On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers will meet to close out the month of January, as the NBA regular season is flying by at the moment. These two teams have put together very different seasons throughout the early part of the year, and both of them find themselves heading towards very different goals by the time the year comes to a close. The Milwaukee Bucks will likely be competing for an NBA championship, while the Portland Trail Blazers have been focused on the draft since the early part of the regular season. Milwaukee comes into this game with a record of 32-15 through their first 47 games of the year. Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers come into this game with a record of 14-33 through their first 47 games of the year. This game will take place at the Moda Center in Portland, and it is set to tip off at 10 pm EST. It will be the second time these two teams have met this season. The last time they met, it was the Milwaukee Bucks who picked up the victory at home earlier this year.
Today’s Predictions Milwaukee is currently finding themselves in a great spot after recently letting go of its head coach midway through a very successful season. When they fired their head coach, it sent shockwaves through The League, but it has worked out for Milwaukee throughout the early part of the experiment. They come into this game with one of the best records in the NBA, and they have put together a successful campaign throughout the first half of the year. They are having some success as of late, despite losing to the defending NBA champions in their previous game, and now they will look to get out of the loss column and get back into the win column, with a quality performance here on Wednesday night against Portland.
The same cannot be said for Portland, as they have struggled throughout the majority of the year, and they are struggling coming into this contest against Milwaukee as well. Although they did pick up a victory in their previous game against Philadelphia, they have lost three out of their last four games on the season, and that string of consistency is unlikely to change throughout the second half of the year. They have struggled against elite teams, and some of the biggest stars in the NBA, and they will have to deal with Giannis Antetokounmpo, and a returning Damian Lillard here in this one. This certainly won’t be an easy game for Portland and I don’t look for them to live up to the task as I look for Milwaukee to not only pick up a comfortable victory here in this game on Wednesday night, but I also look for Milwaukee to cover the spread as well.
History Between These Two Teams As previously noted, this will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams, and it will be the final time they will meet this season as well. These teams met all the way back in November the day after Thanksgiving in Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Bucks came out on top of a very close game between them and Portland. It was a final score of 108-102 in favor of Milwaukee at home, and they will look to replicate that performance in Portland as they look to complete the series sweep of Portland here on Wednesday night in the Pacific Northwest. It was a game that Portland controlled throughout the majority of the contest, but Milwaukee had a very historic 26-point comeback that led to them picking up a crucial victory early on in the regular season. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard both scored 30+ points to lead Milwaukee to their comeback victory, meanwhile, Jerami Grant led the scoring for Portland. As he has stepped up in a big way this season without Damian Lillard on the roster.
Tips For Betting There are plenty of trends to be analyzed when deciding on what team to bet for in this game on Wednesday night in Portland. Milwaukee has been an average team on the road this season, as they boast a record of 11-10 through 21 road games. However, they are the betting favorites in this one, and they do have a pretty successful record when they are favored, as they come into this game with a mark of 11-7 as a road favorite this season. Milwaukee has been fantastic after win’s this season as they usually follow up their victories with an additional win, and more of the same is to be expected in this game on Wednesday night against Portland.
Portland hasn’t been very effective on their home floor this season, as they currently have a losing record when playing at home. They have lost 13 out of their first 21 home games this season, which isn’t much of a surprise, considering the poor quality of year that they are experiencing. They have been a little bit more successful when they are underdogs at home, winning seven out of 17, but it is still a losing mark for the Trail Blazers this season.
Milwaukee is favored by 10.5 points coming into this game, and they have covered that spread only three times throughout January, but they were playing much tougher competition than the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland has covered a 10.5 point spread 7/17 times throughout January, which still makes Milwaukee a solid bet here in this game, as the Milwaukee Bucks use this as a “get right game” here on Wednesday night on the road in the Pacific Northwest. The over/under for this contest is currently set at 237.5 which is not something these two teams hit the last time they played. You can likely expect more scoring throughout this game on Wednesday. However, as both teams are relatively healthy and at full strength, which was not the case when they met back in November.
