NBA Free
Pick | Trail Blazers at Celtics
Portland is
working its way out of a slump that saw the Trail Blazers lose seven of eight
games. The Blazers did win two in a row prior to a Friday night matchup with
the Nets.
They will
continue their East Coast trip with a game in Boston on Sunday night. Portland
is currently seventh in the Western Conference and would love nothing more than
to overtake Dallas for sixth and avoid the NBA
play-in tournament.
To do so,
the Trail Blazers will have to do something they are very good at - start
quickly.
Game:
Portland Trail Blazers (34-28, 31-31 ATS) at Boston Celtics (33-30, 31-32 ATS)
When:
7:30 PM ET, Sunday, May 2, 2021
Where:
TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Current
Line: OFF Total:
OFF
TV Coverage:
NBATV
Getting
Back on Track
Portland
won its last two games over Memphis and Indiana after losing five straight. The
Trail Blazers are now one game behind Dallas in the race for sixth place in the
West. A look at the NBA
basketball odds will show a tight race.
In beating
Memphis 130-109, Portland got off to a quick start building a 15-point first
quarter lead. C.J. McCollum hit a long three-pointer with 5:10 to play in the
opening period to put Portland up 21-13. The Blazers went on to score 38
first-quarter points.
That is
nothing new for Portland. The Trail Blazers lead the NBA in first-quarter
points averaging 31.0 per game. Overall, the Blazers are one of the league’s
more prolific teams averaging 115.9 points a game, which is tied for fifth.
We crushed
the bookie when we took the UNDER in our Raptors
at Knicks free pick! You gotta go take a look.
Lord
Damian
One of the
reasons for Portland’s high-scoring offense is guard Damian Lillard who
averages 28.2 points per game which puts him fourth in the NBA. McCollum adds
23.3 per game.
With all
that scoring, one would think the Over is a good play in Portland games. That
thought is a pretty good one considering the Over is 33-29 in Blazers games
this year. However, more recently the Under is 8-4 in Portland’s last 12 games.
Portland
will be playing in Boston, which is 10th in scoring defense. The Celtics have
been up and down winning eight of their last 12, but they had a streak of five
straight wins only to follow later on with a streak of three straight losses.
In looking
at totals in Boston games, their last three have gone Over. The three games
before that went Under.
NBA Race
to 20 Points
Neither
team is all that great against the spread either. Portland is 31-31 ATS and
Boston is 30-32-1 ATS.
What are
bettors to do? Well, go back to Portland and how they start fast. Remember,
they average 31 points in the first quarter.
Boston is
actually one of the poorer first-quarter scoring teams in the league. The
Celtics average 27.5 points in the opening period. That ranks 24th among all
NBA teams.
When
Portland faces teams that rank in the bottom half of the league in first-quarter
scoring, they tend to win the NBA
Race to 20 Points. They won in their last two games
against Memphis which ranks 18th in first-quarter scoring.
With too
much volatility in betting the spread or the total, take the Blazers to win the
Race to 20 Points.
NBA Free
Pick: TRAIL BLAZERS Race to 20 Points
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