Portland Trail Blazers vs New Orleans Pelicans Prediction, 12/21/2021 NBA Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Portland Trail Blazers vs New Orleans Pelicans

Date: Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Location: Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA

TV: ROOT SPORTS

Smoothie King Center is where the New Orleans Pelicans (10-21) will take on the Portland Trail Blazers (13-18) on Tuesday.

The Trail Blazers faced off with the Grizzlies and walked away with a win by a score of 105-100 in their last game. In the matter of fouls, the Trail Blazers finished with 18 while the Grizzlies totaled 8 fouls. They converted 9 out of their 34 tries from beyond the arc. Memphis shot 84.0% from the charity stripe by converting 21 of their 25 shots. In addition, Memphis had 23 rebounds (10 offensive, 13 defensive) and had 9 blocks. Memphis dished out 33 dimes and had 22 steals for the matchup. With regard to defending, Portland let their opponent shoot 38.5% from the floor on 35 out of 91 shooting. They also dished out 17 dimes in the game as well as forcing the other team into 5 turnovers and getting 4 steals. In the matter of getting rebounds, they compiled 51 with 9 of them being of the offensive variety. From the charity stripe, the Trail Blazers made 24 of their 28 attempts for a percentage of 85.7%. Portland ended the contest having earned a 47.3% field goal percentage (35 out of 74) and made 11 out of their 32 shots from beyond the arc.

Damian Lillard is a player who played a role for the matchup. Lillard went 47.4% from the field and also recorded 5 assists. He was on the court for 38 mins and also snagged 5 boards. He notched 32 points on 9 out of 19 shooting.

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Portland enters this contest with a win-loss mark of 13-18 this year. They have an average of 108.5 points per game (14th in the league) while shooting 45.2% from the field. The Trail Blazers are hitting 35.2% on 3-pointers (412 of 1,170) and 78.6% from the free throw line. As a team, Portland is collecting 44.2 boards per game and is sitting with 710 assists for the year, which is 15th in basketball in terms of passing the ball. They turn it over 14.3 times per game and as a basketball team they commit 19.3 personal fouls every game.

Defensively, the Trail Blazers are forcing 13.6 turnovers per game and they draw 19.5 personal fouls. They currently rank 28th in the league in giving up assists with 789 surrendered so far this season. The Trail Blazers defense is giving up an opponent FG percentage of 47.0% (1,268 of 2,700) and they relinquish 43.0 boards per game as a basketball team. They are surrendering 37.6% on 3-point attempts while they are 25th in the league in points per game from their opponents (111.0).

For their last game, the Pelicans walked away with a victory by a final of 116-112 against the Bucks. When talking about team rebounding, New Orleans permitted Milwaukee to get 32 overall (12 offensive). They wrapped up this game 29.8% from distance by hitting 14 of 47 and walked away from this one shooting 8 of 10 at the free throw line (80.0%). The Pelicans permitted the Bucks to convert 45 of their 104 tries from the floor which had them shooting 43.3% in this matchup. At the conclusion of this game, the Pelicans finished 42 out of 89 from the floor which had them sitting at 47.2%. Regarding shooting from 3-point land, New Orleans knocked down 13 out of 37 tries (35.1%). They were able to convert 19 of the free throws for a clip of 63.3%. The Bucks had 13 personal fouls in this game which took the Pelicans to the free throw line for a total of 30 attempts. They also turned the ball over 20 times, while earning 10 steals for the contest. The Pelicans snagged 44 defensive rebounds and 13 offensive rebounds totaling 57 for the contest.

Devonte' Graham ended up being a factor for the Pelicans for the contest. He converted 8 out of 12 for the matchup giving him a rate of 66.7%, and earned 4 rebounds. Graham racked up 26 points in his 36 mins on the hardwood and had 4 dimes for the game.

New Orleans has a win-loss mark of 10-21 this season. As an offensive team, the Pelicans are connecting on 43.5% from the field, which has them ranked 26th in the league. New Orleans has tallied 3,236 points so far this year (104.4 per contest) and they collect 46.7 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 24.6 times per contest (10th in the league) and they cough up possession 15.2 times per game. The Pelicans commit 19.7 personal fouls every game and they go 78.9% from the charity stripe.

The Pelicans on defense are ranked 23rd in basketball in points per game surrendered with 110.0. They are forcing 13.4 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 47.0% from the floor (27th in the NBA). The New Orleans defense gives up 36.5% on shots from distance (391 of 1,070) and their opponents are connecting on 77.7% of their free throw attempts. They surrender 24.2 dimes and 43.0 rebounds per game, ranking them 16th and 6th in the league.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Portland

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