The Brooklyn Nets try to continue their winning ways Tuesday as they begin a three-game road trip against the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland has done well to defend home court this month, and I expect that to continue against a shorthanded Nets squad that will be missing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The Portland Trail Blazers caught a huge break in the final game of their homestand Tuesday night. Portland welcomes the Brooklyn Nets to the Moda Center, and the Nets will be without two of their three superstars for the contest. Kevin Durant has missed some time with his hamstring injury and he’s still about a week away from returning and Kyrie Irving will miss this three-game trip for Brooklyn to deal with personal issues. That leaves James Harden as the final member of the trio still standing as the Nets try to stay red-hot on this West Coast swing. If the Trail Blazers are going to pull off the upset, it will need better production out of C.J. McCollum. The guard has been on a minutes restriction since returning from injury, which has limited his offensive production for much of the last four games. The exception was Friday’s win over Dallas when McCollum dropped 32 points in nearly 28 minutes of action by making seven of his 13 3-point attempts. Portland needs McCollum on the top of his game Tuesday to complement the incredible Damian Lillard, who is averaging 30.3 points per game for the Trail Blazers this season. It will be interesting to see who steps up for the Nets in the absence of both Durant and Irving. We know Harden is going to have a monster game per usual, but the question is going to be about guys like Jarrett Allen and Joe Harris to pick up some of the scoring slacks. Both Allen and Harris are averaging at least 11 points per game, and the two will need to be reliable secondary scoring options behind Harden. This would also be a good time for Blake Griffin to make his presence known on the offensive end, but it’s going to take a team effort to replace Irving’s production Tuesday. Brooklyn’s absences are the main reason the Nets are actually underdogs at the legal sports betting sites in New Jersey for Tuesday’s game. The basketball betting sites in New Jersey have installed the Trail Blazers as four-point favorites for the matchup, which seems like a bit of an overreach. It also means that there isn’t as much value in betting on Portland to win the game as one would expect given the difference in the records between these two teams. Still, I’ll trudge on and bet on Portland laying 6.5 points at +145 odds at the NBA betting sites in New Jersey. I will also double down on my predictions about McCollum’s productivity by betting on McCollum to make at least four 3-pointers in Portland’s win at +250 odds. I’ll even tack on Lillard hitting his season average by dropping at least 30 points in a Trail Blazers win for +230 odds.
Portland -4 points I’m going to take a risk by picking the Trail Blazers at home against a red-hot Nets squad. Without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, I struggle to believe Brooklyn has the offense to contend with the Portland shooters. This is a game where I feel C.J. McCollum will return to form and be able to bury the shorthanded Nets to keep pace in a tough Western Conference.
