The 3-seed Denver Nuggets and 6-seed Portland Trail Blazers play Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series Thursday at Moda Center in Portland. Tip-off is set for 10:30 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the Nuggets vs. Trail Blazers odds and lines, with NBA picks and predictions.
The Nuggets bounced back in Game 2 registering a 128-109 win Monday after getting smashed 123-109 in the series opener.
MVP candidate Nikola Jokic was a beast in Game 2 going for 38 points on 15-of-20 shooting while grabbing eight boards and five assists.
The Trail Blazers might have dropped Game 2 by 14 points, but the accomplished their objective. Portland grabbed the road split in Denver wrestling home-court advantage into their favor.
The big difference for Portland between the two games was their ball handling. They turned it over just six times in Game 1 and 21 times in Game 2.
Nuggets at Trail Blazers: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 7:10 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Nuggets +150 (bet $100 to win $150) | Trail Blazers -185 (bet $185 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Nuggets +4 (-110) | Trail Blazers -4 (-110)
- Over/Under: 227.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Nuggets at Trail Blazers: Key injuries
Nuggets
- SG Will Barton (hamstring) out
- SG PJ Dozier (groin) out
- SG Jamal Murray (knee) out
Trail Blazers
- PF Zach Collins (ankle) out
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Nuggets at Trail Blazers: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Trail Blazers 123, Nuggets 112
Money line (ML)
The TRAIL BLAZERS (-185) are just a little more expensive than my personal money line limit of -180, but sometimes you have to make exceptions. Portland is looking for the bounce back in Game 3, and they’ll do just that on its home court as long as they can curb the turnovers.
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Against the spread (ATS)
The TRAIL BLAZERS -4 (-110) have covered seven of the previous nine as a favorite, and they have cashed in five of the previous six meetings against the Nuggets +4 (-110). I love the Blazers laying the two buckets here.
Over/Under (O/U)
OVER 227.5 (-110) is the play here. The Over cashed in each of the first two games in the Mile High City, and there is no reason to believe each of these teams are about to suddenly get defensive just because of a change of venue.
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