Toronto Raptors vs. Portland Trail Blazers – 7/26/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Predictionando

The Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors meet Sunday in NBA preseason action at VISA Athletic Center.

The Portland Trail Blazers are coming off an upset loss to the Indiana Pacers in their first scrimmage game. The Portland Trail Blazers are averaging 113.6 points on 46.1 percent shooting and allowing 115.2 points on 45.1 percent shooting. Damian Lillard is averaging 28.9 points and 7.8 assists while CJ McCollum is averaging 22.5 points and 4.1 rebounds. Hassan Whiteside is the third double-digit scorer and Carmelo Anthony is grabbing 6.3 rebounds. The Portland Trail Blazers are shooting 37.2 percent from beyond the arc and 79.8 percent from the free thitem line. The Portland Trail Blazers are allowing 37.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.5 rebounds per game.

The Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets by 11 points in their first NBA scrimmage game. The Toronto Raptors are averaging 113 points on 45.8 percent shooting and allowing 106.5 points on 42.9 percent shooting. Pascal Siakam is averaging 23.6 points and 7.5 rebounds while Kyle Lowry is averaging 19.7 points and 7.7 assists. Fred VanVleet is the third double-digit scorer and Serge Ibaka is grabbing 8.3 rebounds. The Toronto Raptors are shooting 37.1 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free thitem line. The Toronto Raptors are allowing 33.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.2 rebounds per game.

The Portland Trail Blazers lost to a Pacers team that’s banged up, and considering they’re pretty much at full  strength themselves, it’s not exactly the greatest sign despite it being a meaningless scrimmage game. The Toronto Raptors were probably the most impressive team through the first scrimmage by beating up on a Rockets team that hopes to make a deep playoff run. The Toronto Raptors held the Rockets to 37.7 percent shooting from the field and forced 20 turnovers. After seeing the Portland Trail Blazers in their first game, I’m a little less confident about this club and am wondering if they’re going to be the same disappointing team they were throughout the entire regular season. The Toronto Raptors looked a little more polished out there on the court.

I’ll side with the Raptors in this preseason contest.