Portland Trail Blazers vs Toronto Raptors Prediction: Tensed Trail Blazers take on ravaged Raptors

The Trade deadline is not far away and this has been a fascinating period of play where the players run into second thoughts about their stay with the current team. A lot of dynamics are involved in a trade and it takes a lot of time to work out contracts. However, as the midnight of the trade deadline nears, there is a lot of panic and urgent decisions are made. Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors are in an urgent situation too and can some moves. They will clash here in a cross-Conference tussle.

Portland comes into the match after defeating the Jazz 134:124 as maestro Damian Lillard got a historic 60 points performance. They have won two in a row but due to a six-game losing streak and then a three-game losing streak, they have 25 losses and 23 wins. Lillard is averaging over 30 points and by far having his best month but this has been far from a productive month for his team. Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant average over 20 points but their impact isn’t the same as before. Nurkic has done his bit but will he be on the move around the trade deadline?

The Raptors enter the game after losing 117:129 despite a 28 points and 10 assists performance by Fred Van Vleet. The Raptors have lost four out of their last six games and they have repeatedly gone on such losing spells, because of which they now have 28 losses while winning just 22 games. This has been a downturn after the Raptors were a big story last season and this downturn has caused trade murmurs. Names of Fred Van Vleet, OG Anunoby, and Gary Trent Jr. are surfacing. Pascal Siakam is having his best season but that has nowhere been enough to get the team going. 

The Raptors played last night and were overwhelmed by their long-range shooting, which doesn’t bode well for a squad that struggles to shoot from outside. The Trail Blazers have had their struggles too but having a home-court advantage is always a huge boost and a two-game winning streak helps too. That’s why I back Portland to win here and predict a scoreline of 122:110 in their favor.