Don’t look now, but the San Antonio Spurs are looking more like the team that won 62 games in the regular season after two very impressive victories over the Portland Trail Blazers. As the series shifts to Portland, do the Blazers have a shot at slowing down the well-oiled Spurs machine?
This series is going exactly how many of the NBA experts predicted it would. Speaking of predictions, you can create a betting account now and make your prediction as to who will win this pivotal game. Also, don’t forget to fill out this NBA Playoff survey and get $5.
[sc:MultiSportArticles ]San Antonio Spurs vs. Portland Trail Blazers Round 2, Game 3 Betting Preview
Series Scores & Schedule
Game 1 – May 6, Portland 92 San Antonio 116
Game 2 – May 8, Portland 97 San Antonio 114
Game 3 – May 10, 10:30 PM ET, San Antonio (-1.5) at Portland (+1.5); total: (209.5) – view all NBA lines
Game 4 – May 12, 10:30 PM ET, San Antonio at Portland
Game 5 – (if necessary) May 14, Portland at San Antonio
Game 6 (if necessary) – May 16, San Antonio at Portland
Game 7 (if necessary) – May 19, Portland at San Antonio
Betting on the San Antonio Spurs
[sc:NBA240banner ]Through the first two games, the San Antonio Spurs have just been categorically better than the Blazers on both ends of the floor.
On offense, everything is coming so easily for the Spurs in this series. With hardly any resistance from the Blazers defense, San Antonio has topped 110 points while shooting over 50% from the field in both games thus far. The total has gone over in seven of the Spurs’ last eight games.
On defense, the stout Spurs defense that ranked 4th in Defensive Efficiency in the regular season has limited a Blazers offense that had been averaging over 112 PPG and nine three pointers in the playoffs to just 94.5 PPG and 5.5 threes made in the series.
The Spurs reserves had another field day against the depth-challenged Blazers as they scored 50 points for the second straight game. After being a non-factor for the entire Mavs series, Marco Belinelli (16 PPG, 76.8% FG% in the first two games) has finally emerged as a key bench weapon for the Spurs.
Betting on the Portland Trail Blazers
No one seriously expected Portland to be able to stop the Spurs on offense. If the Blazers couldn’t handle the Rockets’ relatively simplistic and isolation-heavy offense, then the much more sophisticated and efficient Spurs attack would tear them apart, which it has in the first two games.
On offense, though, LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers looked so good against Houston, maybe they could do what the Mavs did and push the Spurs defensively. Although they couldn’t do so in San Antonio, where they shot just 40.6% from the field, a return back home may just revive a slumping offense.
Blazers stars LaMarcus Aldridge (32 points in Game 1), Damian Lillard (18 PPG in the series), Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews (21 and 14 points in Game 2, respectively) are all capable of scoring against the Spurs. If they can put those performances together, then the series becomes much more competitive than it’s been so far.
The Blazers certainly have produced those scoring efforts at home, where they’re averaging over 112 PPG in the playoffs. Portland is 8-2 SU/7-3 ATS in its last 10 home games vs. the Spurs.
Writer’s Prediction
Expect the Spurs to keep scoring at a tremendous pace, while the homecourt advantage aids the Blazers’ offense. Take the over on Game 3.
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