Pro Basketball Preview: Denver Nuggets at Portland Trail Blazers

Denver came away with a 120-118 home win versus the New York Knicks last time out despite shooting just 66 percent from the charity stripe.  The Nuggets did attempt a season-high 47 free throws and star forward Carmelo Anthony scored 6 points and pulled down nine rebounds, giving him 44 boards in his last three games.  “Melo has been great,” said head coach George Karl.  “He’s been the most professional I’ve ever seen him, more serious than I’ve ever seen him and the guy’s playing at an All-Star level.”  Denver has fared extremely well in Portland in recent years, producing a 9-7 record at the Rose Garden since the 2002-03 season.  The team is 3-3 ATS on the road this season and 31-24 ATS as an underdog over the last three years.

The Nuggets have posted an impressive 21-7 overall mark against the Trail Blazers since 2003-04, but five of the Blazers’ seven wins have come in the past three seasons.  Denver will need to play a better fourth quarter to pull off a road victory tonight, coming after almost blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to the Knicks at home on Tuesday.  The squad did score a season-high 120 points versus New York and improved to 6-2 this season when scoring 100-plus points.

Portland was able to overcome not having star guard Brandon Roy in its last contest, a 100-99 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies, but may have a tougher time tonight.  He continues to sit out with a sore left knee and members of the team will have to step it up and replace his 18.1 points per game.  “We all had to step up,” said Wesley Matthews.  “I’m part of a team so I’m just fulfilling my duty as a teammate to step up like everyone else did tonight.”  He scored a career-high 30 points in the contest and received help from LaMarcus Aldridge pitching in with 23 points, but that is likely to drop off with the forward managing to score just 10.9 points in eight games versus the Nuggets.  The team is 4-1 ATS as a favorite this season.

The Trail Blazers dropped the season series, 3-1, versus the Nuggets last year mainly due to getting outscored 54-25 in fastbreak points.  Portland will need to concentrate fully on the defensive end tonight, as the team is a perfect 7-0 when holding teams to fewer than 100 points.  The next two games will tell a lot about this team and forward Marcus Camby is ready.  “Denver is a very tough team and Utah has been playing just great ball,” he commented.  “These next two games are tough, but we’ll use this win over Memphis as momentum.”

Bettors will likely lay the Nuggets due to their 1-9-2 ATS mark versus teams with a winning home record, while the Blazers are 3-9-1 ATS in their last 13 games following a SU win.

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