Minnesota Timberwolves vs Portland Trail Blazers betting tips and predictions for Sunday’s game in the NBA. Two teams on long losing streaks meet up in Portland as the Trail Blazers welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to town. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Minnesota Timberwolves
December has been a disaster for the Minnesota Timberwolves who have dropped 5 games in a row and are just 9th in the Western Conference standings right now. Last night they played in Cleveland and were no match even for the shorthanded Cavaliers who beat them by 17 points. The absence of D’Angelo Russell was felt, but the other two stars Edwards and Towns didn’t have good games. They combined to go just 1-for-15 from three-point land and as a team the Timberwolves finished scoring on just 39% of their attempts. Russell is questionable for tonight’s game as he continues to rehab his injured ankle. Minnesota has covered just once in their last 6 games, against the Blazers they are only 3-8 SU in the last 11 meetings and have lost 8 in a row on the road in Portland.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers are in a similar situation having lost their last 4 games, mainly due to injuries. Damian Lillard has been out for a while with an abdominal injury, while C.J. McCollum suffered a punctured lung a couple of games back and will be out indefinitely. Without their 2 best players the Blazers are a lottery team at best and until they come back I’m not expecting much from them. They’ve covered just twice in their last 8 games and have only 1 win in their last 8 overall. At home they are 10-4 this season which is among the better records in the NBA, but that won’t mean much to them tonight if they are shorthanded again.
Between these two teams, the Blazers are in much worse shape right now, purely because of injuries. Minnesota probably gets Russell here and they have their big 3 available and even though they’ve struggled lately it’s time to break out of the slump against the shorthanded Blazers. Timberwolves to cover on the road here.
Portland Trail Blazers – Minnesota Timberwolves Predictions & Odds
Minnesota -1 Point Spread is available at -110 odds on bet365
Lillard, McCollum and Simons combine for over 50 points per game between them, if all 3 of those don’t play here it could be a long night for them. In previous games without them, the Blazers had to rely on Norman Powell and Jusuf Nurkic to carry the load. That hasn’t worked out well as they’ve failed to crack the 100 point mark 3 times in their last 4 games. Minnesota doesn’t have such issues on offense, their problems are more on the defensive end where they’ve allowed 126.7 per game over their last 3 games – the highest mark in the entire NBA. They will have to tighten things up against the offensively limited Blazers tonight, in the last 10 meetings the under has cashed 7 times so I’m feeling good about that bet for tonight as well. The under has also been the bet in Portland’s last 5 of 7 games. Let’s go with the under here as well.
Under 219 Total Points is available at -110 odds on bet365
