Toronto Raptors vs. Portland Trail Blazers Prediction, NBA Odds

Payton Matthews | Updated Mar 09, 2024

NBA: CharlotteHornets at Toronto Raptors

The Raptors catch a break or two when they visit the rebuilding Trail Blazers on Saturday night as Portland will be playing the second of a back-to-back and likely quite short-handed again.

Toronto
25-57
AT
March 09, 2024, 10:00 PM ET
Moda Center
Portland
21-61
Pointspread -2.5 -105
Moneyline -135
Over / Under o +227.5
Pointspread +2.5 -115
Moneyline +110
Over / Under u +227.5

The Dinos opened as 2.5-point favourites on the NBA odds.

Raptors vs. Trail Blazers NBA Betting Odds

Portland kickstarted a long overdue rebuild this offseason by trading franchise icon Damian Lillard to Milwaukee for Jrue Holiday and draft picks and then flipped Holiday to Boston for more picks. It was actually refreshing to see a future Hall of Famer player like Lillard not force his way out, but both he and the team agreed it was time for him to go play on a contender. Lillard will almost surely end up retiring back in a Trail Blazers uniform near the end of the decade. 

It seems more likely than not that Coach Chauncey Billups will not be back next season. Ther are a few potential good young building blocks in guards Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe (from London, Ontario but out injured) and Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 draft.

Toronto looks to avoid the season sweep as it was upset 99-91 at home by Portland way back on Oct. 30 – the Blazers’ first win of the season. Jerami Grant had 22 points and Deandre Ayton (another offseason trade acquisition) had 10 points and 23 rebounds.  Scottie Barnes had 20 points and 12 rebounds  for the Raptors but is now out injured. 

Portland leads the all-time series 34-20 and 17-9 as the home team. The Blazers are 6-4 SU & ATS in the past 10 overall. 

Toronto Raptors

We projected the Raptors to lose 120-112 in Phoenix on Thursday and almost nailed it as they lost 120-113, their fourth defeat in five games but a better effort than Tuesday’s home blowout loss to New Orleans even though Phoenix never trailed. Grayson Allen went nuts in the first quarter with seven three-pointers (franchise record for a quarter) as the Suns led by 14 after one and never looked back. The Raptors’ defence has been an issue all season but really will be one now without their two best defenders in the injured Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl.  “Our attention was really on KD,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic of the Allen’s first quarter. “We were trying to get the ball out of his hands, but we were late on our rotations.” Gary Trent Jr. led Toronto with 30 points. Immanuel Quickley added 21 points and a career-high 18 assists, while RJ Barrett scored 23. However, fellow starters Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji combined for just 11 points. Toronto is now 2-11 in the 13 games that Poeltl has missed this season, 1-2 in the three games Barnes has been out and 0-2 without both. 

Portland Trail Blazers

So here is the problem: NBA teams in the second of a back-to-back are not required to release their game-day injury reports so multiple Blazers are in question. Portland lost a third in a row Friday, 123-107 at home vs. Houston. The Blazers led by as many as 12. Former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton missed his fifth game in a row with a wrist injury. Jerami Grant was out as well; he is the team’s second-leading scorer at 21.1 ppg. This is tanking folks. 

NBA Prediction: Who Will Win Raptors vs. Trail Blazers?

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