The Denver Nuggets (19-11, 10-3 Home), one of the NBA’s top shooting teams, welcome the Portland Trail Blazers (17-15, 10-9 Away) on Friday. Portland was edged out by the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 at Paycom Center on Wednesday.
With 17 points, Jerami Grant was the top scorer in the loss. Jusuf Nurkic added 12 points and four assists. The Trail Blazers are seventh in the Western Conference. Denver won their fourth straight home game on Tuesday at Ball Arena, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 105-91.
Aaron Gordon had 24 points and seven rebounds, leading the team. The Nuggets are atop the Western Conference, currently sitting in first. It’s the final meeting of the season between the teams. Portland and Denver have split their two matchups this season.
The Nuggets earned the win in the last meeting, beating the Trail Blazers 121-120 at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter on December 8. Damian Lillard topped all players in scoring with 40 points and 12 assists in the losing effort.
Nikola Jokic had 33 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists for the Nuggets. The Blazers have been led this season by Anfernee Simons and Grant, who are averaging 22.8 and 21.8 points per game, respectively. Simons also has dished 4.2 assists per game.
Meanwhile, Nurkic is grabbing 9.8 rebounds per game. Jokic’s 24.7 points per game have powered the Nuggets on offense. Jokic has also averaged 11.0 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game, for which he ranks sixth and third in the NBA, respectively.
The Nuggets rank as one of the league’s most accurate teams from the field, second-best at 50.3%. The Trail Blazers have had minimal success at Ball Arena in recent seasons, losing eight of the last 10 trips.
Portland is 6-4 in the last 10 games with an average margin of +5.0 (117.3-112.3). Denver has also gone 6-4 over the last 10, scoring 115.9 points per game on average while allowing 114.4 (+1.5 margin).
TRAIL BLAZERS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Justise Winslow: 8.6 | 15.1 | -6.5
Rebounds per game:
Jusuf Nurkic: 6.0 | 9.8 | -3.8
Assists per game:
Anfernee Simons: 2.8 | 4.2 | -1.4
NUGGETS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
DeAndre Jordan: 6.3 | 11.2 | -4.9
Rebounds per game:
Nikola Jokic: 15.4 | 11.0 | +4.4
DeAndre Jordan: 3.0 | 5.4 | -2.4
Assists per game:
Jamal Murray: 7.0 | 5.4 | +1.6
SportsTips’ NBA Pick:
Denver Nuggets (-185)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
