The Denver Nuggets will put their home-court dominance on the line as they try to move closer to securing the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference playoff picture when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. The Nuggets (52-26) have the second-best home mark at 32-7 and are 10-2 in the Northwest Division, while the Blazers are just 20-19 on the road and 5-9 in the division. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET from Pepsi Center in Denver. The Trail Blazers lead the all-time series 97-81, but Denver has won the past five meetings. Denver is a six-point favorite in the latest Nuggets vs. Blazers odds, while the over-under for total points scored is 216. You'll want to see the NBA predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model before laying any Nuggets vs. Blazers picks down.
This model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, is crushing its NBA picks. It entered Week 25 of the 2018-19 NBA season with a sterling 277-216 record on all top-rated picks, returning over $4,500 in profit to anybody following them. And it has been particularly red-hot on its A-rated NBA picks against the spread, entering Week 25 on a strong 69-52 run. Anybody who has followed it is way up.
Now the model has dialed in on Nuggets vs. Blazers. We can tell you it is leaning over, but it's also generated an against the spread pick that cashes in almost 60 percent of simulations. That one is available exclusively at SportsLine.
Although the Nuggets are still just two games behind Golden State for the top seed in the West, Denver is better positioned to claim the No. 2 spot in the conference. The Nuggets lead third-place Houston and fourth-place Portland by two games in the loss column and could all but seal second place by beating the Blazers twice in three days starting Friday.
The Nuggets are led by forward-center Nikola Jokic (20.1 ppg), who had a monster game against the Blazers on Jan. 13, scoring 40 points. Guards Monte Morris (10.3 ppg) and Malik Beasley (11.2 ppg) have also been red hot for Denver. Both came off the bench Wednesday against San Antonio and each scored 19. Morris had 16 against the Blazers in their Nov. 30 meeting.
But just because Denver has been tough to beat at home doesn't guarantee it will cover the Nuggets vs. Blazers spread on Friday.
That's because Portland has been red hot, winning 11 of its last 13 games. The Trail Blazers at the very least are out to clinch home court in the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs, and Portland needs any combination of three wins or Utah losses for that to happen. The Blazers are sixth in the league in points at 114.6 per game and have scored 120-plus in 18 of the last 37 games.
Point guard Damian Lillard, who had 26 points against Denver in the last meeting, now has 2,003 for the season, the second time in his career he has scored 2,000 or more.
So who wins Blazers vs. Nuggets? And which side of the spread can you bank on in almost 60 percent of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Trail Blazers vs. Nuggets spread to jump on Friday, all from the advanced model that is up more than $4,500 on its top-rated NBA picks this season, and find out.
