.

Head coach Sébastien Desabre confirmed the squad on Wednesday, keeping the core group that beat Nigeria on penalties in the African play-off round, while recalling several players who had not featured in the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Captain Chancel Mbemba will lead the team, joined by experienced players including Cedric Bakambu, Yoane Wissa and Samuel Moutoussamy, as DR Congo aim for a second World Cup appearance.

The omission of Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Mario Stroeykens is notable, as both were named in Nigeria’s complaint over alleged eligibility breaches. Only Matheu Epolo, the third player mentioned in the petition, has been included in the new squad.

Nigeria lodged their complaint after losing the African play-off tie 4–3 on penalties, arguing that DR Congo had secured nationality switches for several overseas-born players at short notice. The petition suggested that some players were called up before FIFA had formally cleared them to represent the country.

Balikwisha had made his debut against Nigeria and scored in the penalty shoot-out, while Stroeykens missed his chance due to injury. Epolo only made his debut a day after Nigeria’s complaint became public.

Their absence from the new squad has sparked speculation that the Congolese federation may be seeking to avoid further scrutiny while FIFA continues to review the case.

Despite the controversy, DR Congo appear confident heading into the intercontinental play-offs. The omission of the two players has kept the eligibility dispute alive, even as the decisive matches in Guadalajara and Monterrey draw near.

The situation leaves Nigeria’s protest unresolved, with no indication yet from FIFA that the result of the African play-off will be overturned, keeping the controversy at the centre of attention as DR Congo prepare for the next stage of World Cup qualification.

Malik Willis has only thrown 155 passes over the course of his NFL career, but the last 89 of them came in front of Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley and General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and they helped convince Miami to sign him to a three-year contract this week.

Willis delivered most of those passes in three Packers starts — Hafley and Sullivan were in Green Bay before being hired this January — in place of Jordan Love and his success in that role gives Willis a shot at a longer stay in the starting lineup. Willis’s first chance in that role came with the Titans as a rookie and his results were not as good as they were the last two years.

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Willis was asked at a Thursday press conference about waiting for another chance in that role and why he thinks he’s better suited for it this time.

“I don’t think I put a timeline on it,” Willis said, via Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald. “It happened when I was prepared. I think when I came into the league I wasn’t prepared. That’s not a knock towards my coaches or myself, that’s just what it was coming from the system I came from. I’ve had a chance to learn the last four years since I’ve been in the league — been through four different offenses, seen a bunch of different defenses and think I’ve grown a lot. Grateful for the opportunity once again.”

The Dolphins are betting that Willis’s production will translate from a sample size to a full serving well enough to make him the latest quarterback to blossom after making multiple moves around the league.

Super Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi will once again miss out when Nottingham Forest face FC Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.

Forest will aim to take a step closer to the quarter-finals when they host the Danish side in the first leg at the City Ground. The English club will be hoping to gain an early advantage before the return leg.

The Premier League side have two Nigerian players in their squad — Awoniyi and Ola Aina — but only Aina is expected to feature in the match.

Awoniyi has not played in Forest’s Europa League matches this season. During the league phase of the competition, the Nigerian forward missed all the games because of injury problems.

Although he regained full fitness earlier this year and was available around the time of the round of 16 play-off against Fenerbahce, he was not included in the squad.

Ahead of the clash with Midtjylland, it has now been confirmed that Awoniyi will again be unavailable.

Checks on the club’s official squad list on the UEFA website show that the Nigerian striker was not registered for the Europa League for the rest of the season. Instead, Forest included other attacking options such as Chris Wood, Igor Jesus and Lorenzo Lucca.

Under UEFA regulations, clubs are not allowed to add new players to the competition squad at this stage of the tournament, meaning Awoniyi cannot take part for the remainder of the campaign.

Since the arrival of Forest manager Vitor Pereira in mid-February, Awoniyi has struggled for playing time and has featured for only about 20 minutes.

The Nigerian forward will hope his situation improves soon, but if he continues to find opportunities limited, a move away from the club during the summer transfer window could become a possibility. ⚽