Once upon a time, the Portland Trail Blazers were nearly impossible to beat at Moda Center.
Those days seem to have vanished. The Trail Blazers are mired in a five-game home losing streak and hoping to avoid their eighth consecutive loss when the Charlotte Hornets roll into town tonight.
The perpetually injured Hornets look to rebound from a 97-84 away loss to the Warriors that ended its four-game winning streak.
Who will win this non-conference NBA matchup? Join me as I dive into the NBA odds with my free NBA picks for Hornets vs. Trail Blazers on Sunday, February 25.
Hornets vs Trail Blazers odds
Hornets vs Trail Blazers predictions
The Charlotte Hornets will be shorthanded again tonight, but if they want to compete against the slow-grinding and equally short-handed Portland Trail Blazers, they’ll need a huge game from forward Miles Bridges.
Bridges has been dynamite when he’s in the lineup — he’s usually either leading the Hornets in scoring or a close second, and with leading scorer LaMelo Ball out, Charlotte will need him to cook early and often.
The Michigan State alum is enjoying the highest usage rate of his brief career and has made the most of it — he’s posted a career-best 21.6 points with 7.6 boards and 3.4 dimes per game on 37.2 minutes per night.
While Bridges is enjoying career bests in nearly every statistical category, where he’s really improved is his shooting from downtown. He’s draining 37.8% from downtown on the season, which does dip to 35.7% away from the Hornets’ nest.
Bridges' seasonal numbers are well above his career average, and if the Hornets are going to compete tonight, he will have to clear 2.5 triples.
Portland is a bad team, but they do play decent defense, especially from the 3-point arc, where they allow 35.7% from downtown at Moda Center. Bridges has been hot from downtown and has cleared his prop number in three of his previous five.
We should expect Portland to pick up ball-handlers from the inbound pass and look to trap when they can — it forces 14.3 turnovers per game at home. Still, Charlotte is a better-than-average ball-handling team, passes well enough to beat both the press and the subsequent trap, and that should provide Bridges with enough looks to clear this number.
Finally, this is a game Charlotte can win. Portland is struggling big-time at Moda Center, but Bridges will have to let it fly for them to have a chance. He’s cleared his prop number in both Hornets’ post-All-Star break tilts and in three of Charlotte’s last five road games.
My best bet: Miles Bridges Over 2.5 made 3s (+106 at FanDuel)
Hornets vs Trail Blazers same-game parlay
Miles Bridges Over 2.5 made threes
Brandon Miller Over 18.5 points
Deandre Ayton Over 16.5 points
Bridges isn’t the only one with a decent matchup tonight: rookie Brandon Miller has a nice opportunity to clear his 18.5-point scoring prop in the half-court slog Portland will force Charlotte to play.
He’s cleared his number just once in the last five tilts and is coming off a terrible shooting night. Still, he’ll bounce back from his Friday night stinker.
Blazers center Deandre Ayton has cleared his scoring number in four of his last five and has a tasty matchup tonight. The Hornets defense allows a robust 58% effective field goal percentage as the away team. Ayton is shooting 54.5% from inside the arc at Moda Center and should score past his number.
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Hornets vs Trail Blazers spread and Over/Under analysis
Money came in on both sides of the line last night but not enough to move the moneyline much at all. Charlotte opened +124 and after some slight movement both ways, has seemed to settle at its best number of +125 (bet365). As you can likely tell by now, I like the Hornets to cover and also win straight up.
The Hornets have won four of their last five and coming off an ugly away loss. They meet a struggling Portland side on a five-game home losing streak and will be without Malcolm Brogdon, Shaedon Sharpe, and Scoot Henderson — that’s a lot of production missing from the lineup.
Portland doesn’t win much at Moda Center (9-18) and they don’t cover the number either. The Trail Blazers are 3-point favorites tonight at most shops but are 11-16 ATS at home this season. The best number for a Portland cover is -2.5 at DraftKings after opening -3.
Charlotte is 9-18 ATS as the away team but the Hornets are also 4-1 ATS over their last five. I like the +3.
There are problems with the total — the Hornets/ O/U record is 1-4 in their last five while the Trail Blazers are 4-1 to the Over in their previous five.
We missed all the value on the Under when bettors hammered Under 223.5 into oblivion at DraftKings — it now rests at 215 but the best number for the Under is 215.5 at FanDuel.
While I don’t have much interest in the Over, the best number is Over 214.5 (-115) at BetMGM and even that may be too many points.
Hornets vs Trail Blazers betting trend to know
The Hornets are 4-0 ATS in their last four games against losing teams and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall. Find more NBA betting trends for Hornets vs. Trail Blazers.
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Hornets vs Trail Blazers game info
| Location: | Moda Center, Portland, OR |
| Date: | Sunday, February 25, 2024 |
| Tip-off: | 9:00 p.m. ET |
| TV: | Bally Southeast Charlotte, Root Sports |
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