Late Night Sunday Betting – Portland Trailblazers vs. Denver Nuggets
by Tim Furious
What a great way to end your betting weekend. Whether you’re ahead or playing chaser, the Portland-Denver tilt will be a great game. Since they’ve split their last 10 meetings, and the matchups call for scoring, scoring and more scoring, you know that this game is going in the OVER. Will this be Brandon Roy’s game, or Melo’s?
While Denver is firmly in control of its playoff destiny, Portland is battling for its life. Brandon Roy has returned from injury, but he hasn’t been the game changing player that Portland needs. So far this month, he’s averaging over 23.5 points per game, but without a significant low-post presence to pad the scoring, Brandon Roy needs to get his average in the 26.5+ range it hovered around earlier this year.
No team has been hammered worse by injuries than the Portland Trailblazers. It’s one thing to have ghosts of Kevin Garnett walking around the court. It’s completely different when the supposed future of your franchise, which in Portland’s case is Greg Oden, lost again to injury.
While his replacement, Marcus Camby, has been a defensive stalwart, he hasn’t been able to get buckets the same way Oden can. Camby has 3.3 points per game in 7 appearances with the Blazers so far, but has been a force in rebounding and blocks.
What will play to Portland’s advantage is the three days of rest they’ll have when they visit Denver on Sunday. The oddsmakers have had plenty of trouble pinning the Blazers down on the betting line, and as such the Blazers have gone an awkward 2-1-2 ATS in their past 5 road games. Even more befuddling, they’re just 2-2-1 ATS in their past 5 games overall.
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets
Sunday, March 7th --- Pepsi Center --- 10:30pm EST
NBA Betting Record: Denver is 6-4 ATS Against Portland
The last time these teams met was on Christmas day and Portland won decisively 107-96 covering a 3-point line at home. They’re a harsh 3-2 ATS when playing at home in their last 5 home stands because they should be blowing teams out of the water at the Pepsi Center.
But the Nuggets are a team that can only really thrive when they have surefire momentum going their way. Portland in the past has found ways to penetrate Denver’s sordid defense and with Marcus Camby motivated to play a team that dealt him away for nothing (seriously, the Nuggets literally gave him to the Clippers) this will be a game where Portland gives the Denver betting fans a serious headache.
NBA Betting Prediction: Portland 98 Denver 92
