basketball | Monday, October 24, 2022 12:26 PM

Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Best Bet: High Noon in Portland

Milan Stanojic

Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Best Bet: Monday, October 24th

It’s high noon in Dodge City as the Portland Trail Blazers are getting ready for a shootout against one of the best offences in the league – the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets won 3 of the 4 encounters against the Blazers last season, but Chauncey Billups’ boys are in terrific form in the early season.

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Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Preview
Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Best Bet

Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Preview

Mon, Oct 24th. 03:00 (UK time)

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a perfect start to the 2022/23 NBA regular season, winning all 3 games and sitting 2nd in the Western Conference. After impressive victories against the Kings and Suns, the Blazers took down the Los Angeles Lakers last night in LA. Damian Lillard has been by far their best player, going for 20, 41 and 41 points respectively.

Despite being one of the slower teams in the league, with a pace rating of 100.19, the Blazers are averaging 104 possessions and 111.3 points per game. They’ve only averaged 17 assists per game, but playing against good defensive sides can heavily impact your stats, especially in such a small sample size. With Lillard, Simmons and Grant, the Blazers have 3 very good scoring options, and this will mean a lot against a team like the Nuggets.

The Denver Nuggets started off their season with a lacklustre performance against the Utah Jazz, losing 123-102, but have since bounced back to win against the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder. They are now sitting in 9th place in the west and looking to justify this season’s huge expectations.

The Nuggets came into the season as one of the teams I expected to have the best offensive outings, and they certainly are making it happen. After the debacle in the season-opener, the Nuggets’ offensive rating has gone up to 119.6, and they have scored 128 and 122 points in the following 2 games. With Jokic, Murray & MPJ leading the way, the Nugget’s role players and subs have managed to pitch in as well, and the Nuggets are currently shooting 42.6% from behind the 3-point line. They are also one of the fastest teams in the NBA, with a pace rating of 104.33.

Portland Trail Blazers vs Denver Nuggets Best Bet

With both teams relying heavily on their offence to get wins, I can see why the line setters have put the game total at 229.5 for tonight. But I still expect these two teams to hit the over tonight.

The Nuggets’ defence has left a great deal to be desired, averaging 121.0 points allowed per game and ranking 23rd in defensive rating. On the flip side, the Blazers have been much better, but it will be interesting to see how they hold up against such an elite offence. I expect the Nuggets to try and push the tempo hoping for easy points, and the Blazers will have to follow. This will turn into a shootout, and I have no problem backing the Over tonight.