Get prepped for NBA Sunday with our Trail Blazers-Hornets betting preview. Both teams are better on the offensive side and love to shoot threes - this should be a fun one.
The action tips off at 7 PM EST. This is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. They last played on March 1, which Portland won 123-111, a game consider the game of Melos. LaMelo Ball was the Hornets high-scorer with 30, and the Blazers’ Carmelo Anthony led Portland with 29.
Ball won’t be playing, but let’s see how these teams match up six weeks later.
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Portland Trail Blazers: Stark Difference in Units
Portland is comfortably in the playoff race amidst a strong Western Conference. Point guard Damian Lillard is having another strong season, averaging over 28 points to go along with 7.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds.
Fellow guard CJ McCollum has been a solid number two option, averaging 23.7 points per game on 45/40/85% shooting.
Portland is far and away an offensively-oriented team. The Blazers rank ninth in the NBA in total offense, while their defense is a bottom-five unit.
That type of team lends itself to high-scoring games, and this contest against Charlotte should be a similar story.
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Charlotte Hornets: Threes Galore
Charlotte, even with the loss of top rookie Ball, are squarely in the mix of a wide-open Eastern conference.
Most sports gamblers know that the Hornets identity lives behind the arc, with their offense running through the three-point shot. Only six teams make more threes per game than the Hornets.
Terry Rozier leads the team in scoring, with 20.2 points per game. His scoring is aided by his team-leading 8.2 three-point attempts per game. Fellow guard Devonte Graham also shoots eight threes a game, averaging 14.0 points per game.go
The lineup is rounded out by Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk, who both shoot over 40% from deep.
The Hornets offense as a whole comes in ranked 19th in the NBA, and their defense is ranked 18th.
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Clearly, the Hornets are designed to score from deep, and it helps that the Blazers are 18th defending the deep shot.
The pure volume of threes from the Hornets side is enough to consider an over, along with a few player props.
What further validates betting on the over for this game is that Portland is even more reliant on the deep shot. The Blazers rank second in the NBA in threes made. While the Hornets are average at defending the three, it will be a challenge to slow it down.
Game Pick: Take the Over
Just as the over hit back when these two teams met in March, a similar result can be expected on Sunday.
Both offenses have the advantage over the opposing defense, suggesting points will be aplenty.
Any game with two teams who prefer to chuck up threes is an enticing bet for an over, and this game is no exception.
As of this writing, the Blazers are 28-25 against over/unders, and the Hornets are 24-27-1.
Our last article didn’t go as planned. See what we said in our Baylor at Kansas free pick.
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