Indiana Pacers vs. Portland Trail Blazers – 7/23/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers meet Thursday in NBA preseason action at HP Field House.

The Portland Trail Blazers lost eight of their last 12 games entering the NBA hiatus. The Portland Trail Blazers are averaging 113.6 points on 46.1 percent shooting and allowing 115.2 points on 45.1 percent shooting. Damian Lillard is averaging 28.9 points and 7.8 assists while CJ McCollum is averaging 22.5 points and 4.1 rebounds. Hassan Whiteside is the third double-digit scorer and Carmelo Anthony is grabbing 6.3 rebounds. The Portland Trail Blazers are shooting 37.2 percent from beyond the arc and 79.8 percent from the free thitem line. The Portland Trail Blazers are allowing 37.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.5 rebounds per game.

The Indiana Pacers won eight of their last 11 games entering the NBA break. The Indiana Pacers are averaging 109.3 points on 47.7 percent shooting and allowing 107.4 points on 44.8 percent shooting. TJ Warren is averaging 18.7 points and 3.9 rebounds while Domantas Sabonis is averaging 18.3 points and 4.9 assists. Malcolm Brogdon is the third double-digit scorer and Myles Turner is grabbing 6.4 rebounds. The Indiana Pacers are shooting 36.3 percent from beyond the arc and 78.7 percent from the free thitem line. The Indiana Pacers are allowing 34.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 42.8 rebounds per game.

The Indiana Pacers have overachieved up to this point and a lot of it has to do with solid coaching, so I don’t expect much to change with them. Victor Oladipo is also expected to play in these scrimmages, which provides a great boost on the offensive end. With all that said, the Portland Trail Blazers are going to be as healthy as they’ve been all season with the return of Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins. The Portland Trail Blazers were fringe title contenders entering the season and now have all of their key pieces in place to really make a run at the eighth seed in the West.

The Portland Trail Blazers are a lot more attractive now than they’ve been all year. I’ll back them and whatever the line is in this game.