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Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves Game Preview, Odds, Picks & Predictions
Timberwolves Look To Stay Hot
The Minnesota Timberwolves try to creep closer to the top spot in the Northwest Division when they play host to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night. Minnesota has won three straight and is five games behind the first-place Utah Jazz in the Northwest. Portland is going the other way in the standings, having dropped three in a row and falling 14 games behind the Jazz. This one could be a high-scoring affair, but let’s look a little closer to help you decide how you should bet online on it.
Trail Blazers in Middle of Ugly Run
The Portland Trail Blazers have seen a lot of personnel changes in the last couple of weeks, but they’re struggling to right the ship, having dropped three straight games by 30 or more points. Coach Chauncey Billups is having trouble putting together a consistent lineup after the trading away of guard CJ McCollum and injuries to top performers Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic.
Guard Josh Hart came to the Trail Blazers from the New Orleans Pelicans in the McCollum deal, and he’s averaged 17.5 points in his six games with Portland. Unfortunately, he’ll be on the sideline for Saturday night’s game for rest purposes.
Guard Anfernee Simons is getting more time of late and averaged 23.7 points per game in February. Simons is coming off a rough showing against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, his lowest output since January. He will be looking to make up for that in this one.
Timberwolves Putting it Together
While the Portland Trail Blazers are struggling to find scoring, it’s another story for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are coming off a 138-point outing in a rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. Minnesota is averaging 131.3 points over its current three-game winning streak, with five players scoring 16 or more points in the easy Friday win.
That came without forward Anthony Edwards, who missed his second straight game with a knee injury and is questionable for Saturday night. It’s the Minnesota bench that has made the current run possible, as the bench had 74 points in Friday’s win.
“I don’t know if I envisioned them playing this well,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said after Friday’s victory. “Every night, it seems to be a different guy who kind of like, is really driving that unit.”
Driving the entire team is center Karl-Anthony Towns, who is averaging 24.4 points and 9.5 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves in both categories. Towns, the NBA 3-point champion at All-Star Weekend, is shooting 40.8% from beyond the arc this season.
Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves Head-to-Head
The Minnesota Timberwolves have come out on top in the first two meetingswith the Portland Trail Blazers, winning by five or fewer each time. Of course, those games were both in Portland and when the Trail Blazers were a little more together as a team.
The Timberwolves are on a three-game winning streak against the Trail Blazers, though the two teams split a pair of games in Minneapolis a season ago. Still, the recent Portland struggles make this a completely different game than in the past, which makes the NBA lines for this game no surprise.
Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves Game Information
Game: Portland Trail Blazers (25-37) at Minnesota Timberwolves (35-29)
Location: Target Center
Day/Time: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET
Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves Betting Lines
Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves Prediction
The Portland Trail Blazers have a long road of rebuilding ahead, and it’s not going to get better this season. Portland seems to be playing for the future, sitting its hottest players to tank for a draft choice.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves are on a roll and looking for their first playoff appearance since 2018. Finch has his team playing as one right now, which is going to be trouble for the Trail Blazers in this one. Look for Towns to have another big game, especially with the absence of Nurkic in the Portland lineup.
When doing your NBA betting, take Minnesota to win and cover the big number at home.
