Portland Trail Blazers vs Philadelphia 76ers NBA Picks, Best Bets and Odds 11/20/2021

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trailblazers duke it out at the Moda Center on Saturday night.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been in a funk as they were riding a five-game losing streak, before arresting the slide with a 103-89 road win over the Nuggets on Thursday. Tyrese Maxey led the team with 22 points, Seth Curry added 20 points with five assists while Tobias Harris chipped in with 17 points on eight of 18 shooting. As a team, the 76ers shot 50 percent from the field and 11 of 29 from the 3-point line as they poured in 34 points in the second quarter to take a narrow lead into halftime, before holding the Nuggets to just 17 points in the third quarter to lead by as many as 22 points.

Meanwhile, the Portland Trailblazers have been in decent shape as they’ve won three of their past four games and they will be gunning for a third straight victory after outlasting the red-hot Bulls in a 112-107 home win on Wednesday. Damian Lillard led the team with 22 points and 10 assists, Jusuf Nurkic and Norman Powell each scored 18 points while Larry Nance Jr. chipped in with 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench. As a team, the Trailblazers shot 44 percent from the field and 11 of 31 from the 3-point line as they struggled in the first half and trailed by as many as 20 points in this one before taking over in the second half where they outscored the Bulls by 64-44 to escape with the unlikely victory. The win was much-needed for the Trailblazers, but it may have come at a cost as Lilliard is currently listed as day to day.

Looking at the betting trends, the 76ers are 1-4 ATS in their last five games as an underdog and 1-5 ATS in their last six games overall. The Trailblazers are 6-1 ATS in their last seven home games and 4-0 ATS in their last four games as a favorite.

Head to head, the over is 7-1 in the last eight meetings overall, the 76ers are 0-4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Portland and the 76ers are 1-6-1 ATS in the last eight meetings overall.

The 76ers did not look good at all during their five-game slide as they’ve struggled to without Joel Embiid, but they bounced back with a nice road win over the Nuggets and another win here would do just fine. The Trailblazers have come to life with three wins in their last four but they will be sweating on the availability of Lillard for this one. The Trailblazers have won seven of their eight home games so far and they haven’t played since Wednesday, but I think the shorthanded 76ers can hang around and keep it close enough to get the cover in this spot.