The hits keep on coming for the Portland Trail Blazers, as they lost guard Anfernee Simons again after he re-aggravated his ankle injury on Wednesday night.
That’s going to put the Blazers in a tough spot on the road against the Atlanta Hawks, who are looking to gain ground on the Miami Heat for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta has been a better team at home than on the road this season, but it’s laying 7.5 points in this game against Portland.
With Jusuf Nurkic and Simons out, can the Blazers compete in this game?
Here’s a look at the odds and best bet for this contest:
Blazers vs. Hawks odds, spread and total
Blazers vs. Hawks prediction and pick
Damian Lillard’s scoring rampage has been the only thing keeping the Blazers alive in the Western Conference play-in tournament race, and they’re going to need to lean on him heavily against Atlanta.
Despite the concerns about the team’s ability around Dame, I think Portland will be able to hang around against Atlanta, who has struggled as a home favorite this season.
The Hawks are just 10-15 against the spread in that spot, and overall they are the fifth worst team against the spread in the NBA in the 2022-23 campaign.
Portland hasn’t been elite as a road dog (11-12 ATS), but the team has the offense with Lillard to at least hang around in this game.
While the Hawks blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 24, they haven’t been that impressive lately. Here’s a look at some of their recent results:
- Home vs. Washington: 119-116 loss
- Home vs. Brooklyn: 129-127 win
- Home vs. Cleveland: 136-119 win
- Home vs. New York: 122-101 loss
- Away vs. Charlotte: 144-138 loss
The win against Cleveland feels like an anomaly here, and the Hawks are just 4-7 ATS when favored by seven or more points this season.
Take the points with Portland on Friday night.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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