Brooklyn Nets (36-34) vs Portland Trail Blazers (26-42)
Game Info: Friday, March 18, 2022 at 7:30 pm (Barclays Center)
Betting Odds: Brooklyn Nets -12.5 -- Over/Under: 223.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
The Portland Trail Blazers and the Brooklyn Nets duke it out at the Barclays Center on Friday night.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been in terrible shape as they’ve lost eight of their last nine games overall and they will be hoping for a better showing after getting thrashed by the Knicks in a 128-98 road loss on Wednesday. Josh Hart led the team in scoring with 17 points, Kris Dunn added 13 points with seven assists off the bench while Brandon Williams chipped in with 14 points. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot 44 percent from the field and 11 of 34 from the 3-point line as they struggled to keep up right from the start and fell behind by 11 points at halftime and things only got worse in the second half where they margin only grew.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets were on a nice run of four wins on the trot before they got stopped in their tracks by the Mavericks in a 113-111 loss on Wednesday. Kevin Durant led the team with 23 points, six rebounds and 10 assists, Goran Dragic added 21 points, Bruce Brown scored 17 points with nine rebounds and five assists while Andre Drummond tallied 14 points with 17 rebounds. As a team, the Nets shot 49 percent from the field and nine of 26 from the 3-point line as they held the Mavericks to just 21 points in the third quarter to build a 14-point lead, only to go ice-cold in the fourth quarter where they managed just 20 points to allow the Mavericks to slip away in the end. Patty Mills had a rough night as he scored just nine points on three of 11 shooting.
Looking at the betting trends, the Trail Blazers are 2-7 ATS in their last nine games as an underdog, 7-19-1 ATS in their last 27 games against a team with a winning record and 2-7 ATS in their last nine games overall. The Nets are 5-21-1 ATS in their last 27 home games, 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games against a team below .400 and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall.
Head to head, the under is 4-1 in the last five meetings overall.
The Nets will again be without Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and Seth Curry, but they will be so disappointed with their last loss and they should have no trouble running past this severely shorthanded Trail Blazers lineup who have gotten blown out three times in their last five games. The line is quite hefty, but I’m backing the Nets to get the job done behind a big game from Durant.