Free NBA Pick: Hornets vs. Trail Blazers NBA Odds
Looking for Charlotte Hornets vs. Portland Trail Blazers free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Hornets taking on the Trail Blazers on Monday, December 26th, 2022 at Moda Center. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Hornets-Blazers matchup.
2022 NBA Handicapping
(9-24) Charlotte Hornets vs. Portland Trail Blazers (17-16)
Date: Monday, December 26th
Time: 10:00 PM EST
Venue: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
NBA Moneyline Odds: Hornets +240 | Trail Blazers -260 (Bet Now!)
NBA Betting Odds: Blazers -6
NBA Betting Total: 237.5
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Monday, December 26th, the Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers tip off for the second and final time this season. Portland won the initial November 9th match 105-95.
Both teams last played on Friday with the Hornets beating the Lakers 134-130 while the Blazers lost 107-120 to the Nuggets.
The Blazers hold the all-time record between the clubs with 46 wins in 64 meetings. Last season, the teams played twice each winning one match.
*Editor’s Note: Statistics and rankings are current as of this writing, and may vary slightly entering games on Monday, December 26th
Charlotte Hornets
LaMelo Ball is averaging 23.3 points, 8.0 assists, and 4.4 rebounds taking 19.7 field goals per match shooting 44.1% while hitting 38.2% from the perimeter on 11.3 attempts and taking 2.1 free throws per game shooting 78.9%.
Ball is one of three Hornets averaging 20 or more points with Terry Rozier (21.0) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (20.8) being the other two. Charlotte is one of five teams that has a trio of players averaging 20 points (76ers, Heat, Blazers, Wizards).
Charlotte ranks 21st averaging 111.3 points per game and ranks 29th in field goal percentage shooting 44.7% and 30th in perimeter percentage shooting 32.6%.
Defensively, Charlotte is giving up an average of 118.3 points (28th). Opponents shoot 48.1 percent from the field (24th) and 36.4% from the perimeter ranking 20th overall.
Dennis Smith Jr. (ankle) is questionable while Cody Martin (knee) is out indefinitely.
Portland Trail Blazers
Damian Lillard made franchise history surpassing Clyde Drexler as the Blazers all-time leading scorer but there was little else to celebrate. They began the week likely believing they could sweep the Thunder baseball set and push the Nuggets but ended up losing all three matches.
Lillard is averaging 28.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game shooting 44.8% from the field, 39.1% from deep, and 90.4% from the stripe taking 18.8, 11.2, and 7.6 attempted shots from these areas respectively.
As noted above, Portland is one of the five teams with three players averaging 20 points. Anfernee Simons (22.5), and Jerami Grant (21.8) join Lillard in that regard.
Portland averages 112.0 points per game (18th), shooting 47.6% from the field (11th) and 38.5% from the perimeter (2nd). They allow 112.0 points per game (12th) with foes shooting 47.6% from the field (21st) and 35.9% from deep (16th).
Justise Winslow (ankle), Gary Payton II (conditioning), and Nassir Little (hip) are questionable.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Hornets are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games against Portland.
- The Blazers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Charlotte’s last 7 games on the road.
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Portland’s last 9 games.
Free Charlotte Hornets vs. Portland Trail Blazers NBA Prediction:
This could easily be a trap game if the Blazers aren’t dialed in. Although the Hornets have just nine victories this season, two occurred in this past week and the Sunday prior Charlotte pushed the Nuggets only losing by four points.
Clearly, the return of LaMelo Ball is a key factor and now the team is feeling more confident and may be getting back their top scorer from last season as they’ve renewed contract discussions with Miles Bridges.
Bridges will undoubtedly have to serve a lengthy suspension given the domestic abuse charges that he plead no contest to (the charges were for abuse of his girlfriend in front of the couple’s children).
The NBA doesn’t (and shouldn’t) take kindly to this sort of behavior and while he’ll serve three years of probation and court-mandated programs the league needs to send a message this sort of behavior is unacceptable.
The games bookending Christmas are said to be two of the most difficult to win with younger clubs especially vulnerable. The irony is the Blazers have the younger average roster age (24.5) than the Hornets (24.9).
With Portland back home I’m leaning toward the Blazers winning but I’ll take the points and a closer differential than six.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Hornets +6
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