The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets broke recent streaks of postseason futility by winning their first-round playoff series. Now, one of them is guaranteed a spot in the Western Conference finals. They meet Monday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at the Pepsi Center (10:30 p.m. ET). It has been a decade since the second-seeded Nuggets moved past the first round, but they advanced on the strength of a 90-86 victory Saturday over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of their first-round series. The third-seeded Trail Blazers were swept in the first round in each of the past two seasons but reversed their fortunes with a five-game series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. Denver is a four-point favorite and the over-under for total points scored is 215.5 in the latest Nuggets vs. Blazers odds. Before you lock in your Nuggets vs. Blazers picks, be sure to see the NBA Playoffs 2019 predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, is crushing its NBA picks. It entered Week 28 of the 2018-19 NBA season with a sterling record on its top-rated picks, returning more than $3,500 in profit to anybody following them. And it has been particularly red-hot on its A-rated NBA money-line picks, entering Week 28 on a strong 84-57 run. Anybody who has followed it is way up.
Now, the model has zeroed in on Game 1 of Nuggets vs. Blazers. We can tell you it’s leaning over, and it also says one side of the spread has all the value. That selection is only available at SportsLine.
Despite the short turnaround, the Nuggets have some factors working in their favor Monday against the Trail Blazers. For one, they had the NBA’s best home record at 34-7 during the regular season and their home-court edge proved critical against the Spurs. They won the final three games of the series at the Pepsi Center after dropping the opener, and the crowd noise reportedly impacted San Antonio’s ability to communicate in the closing moments of Game 7.
Denver also appears to match up well with Portland and won three of the four regular-season meetings between the clubs. What’s more, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were held out for rest in the one loss. Jokic and Paul Millsap combined for 47 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists in Denver’s 119-110 home win over Portland on April 5.
Still, Denver is far from a sure thing to cover the Nuggets vs. Blazers spread in the NBA Playoffs 2019 against a Portland squad that appeared to peak toward the end of the regular season and kept its momentum going in the first round.
The Blazers had lost two straight first-round playoff series, but turned the corner with a mostly dominant performance in their five-game win over the Thunder. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum consistently delivered big shots, while role players provided valuable contributions.
Lillard authored perhaps the most memorable highlight of the 2019 NBA Playoffs to date when he drained a long 3-pointer over the defense of Paul George at the buzzer to clinch Game 5 in Portland. He finished with 50 points as the Blazers overcame a double-digit deficit in the final five minutes.
Who wins Game 1 of Blazers vs. Nuggets? And which side of the spread has all the value? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the Blazers vs. Nuggets spread you should be all over Monday, all from the model that’s up more than $3,500 on top-rated NBA picks this season.
