The Portland Trail Blazers (31-38) meet the Denver Nuggets (45-23) Thursday at 8 p.m. ET in the NBA’s Orlando bubble. We analyze the Trail Blazers-Nuggets NBA betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Trail Blazers vs. Nuggets: Key injuries
Trail Blazers
- SF Trevor Ariza (personal) out
- PF Caleb Swanigan (personal) out
Nuggets
- PG Jamal Murray (hamstring) questionable
- SG Gary Harris (hip) questionable
- SG Will Barton (knee) questionable
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Trail Blazers vs. Nuggets: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 2:40 p.m. ET.
Prediction
Trail Blazers 122, Nugget 114
Moneyline (ML)
The Nuggets (+145) are dinged up but playing tough. Denver is 2-1 in the NBA restart, winning back-to-back games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
Their second-year wunderkind, SF Michael Porter Jr., has been fabulous for them—averaging 26 points and 9.3 rebounds in the Nuggets’ three games since the restart.
The Blazers (-176) are such heavy favorites entering Thursday’s game because they’re the much healthier side. C Jusuf Nurkic is back from injury and looking good in the restart—averaging 22 points, 12.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
Don’t forget he was dumped by the Nuggets in 2017 for C Nikola Jokic, so the revenge game has me loving the Blazers and shopping Nurkic player props.
Denver is 3-0 against Portland this season but hasn’t been as banged up, and the Trail Blazers haven’t been this healthy all season. Portland is motivated to make the playoffs so they are the better pick, but I do not bet over -150 favorites in regular-season NBA games. PASS ON THE MONEYLINE.
Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
The Trail Blazers -4 (-110) don’t have a big number to cover and have the offensive prowess to cover it. They’ve only scored 100 on the Nuggets (+4, -110) once this season in three games but see the part about each teams’ injury report above.
Don’t worry that the Trail Blazers are 4-12-1 ATS in the last 17 meetings. Denver has pulled out gritty wins in the restart but is allowing 126 points per game over the past three games.
This sounds square but the Trail Blazers will outscore the Nuggets by more than four points. I LOVE TRAIL BLAZERS -4 (-110). New to sports betting? A $110 bet on the Blazers earns a $100 profit if Portland beats Denver by five or more points.
Over/Under (O/U)
Since the handicaps above favor Portland, and so does BetMGM, we’ll say this game plays OVER 231.5 (-110). Finally a friendly trend, the Over is 10-4 in the last 14 meetings.
I’m only leaning toward the Over because I don’t love playing totals but the Trail Blazers-Nuggets Over trend will continue Thursday.
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