NBA 2022/23, Friday, 11/18/2022
Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets should be one of the clearest affairs on this night. Because with the New Yorkers, good defensive work always seems to be limited to just a few games.
Meanwhile, in my Trail Blazers Nets tip, I bring to the reader’s attention why Rip City seems to be an almost safe betting bank in the second half.
Until a few days ago, the Nets had a chance to pass as a passable basketball team built around one of the best NBA players of all time.
Indeed, they won four of the six games in which Kyrie Irving was suspended. In the span of those ten days, they even managed to move up from 30th to 13th on the league’s best defensive rankings.
But then, in the last two games against Lakers (103:116) and Kings (121:153), all the many inconsistencies and problems in the defensive work came to light again, which are currently keeping every Nets fan up at night.
Furthermore, Kyrie Irving is becoming more and more of a liability for the New York Islanders – even if I didn’t want to admit it for a long time. After all, we’re talking about one of the best ball-handlers of all time.
But the statistics are unmistakable on this point: over the period of the last two seasons, the Nets’ record with Irving on the floor is 17-25, while they won significantly more games without their enfant terrible (34-25).
Irving’s negative headline in the course of the upcoming court case puts an additional strain on the team, which is why I can well imagine that he will not play another game for Brooklyn. Either way, “AI’s” days in New York appear to be numbered.
The Nets are a struggling franchise, while their upcoming opponent is currently on a high. That’s because the Trail Blazers currently occupy first place in the Western Conference with a record of 10-4.
The improvement in performance that the men from Portland are capable of in the second half is a fact that the reader should not simply ignore when placing his own personal Trail Blazers Nets prediction.
After all, Rip City is demonstrably the fifth-worst team before the halftime break, but at the same time the league-wide second-best in the second half.
The Trail Blazers are most prone to a power explosion in the second half with Josh Hart and Jstise Winslow improving their average field-goal percentage by 18.1% and 32.5% respectively compared to the first half.
Consequently, a 1/1 bet would be just about the last offer from the sportsbooks reviewed that I would make given this statistic and those that follow.
You see, Rip City has trailed by at least 10 points in 10 of its 14 games so far this season, but has managed to win six of those 10 games in the end. Portland, for once, is the league’s stand-up guy who keeps getting better out the back.
The German bookmakers also seem to have noticed that New York’s cover work is one big construction site, so things are clear for them as well with regard to tonight.
The Trail Blazers are currently favoured to win at around 1.66, while the odds on the Nets to win are currently around 2.10.
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Summary: Kevin Durant is, by the way, the only real pillar in the Nets’ game who I also trust to score 20 to 25 points tonight. But it will not be much more in the end.
The Trail Blazers are the team of the moment, and they are known for their ability to step it up when New York’s defence is at its worst – in the second half.
Although I will focus on a Trail Blazers home win bet, even if a bet that is limited exclusively to the second half of the game also seems to have good chances of success.
My Trail Blazers Nets bet: Rip City wins!
