Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Clippers NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/20/21

The Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trailblazers duke it out at the Moda Center on Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been in red-hot form as they’ve won eight of their past nine games and they will be looking to stay hot after routing the Timberwolves in a 124-105 home win on Sunday. Paul George led the team with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Marcus Morris added 19 points while Kawhi Leonard chipped in with 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. As a team, the Clippers shot 50 percent from the field and a sizzling 21 of 42 from the 3-point line as they exploded for 43 points in the second quarter to take a 19-point lead into halftime, before holding the Timberwolves to just 16 points in the third quarter to push the margin out to 38 points.

Meanwhile, the Portland Trailblazers have been in a rut as they’ve lost six of their past nine games and they will be hoping to bounce back after falling short against the Hornets in a 109-101 road loss on Sunday. Carmelo Anthony led the team in scoring with 24 points on eight of 19 shooting, CJ McCollum added 22 points with six assists while Norman Powell chipped in with 17 points. As a team, the Trailblazers shot just 39 percent from the field and 10 of 36 from the 3-point line, but the problem was their defense as they were always fighting an uphill battle after allowing the Hornets to explode for 44 points in the first quarter. The Trailblazers fell behind by as many as 29 points and didn’t make any ground until the fourth quarter once the game was out of reach.

Looking at the betting trends, the Clippers are 4-0-1 ATS in their last five road games, 4-0 ATS in their last four games against a team with a winning record and 15-5-1 ATS in their last 21 games overall. The Trailblazers are 2-5 ATS in their last seven home games, 0-6 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record and 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall.

Head to head, the under is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Portland, the Clippers are 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings in Portland and the Clippers are 5-0 ATS in the last five meetings overall. 

Damian Lillard will miss his third straight contest due to a hamstring injury, so it’s going to be up to McCollum and Powell to pick up the slack against a red-hot Clippers team who have been running through teams lately. The line seems a little hefty and my initial thought was to take the Trailblazers with the points, but struggled to keep pace with the Hornets on Sunday and I think they’re really going to struggle against the Clippers in this spot.