NBA Preview: Washington Wizards at Portland Trailblazers

Added on Mar 22, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

After being ‘off the board’ overnight there’s a NBA betting line posted on the non-conference matchup between the Portland Trailblazers and Washington Wizards in the ‘Rose City’ on Tuesday night. The Wizards are in 14th place in the Eastern Conference leading only the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers. The Blazers have dealt with a variety of injuries this year but have continued to play hard and currently hold down 6th place in the West.

Washington Wizards at Portland Trailblazers
March 22, 2011 7:05 PM Pacific

At first glance, this seems like a huge line but given the dismal road performance of the Wizards this year it’s completely justified. Washington is the worst road team in the NBA with a 1-31 SU record and hasn’t been particularly good against the spread either–they’re just 9-23 ATS on the road which suggests a team that simply doesn’t show up on most nights. The Wizards are coming off an upset win over New Jersey at home and that makes this an even worse betting setup for Washington–they’re 0-7 SU/ATS this year off an upset win as an underdog and a woeful 7-30 ATS in this situation since 2008. Washington is 2-28 SU/12-18 ATS against opponents with winning records this year and in the second half of the season are 0-14 SU/2-12 ATS.

Portland has been a break even pointspread play in most situations this year, though they do have a 24-10 SU/19-14 ATS record at the Rose Garden. For the Blazers’, Marcus Camby is listed as ‘questionable’. The big difference here is in the effort you can expect from each team. Washington has all but quit on the season and have their own injury issues with Andre Blatche and Nick Young listed as ‘questionable’. You just can’t make a case for backing a team that is on a 3-14 SU/5-12 ATS run now matter how many points you’re getting. Game in and game out, there may not be a team that puts forth a solid effort more consistently than Portland. The Blazers have been taking advantage of games against bottom feeders in the second half of the season posting a 7-3 SU/6-3-1 ATS record against opponents with losing records. We’ll also look Under the total–we’re dealing with two bottom ten scoring offenses in a series where 10 of the last 12 games in Portland have gone Under.

Bet Portland Trailblazers -15 over Washington Wizards
Bet Portland/Washington Under 191