Charlotte Hornets vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 02/04/2024, 14:36  by Joseph King | Modified on 02/04/2024 at 18:00 in NBA Predictions

The 13th-placed Charlotte Hornets play host to the 14th-place Portland Trail Blazers at the Spectrum Center on Wednesday. Charlotte’s 18-57 record has them sitting 13th in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining on their schedule. They take to the court following a 118-104 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday. The defeat was the third in a row for Charlotte and their eighth loss over the last 10 games overall. The Hornets saw solid production from Miles Bridges, Grant Williams and promising rookie Brandon Miller in their last game. Those three have to play at the top of their games if the Hornets are to manage any wins in their remaining seven games. A silver lining for Charlotte is that they are at least getting better offensive production in recent outings. They had previously gone on a barren run of five straight games without cracking the 100-point mark. 

The Trail Blazers come into this matchup sitting 14th in the West with a record of 19-56. This has them sitting just a single game above the San Antonio Spurs as they look to avoid a bottom-place finish in the conference. Portland has been struggling immensely in their recent outings and have now lost their last 10 in a row following a slim one-point 104-103 away defeat to the Magic on Monday. One of the few bright spots involved welcoming Deandre Ayton back into the starting lineup after the former number-one pick missed the last four games. Ayton was sharp on his return, dropping 20 points, grabbing 12 boards and dishing three assists. 24-year-old Dalano Banton has also been a revelation this season off the bench. He scored 26 points which included 4 for 8 shooting from deep. Banton is averaging 16.0 points per game in 27.6 minutes for Portland in 24 games since being traded from the Celtics earlier in the season.