The Brooklyn Nets will look to snap out of their slump this Friday when they continue their West Coast trip in this matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. Will the Nets stop their bleeding? Or, will the Blazers add to Brooklyn’s woes?
Catch this game live on Friday, November 18, at 11 AM, Manila time
Away: Brooklyn Nets (6-9/3-5 Away)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Edmond Sumner
- SG: Joe Harris
- SF: Royce O’Neale
- PF: Kevin Durant
- C: Nic Claxton
Kyrie Irving’s suspension is yet to be lifted, so Edmond Sumner is likely going to start at the point guard slot. Sumner hasn’t been too shabby over the past few games, though. In fact, in the last four Brooklyn games, Sumner has averaged 15.0 points. He had 18 points in the Nets’ 153-121 clobbering at the hands of the Sacramento Kings Wednesday.
At the end of the day, the Nets will go as far as where Kevin Durant takes them in this upcoming contest against the Blazers. Durant paces the Nets with 30.3 points per game. After the walloping they experienced at the hands of the Kings, there’s got to be that proverbial fire lit under the Nets, who are around the top 10 in the league in effective field goal percentage and field-goal shooting percentage. The Nets are 6-4 against the spread in their last 10 games versus Portland.
Home: Portland Trail Blazers (10-4/4-2 Home)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Damian Lillard
- SG: Anfernee Simons
- SF: Josh Hart
- PF: Jerami Grant
- C: Jusuf Nurkic (questionable)
The Blazers are in a much more stable condition than Brooklyn, which is busy dealing with off-court issues to go with their on-court inconsistencies. Portland is coming off a 117-110 home win against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, and won’t be needing to hit the road for this showdown with Brooklyn.
There’s an obvious reason to believe that Damian Lillard and the Blazers are going to eat offensively versus Brooklyn. The Nets just allowed Sacramento to torment them for 153 points. Prior to that, the Los Angeles Lakers roasted Brooklyn for 116 points. Brooklyn’s Swiss Cheese defense is ripe for another round of abuse, this time at the hands of Portland which is seventh in the league in effective field goal percentage and seventh third in 3-point accuracy percentage. The Blazers are 5-4 against the spread in their last nine home games.
PREDICTIONS:
Spread: The Blazers (-2.5) cover the spread.
Over/Under: The total (220.0) hits the Under.