Boston Celtics (12-10) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (11-12)
December 4, 2021 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: Portland Trail Blazers +1.5; Over/Under: +217
(Get latest betting odds)
The Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers collide at the Moda Center on Saturday night.
The Boston Celtics have been in good form as they’ve win five of their past eight games, but they will be hoping to bounce back here after having their two-game win streak halted by the Jazz in a 137-130 road loss last night. Jayson Tatum led the team with 37 points, six rebounds and five assists, Dennis Schroder added 26 points on 10 of 21 shooting while Al Horford tallied 21 points with six rebounds and nine assists. As a team, the Celtics shot 52 percent from the field and 14 of 39 from the 3-point line as they rallied back from an early 14-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, only to come up just short as the Jazz closed the final 3:05 on an 18-10 run to snatch the game from them.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers have been in a real funk as they’ve lost four of their past five games and they will be hoping to bounce back after getting blown out by the Spurs in a 114-83 home loss on Thursday. Norman Powell and CJ McCollum each scored 16 points, Ben McLemore scored 11 points, while Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic each scored 10 points, but no other player finished in double figures. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot just 35 percent from the field and 12 of 34 from the 3-point line as they struggled right from the start and fell behind by 21 points at halftime and things only got worse in the second half where they managed just 36 points. Powell shot just three of 13 from the field while Anfernee Simons finished scoreless on zero of three shooting.
Looking at the betting trends, the Celtics are 6-2 ATS in their last eight road games, 4-1 ATS in their last five games playing on zero days’ rest and 4-1 ATS in their last five road games against a team with a winning home record.
Head to head, the over is 4-0 in the last four meetings overall and the Celtics are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Portland.
The Celtics have been in great shape, but they will be gutted after coming up just short against the red-hot Jazz last night. The Trail Blazers haven’t been able to build any momentum lately and they just got routed by the Spurs in their own building. The Portland are already without Damian Lillard and they will also be without Anfernee Simons, so I think I’m sticking with the Celtics to bounce back in a close one here.
