The San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers provide NBA fans with Friday’s nightcap.
The pregame narrative: Neither team is trustworthy on the moneyline, so I’m taking the over on a teased-down total alongside prop bets on Victor Wembanyama and Jerami Grant.
Check out my Spurs vs. Trail Blazers same-game parlay predictions for Dec. 13.
Spurs vs. Trail Blazers predictions
Go to full NBA betting markets
Parlay: Over 219.5 points + Wembanyama over 24.5 points + Grant over 12.5 points (+265)
Over 219.5 points (-195): Wembanyama is the odds-on favourite to win the Defensive Player of the Year but his teammates aren’t pulling their weight.
San Antonio is 19th in defensive rating and has gotten shelled in December.
- The Spurs are allowing 124.8 PPG this month. They gave up 140 and 139 points to the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls, respectively, last week.
- The over on this total is 4-1 in San Antonio’s last five games and 7-2 in its last nine.
Portland sits 29th in offensive rating, so you would think this would be a nice spot for that trend to reverse.
But the 28th-ranked New Orleans Pelicans just put 116 points up against the Spurs on Sunday in a game that blew by this total.
Eight straight games between these teams have had 220-plus points.
SGP legs
Wembanyama over 24.5 points (-107): Wemby just eked by this line his last time out, scoring 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting against the Pelicans.
He’s averaging 28.9 points in his last 10 games and is 7-3 against this number.
The game before that stretch was against Portland, when Wembanyama netted just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting. It was one of his worst performances of the year and I don’t expect that to be replicated.
Portland has the sixth-worst 3-point defence in the league (37.2%) and Wembanyama has been scoring from beyond the arc, shooting 40.5% on 11.1 attempts in his last 10 games.
At 7-foot-4, Wembanyama can also do damage in the paint and I expect him to fill the basket from all over the court.
Grant over 12.5 points (-240): Grant is coming off his worst game of the season, scoring just three points against the Los Angeles Lakers while shooting 1-of-12 from the field.
But the veteran small forward has been reliable against this number and has a solid matchup to get right.
He’s averaging 15.3 points per game and put up 21 against the Spurs earlier this season.
San Antonio has the 28th-ranked midrange defence (38.5%) and 20th-ranked 3-point defence (35.2%), according to Cleaning the Glass, and Grant takes 71% of his shots from those areas of the court.
Picks made at 12:30 p.m. on 12/13/24.
Looking to get started? Sign up here.
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.