basketball | Thursday, November 17, 2022 1:52 PM

Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Best Bet: Blazers Extend Nets’ Losing Streak

Milan Stanojic

Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Best Bet: Thursday, November 17th

An easy Over in the Suns vs Warriors game last night brought us some nice profit, but there’s no time to celebrate as we’ve got more NBA action tonight. Only 3 games, but you can bet there is betting value to be found.

The number one team in the Western Conference the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Brooklyn Nets tonight at Moda Center for the first time this season. The bookmakers expect a close encounter, setting the spread at just 2.5 points, but I disagree. Read the article below to see why.

In this article:

Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Preview
Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Best Bet

Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Preview

Fri, Nov 18th. 02:00 (UK time)

The Portland Trail Blazers shocked everyone this season by coming out of the hot. With 10 wins and 4 losses, they are 1st in the Western Conference. The Blazers are in the middle of a 3-game homestand and coming off a 117-110 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday. A lot of people, including myself, expected the Blazers to be way out of the playoff picture this year, but after a month of NBA action, they have proven that they are indeed a dangerous team, and it will be interesting to see how they fare as the season moves forward.

‘Solid’ is probably the best word we can use to describe the Blazers so far in the season, and their stats only confirm this. Despite not having the most fluid offence in the league, they are constantly finding ways to score and they are defending the basket well. The Blazers are 23rd in points per game, and 23rd in assists, but their offence is still efficient and ranking 13th in offensive rating. Their 3-point shooting has been exceptional, draining 39.3% of their shots from downtown. Though this isn’t championship material, it can get them to the playoffs if they keep it up. On the other side, their defence has been one of the best in the league, ranking 7th in defensive rating and allowing just 107.6 points per game.

As far as the Brooklyn Nets go, it’s definitely been a tough start to the season. Not gonna say ‘I told you so,’ but I really did way before the season started. The Nets have won just 6 of their 15 games so far and are sitting in 11th place in the east. They’ve lost 3 of their last 5 games, are riding a 2-game losing streak, and this will be the last of their 4-game road trip. They are coming off a 153-121 beatdown against the Sacramento Kings where they allowed a whopping 66 points in the paint and an opponent 3-point percentage of almost 50%.

The Brooklyn Nets have been going through a lot of turmoil since the very start of the season. They suspended Kyrie Irving for off-court drama for 5 games, and they fired head coach Steve Nash in the last few weeks, and the team has certainly felt it. They have ranked 21st in offensive and 11th in defensive rating in their last 5, and their defence has been second-worst over their last 3 games. Their perimeter defence has been terrible all season, allowing 13.5 3-pointers per game with an opponent percentage of 38.7%.

Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets Bets Bet

The Blazers are slightly favoured to win this one at 1.75 odds, whilst the Nets are available at 2.32. If you’re a long-time reader, you know that I love backing the underdog, but it simply isn’t worth it tonight. The spread is set at 2.5 points, and I see a lot of value in backing the home team.

For one, they are in the middle of a homestand and they’ve been playing well all season. The Blazers have covered the spread in 7 of their last 10 games, including 4 of their last 5. They are the better rebounders, and they should be able to use their 3-point shooting to keep the confused Nets at bay. I’m backing the Blazers to cover the -2.5-point spread.