Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers Game 1 Pick and Prediction

Teams/Spread	Moneyline Odds	Total
Trail Blazers: +6.5 (-110)	+230	Over 233 (-110)
Lakers: -6.5 (-110)	-275	Under 233 (-110)

The final Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs will feature an intriguing matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Both teams have had vastly different experiences in the Orlando bubble thus far. Portland has had to battle tooth-and-nail just to get into the playoffs, while the Lakers have essentially had the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference locked up for quite a while. The Blazers impressively got past the Memphis Grizzlies in Saturday’s play-in game, but they’ll have had just a couple of days off to prepare for the mighty Lakers.

LA, meanwhile, is expected to be back to full strength after resting some players over the course of the 8-game seeding schedule. The Lakers open as 6.5-point favorites over the Blazers in Game 1 in a game with a 233 over/under.

Are the Lakers Rusty?

Los Angeles hasn’t had much to play for so far in the bubble, so you can likely excuse their underwhelming 3-5 performance thus far. Frank Vogel limited the minutes of several of his starters in the final seeding games, and understandably so. The Lakers prioritized health for the playoffs over trying to play well in otherwise meaningless games.

This team still went 52-19 during the regular season. This will actually be the Lakers’ first playoff game in 7 years, which is crazy to say considering the amount of success this franchise has enjoyed for decades. LeBron James and Anthony Davis will both be making their postseason debuts for the Purple and Gold, and you have to think they’ll both be ready for the spotlight.

In 239 career playoff games for Cleveland and Miami, LeBron has averaged 28.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game. Those aren’t too different from his regular-season career averages, and it remains to be seen just how the Blazers plan to slow him down.

Portland has been one of the worst defensive teams in basketball all season, and little has changed in that regard in the bubble. The return of Jusuf Nurkic gives Portland more beef around the rim, but the Blazers are woefully lacking in viable wing defenders. Trevor Ariza is probably the best wing defender on the roster, but he didn’t join his team in Orlando. So, Portland’s best hope of slowing down James is probably someone like Gary Trent Jr. or a past-his-prime Carmelo Anthony. Good luck with that.

Nurkic will have his hands full with Davis, who averaged 32 points, 11.3 rebounds, and better than 2 blocks per game against the Blazers during their 3 regular-season meetings.

While the Lakers may have looked rusty in the seeding games, I think that has more to do with a lack of motivation than anything else. I’d imagine we’ll see a different, more focused version of LA in this one.

Dame Time? Dame Time.

Damian Lillard won MVP of the seeding games, and with good reason. He led the league with an average of 37.6 points during the 8-game regular season conclusion, and he chipped in 9.6 assists per game for good measure. Over his last 4 games, the 30-year-old is averaging 49 points per game. He’s been incredibly good.

The Lakers have been one of the stingiest defensive teams in basketball this season, but they also don’t necessarily have a go-to defender to get in Lillard’s way. One would imagine Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will be the players that get the first crack at trying to slow him down, but it would be a surprise if either found much success.

Don’t be surprised if the Lakers try to double-team Lillard as soon as he crosses half-court and daring Portland’s supporting cast to beat them, instead.

Lillard won’t be sneaking up on the Lakers, of course. He averaged 36 points per game across their 3 meetings during the season, including an incredible 48-point outburst at Staples Center on the last day of January. If Portland is to make a long series out of this, Lillard will have to be on-point and his teammates will have to make the most of their open looks from 3-point range.

Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers NBA Pick

Portland has enough firepower to score points in this series. I’d be surprised if we didn’t get a number of high-scoring games, especially considering the Blazers’ own shortcomings on the defensive side of the floor. The Blazers can score, but I don’t really see a feasible way for Portland to slow James or Davis down over the course of a long series.

While the Blazers have looked more impressive than the Lakers in bubble play to this point, I’d be shocked if the Lakers didn’t flip the script now that we’re into postseason play. LeBron has stated time and time again that his only goal is to bring a title back to Los Angeles, so I doubt he comes out and completely flops in his first-ever playoff appearance for the franchise.

The 6.5-point spread for this game looks attackable. Los Angeles should be able to score pretty much whenever they want. I think Portland can make a game of it, but would anybody be shocked to see this game end with a double-digit margin? I don’t think so. Grab the value here that comes with the Lakers covering the 6.5 points and taking care of business in Game 1.