Boston Celtics vs Portland Trail Blazers

Boston Celtics vs Portland Trail Blazers | 2021 NBA Expert Analysis

Written by on April 13, 2021

Off a surprising win in Denver, the Boston Celtics continue their Western Conference road trip on Tuesday with a national TV game against All-Star Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, who are short favorites on the NBA odds.

How to Bet Celtics at Trail Blazers NBA Odds & TV Info

Last Meeting

This is the first meeting of the season between the two. The final game will be played on May 2. The Celtics took the season series in 2019-20, 2-0. Either Portland or Boston has swept the other each of the past three seasons. Boston leads all-time 69-47 and is 31-27 in Portland.

Why Bet on Boston? | 2021 NBA Expert Analysis

The Celtics pulled a nice upset Sunday with a 105-87 win in Denver. The Nuggets looked well on their way to their ninth straight win when they took a 79-65 lead late in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Facundo Campazzo. However, Boston went on a crazy 31-3 run.

Jayson Tatum led all scorers during Sunday’s comeback win vs. Denver, dropping 28 points on 9-of-23 shooting with an 8-of-8 mark at the line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, giving him three straight 20-10 games. Jaylen Brown had 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of 3-pointers. Brown is playing through tendinitis and he was initially questionable. Kemba Walker stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, a team-best six assists, five rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

Sunday marked the third consecutive instance in which the Celtics completed a fourth-quarter comeback, after also winning in such a fashion against New York on Wednesday and versus Minnesota on Friday.

“I think we just picked up the intensity,” said Tatum. “I think we communicated a lot better. We started switching a little bit more, I think that helped us out too.”

On Monday, Tatum was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Tatum, 23, averaged an Eastern Conference-best 31.5 points on 48.8% shooting (38.9% 3-PT), 8.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists throughout the past week. This marks the second time this season, and the third time in his NBA career, that Tatum has received Player of the Week honors. In 48 games this season, Tatum is averaging career highs in points (25.7 ppg), rebounds (7.1 rpg), and assists (4.2 apg), while shooting 45.6% from the field and 38.0% from beyond the arc

Tatum averaged 35.0 points (56.8% FG, 65.0% 3-PT, 77.8% FT), 4.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.00 steals and 1.50 blocks in two games against Portland last season.

Why Bet on Portland? | 2021 NBA Expert Analysis

The Blazers played the second of a back-to-back on Sunday and were beaten by the visiting Miami Heat 107-98. The Heat, who have won six of their last seven games, led by as many as 20 points early in the fourth quarter.  Miami’s aggressive defense held Damian Lillard to just 12 points on an off night when he made just three shots from the field, all 3-pointers. Lillard has now scored 16 or fewer points in three of his last five games, which is certainly below his usual scoring contributions. He’s averaging just 17.8 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from three-point range in that span. Lillard did pass legendary Dirk Nowitzki to move into 11th place on the NBA’s all-time 3-point list and he’s just six away from replacing Jason Kidd in the top-10. Lillard He is on pace to become the second-fastest player in league history to make 2,000 career threes (Steph Curry, 597 games). Jusuf Nurkic had six points, nine rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes. Nurkic’s minutes limit was supposed to be expanded to 25, but his first half was cut short as he took an early trip to the locker room to evaluate a “sacral contusion.” However, he started the second half and seemed to be moving around fine and thus should be fine Tuesday. Enes Kanter shifted to the second unit where he finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and one turnover in 20 minutes. Kanter briefly left Sunday’s game after getting knocked in the head but was cleared to return. Norman Powell had 17 points and four rebounds. Powell co-led the Blazers in scoring alongside C.J. McCollum, and the former Raptor has been productive since debuting with Portland nine games ago. He is averaging 16.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range during that span. Lillard recorded 30 points (8-20 FG, 5-14 3-PT, 9-9 FT), two rebounds, 16 assists and one block, with his 16 dimes matching a career-high, in his only game against Boston last season on Aug. 2.

Game Trends

  • Celtics are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games.
  • Trail Blazers are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
  • Celtics are 14-5 ATS in the last 19 meetings in Portland.
  • Over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Portland.

Expert NBA Prediction

Celtics 115, Blazers 113

 
 

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