Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers – 8/18/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers meet Tuesday in game one of NBA playoff action at the AdventHealth Arena.

The Portland Trail Blazers enter the playoffs winning seven of their last nine games. The Portland Trail Blazers are averaging 115.1 points on 46.2 percent shooting and allowing 116.2 points on 45.6 percent shooting. Damian Lillard is averaging 30 points and eight assists while CJ McCollum is averaging 22.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. Jusuf Nurkic is the third double-digit scorer and Hassan Whiteside is grabbing 13.5 rebounds. The Portland Trail Blazers are shooting 37.7 percent from beyond the arc and 80.5 percent from the free thitem line. The Portland Trail Blazers are allowing 38.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.2 rebounds per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers enter the playoffs losing six of their last nine games. The Los Angeles Lakers are averaging 113.4 points on 48 percent shooting and allowing 107.6 points on 44.8 percent shooting. Anthony Davis is averaging 26.1 points and 9.3 rebounds while LeBron James is averaging 25.3 points and 10.2 assists. Kyle Kuzma is the third double-digit scorer and Dion Waiters is grabbing 1.9 rebounds. The Los Angeles Lakers are shooting 34.9 percent from beyond the arc and 72.9 percent from the free thitem line. The Los Angeles Lakers are allowing 34.9 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.7 rebounds per game.

The Trail Blazers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog, 8-17 ATS in their last 25 Tuesday games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 2 days rest. The Lakers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 Tuesday games, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a favorite and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The over is 25-8 in Trail Blazers last 33 overall. The over is 4-1 in Lakers last 5 games as a favorite. The Trail Blazers are 19-7 ATS in the last 26 meetings in Los Angeles and 46-22 ATS in the last 68 meetings.

Many are going to argue the Lakers have been focused on the playoffs, which explains the sloppy play, and LeBron always finds a second gear in the postseason. You should see a better version of the Lakers. However, that doesn’t change that the Lakers have lost five of their last eight games as a favorite and they don’t have a ton of depth on their roster. The Portland Trail Blazers come into this series playing hot, confident basketball and are the deeper team in this series. The Trail Blazers are also 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games as an underdog. This isn’t your typical 1-8 matchup and you should expect a long series, where I wouldn’t be surprised if Portland ends up advancing. That’s a convo for another day.

Give me the Trial Blazers and the points for game one.