Damian Lillard has been a one-man wrecking crew lately and will hope to push the Portland Trail Blazers (31-35) past the Philadelphia 76ers (43-22) on Friday.
Bookmaker Bovada has Lillard’s points total set at 32.5 for Friday, offering odds at -112 for the over and at -117 for the under.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: March 10th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
Lillard is averaging a career-high 32.3 points for the season and his numbers have gone completely through the roof since the All-Star break, with the Portland superstar contributing 38.4 points per game with 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists.
His work after the All-Star break includes a career-high 71-point outing against Houston and earlier this week recording his second triple-double of the season. He’s a nightmare to defend against and the Sixers will need to produce a real team effort to slow Lillard down on Friday.
It promises to be a fun back-and-forth backcourt battle as James Harden is set to return from a one-game absence. He sat out the second leg of a back-to-back Tuesday against Minnesota and should be raring to go after enjoying a 20-assist outing in his last appearance.
Harden has transformed into more of a playmaker in Philadelphia and finds himself surrounded by very good scoring options, which has helped Harden to lead the league in assists with 10.8 per game.
The Beard had 14 assists during a triple-double performance when the teams met for the first time this season on Jan. 19. Joel Embiid added 32 points in that game while the Blazers had to take a 105-95 loss at home after scoring only 34 first-half points.
Lillard & Co. will definitely need to have a better start this time around and also have to find a way to cope with Embiid, which is of course easier said than done. With him averaging 33.3 points per game, Embiid is well on his way to finishing a second consecutive campaign as the league’s scoring champ.
Portland has just beefed up the frontcourt as Jusuf Nurkic has returned from injury, but he had a miserable time against Embiid back in January and head coach Chauncey Billups faces a very difficult task in finding a defensive scheme that works against the star big man.
The Trail Blazers have a great history in the match-up, winning six of the last nine head-to-head meetings, but considering how well Harden and Embiid have been playing, even another 70-pointer from Lillard might not be enough to grab the victory.
