Celtics Take on Trail Blazers in Battle of Defense vs Offense

The Portland Trail Blazers take on the Boston Celtics for the second and final time this season on Sunday night. The Celtics won the first matchup a couple weeks ago in a 116-115 thriller. The Celtics are slight favorites in this game.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The game opened with the Celtics as favorites at -2 and the line has not moved at all or been posted at many betting sites as of Saturday night. The total opened at 231.5 and has not been posted either at any betting sites.

Portland News & Notes

The Portland Trail Blazers are seventh in the Western Conference and have won three games in a row heading into Sunday.

The team relies on quantity over quality for a large portion of their offensive output as they are one of the least efficient teams shooting field goals. The Blazers rank 26^th in feld goal percentage, yet rank seventh in three point shooting. They are also the third ranked team in field goal percentage. This tells us the team has some serious shooters, but not a lot of guys who can score with high-percentage shots near the rim.

Superstar guard Damian Lillard leads the way for the team, he averages 28.3 points per game which is fourth in the league. CJ McCollum is not far behind, averaging 22.9 points per game, though he was played 20 fewer games than Lillard. Newcomer Norm Powell has been a great for the Blazers, averaging 16.8 points per game – third on the team.

Boston News & Notes

Similar to the Blazers, the Boston Celtics have a pair of stars at the top of their lineup. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen are averaging 26.4 and 24.8 point per game respectively and are monsters at both ends of the court. The other parallel with the Blazers is the presence of a quality number three player who chips in offensively. Kemba Walker is that player for the Celtics. Walker is averaging 18.2 points and five assists this season.

Overall, the Celtics rank a respectable eleventh in three-point percentage this season while also ranking fifteenth in field goal percentage and free-throw percentage.

One area, though, where these team differ greatly is on defense. The Blazers rank next to last in the league in defensive rating while the Celtics rank fourteenth. A big part of that number is rebounding, where Boston ranks tenth in the league.

The last time these teams played, Tatum had 32 points to lead all players while Brown had 24 of his own. Look for them to do much of scoring on Sunday.