Trail Blazers vs. Spurs, 9:00 ET
The NBA split the East and West series between both of these weekend days, with two of each series going both days. Yesterday was apparently the "good series" day as the NBA had four games that started with spreads all at -8.5 points or lower. Today, there are three different games that all have spreads of -10.5 or higher, including this one between the Portland Trail Blazers and the San AntonioSpurs.
The Trail Blazers beat the Suns (who then beat the Warriors) to make it into the postseason. Their reward was facing the Spurs, but even if they made it as an eight seed, they would have to face the Thunder. Portland, to a certain extent, has to feel happy just to be here. I'm not saying this team has no talent. I actually quite like the Portland roster. I've been campaigning about Deni Avdjia for months as the most improved player in the NBA. I won't call him a superstar, but he certainly looks the part of a great European player. Jermi Grant is the ideal role player for a team. Donovan Clingan is a solid center who made losing DeAndre Ayton a lot easier to manage. And Jrue Holliday is a veteran leader, excellent glue guy, and still one of the better defenders in the league. There is a lot to like about Portland; the problem is that they just aren't nearly as good as the Spurs.
While the Trail Blazers are made up of a lot of good pieces, theSpursare centered around the most intriguing player in the entire league. Victor Wembanyama could go down as an all-time great if his body keeps up and he maintains his play for another decade plus. He is one of the true unicorns the league has ever seen. This was a year everyone expected the Spurs to make the playoffs, but almost universally, they were chosen to be a Play-In team. Instead, they had the second best record in the West, winning 62 games, and it now looks like the Spurs will once again have a decade of excellence under Wemby and company. There are some other pieces worth looking at, though. De'Aaron Fox is typically a clutch guy, and still one of the faster players in the league with the ball. The role players are a mix of good young talent, and veteran leaders who have all played in big games before.
In the regular season, the Spurs and Trail Blazers played each other three times. In the first game, the Spurs won by 13 in Portland. The next meeting, the Trail Blazers got the best of the Spurs, winning by five in San Antonio. In the third and final meeting of the season, the Spurs won by 11. Coming out with a -10.5 spread in favor of the Spurs makes a ton of sense. This will be the first playoff game for a lot of players on both sides of the floor. I expect there to be some nerves, so I'm taking the under. None of the regular season games were all that high, with the highest total being 225. I'll take under 221.5.
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