With the 2nd half of the 2014-15 NBA season well underway, on this Saturday night the 28th of March 2015 we have the Denver Nuggets who are 28-45 and 4th NE Division (17-20 at home, 11-25 away) playing the Portland Trail Blazers 46-25 and 1st NW Division (18-18 away, 28-7 at home) and this game is to be played tonight at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon and tip-off is scheduled for 10:05 PM ET.
The opening odds for this match-up have the Trail Blazers of Portland the favorites at -8 ½ with the Over/under at 208 and the Money Line on Portland at -440 and the comeback Money Line on the Nuggets of Denver is +355.
Coming into this game the Trail Blazers of Portland have been able to accomplish 3 wins against the Nuggets of as their 1st game was back on Sunday the 9th of Nov. 2014 and Portland won that game 116-100 at home. The 2nd game of the 4 games was played at Denver on the 12 of Nov. 2014, and Portland won that game 130-113. The 3rd game was also played at Denver on the 2nd of Dec. 2014 at Denver, and Portland won their 3rd game of the 4 game series 105-103.
The 4th and final game of that 4 game series is tonight the 28th of March 2015 and this game for the Trail Blazer just might bring out the best of their offensive abilities, since last Wednesday the finally ended a five game losing streak as they beat the Jazz of Utah and then beat the Suns of Phoenix and in the win over the Suns this past Friday they had to rally to eliminate an 8 point deficit in the last quarter of the game to beat the Suns 87-81.
The 5 top performers for the Nuggets of Denver for points scored per game are Guard-Lawson-15.5 points, Forward-Chandler-13.6 points, Center-Faried-12 points, Forward-Gailinari-11.2 points and Guard-Foye-7.9 points per game. The leaders in Statistics for the Nuggets, for Point’s scored-Lawson at 15.5 points, for Rebounds-Faried with 8.7, for Assists-Lawson with 9.6, for Steals-Lawson with 1.4 and for Blocks-Nurkic with 1.2 blocks per game.
For the Trail Blazers their top 5 performance in scoring per game have been by Forward-Aldridge-23.4 points, Guard-Lillard-21.3 points, Guard-Affalo-13.3 points, Center-Lopez-9.6 points and Guard-Batum-9.2 points per game. Statistics leaders for Portland for Points scored-Aldridge at 23.4 points, for Rebounds-Affalo with 13.3, for Assists-Lillard with 6.3, for Steals-Matthews with 1.4 and on Blocks-Lopez with 1.5 steals.
The Nuggets had lost 7 consecutive games to the Trail Blazers dating back to April of 2013 and the closest they came to a win in those seven losses, was in their last game with Portland when the score was tied with 2 seconds remaining and Lopez for Portland scored to beat the Nuggets 105-103. In those games their coach was Shaw who was released on the 3rd of March this month and their now with interim coach Hunt who is seeking the full-time coaching job with Denver and a win against the Jazz last Friday and his present record of 8 and 6, certainly is helping his bid for the job.
Now under coach Hunt the Nuggets are improved on offense and defense and are building the speed needed to get them to the playoffs after some struggling times. In this game the Trail Blazers need to prove they can win against the struggling Nuggets if they care to become a postseason team to beat.