The Portland Trail Blazers will give it another go against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Will the Blazers score a loud upset victory? Or, will the Warriors whip Portland anew?
Catch this game live on Thursday, December 9, at 11 AM, Manila time.
Away: Portland Trail Blazers (11-14/1-10 on the road)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Dennis Smith Jr.
- SG: Norman Powell
- SF: Tony Snell
- PF: Robert Covington
- C: Jusuf Nurkic
Things are getting worse for the Trail Blazers. There’s the fact that they are on a three-game losing skid. Apart from that, they are also dealing with numerous injuries. Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Anfernee Simons were not available in the Blazers’ 102-90 home loss to the LA Clippers last Tuesday. Lillard and Simons are questionable to play against the Warriors, while McCollum is not expected to play at least for a few games after being just diagnosed with a collapsed right lung.
Needless to say, beating the Warriors without those players is going to be an incredibly tough ask for Portland, which will be forced to give heavy minutes to the likes of Norman Powell, Jusuf Nurkic, and Dennis Smith Jr. Smith, in particular, started in the Clippers game and scored 13 points but had seven turnovers in 39 minutes. Maybe playing on a Thursday (Manila time) will bring some luck to the Blazers, who are 27-11 ATS in their last 38 Thursday games.
Home: Golden State Warriors (20-4/13-2 at home)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Stephen Curry
- SG: Jordan Poole
- SF: Andrew Wiggins
- PF: Draymond Green
- C: Kevon Looney
The Warriors are back to their winning ways. They followed up their 112-107 upset loss at Chase Center to the San Antonio Spurs last Sunday with a 126-95 decimation of the Orlando Magic at home. Stephen Curry warmed up for the rematch against Portland by dropping 31 points on the Magic, shooting 8/16 from the field and 7/13 from deep. Andrew Wiggins is also coming off a fantastic offensive performance, as he scored 28 points on 9/17 shooting to go with eight triples on 10 attempts.
Given Portland’s lack of firepower due to injuries, it’s hard to imagine the Blazers keeping up offensively with the Warriors. On the other side of the court, Portland looks like a sitting duck for Golden State’s opportunistic defense. The Warriors are no. 1 in the NBA as of this writing with just 100.6 points allowed per game and tops overall scoring margin (+13.0).
Golden State enters Thursday’s game with a 23-6-1 ATS record in their last 30 games overall.
PREDICTIONS:
Spread: Everyone’s; going to be jumping on the Warriors, as everything seems to favor them for this game. Smells like a trap. Take the Blazers to cover (+14).
Over/Under: Nurkic and Powell will keep the Blazers in a game that will be tighter than what most people expect. Expect a slower pace to be pushed by the Blazers, too. Take the Under (219.0).
