Denver vs. Portland NBA Pick

NBA Betting Trends

Denver is coming off a huge 119-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers this past Monday night as a 7.5-point home favorite. It improved to 36-22 straight-up on the year and a profitable 34-24 against the spread. The Nuggets will now take their show back on the road where they have struggled to a 12-19 record SU while going 16-15 ATS. The total went OVER the 217.5-point line against the Lakers. It has now gone OVER in six of their last seven games.

With their top scorer, Danilo Gallinari out the lineup against the Lakers, both Wilson Chandler (23 points) and Ty Lawson (22 points) picked up the slack in his absence. They may have to do it again on Wednesday night considering that Gallinari is still listed as questionable with a thigh injury. What the Nuggets really have to do in this game is try and tighten up a defense that is giving-up an average of 101.7 points a game. They have actually gone in the wrong direction by allowing 108 points or more in five of their last seven games.

The Trail Blazers’ chances to make the playoffs are starting to fade with just three SU victories in their last 10 games. They did knock-off Boston 92-86 their last time out as two-point home favorites to snap a seven-game skid, but considering they are four full games out of the eighth and final spot in the West at 26-30 SU, things do not look good. Portland has also been costly to wager on with a 2-6 ATS record in its last eight games. The total has gone OVER in eight of its last 10 contests.

LaMarcus Aldridge remains the Trail Blazers biggest scoring threat with 20.8 points a game this season. Damian Lillard is a close second with an average of 18.3 points and both Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews are chipping-in over 15 points a game, so Portland does has some potent weapons on offense. Much like the Nuggets, this team’s main problem has been on the other end of the court where it is allowing an average of 99.7 points a game.

Prediction

Right off the bat, the OVER could be the best play in this matchup no matter how high the Oddsmakers set the total line, but if you are looking to play a side stick with Denver to keep things going with another high-scoring run and gun effort.

Denver 114 Portland 108