Two teams hoping to make a push in their respective conferences will match up Friday night as the Portland Trail Blazers (25-26, 11th in the West) take on the Washington Wizards (24-26, 9th in the East). The Wizards will host this one at the Capital One Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 pm ET.
Portland comes into this one having won back-to-back games, including a 122-112 win over the Grizzlies Wednesday. In the win, Damian Lillard had a game-high 42 points, while also adding 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Washington has also been playing well as of late having won six games in a row. They had their last game postponed due to inclement weather, but prior to that, they beat the Spurs on the road 127-106. Deni Avdija led the team with 25 points and nine rebounds in that victory.
The Wizards are the favorites Friday playing at home. They are -190 to win, while the Trail Blazers’ moneyline sits at +160. The spread features Portland as 4.5-point underdogs (-110).
Portland Looks To Improve Against East
Against the Western Conference, Portland is a respectable 18-15. Against the East, though, Portland has struggled with just a 7-11 record to this point. They will look to improve on that Friday when they travel to Washington.
Despite sitting in 11th in the West, only 2.5 games separate them from fourth place, so a continued win streak could help see the Trail Blazers shoot up the standings quickly.
Offensively, Portland ranks 16th overall, averaging 114.3 points per game (109 on the road). Leading the way is guard Damian Lillard. In 39 games, he is averaging 30.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game.
Other contributors on offense include Anfernee Simons (21.7 points, 4 assists), Jerami Grant (21.2 points, 4.3 rebounds), and Jusuf Nurkic (13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds). Unfortunately for Portland, Nurkic is out (calf) and Grant is questionable (concussion) for this contest.
Defensively, Portland ranks 16th, allowing opponents an average of 113.7 points (112.2 on the road).
Wizards Look To Stay Hot
Having won six in a row, the Washington Wizards now sit in ninth in the East and hope to continue climbing up the standings. They will look to keep the win streak going at home, where they are 12-10 on the season.
Defensively, Washington is similar as they are in the middle of the pack, ranking 14th overall and allowing 113 points per game.
Offensively, they have been slightly worse. The Wizards rank 20th overall, averaging 113 points per game.
The Wizards have three players averaging over 21 points per game. Bradley Beal (22 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists), Kristaps Porzingis (22 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists), and Kyle Kuzma (21.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists) have all been solid this year.
Take Washington To Push Win Streak To Seven
Looking at the trends, Portland is 4-1 in their last five games, but they are just 5-10 against the spread in their last 15. In their last seven against Washington, they are 6-1 both straight up and against the spread.
For Washington, they are 6-0 both straight up and against the spread in their last six games. They are also 4-1 against the spread in their last five games against the West.
This comes with the caveat that Damian Lillard can single-handedly take over a game, but being without Jusuf Nurkic and potentially Jerami Grant will really hurt Portland’s size.
Expect Lillard to put up monster numbers, but take Washington to win this one outright at home (-190).
