After splitting the first four games of this best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series, the higher-seeded Nuggets host the Trailblazers for a big Game 5 Tuesday night in Denver. The Nuggets still hold the home-court advantage for the remainder of this series, but they’re lined as +115 underdogs to win it, with Portland giving -135 as the favorite. Denver’s also still playing shorthanded. Here’s what we looked at when handicapping this game, with our free NBA playoff betting pick. NBA Playoffs Betting Odds The NBA betting market opened this game with Denver favored by a point and a half, with an over/under of 226. Early betting action then bumped the Nuggets to -2.
Blazers-Nuggets NBA Betting Preview
These two teams split the first two games of this series in Denver, the Nuggets taking Game 1, Portland taking Game 2. Denver then grabbed Game 3 in Portland 120-115, but the Blazers bounced back to take Game 4 Saturday 115-95. So this series now comes down to a best-of-three. Portland scored the first six points of Saturday’s game, led 57-47 at the half, then scored the first 10 points out of the locker to go up 20. The Blazers later led by 33 on their way toward the victory and the easy money as favorites of 4.5 points. Portland shot 50 percent from the field Saturday while holding the Nuggets to just 34 percent FG shooting. Denver finished five games ahead of Portland in the regular-season standings, 47-25 to 42-30, and took the season series from the Blazers two games to one. And the only game the Nuggets lost didn’t mean anything to them. So Denver is 4-2 SU in games that meant something against Portland this season. However, the Blazers are 4-2 ATS in those games, covering as dogs a couple of times. The Nuggets suffered a serious hit when G Jamal Murray (21 PPG this season) went down and out with a knee injury back on April 12. Denver is also without guards Will Barton (13 PPG) and PJ Dozier. So the Nuggets are a little thin in the back-court right now.
NBA Playoffs Betting Trends
The Blazers played 22-14 SU, 23-13 ATS on the road this season. The Nuggets played 25-11 SU, 16-20 ATS at home this season. The Blazers played 15-22 SU, 17-20 ATS against teams that made the playoffs this season. The Nuggets played 20-17 SU, 15-22 ATS against teams that made the playoffs this season.
Totals Report
Overs played 38-34 in Blazers games this season, which averaged 230 total points. Overs played 39-33 in Nuggets games this season, which averaged 225 total points. Overs are 4-3 in Blazers-Nuggets games this season, which are averaging 227 total points against an average O/U of 228.
