Golden State Warriors vs Portland Trail Blazers Odds, Player Props, Picks & Predictions (Dec. 17)

• The Golden State Warriors vs Portland Trail Blazers caps off the NBA’s Sunday slate
• The Warriors ended a three-game losing streak last night while the Blazers have lost six in a row
• See the Warriors vs Blazers odds, player props, and picks

Sitting two games back of the #10 seed in the Western Conference, there is an urgency to the Golden State Warriors (11-14, 5-8 away, 11-14 ATS) that isn’t usually present this early in the season. Coming off a 124-120 home win over Brooklyn last night, the Dubs make the trip to Portland on Sunday to face the slumping Trail Blazers (6-18, 2-8 home, 11-13 ATS) at the Moda Center at 6:10 pm PT/9:10 pm ET.

The Warriors are listed as 5.5-point road favorites as both teams play their second game in a 24-hour period.

Golden State Warriors vs Portland Trail Blazers Odds

Golden State is -210 on the moneyline in Sunday’s NBA odds, while Portland comes back at +180 to win straight-up and stop its six-game skid. The game total is sitting at 233.5. At 15-10 O/U, the Warriors have been one of the best over bets so far this season. The Blazers are an even 12-12 over/under.

ESPN BET

Get a $1,000 Bet Reset at ESPN BET if Your First Bet Loses!

Must manually enter promo code DIME to claim offer.

LOCK IN PROMO

CODE: DIME

CODE: DIME

SIGNUP OFFER

USE PROMO CODE
DIME

FIRST BET RESET UP TO $1,000

GET OFFER NOW

Odds as of Dec. 17 at ESPN Bet. New users claim an ESPN Bet promo code to wager on Warriors vs Blazers tonight. 

The Blazers, who have battled a rash of injuries this year, are about as healthy as they’ve been since opening night. The only player listed on their injury report is Robert Williams III, who has been out since Nov. 5 due to knee surgery and is likely to miss the remainder of the season.

The Warriors are near full health in Sunday’s NBA lineups, as well. Gary Payton II (5.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG) remains out with a calf injury. Draymond Green, of course, remains indefinitely suspended.

Warriors End Losing Streak

Golden State earned a cathartic and much-needed victory over the Brooklyn Nets last night thanks to more late-game heroics from Steph Curry (29.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 4.2 APG, 42.3% 3P). Curry had 16 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Dubs, who gave up all of their 16-point halftime lead and found themselves trailing 103-102 midway through the final frame, pulled away late.

Still, coach Steve Kerr likely won’t be thrilled with the victory. The Warriors have blown halftime leads in four of their last five losses, and were dangerously close to doing so again on Saturday.

The Warriors currently sit just 15th in the league in Offensive Rating at 114.4 and have an identical Defensive Rating. The last time the Warriors didn’t finish the season with a positive NET rating was 2019-20, when Curry played just five games due to injury.

Blazers Lose Another Home Game

With San Antonio finally ending its 18-game losing streak, the Blazers now own the longest skid in the Western Conference, which increased to six games last night during a 131-120 home loss to Dallas. Portland trailed by nine at the half and never sniffed the lead in the final 24 minutes, despite an efficient 33-point performance from Anfernee Simons, who was 13-of-22 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.

Jerami Grant added 27 on 12-of-20 shooting, but Portland’s defense was routinely shredded by Luka Doncic, who finished with a game-high 40 while adding 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his  triple-double of the season.

The porous defensive performance was somewhat uncharacteristic of this year’s Blazers. The team sits 17th in the 30-team league in Defensive Rating (but just 27th on offense).

Saturday’s setback dropped Portland to a miserable 2-8 on its home court, where they are also 2-8 against the number. Despite going just 5-8 straight-up in road games this year, the Warriors are actually 8-5 ATS away from home, the fifth-best cover percentage in the NBA.

Warriors vs Blazers Player Props

Player props and odds from the DraftKings Sportsbook app on Dec. 17. 

Only four players are listed in the NBA player props for this game at both ESPN Bet and DraftKings, but they are the two-leading scorers on each team. At 28.5 O/U, Curry has the highest point total, while Simons (25.5) is the highest Blazer. Both are listed at half a point lower than their season scoring average.

Simons has actually scored at least 28 points in four of his last five games since returning from a six-week layoff.

Warriors vs Trail Blazers Prediction

Both teams are prone to playing tight games this season. Each of Golden State’s last ten games has featured a margin of eight points or fewer. They haven’t won a game by more than six points since November 6th, and that came against the NBA-worst Detroit Pistons (120-109), a game Detroit actually led midway through the fourth quarter.

While six would get the job done tonight, bettors can move the spread to Portland +6.5 (-130), and that’s how I’m playing tonight’s game, along with the over on Simons’ total of 25.5.

Golden State vs Portland picks:

• Blazers +6.5 (-130)
• Simons over 25.5 points (-115)

Sascha Paruk’s 2023-24 NBA betting record:

• 8-5-2 ATS (+2.26 units)
• 5-4 ML (+1.02 units)
• 3-9 player props (-6.27 units)

All wagers one unit unless expressly stated otherwise.