The Portland Trail Blazers play host to the Los Angeles Lakers at the Moda Center on Wednesday night.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been in a slump as they’ve lost five of their past seven games and they will be hoping to bounce back after getting routed by the Bucks in a 131-116 home loss last night. LeBron James led the team with 27 points and eight assists, Anthony Davis added 22 points with nine rebounds and four assists, while Malik Monk chipped in with 20 points and five assists. As a team, the Lakers shot 51 percent from the field and 10 of 32 from the 3-point line, but they weren’t switched on defensively and it cost them big as they never had a chance after allowing 78 points in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers have been in a major slump as they’ve lost eight of their past nine games and they will be hoping to arrest a six-game slide after getting routed by the Magic in a 113-95 home loss last night. Anfernee Simons led the team with 19 points and five assists, Greg Brown added 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench while Jusuf Nurkic chipped in with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot just 35 percent from the field and 11 of 38 from the 3-point line as they allowed the Magic off to a quick start and were always fighting an uphill battle after getting outscored by 30-19 in the second quarter to fall behind by 15 points going into halftime.
Looking at the betting trends, the Lakers are 5-0 ATS in their last five games playing on zero days’ rest and 6-1 ATS in their last seven games against a team below .400. The Trail Blazers are 1-4 ATS in their last five games playing on zero days’ rest, 5-13 ATS in their last 18 home games and 0-5 ATS in their last five games overall.
Head to head, the under is 5-1 in the last six meetings overall, the Lakers are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings overall and the Lakers are 6-1 ATS in the last seven meetings in Portland.
The Lakers will again be shorthanded as Kendrick Nunn, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony are all out, while the Trail Blazers will again be missing Nassir Little and there’s a cloud hanging over the newly acquired players in Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Josh Hart and Eric Bledsoe. The Lakers have been well below their best lately and they will be disappointed with their defensive effort against the Bucks last night, so I’m expecting them to come out firing in this one. The Lakers are 6-1 ATS in the last seven meetings in Portland and I think that trend continues as the Lakers get the much-needed win and cover in this one.