The Portland Trail Blazers are six-point favorites at several sportsbooks ahead of Saturday’s play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Portland (35-39) finished eighth in the Western Conference, meaning Memphis (34-39) must knock the Trail Blazers off twice to earn the conference’s final playoff spot. The Trail Blazers are being offered as six-points favorites by BetRivers, DraftKings and FanDuel, among other books.
If the Trail Blazers win Saturday, they would advance to a first-round playoff matchup with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.
If the Grizzlies win, a rematch would be played Sunday, with that winner advancing to face the Lakers.
Recent history on Memphis’ side
The Grizzlies and Trail Blazers will be meeting for the second time in Florida. Portland got 33 points from CJ McCollum, 29 from Damian Lillard and 21 from Carmelo Anthony in a 140-135 overtime win in each team’s first game in the bubble on July 31.
Portland has gone 6-2 since arriving in Florida.
Lillard finished the eight-game reschedule as one of the top scorers in the bubble at 37.6 points per game, shooting 49.7 percent overall and 43.6 percent on 3-pointers. He added 9.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds per contest. The Grizzlies (+25000) currently have the longest odds at FanDuel to win the NBA Finals, while the Trail Blazers (+6000) have shorter odds than teams including the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers (+6500), Indiana Pacers (+10000), the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic (+24000) and Memphis.
The Milwaukee Bucks are the title favorites at +260, followed by the Los Angeles Clippers (+300) and Lakers (+320)
–Field Level Media ()