A huge win on Tuesday night has propelled the Portland Trail Blazers into the conversation for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference this season.<\/p>\n
Portland knocked off the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, and it\u2019s just a half game back of L.A. entering tonight\u2019s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. To make things even better for the Blazers, the Clippers have to play the No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
So, a win and a Clippers loss would push Portland into the No. 8 seed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New Orleans has picked up its play over the final weeks of the regular season, reaching the 25-win mark, but it has dropped five games in a row. So, this is a great spot for the Blazers (who are favored at home) to earn their 40th win of the season.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s examine the latest betting odds, a player prop and my prediction for Thursday\u2019s contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pelicans vs. Trail Blazers Odds, Spread and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Spread<\/p>\n Pelicans +6.5 (-112)Trail Blazers -6.5 (-108)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Pelicans: +205Trail Blazers: -250<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n 232.5 (Over -112\/Under -108)Pelicans vs. Trail Blazers How to WatchDate: Thursday, April 2Time: 10:00 p.m. ESTVenue: Moda CenterHow to Watch (TV): BlazerVision, FanDuel Sports Network (Local)Pelicans record: 25-51Trail Blazers record: 39-38Pelicans vs. Trail Blazers Injury ReportsPelicans Injury ReportKarlo Matkovic \u2013 questionableTrey Murphy III \u2013 questionableBryce McGowens \u2013 outTrail Blazers Injury ReportJerami Grant \u2013 outDamian Lillard \u2013 outShaedon Sharpe \u2013 outVit Krejci \u2013 outChris Youngblood \u2013 doubtfulHansen Yang \u2013 doubtfulJayson Kent \u2013 doubtfulPelicans vs. Trail Blazers Best NBA Prop BetsBlazers Best NBA Prop BetDonovan Clingan OVER 12.5 Rebounds (-105)<\/p>\n This season, former lottery pick Donovan Clingan has been a monster on the glass for Portland, averaging 11.6 rebounds per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n He picked up 15 boards in his last meeting against the Pelicans, and since the All-Star break, the UConn product is averaging 12.0 rebounds per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n I think he\u2019s worth a look to go OVER this line, as the Pels are just 19th in the NBA in rebound percentage and 25th in opponent rebounds per game this season. Clingan has at least 13 boards in 11 games since the break.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pelicans vs. Trail Blazers Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n The Trail Blazers have a ton to play for on Thursday, as a win and a Clippers loss would move them into the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n Portland has taken two of the first three meetings this season with the New Orleans Pelicans, and it\u2019s heavily favored at home in this matchup with New Orleans nursing a five-game losing streak.<\/p>\n The Pelicans have turned their season around a bit \u2013 getting to 25 wins \u2013 but they\u2019re just 9-28 on the road and 9-41 straight up against teams that are .500 or better.<\/p>\n That sets up well for the Blazers, who are four games over .500 at home and 24-7 against teams that are under .500 this season.<\/p>\n Portland has been rolling down the stretch of the regular season, ranking fourth in the NBA in net rating (+11.5) over its last 10 games. I love this price for the Blazers to win on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Blazers -6.5 (-108 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Find Peter Dewey’s\u00a0NBA betting record here<\/a>\u00a0(futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on \u00a0BetStamp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A huge win on Tuesday night has propelled the Portland Trail Blazers into the conversation for the No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-694244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-portland","12":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","13":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","14":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116336174379603474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}