Minnesota Timberwolves vs Portland Trail Blazers 1/4/23 NBA Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Portland Trail Blazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves do battle at the Target Center on Wednesday night.

The Portland Trail Blazers have been in fine form as they’ve won six of their last 11 games overall and they will be looking to stay hot after routing the Pistons in a 135-106 win on Monday. Jerami Grant led the way with 36 points on 12 of 17 shooting, Anfernee Simons added 30 points on 11 of 18 shooting while Damian Lillard tallied 19 points with 10 assists and four steals. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot 57 percent from the field and 14 of 31 from the 3-point line as they got off to a slow start, but they took control with 39 points in the second quarter to take the lead into halftime, before they exploded for 74 points in the second half to make it a complete blowout in the end.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been in a funk as they’ve lost nine of their last 13 games overall, but they will be feeling better after putting an end to a six-game slide after getting stopped by the Nuggets in a 124-111 home win on Monday. Anthony Edwards led the team with 29 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Jaden McDaniels added 21 points on nine of 10 shooting while Kyle Anderson chipped in with 10 points and eight assists. As a team, the Timberwolves shot 51 percent from the field and 13 of 36 from the 3-point line as they poured in 36 points in the second quarter to take the narrow lead, before they went on a pivotal 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter to take a double-digit lead.

Looking at the betting trends, the Trail Blazers are 0-4 ATS in their last four road games and 0-4 ATS in their last four games playing on one days rest. The Timberwolves are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games following a win of more than 10 points and 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall.

Head to head, the over is 17-7 in the last 24 meetings in Minnesota, the Trail Blazers are 0-5 ATS in the last five meetings in Minnesota and the Trail Blazers are 43-19-2 ATS in the last 64 meetings overall.

The Trail Blazers should have Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup for this one as he is listed as probable, but they are keeping an eye on Gary Payton II who is questionable due to a right ankle sprain. The Timberwolves are sweating on the availability of Taurean Prince and Naz Reid who are both questionable for this one while Karl-Anthony Towns is still out. The Trail Blazers come in as the team in better shape and they looked great in their big win over the Pistons on Monday. The Timberwolves were looking terrible before their upset win over the red-hot Nuggets, so they will be full of confidence for this one, but I’m not going to overreact to one good game when they played so poorly in the six games prior. With that being said, I’ll lean towards the Trail Blazers in what should be a close one.