The Portland Trail Blazers travel to downtown Milwaukee and continue their six-game road trip to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks inside the Fiserv Forum on Thursday night. The Blazers, who are still bugged by injuries to their key players, will work through their remaining personnel to hold their ground against the East powerhouse Bucks.

Coach Terry Stotts will be missing the services of star guard Damian Lillard for the second game in a row due to back spasms. Also questionable for the game are Anfernee Simons and Hassan Whiteside. The Blazers have lost their last two outings – no thanks to the void left by Lillard, as their record turned into an absolute eye-sore over their last 10 games where they only accounted for two wins. Carmelo Anthony is expected to have a better performance this time after struggling for just 10 points in 4-out of-14 shooting and committing five turnovers in his Blazers debut.

Shifting to the other side, the Bucks are currently on a winning spree. Winning its last five games, Milwaukee now shares the top spot in the East at 11-3 as erstwhile conference leaders Celtics lost to the LA Clippers in OT on Wednesday. Giannis Antetokounmpo got a huge lift from Eric Bledsoe in their win against the Atlanta Hawks where both combined for 61 points for the 135-127 win.

Odds:

The Milwaukee Bucks are obviously runaway favorites for this game. Bookmakers flagged them as 11-point favorites and are just priced at 1.13 (-769) in the money line market, projecting them to win the game straight up at almost 90 percent chance. The Portland Trail Blazers are valued at 6.25 (+525) to win the game and are at +11.5 in the two-way spread market.

Based on trends, the Bucks are all even against the spread at 7-7, but they have lost five of their last seven when the handicap is taken into consideration. The Blazers are anything but different as they have likewise lost four of its last five ATS and won only twice over the last 10.

The total line is offered pick-em at O/U 230.5. The OVER selection is winning in the games played by both teams, respectively. In the last five games played by the Bucks, the totals went OVER three times, in the same way, it went four times in the last six games played by the Trail Blazers.

Prediction:

Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to put up MVP numbers across the board. Nobody in the Trail Blazers roster can stop him one-on-one. Expect the Bucks to cover the spread as Portland will just simply fold down the stretch due to a lack of offensive pieces.

At the tail end of a stretched out road assignment, the Blazers are surely gassed right now. Go UNDER on the total line this time as a winded team without Damian Lillard is simply expected to fire blanks.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on March 04, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
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