The Portland Trail Blazers play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Moda Center on Tuesday night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been on a nice run lately as they’ve won seven of their past 10 games overall and they will be looking to stay hot after taking down the Nets in a 136-125 home win on Sunday. Anthony Edwards led the team with 25 points, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell each scored 23 points while Jaylen Nowell chipped in with 16 points on six of nine shooting off the bench. As a team, the Timberwolves shot 52 percent from the field and 14 of 32 from the 3-point line as they hit the ground running and poured in 73 points in the first half to take the early lead, before trading baskets in the second half to keep the Nets at bay.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers have been in great shape as they’ve won six of their past nine games and they will be aiming for a third straight victory after taking down the Raptors in a 114-105 road win on Sunday. Nassir Little, CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons each scored 19 points while Ben McLemore drained five 3-pointers to finish with 17 points off the bench. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot 52 percent from the field and 18 of 32 from the 3-point line but you can credit this win to their defensive effort as they held the Raptors to just 34 points in the first half to lead by as many as 34 points, before holding on for the narrow win after their lead was cut to just four points with 1:24 remaining.
Looking at the betting trends, the Timberwolves are 0-4 ATS in their last four road games, 11-4 ATS in their last 15 games against a team with a losing record and 2-6 ATS in their last eight games following a win. The Trail Blazers are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 home games, 1-5 ATS in their last six home games following a road trip of seven or more days and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall.
Head to head, the under is 11-3-1 in the last 15 meetings in Portland, the Timberwolves are 7-21-2 ATS in the last 30 meetings in Portland and the Timberwolves are 17-40-2 ATS in the last 59 meetings overall.
The Timberwolves will be sweating on the availability of Patrick Beverley who is currently listed as questionable for this one, while the Trail Blazers will again be without Damian Lillard, Cody Zeller and Larry Nance Jr. The Timberwolves have been playing some of their best basketball of the season and they will be full of confidence after beating the shorthanded Nets on Sunday. The Trail Blazers have been in pretty good form themselves and they’re going to be buoyed by the returns of Robert Covington and Nassir Little. You can make an argument for either side, but I’m sticking with the Timberwolves to stay hot with another win and cover in this one.