Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Celtics 2/27/19: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Betting Odds
Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Celtics Preview
While the Boston Celtics are in no immediate danger of dropping in the Eastern Conference standings, they are currently trending in the wrong direction as they host the Portland Trail Blazers in an inter-conference matchup.
The Celtics are 37-24 on the season but have lost their last three games. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games and currently sit at the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference, with a 5.5 game lead on the Brooklyn Nets. The Trail Blazers are trending in the other direction, as they come into tonight’s game with a four-game winning streak. They are 37-23 on the season, good enough for fourth in the Western Conference, with a two-game lead over the Houston Rockets. The Blazers are 7-3 in their last 10.
In their most recent matchup in the regular season series, Portland took the win at home, 100-94 on November 11. Damian Lillard had 19 points and 12 assists in the game for Portland, while Boston was led by 27 points from Jayson Tatum.
TV Schedule
Date: 02/27/19
Time: 8:00pm ET
Arena: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Channel: ESPN
Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineup
| Position | Starter |
|---|---|
| PG | Damian Lillard |
| SG | CJ McCollum |
| SF | Maurice Harkless |
| PF | Al-Farouq Aminu |
| C | Jusuf Nurkic |
Blazers Analysis
The Portland Trail Blazers, who seemed to struggle out of the gates at the start of the season, is starting to look like a power out West. Their four-game winning streak and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s two-game skid has put Portland within one game of the number three spot.
Portland’s streak started with a 129-107 win over the Golden State Warriors before the All-Star break, and they’ve picked up impressive wins over the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers since.
In their most recent win, they blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-110. Portland put up 43 points in the second quarter, but had a slow start to the second half and were only able to score 17 in the third, before they outscored Cleveland in the final stanza to secure the win.
C.J. McCollum had a big game with 35 points and seven rebounds. Damian Lillard had 21 points and eight assists, and Seth Curry came off the bench for 15 points.
In his three games since being signed by the Trail Blazers, center Enes Kanter is averaging 14.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and two assists in 19.7 minutes per game.
Blazers Quick Links: Blazers Starting Lineup, Blazers Roster, Blazers Depth Chart, Blazers Injuries, Blazers News, Blazers Schedule
Boston Celtics Starting Lineup
| Position | Starter |
|---|---|
| PG | Kyrie Irving |
| SG | Marcus Smart |
| SF | Jayson Tatum |
| PF | Marcus Morris |
| C | Al Horford |
Contents
Celtics Analysis
While Boston’s losing streak has come against top Eastern Conference teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors, who are number one and two in the East, they’ve also lost to lesser opposition in the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls.
“Every team in the NBA, because every game is its own entity, you better bring it or else you’ll get beat,” coach Brad Steven said recently.
The Celtics, who were once considered to be a top two team in the East have had their share of struggles this season, and those have been outside of the injury issues they’ve had.
This is a back-to-back for the Celtics and last night they lost by 23 points to the Toronto Raptors, 95-118.
Stevens elected not to play any of his players over 26 minutes with the back-to-back in mind and in limited minutes, only four Celtics reached double figures. Marcus Morris had 17 points, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier added 11 and Jaylen Brown finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
While the Celtics seemed to be in the game in almost every quarter, the second quarter was problematic as they went cold and only scored 13 points, while Toronto scored 36 in the quarter.
Celtics Quick Links: Celtics Starting Lineup, Celtics Roster, Celtics Depth Chart, Celtics Injuries, Celtics News, Celtics Schedule
Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Celtics Betting Odds
Vegas is going with the home team here as the Celtics are the 2.5 point favorites to win at TD Garden, where they are 23-8 this season. Boston is also 33-17 as the favorite, while Portland is 13-15 on the road and 10-14 as the underdog.
The over/under is 226 points and the moneyline has not budged since Boston opened at -145.
Odds & Line Movement Links: Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Celtics, Vegas Odds (All NBA Games Today)
Free Betting Picks Today: NBA Betting Props: Picks + Analysis 2/27/19 | NBA Betting Picks with Lines & Odds 2/27/19
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