After stinging the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, the New Orleans Hornets will try and do the same to the Trail Blazers in Portland. Tonight's game is set to tip-off at 10:00 PM ET in the Rose Garden in Portland.
When the NBA lines were first released, the Blazers had been installed as -8.5 point NBA betting favorites with the
total at 184.5. Currently, NBA odds boards have lifted the matchup's total to 186 while the spread has fallen to 8 points.
Are these numbers moving in our favor, or are we loosing value with our NBA picks? Lets go over this matchup and decide.
Wednesday night in Oakland, New Orleans (13-37
SU, 24-26 ATS) notched just its eighth road win beating Golden State
102-87. Marco Belinelli scored 22 points and handed out six assists while Carl
Landry and Jarrett Jack each had 20 points. Belinelli hit nine of his 13
attempts for the Hornets who shot 54.4 percent on the night (43 of 79)
including 63.6 percent from downtown (7 of 11). New Orleans which is dead last
in the Western Conference won for just the 13th time this season.
The Hornets also earned the cover as a
2.5 point underdog and ball protection was the key. Just two nights after
committing an NBA season high 29 turnovers, they turned the ball over just nine
times vs. Golden State.
Portland (23-27 SU, 23-26-1 ATS) is coming off a 109-95 loss to Oklahoma
City on Tuesday night. The Blazers trailed by as many as 21 points and got to
within five in the third quarter but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Russell Westbrook finished with 32
points and eight assists to lead the Western Conference-leading Thunder to
their fourth straight win. Kevin Durant scored 25 points and James
Harden added 21 off the bench for OKC.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and
eight rebounds for the Portland which hasn’t won back-to-back games since
January 23-24 against Sacramento and Memphis.
The Blazers are now 3-4 under Kaleb
Canales, who took over as interim coach when they fired Nate McMillan at the NBA
trade deadline. According to team president Larry Miller, the 34-year old
Canales is being considered as Portland’s next “permanent” head coach.
Making a point
The Trailblazers have been trying to
fill the point guard position left vacant when Raymond Felton left the team for
family reasons. There is a possibility Felton will return tonight but if not
former Duke star Nolan Smith will get the start. Smith was just 1 of 9 shooting
against OKC while the third PG on the roster-- Jonny Flynn--played well scoring
10 points and dishing out five assists with just one turnover.
Ball hawkers
It doesn’t show in the win/loss column,
but New Orleans is one of the top better defensive teams in the NBA. Head coach
Monty Williams preaches the virtues of guarding the bucket and it’s resulted in
a plethora of impressive numbers.
The Hornets have held 37 of their first
49 opponents under 100 points this season and rank 11th in the NBA in points
allowed per game (93.8). The Bees are 16th in field goal percentage at (44.7%)
and third in three-point field goal percentage (31.1%).
New Orleans is 10-7 this season when
holding an opponent to 90 points or fewer, 3-1 when holding to 80 points or
fewer and 1-0 when holding under 70 points. The Hornets held opponents under 90
points 28 times last year, going 25-3.
Trends
NO is 10-3 ATS in their last 13 road
games but are 3-7 vs. the number in their past 10 games against the
Trailblazers. Portland is 5-11 vs. the number in its last 16 games ATS.
Harvey’s Take: The Hornets will be playing their
fourth game in six nights and third straight on the road. The Rose Garden is a
difficult venue on a good night and with Felton back in the fold, the Blazers
should be able to handle the number with ease.
Good luck!