The Portland Trail Blazers travel to the Paycom Center to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been in strong form as they’ve won six of their last eight games overall and they will be eager to stay hot after routing the Rockets in a 107-95 road win on Saturday. Anfernee Simons led the way with 32 points on 11 of 21 shooting, Damian Lillard added 25 points with 10 assists while Jusuf Nurkic chipped in with 14 points. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot 47 percent from the field and 13 of 36 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 33 points in the first quarter, before they clamped down defensively and restricted the Rockets to just 14 points in the third quarter to lead by as many as 22 points at one stage.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be looking to build some momentum in this one after snapping an ugly five-game slide with a 115-109 win on Saturday. Luguentz Dort led the way with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Isaiah Joe added 23 points while Aaron Wiggins chipped in with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists off the bench. As a team, the Thunder shot just 41 percent from the field, but they shot an efficient 19 of 45 from the 3-point line and held the Grizzlies to just 37 percent shooting from the field to escape with the narrow win after lead by as many as 24 points in the first half.
Looking at the betting trends, the Trail Blazers are 12-5 ATS in their last 17 road games, 4-1 ATS in their last five games following a win of more than 10 points and 7-1 ATS in their last eight games overall. The Thunder are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Head to head, the under is 5-1 in the last six meetings overall and the Trail Blazers are 0-4 ATS in the last four meetings overall.
The Trail Blazers could be missing a few players here as Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic are both questionable, while the Thunder will definitely be shorthanded as Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are all out. The Trail Blazers have quietly been one of the form teams of the league since Lillard returned to the lineup and they really shouldn’t have too much trouble against a depleted Thunder team mired in a five-game skid. Yes, the Trail Blazers could be missing a couple players, but give me the Trail Blazers to get the win and cover in this spot.