The NBA Cup tips off on Friday night with eight group play games spread throughout the evening.
The Portland Trail Blazers host the Denver Nuggets at 10 p.m. ET, and both teams are off to solid starts.
Denver has won three straight, including a 122-88 win on Wednesday night, after an opening night loss in Golden State. Portland also dropped its opener but has won three of four since, including two straight.
The oddsmakers have the Nuggets as road favorites in this NBA Cup matchup.
Let’s take a look at the odds, players to watch and my prediction for Friday night’s matchup.
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Spread
Moneyline
Total
Nuggets Injury Report
Trail Blazers Injury Report
Shaedon Sharpe UNDER 26.5 Pts + Reb + Ast (-110)
Shaedon Sharpe is off to a slow start this season in Portland. He’s shooting just 32.6% from the field, including 23.7% from deep, which is quite the decrease from 45.2% and 31.1% last season.
He’s still averaging 17 points per game, but he’s at 1.6 assists per contest after getting 2.8 last year, and his rebounds per game is still around 4.5.
Sharpe has yet to clear 26.5 PRA in a game this season, with a season-high of 19 points over the weekend against the Clippers. He played 32 minutes in that one, but has since gone down to 29 and then a season-low 24 minutes on Wednesday night, putting up 18 points, four rebounds, and no assists.
The Nuggets should be able to limit Sharpe as he looks to find his game in the early going.
These are two of the highest-scoring teams early on in the season. The Nuggets average the second-most points in the league with 128.3, and the Trail Blazers are a few spots down at 123.6 points per contest.
While the Nuggets have combined that with a top-10 defense at 112.5 points against per game, the Blazers are down toward the middle of the pack at 118.6.
Each of these teams have gone over the total in all but one of their games this season, and for Denver that was because they held the lowly Pelicans to 88 points on Wednesday night.
Both teams are capable of getting into the 120s to get to our over tonight.
Pick: Over 240.5 (-108)
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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