Boston Visits Portland for Late Night Action

The Boston Celtics visit the Portland Trailblazers in a late-night TNT match-up on Thursday and will be looking to avenge last month’s 127-123 home loss. The Celtics will be without shooting guard Avery Bradley, who has missed the last 10 games.

The Trailblazers are favored by 2 and the total on the game is 220.

The Celtics enter the game off Wednesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, which broke a seven-game Boston winning streak. Six of the seven games were at home, where the Celtics are 19-8 on the year. For the season, the Celtics are 14-11 on the road and average 106.2 points and allow 105.6. Boston has had a tendency to play down to the competition and are  12-13 ATS against teams with losing records. They have gone 7-4 ATS in the second of back-to-back games, and are also 7-4 in totals in that spot.

The Trailblazers are 14-11 at home and 9-19 away, but are coming off a road victory on Tuesday when they defeated the Mavericks. Portland is averaging 109 points at home and allowing 107.2. Portland has fared well as a small home favorite, covering all three games in which they were favored by three points or less.

The Trailblazers are above average offensively, while their defense leaves a bit to be desired at times. The Celtics are pretty much on par with the Trailblazers offensively and get a slight nod on defense. Both teams can shoot the ball well and score plenty of points while not playing a necessarily uptempo pace.

The Trailblazers are an inconsistent team and have had trouble stringing together consecutive victories. Boston is a bit risky of a proposition in a game you almost need them to win straight-up to cash your ticket. Instead of the side, believe the over offers a little more value. Portland will look to outscore Boston instead of shutting them down defensively.