Timberwolves vs Trail Blazers Pick, Preview & Betting Odds For Saturday, December 10th

Check out our free Timberwolves vs Trail Blazers pick and preview for this NBA game in Portland. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this NBA matchup.

Timberwolves vs Trail Blazers NBA Pick & Preview

Sport: NBA
Teams: Minnesota Timberwolves at Portland Trail Blazers
Where: Portland at Moda Center
Date: Saturday, December 10th
Betting Odds POR -5.5, MIN +175 | POR -211 O/U 231.0

The Timberwolves come into today’s matchup with an overall record of 13-12. So far, the team has gone 10-15-0 against the spread. Against the Trail Blazers, the Timberwolves are going for their 3rd straight win, posting an average scoring margin of 8.0 points per game in this stretch.

The Timberwolves are coming off a 118-108 win over the Jazz. This away win came despite entering the game as the 0 point underdogs. Minnesota played well enough in the second half to prevent the Jazz from making things interesting down the stretch, as they led by 15 going into halftime. In the win, D’Angelo Russell led the team in scoring with 30 points on a field goal percentage of 75.0%.

So far, the Trail Blazers have put together an overall record of 13-12, while going 16-9-0 vs the spread. Over the team’s past 3 games, Portland has an overall record of 2-1, including going 3-0 against the spread.

Portland will be gunning to get in the win column vs Minnesota, as they previously lost to the Nuggets by a score of 121-120. However, because they entered as 2 point underdogs, they came away with an ATS win. Portland let an opportunity for a win slip away as they held a lead going into the 2nd half of action. Leading the team in scoring was Damian Lillard, as he contributed 40 points while hitting 54.5% of his shots.

Head To Head Recap & Stats

Not only did the Timberwolves finish with an above .500 record on the road in last year’s head-to-head matchup vs Portland, but they also won over half of their games as the road team. Similar to their season-long average, the Timberwolves averaged 121.0 points per game vs the Trail Blazers. Similar to the Timberwolves, the Trail Blazers scored at a rate near the league average. In their games vs Minnesota, the team averaged 105.0 points per game. In terms of betting, Minnesota has an ATS record of 4-1 in the previous 5 matchups vs Portland. This mark has come on an average scoring margin of +13 points per game in favor of the Timberwolves. In these matchups, the teams have put together an over-under mark of 2-3. Combined, they averaged 225 points in these games.

Odds & Free Betting Analysis For This NBA Game

The Timberwolves come into today’s game as one of the better scoring teams in the NBA at 115.3 points per game (8th). Coming into today’s game, the Timberwolves will be looking to improve their 3-point shooting numbers, as they are averaging just 11.1 made 3’s per game. If the team is going to improve their scoring numbers, they will need to become more efficient with their shots as Minnesota is already one of the leaders in pace, averaging 102.3 possessions per game.

Against the Trail Blazers, the Timberwolves will need a stronger defensive effort as they are ranked just 24th in points allowed.

A key injury to note in this game is the absence of the Timberwolves 2nd leading scorer, Karl-Anthony Towns. In his 21 games, Towns is averaging 20.8 points per game while dishing out 5.3 assists and grabbing 8.2 rebounds. In his absence, the team will be looking for even more production out of Anthony Edwards, who leads the team and is 27th in the NBA at 22.8 points per contest. For the season, he has connected on 45.3% of his field goal attempts while taking 20.5% of the team’s shots from the floor.

For the season, the Trail Blazers offensive unit is ranked just 23rd in scoring at 110.7 points per contest. The Trail Blazers come into the game as one of the league’s better 3-point shooting teams, connecting at a rate of 12.2 made 3’s per game. Despite shooting the ball well from outside, Portland has not done a good job taking care of the ball. So far, they are averaging 14.3 turnovers per game.

Defensively, Portland has had its problems giving up an average of 115.11 points per game (27th).

This season, the Trail Blazers offense has primarily worked through Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant who are 1st and 2nd on the team in scoring. In his 23 games, Simons is 21st in the NBA at 23.9 points per game. So far, him and Grant have accounted for 41% of the team’s field goal attempts while combining to average 46.7 points per contest. In addition to sitting 2nd on the team in scoring, Jerami Grant is grabbing 4.1 rebounds for Portland to go along with 2.8 assists.