The Portland Trail Blazers (27-28, 15-12 Home) will try to slow down one of the NBA’s top scoring teams when they play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder (26-28, 10-17 Away) on Friday. Oklahoma City squeaked by the Los Angeles Lakers 133-130 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.
With 30 points and eight assists, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a top performer. The Thunder are 11th in the Western Conference. Portland won a close one on Wednesday at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter, beating the Golden State Warriors 125-122.
Damian Lillard had a triple double with 33 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds, leading the team. The Trail Blazers are 10th in the Western Conference. The teams are meeting for the last time this season.
After taking both of the prior season meetings against Portland, the last of which was a 101-98 victory at Paycom Center in December 2022, their sixth straight head-to-head victory, Oklahoma City will be looking for a season sweep.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 27 points and six rebounds. Jerami Grant had 17 points in defeat. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.8 points per game, fifth-highest in the league, to lead the Thunder in scoring this season. Meanwhile, Josh Giddey is contributing 7.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.
Lillard (30.9 ppg) has supplied much of the Blazers’ offense. He has the fourth-highest scoring average in the league. Lillard also has distributed 7.3 assists per game, ninth-most in the NBA. Jusuf Nurkic has collected 9.4 rebounds per game.
With 117.6 points per game, the Thunder are one of the most explosive offenses in the league (3rd). The teams have split their last 10 meetings at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter (5-5). Oklahoma City is 5-5 in the last 10 games with an average margin of +1.8 (121.0-119.2).
Portland has a 6-4 record over the last 10, scoring 122.7 points per game on average while allowing 122.6 (+0.1 margin). The Trail Blazers are averaging 114.7 ppg for the full season while allowing 114.4.
THUNDER HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Jaylin Williams: 17.6 | 10.4 | +7.2
Points per game:
Tre Mann: 10.4 | 8.1 | +2.3
Assists per game:
Josh Giddey: 7.6 | 5.9 | +1.7
TRAIL BLAZERS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Trendon Watford: 17.2 | 10.5 | +6.7
Jusuf Nurkic: 2.0 | 26.1 | -24.1
Points per game:
Josh Hart: 12.0 | 9.5 | +2.5
Jusuf Nurkic: 0.0 | 13.8 | -13.8
Rebounds per game:
Drew Eubanks: 6.0 | 4.7 | +1.3
Jusuf Nurkic: 1.0 | 9.4 | -8.4
Assists per game:
Anfernee Simons: 5.2 | 4.2 | +1.0
SportsTips’ NBA Pick:
Portland Trail Blazers (-155)
Want up to a $1K risk free bet for this pick?
Claim with 
today!
If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our NBA hub page for all your basketball needs!
*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
