The Los Angeles Clippers will head to the Rose Garden this Saturday night for the first game of a home-and-home series against the Portland Trail Blazers that concludes on Sunday back in LA. Friday night’s contest is set to tip off at 10 p.m. (ET), and the game will be available on NBA League Pass.

The Clippers current losing streak reached three games with Thursday night’s 93-88 loss to Phoenix as six-point road favorites. The loss dropped them to 32-12 straight up overall and 13-7 SU on the road. After failing to cover in its last four games, Los Angeles comes into this matchup 25-19 against the spread and 10-10 ATS in 20 road games. The total has stayed “under” in three of its last five outings.

Portland just snapped a six-game losing streak with a 100-80 pounding of Indiana as a one-point home favorite this past Wednesday. It is now an even 21-21 SU this season and 19-21-2 ATS. The Trail Blazers remain tough to beat at home with a 14-8 SU record (10-10-2 ATS), and the total has stayed under in three of their four games overall.

Clippers at Trail Blazers Betting Storylines

This is just the second time this season that Los Angeles has lost more than two games in a row after enduring a four-game losing streak in late November. This time around defense has been the culprit after giving up 106 points in a loss to Golden State and 109 points to the Thunder. Overall, the Clippers are ranked fourth in the NBA in points allowed (93.4), so they will need to tighten things up this Saturday night.

They have also been held to far less than their 101.2 points a game during this skid, but the fact that Chris Paul has missed the last three games and remains out indefinitely with a knee injury will not help their cause. With Paul on the shelf, it will be up to Blake Griffin and Jamaal Crawford off the bench to pick up the slack. Griffin leads the team with 18.1 points and 8.5 rebounds a game and Crawford is the next highest scorer with 16.7 points.

The Trail Blazers starting five continue to do it all this season with very little help from the bench. LaMarcus Aldridge leads the group with 20.7 points a game while Damian Lillard is chipping in 18.3 points and a team-high 6.6 assists. JJ Hickson leads the team in rebounds with 10.9 and is the lowest-scoring member of the starting five with 12.4 points a game.

Overall, Portland is averaging 97.1 points a game while shooting just 43.7 percent from the field, which is ranked 23rd in the league. It is holding its opponents to an average of 98.8 points a game and pulling down a respectable 42.2 rebounds. While the Trail Blazers can be considered one of the most balanced team in the league, their lack of depth remains a major issue.

Clippers at Trail Blazers NBA Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the Clippers as 2.5-point road favorites with the “over/under” set at 192.

The Clippers are 2-7 ATS in their last nine games following a SU loss but 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games on one day’s rest. The total has gone over in seven of their last nine games against the Northwest Division.

The Trail Blazers are 4-0-1 ATS in their last five conference games but 2-5 ATS in their last seven games against the Pacific Division. The total has stayed under in five of their last six games at home.

Head-to-head in this matchup, the favorite is 6-2 ATS in the last eight meetings, and the total has gone over in eight of the last 12 games played in Portland. Los Angeles has won four of the last five meetings SU, including a 103-90 victory in early November as a one-point road underdog.

Clippers at Trail Blazers Picks and Betting Predictions

The Clippers are definitely not the same team with Paul out of the lineup, but they are still the more talented and deeper team in this matchup. Bank on Los Angeles to end this slide and find a way to win this game by more than two points no matter which players it has on the floor.

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