The Trail Blazers snapped their five-game losing streak to the Clippers in Game 3 after pulling out the 96-88 victory as short 1-point underdogs. A ton of energy was put into that win, so it’s reasonable to wonder whether the home team will have more left in the tank to get the best of CP3 and his mates to even this series up.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
The total is yet to come close to sniffing the closing number in each of the last two games of this series. The first three games were lined at 210.5, 210 and 208.5. Game 1 combined for 210 points to crush the dreams and spirits of over bettors by the dreaded hook.
There wasn’t anything to be determined in Game 2 and 3 however with the Blazers and Clippers combining for just 183 points and 184 points respectively. Three straight low scorers now finds the under a profitable 6-1 in these teams seven hardwood clashes this season.
Yet, linemakers continue to set the total extremely high. LA hasn’t really gone off from downtown in this series, but the good times could be upcoming as bad a 3-point defense Portland marched onto the court with every passing game in the regular season.
SERIES RECAP
The first two games of this series were no shows as the Clippers won Game 1 115-95 as 8.5-point chalk, and followed it up with a 102-81 home win and cover to grab the series by the horns.
Saturday night’s game in Portland played out much differently however with the Blazers once again rallying behind Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum who combined for 59 of the team’s 96 overall points to allow for the Trail Blazers to get back into the series.
The guard duo that combined for the most points led their team to victory in the first three games of this series. That scenario will likely ring true once again in Game 4 with each team’s supporting cast yet to make huge impacts.
LIVE BETTING
Even though DeAndre Jordan is one of the more dominating physical specimens in the league, he has a major flaw to his game. The dude’s got no shooting touch whatsoever and can be a major detriment to the team when the opposition decides to play hack-a-DeAndre.
The simple fact that Mason Plumlee pulled down 21 rebounds on Saturday night mostly falls on him. Blake Griffin should share some of the blame, but DeAndre is the team’s no. 1 rebounder.
If Plumlee is once again having his way on the glass, Portland will have an another excellent shot of winning a game on its home floor where it won 28 of 41 games in the regular season. If not, the Clippers will once again be able to flex their muscles at both ends of the court as coach Doc Rivers’ squad truly possess the much deeper overall roster.
QUICK PICK
The individual Game 3 efforts put forth by both Lillard and McCollum were simply breathtaking. Each guard made 50 percent of his shots from the field and combined to go 5-of-13 from long range. That paired with Plumlee’s monster night on the glass was good enough to steal a game from a Clippers side that shot just over 40 percent from the field to log their worst shooting effort of the series.
So much went right for Portland in Game 3. That happens time and again in the postseason, but it was clearly obvious to me which of these teams was better even though LA ultimately fell short on the scoreboard.
This loss will have no doubt woken up the Clippers and I foresee them going HAM in this one. Portland’s defense is by no means as good as it portrayed in Game 3, and I foresee another scorching hot shooting effort upcoming just like we saw in Game 1 when LA tickled the twine at a near 54 percent clip.
If Lillard and McCollum can mimic their Game 3 efforts, so be it. I’ll bet against that occurring and look for what I perceive to be the better overall team putting forth a dominating effort in a venue they had won and covered in three of the previous four times before falling Saturday night.
NBA Odds: Clippers 114, Trail Blazers 105
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