Celtics open West Coast swing with trip to Portland

[Betfair]

Hi guys, some info for your basketball picks

The Boston Celtics travel west to take on the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden Thursday night

At the time of this writing, the board is Boston Celtics -4.5 (1.96, -104) and Portland Trail Blazers +4.5 (2.02, +102)

Boston is set to open a four-game western road swing when and will go for a fourth consecutive win over Portland at the Rose Garden Thursday night. The Celtics are coming off an impressive 112-95 win over lowly Cleveland and it's the type of game that coach Doc Rivers fears the most. "These are the games I'm more scared of, truthfully," he said. "When we play the contending teams and the teams who are playoff-bound-you know, I know we're going to be mentally ready from top to bottom." Half of Boston's 10 losses have been to sub-.500 teams. The squad is 12-7 overall on the road this season, including just a 2-1 mark against the West. Boston is 20-21 ATS on the season.

The Celtics captured the 2009-10 series against the Blazers by winning both meetings, led by forward Paul Pierce averaging 16.5 points and shooting 50 percent from 3-point range. Point guard Rajon Rondo added a double-double effort with 14.5 points and 10.0 assists. They will be joined by center Kendrick Perkins in the lineup, who just played for the first time since tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in the NBA finals last season. He scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds in the victory over Cleveland.

Portland has been dealing with major injuries all season and desperately needs forward LaMarcus Aldridge available for tonight's battle. He underwent an MRI on his right hip Tuesday after managing nine points in a 96-81 home loss to Sacramento on Monday. "It's a tough stretch coming up," said point guard Andre Miller. "We have to find a way to make it up somehow." Accomplishing the task may be tough due to dropping 10 of the last 11 meetings against tonight's opponent. Portland's .398 all-time winning percentage against Boston is its lowest mark among all current NBA opponents. The squad is 7-8

ATS as an underdog this season and 2-4 against Atlantic division opponents.

The Blazers must shoot a higher percentage than its opponents to be successful and this is demonstrated in a big way with the team's 17-1 record when outshooting their opponent. It's also important to note that the team is 13-1 at the Rose Garden against teams that are currently under the .500 mark, but that will not be the situation against a high caliber team like Boston. Offensively, the team is averaging 98.3 points per game so far in January, reaching the 100-point plateau in seven of its 13 games this month.

Bettors may have a strong interest in backing the Blazers due to their 33-15 ATS mark as a home underdog, while the Celtics are 2-9-1 ATS following a SU win.