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The Portland Trail Blazers travel to North of the border to take on the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at the Scotiabank Arena.
Red Hot On The Road Trip
The Portland Trail Blazers are red hot on their current road trip. The Blazers have won four in a row away from home and will be looking to add a fifth consecutive road victory with a win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday in Canada. Portland is 38-23 on the season and in 4th place in the Western Conference behind the Warriors, Nuggets and Thunder.
Damian Lillard leads Portland with 26.0 points and 6.4 assists per game. His backcourt partner C.J. McCollum is scoring 21.0 points and grabbing 4.8 rebounds per game. Jusuf Nurkic is having a double-double season with 15.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while Enes Kanter is contributing 12.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for Portland.
The Blazers rank 10th in the NBA in team scoring at 113.5 points per game. They are also the 3rd best rebounding team in the league at 47.8 boards per contest. Portland is
24th in passing with 22.8 assists per game and they have the 12th best scoring defense at 109.9 points per game allowed.
Trail Blazers
+175
Raptors
-205
Odds from betonline.ag as of 3/01/19
#2 in the East
After their seven-game winning streak was snapped by the Orlando Magic, the Toronto Raptors got back on track with a blowout win over the Boston Celtics in their last game. The Raptors are now 45-17 on the season and just two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference team standings. Toronto is also six games up on second placed Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
Kawhi Leonard leads the Raptors with 26.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Kyle Lowry is the top passer on the team with 9.2 dimes per contest while also scoring 14.3 points per game. Pascal Siakam is having a breakout year with 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while Serge Ibaka is helping out with 15.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest.
Treys – 17
Dimes – 33#WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/HWXpyr4hEX— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) February 27, 2019
Toronto is the 6th best scoring team in the league at 114.2 points per game. The Raptors are ranked 14h in assists at 24.9 dimes per contest and they are 16th in rebounding at 45.2 boards grabbed per contest. Toronto is the 10th best defensive team in the NBA with 108.7 points per game allowed.
Who Wins?
The Blazers are 7-3 SU in their last 10 games played and 4-2 SU in their last six road games. The Raptors are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games and Toronto is 5-2 SU in their last seven home games. Head to head, the Raptors are 6-4 SU in their last 10 games against the Blazers.
The Blazers are proving their mettle in their current road trip but what I’m worried about here is that the Blazers rely too much on their starting backcourt. Meanwhile, the Raptors have plenty of weapons at their disposal and they have even upgraded by adding Marc Gasol and Jeremy Lin. I think Toronto has too many weapons here.
Enes Kanter won’t be playing in this game because of visa issues and the Blazers are going to miss his presence against a physical team like the Raptors. Meanwhile, the Raptors aren’t reporting any injuries here so man for man, Toronto should have the advantage.
Portland beat Toronto in the first meeting between these two teams this season but the Raptors have won seven out of their last 10 overall meetings including three out of the last four. Toronto has also won its last four home games versus Portland. The Blazers have been playing well in the last five games but the Raptors have been impressive at home and have the third best home record in the entire NBA.
I’m picking the Toronto Raptors to beat the Portland Trail Blazers on 3/1/19.
Other Bets To Make
The Blazers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games played and 4-2 ATS in their last six road games. The Raptors are 4-6 ATS in their last 10 games played and are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games at home. Head to head, the Raptors are 3-1 ATS in their last four games played against the Blazers.
Trail Blazers
+5 (-110)
Raptors
-5 (-110)
Odds from betonline.ag as of 3/01/19
Portland is 18-5 ATS in their last 23 games when playing on one-day rest, 4-0 ATS in their last four road games and 5-0 ATS in their last five games overall. Toronto is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 Friday games, 1-4 ATS in their last five home games and 1-5 ATS in their last six games overall. The Raptors are 4-1 ATS in their last five games after an SU win of more than 10 points and 4-1 ATS in their last five games against an opponent with a winning percentage higher than .600. The Blazers are rolling right now but the Thunder are at home and are winning there by an average winning margin of more than 7 points per game. The trends point to Portland but I’m eating the reasonable chalk and going with the home team.
Prediction: Raptors -5
The over is 6-4 in Portland’s last 10 games played but the under is 4-2 in the Blazers’ last six road games. The under is 7-3 in the last 10 games by the Raptors and the under is 4-3 in Toronto’s last seven home games. Head to head, the over is 7-3 in their last 10 meetings.
Trail Blazers
O 227.5 -110
Raptors
U 227.5 -110
Odds from betonline.ag as of 3/01/19
The over is 10-1-1 in the Blazers’ dozen game and the total has gone over in 12 out of Portland’s last 16 games against the Eastern Conference. The over is 5-1 in Toronto’s last six Friday games, 6-2 in the last eight meetings between these two teams and the over is 5-0 in their last five meetings. These teams combined for 250 points in their first meeting of the season. These two teams have explosive offense.
Prediction: Over 227.5
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