Free NBA Pick: Nuggets vs. Trail Blazers NBA Odds
Looking for Denver Nuggets vs. Portland Trail Blazers free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Nuggets taking on the Trail Blazers on Sunday, May 16th at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Nuggets Trail Blazers matchup.
2021 NBA Handicapping
(47-24) Denver Nuggets vs. Portland Trail Blazers (41-30)
Date: Sunday, May 16th
Time: 9:00 PM EST
Venue: Moda Center, Portland, OR.
NBA Moneyline Odds: Nuggets +340 | Blazers -400
NBA Betting Odds: Blazers -8.5
NBA Betting Total: O/U 230.5
On Sunday, May 16th the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers will meet for the third and final time this season. Denver won both prior matches.
Every NBA team is playing on the final day of the schedule but this feels like the marquee game of the night.
Entering Sunday, the Nuggets (3rd) and Clippers (4th) are tied with Denver owning the tiebreak while the Blazers (6th) and Lakers (7th) are tied with Portland owning the tiebreaker.
Both LA clubs are playing lottery teams with the Lakers particularly motivated to beat the Pelicans as they want to try to avoid the play-in tournament.
That makes this game potentially the match of the day as all four teams could shift seeding depending on the outcome.
The Blazers hold the all-time record between the squads with 99 victories in 186 meetings. Last season the teams played four times with the Nuggets taking three of the four contests.
Denver Nuggets
NBA TV implied the Clippers would purposely lose Sunday, but they’re playing the Thunder who’ve mastered losing, so don’t count on that happening.
The truth is Denver has more control of their outcome. If they beat the Blazers they’re essentially accepting they’ll likely play the Lakers in the first round (or the Blazers) but hold home court.
Losing would likely result in falling to fourth and playing the Mavericks. But, it would also probably mean avoiding the Lakers who’ll be in the center portion of the bracket.
It’s unlikely the Lakers will be any worse than seventh which means it might behoove the Nuggets to lose this game and let the second or third seeds deal with the Lakers.
The NBA injury report isn’t giving clues as Denver only lists Will Barton (hamstring) and PJ Dozier (adductor strain) out Sunday. That doesn’t mean Nikola Jokic or Michael Porter Jr couldn’t be shut down or have their playing time limited.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers missed a golden opportunity Thursday as the Blazers missed free throws and allowed the Suns to defeat them in clutch time. That loss could end up haunting Portland who had won the five prior games.
Now they have to beat the Nuggets in order to control their own fate and avoid the play-in tournament. As noted above the Nuggets might be open to helping them on that quest.
Conversely, a loss, though dependent on the Lakers beating the Pelicans, would result in Portland being the seventh seed and having to play either the Warriors or Grizzlies in the play-in to retain the seventh seed, and another loss there would mean playing the winner of the ninth and 10th place teams to get the eighth seed.
The only injury note on the report is Zach Collins (ankle) as out.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Nuggets are 7-3 in the teams last 10 head to head meetings
- The teams are 5-5 ATS in the last 10 head to head meetings
- Over/Under is 5-5 in the teams last 10 head to head meetings
Free Denver Nuggets vs. Portland Trail Blazers NBA Prediction:
There may not be a more competitive coach than Nuggets’ Mike Malone but something tells me he’ll see the wisdom of losing this game to avoid the LA clubs portion of the bracket.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Nuggets +8.5
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