The Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets start their first-round series in the 2021 NBA Playoffs this Saturday in Mile High City. Who will get the upper hand right out of the gate? Check out our preview of this game along with our prediction below.
The Blazers finished the regular season with a 132-116 win at home over Denver. That gives them a nice momentum heading into Game 1 of their series against the same team on the road this coming Saturday. Portland poured it on in that game, as the Blazers shot 52.9 percent from the field and went 18 of 43 from behind the arc. CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard will look to lead Portland in the series opener against the Nuggets after scoring 22 and 24 points, respectively, in the win over Denver. The Blazers had a scorching stretch towards the end of the regular season, going 10-2 straight up in the final 12 games, while also covering the spread in nine of those contests. Over that same stretch, Lillard was smoking with an average of 30.3 points on 54.2 percent shooting from the field and 47.8 percent from deep.
The Blazers are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 road games.
Granted that the Nuggets was destroyed in the last meeting with the Blazers, that was a game that Denver didn’t really care about. Regardless of that loss, the Nuggets are easily one of the best teams this season. They arguably have the best player of the season in top MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, who’s been dominant all season long. The Serbian big finished the regular season with averages of 26.4 points on 56.6 percent shooting from the field, 10.8 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per contest. Even though the Nuggets don’t have Jamal Murray right now, others like Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon have been doing an admirable job of covering for his absence. The Nuggets were eighth in the regular season in scoring with 115.1 points per game and eight as well in scoring defense with 110.1 points per contest allowed.
The Nuggets are 8-2 straight up and 5-5 against the spread in their last 10 home games agianst Portland.
