Portland Trail Blazers vs Oklahoma City Thunder Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 06/03/2024, 07:03  by Kennedy Kechula in NBA Predictions

The Portland Trail Blazers will be at home to welcome the OKC Thunder in the two’s final NBA regular season matchup. OKC are second in the Western Conference standings while the Blazers are second from bottom. The Blazers have lost the first three meetings of the season with OKC. They have been blown out in two of those and will seek a consolation win here. Chauncey Billups’ men are coming off yet another defeat. The fifth worst-ranked team in the league, Portland were defeated 119-114 last time out away to conference leaders Minnesota. The loss ended a two-game winning run and took their record to 17-43. Portland had won back-to-back matches against fellow West strugglers Memphis before the trip to Minneapolis. The Blazers have a long injury list coming into this match and could be without eight players. Malcolm Brogdon, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe are out. Deandre Ayton, Matisse Thybulle, Toumani Camara, and Jerami Grant are all potential absentees.

The OKC Thunder are also coming off a defeat. Mike Daigneault’s men suffered their second loss in three outings as they went down 116-104 to the Lakers in LA. Before their current dip in form, the Thunder had won six in a row and had briefly assumed top spot in the West. They are now half a game off the pace. But having dominated this matchup over the years, they will be confident of a win here. OKC have won the last 11 meetings with the Blazers and four of those have been on the road. Two of their three matchups this season have been blowout victories. One of those, a 133-77 victory back in January is the biggest margin of victory this season. The Thunder, who are averaging 120.9 points a night, will continue to be without Jaylin Williams.