NBA Betting Preview – Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers
Teams trending in opposite directions take to the hardwood on Tuesday night when the Los Angeles Clippers visit the Portland Trail Blazers in the second game of a TNT doubleheader. Winners in eight of their last nine games, the Clips continue to apply the heat to the front runners in the Western Conference. The Blazers have dropped five of their last seven games and will be without leading scorer Damian Lillard for this matchup between West playoff teams. Bookmaker.eu offers a generous welcome bonus (max bonus $1600).
Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers
Date and Time: Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 10 p.m. ET
Location: Moda Center, Portland, OR
Opening NBA Odds: Los Angeles -8, O/U Check Back Later
Clippers at Trail Blazers TV Coverage: TNT
Odds Analysis
It’s been a nice run for the Clips, who rebounded from their first loss in two weeks by handling the Wolves easily, 124-105, on Sunday for the payout. Their seven-game winning streak was stopped by the Sixers on Friday with Kawhi Leonard sitting out that battle of heavyweights. The Clips have rewarded their backers as well going 7-1-1 ATS in that nine-game stretch. They opened as an 8-point favorite to beat the Lillard-less Blazers. One of their wins during the seven-game streak was a 133-116 trouncing of the Blazers at Staples Center on Apr. 6. The Blazers will try and snap back from a recent skid that’s seen them lose five times in the last seven games. They are 2-5 ATS in that span. And they’ll move forward without Lillard, who’s expected to miss a few more games with a leg injury. They got by San Antonio in the first game Lillard missed but couldn’t overcome the Hornets in Sunday’s 109-101 setback. Overall the Blazers are 32-24 SU and 27-29 ATS.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers survived a few games without Leonard going 3-1 SU and 2-1-1 ATS. They were denied a perfect record with the Sixers beat them 106-103 on Friday. They were able to remain in the thick of the race for the West’s No. 1 seed entering the week 3.0 games behind Utah and 1.5 games behind second place Phoenix. A big reason why has been the play of Paul George, who picked up the scoring slack in Kawhi’s absence. PG 13 had a streak of five straight games with at least 32 points and was a blistering 52.4 percent from three-point range. Conceding some points to Leonard upon Kawhi’s return, George had the streak stopped when he tallied only 23 in the rout of Minnesota.
All five starters reached double figures against the Wolves with Leonard contributing 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Six players made multiple three-pointers in the game and the Clips matched a season-high with 21 makes from behind the arc. “When everybody is touching it and everybody is getting shots and we’re attacking the basket, we’re a tough team to beat. Since the All-Star break, I really like where we’re at,” Tyronn Lue said.
Portland Trail Blazers
Their recent funk has put the Blazers in the position of dropping from the top-6 in the conference into a play-in situation. And ending the skid is going to be more difficult without Lillard. Dame was struggling before the injury issues so the time off will actually be good for him. The Blazers found a way to win without him overcoming a 16-point deficit to knock off San Antonio, 107-106. The way to get a victory was by a complete team effort. Reserves Carmelo Anthony, Enes Kanter and Anfernee Simons combined for 39 points.
The scoring by committee approach wasn’t as successful against the Hornets last time out and the Blazers missed Lillard’s leadership down the stretch. Anthony had another big game off the bench with six three-pointers and 24 points while C.J. McCollum tallied 22 points. The Blazers had no answers when they lost to the Clips a few weeks ago, and they had Lillard for that game, though he really didn’t show up in a prelude to what we can expect on Tuesday. Lillard was just 2 of 14 from the field for 11 points that night and the Blazers were blasted 133-116.
Bet Clippers at Trail Blazers at BookMaker.eu
Past events in no way lead to future outcomes, that’s why we use the last game for reference only. But the Clips are on a roll and now that they have Leonard back in the lineup it just adds to the confidence they have. Portland has struggled at home this season and without Lillard their
chances of winning decrease. They are getting 8-points on the opening line, which is a lot for a home team, but I’m backing the visitors anyway.
NBA Score Prediction: Clippers 121, Trail Blazers 109
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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com
