The Portland Trail Blazers are once again dealing with all kinds of injuries. Blazers fans are far too accustomed to their team never being at full strength. The latest news of Brandon Roy being out a month or two because of surgery on both knees is just like pouring salt into the wound. On the other side, the Phoenix Suns have been one of the top teams in the west over the last few years, but that is no longer the case. The Suns appear to be in rebuilding mode now, and this is a team that will likely miss the playoffs altogether this season. Both of these teams badly need a win in this matchup.

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Portland is left without their leader now that Roy will be sidelined for a long period. It will be up to LaMarcus Aldridge to step up and carry even more of the scoring load over the next month or two. Most people are pointing to the Blazers poor offense as the reason they sit just one game above .500 right now, but their defense has really dropped off this season as well. Nate McMillan prides himself in teaching his team to play terrific defense, but Portland is allowing opponents to shoot 46.4 percent from the floor this year.

The Blazers are the least efficient team in the NBA when it comes to knocking down the three-point shot. Portland is shooting a dreadful 32.6 percent from beyond the arc. Wesley Matthews was a big acquisition for this team in the offseason, and he has proved to be a bright spot for this team. It’s hard to imagine Portland getting very far without getting healthy, but if they solidify their play on the defensive end they can be competitive.

The Phoenix Suns are a shell of the team they were a year ago. Amar’e Stoudemire is gone and so is Jason Richardson. Hedo Turkoglu played just 25 games with the team, and he is now back in Orlando.  Steve Nash is really the only big name left on this team, and there are plenty of trade rumors swirling that he might be on his way out of town before the year is finished.

The Suns are 16-21 on the year, and they have lost eight of their last 11 games. I think the Suns have a bit of an identity crisis right now. They are still trying to run and gun like they did recent years, but they no longer have the personnel to do that successfully. They are still terrible on the defensive end. The Suns are last in the league in points allowed at 108.9 points per game. I just don’t see any way that the rest of this year can go well for Phoenix. This is a franchise that is headed in the wrong direction.

Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns Betting Odds and Line Movement

Phoenix is favored by one in this clash, according to opening NBA lines, and the total is set at 199.5. This line was late to go up on the board, and therefore there hasn’t been any line movement.

Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns Betting Trends

The Suns are 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 home games
The ‘under’ is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings between these teams
Portland is 9-4-1 ATS in the last 14 meetings between these two

NBA Picks: Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns Predictions

The ‘under’ has been the play when these two meet even before all the recent changes, and I think it is an even stronger play now. Both of these teams are a mess right now, and this will likely be a sloppy game that should stay ‘under’ the posted total.

Doc’s Sports NBA is on fire. We are on a 11-2 overall run with 15 of 21 winning nights and we hit our seventh straight Game of the Week on Wednesday as we picked the Clippers against the Heat. We will have a full card of NBA picks for Friday, including our 6-Unit NBA Game of the Month (7-2 Top Play run).