Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets (30-13) will go for a seventh consecutive victory in Tuesday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers (21-22), who have started to build a winning streak of their own with Damian Lillard in hot form.
Lillard has started his best stretch of the season and bookmaker Bovada has the odds at -105 for him to continue it on Tuesday with at least 32 points. The odds are at -125 for him to get under 31.5 points.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 17th, 9:30 A.M. (EST)
Following a quiet opening to 2023, Lillard has scored at least 30 points in all of his last five appearances and has averaged 38 points during the run. The hot spell even includes a 50-point effort against a Cleveland team that is ranked among the top defensive sides in the league.
Another big performance is expected from Lillard on Tuesday as it’s a meeting with a team that has struggled against backcourts all season long. Denver has given up a league-high 27.0 points and 9.4 assists per 48 minutes to opposing point guards in 2022-23. Lillard has also enjoyed the match-up numerous times this season, averaging 35 points per game with nearly a 50-percent success rate behind the three-point line.
However, despite Lillard’s superb performances, Portland has dropped the last two games in the head-to-head series and the Nuggets are massive favorites again Tuesday.
Denver had a sluggish start to the season, but the team has been defeated just three times over its last 19 outings and Nikola Jokic appears simply unstoppable at present. He’s posted three triple-doubles over his last four outings and is even getting close to averaging a triple-double for the season. The reigning MVP sits on 24.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 9.8 assists ahead of Tuesday’s action.
Jokic had a tough time against the Blazers in the first meeting of the season when he was limited to just nine points, but he was in dominant form last month in two meetings against them, scoring a total of 62 points and recording 18 rebounds and 20 assists. The Joker should be flirting with another triple-double on Tuesday and even another 50-point performance from Lillard might not be enough for Portland to get a third consecutive win.
