PORTLAND vs SAN ANTONIO 12/2/2018 Odds, Picks & Preview

The PORTLAND and the SAN ANTONIO will both be gunning for a victory on 12/2/2018 at 7:05 PM when they meet in a game matchup.

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS vs SAN ANTONIO SPURS
When: 7:00 PM  ET, Sunday, December 2, 2018
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas

TV: 7:05 PM
LINE: -1
PREDICTION: SAN ANTONIO , PORTLAND

Oddsmakers currently have the SAN ANTONIO listed as -1 point favorites versus the PORTLAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 216.

The San Antonio Spurs continue to sink toward the bottom of the Western Conference while displaying an uncharacteristic inability to stop opponents on the defensive end. They will try to limit the damage against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers — who already put up some big numbers against the Spurs earlier this season — when the teams meet Sunday.

After an embarrassing 128-89 loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, San Antonio returned home to suffer a 136-105 defeat at the hands of Houston, and Gregg Popovich’s team has seen the last two opponents combine to make 40 3-pointers in 95 attempts. “Guys feel embarrassed and deflated, and rightfully so,” guard Patty Mills told reporters. “It’s the big picture. It’s who we represent when we put these jerseys on. It’s who we play for. It’s much bigger than that, and we need to understand that we are here just for a short time amongst this organization that will be here for a lot longer than we are. We’ve got to take pride in that.” The Blazers shot 53.6 percent while defeating the Spurs 121-108 at home on Oct. 20. That was early in Portland’s 10-3 start, but the squad has since dropped six of nine, including a 113-112 loss against Denver on Friday at home.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (13-9): CJ McCollum scored 33 points against the Nuggets but lamented his missed shot at the buzzer as a late rally fell short. “Coach drew up a little spread action where I run to the corner and come off the double (team),” McCollum told reporters of the final play. “(Al-Farouq Aminu) slips and then (Damian Lillard) hits (Jusuf Nurkic) and comes around for a little handoff. Dame turned the corner, ran into a crowd, and kicked it to me. I missed an open 18-footer.” It was one of just three missed shots in 17 attempts inside the arc for McCollum, who shot 49.1 percent in November after struggling to hit 41 percent of his attempts in October.

ABOUT THE SPURS (10-11): San Antonio has allowed at least 135 points an NBA-high four times in 2018-19, two more than it did in Popovich’s first 22 seasons at the helm, but the future Hall of Famer sees issues all over the place. “It’s a game where you try to continue to get better at all aspects,” Popovich told the media after the loss to the Rockets. “We’re obviously discombobulated on offense. So a lot of that has to do with me. I’ve got to do a better job there. I think defensively, we’ve obviously got to shore up our effort and our wisdom at that end of the court. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.” Leading scorer DeMar DeRozan was held to 18 points — nearly six below his average — against Houston after producing a season-low 10 on Wednesday in Minnesota.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Lillard scored 29 points and handed out nine assists with zero turnovers in the first meeting.

2. Spurs SF Dante Cunningham has 18 total points over his last six games after scoring 19 on 7-of-7 shooting at New Orleans on Nov. 19.

3. Opponents shoot 48 percent against the Spurs, the third-worst mark in the NBA entering Saturday.

PREDICTION: Trail Blazers 113, Spurs 110

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