Two Western Conference basketball teams will get together on Thursday as the Minnesota Timberwolves are on the road at the Portland Trail Blazers. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 38-26 on the season, but have struggled on the road with their 13-19 record. The Timberwolves though have won back to back games.
For Portland, they have moved to the fifth seed in the Western Conference with their four straight wins. The Trail Blazers are now 35-26 on the season, and have won 18 out of 29 games at home this season. Portland is ½ game ahead of the red hot Pelicans for the fifth seed. The Portland Trail Blazers are -4.5 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Trail Blazers Looking to Stay Hot
The Portland Trail Blazers have scored 100+ in four straight games, which were all wins. The big news was the Portland defense, which held the Jazz to 81 and Sacramento to 99. On the season, Portland is scoring 105.1 points per game, while allowing opponents to score 103.5 per game. The Trail Blazers are 6th in the league with just shy of 45 rebounds per game.
The top scorer for the Portland is Damian Lillard with 26.3 per game. The guard is also dishing out 6.6 assists per game. Big man Jusuf Nurkic is having a nice season in the paint, with 14.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. The Trail Blazers are also getting more than 21 points per game from C.J. McCollum.
Timberwolves Without Butler
The Minnesota Timberwolves have lost one of their leaders in Jimmy Butler. Many feel Butler may not make it back to action until the postseason. Butler hurt his knee, and was scoring 22.2 points per game. Karl Anthony Towns will have to pick up some of the slack, as the big man is already scoring 20.3 points, and grabbing 12.3 rebounds per game.
Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague are both important for Minnesota, as they are combining for more than 30 points per game. Minnesota is already ahead of their win total of a season ago, as they won 31 games.
Portland Tops Minnesota
This should be a pretty fun, late night Western Conference basketball game. Minnesota is a fun team to watch, and will be interesting once the postseason arrives. But, in this game, without Jimmy Butler, and being on the road, it’s hard to bet on them. The Timberwolves have had a tough time guarding, and Portland is not a great team to be able to get started against. Look for the guard play of the Trail Blazers to be too much for the Timberwolves. When you are betting on this NBA game on Thursday – take the Portland Trail Blazers -4.5 over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bet on the Portland Trail Blazers -4.5 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
