Thunder vs. Blazers Game 2: Prediction ATS, Betting Odds, Start Time For 2019 NBA Playoff Series

The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder at home in the opener of their first-round NBA playoff series. There’s a strong chance the result will be the same in Tuesday’s Game 2, despite most experts seemingly predicting the lower-seeded Oklahoma City to advance before the postseason began.

Damian Lilliard led Portland with 30 points in Sunday’s 104-99 victory, while CJ McCollum added 24 points for the Blazers. The biggest story of the contest was Paul George’s performance and what it might mean for the Thunder going forward.

George ended Game 1 with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but he needed 24 shots in order to do so. The small forward went eight-of-24 from the field, including four-of-15 from three-point range. George also had no assists and four turnovers.

Through the first two-thirds of the season, George was playing like a legitimate MVP candidate. In addition to his Defensive Player of the Year worthy defense, it was George’s shooting that truly made Oklahoma City appear to be one of the biggest threats to the Golden State Warriors.

But George hasn’t been the same shooter since suffering a shoulder injury, and Game 1 was another indication that his playoff performance could leave a lot to be desired.

Prior to the All-Star Game, George averaged 28.7 points per game while shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point range. Those averages dropped to 26.4 points, 40 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three.

Russell Westbrook’s shooting has been so bad this season that the Thunder need George to be making his outside shots in order to beat a team as good as the Blazers.

“I thought we got great looks,” George told the media ater Game 1. “Great looks all night. For me, it’s just rhythm. Four days ago I couldn’t even lift my shoulder. Fast forward to today, it’s the first day I shot the ball. Tomorrow I’ll get shots up, get back in tune. We’ll try and get the same looks that we got tonight.”

Maybe George will be in rhythm Tuesday. The Thunder had a chance to steal Game 1 late in the fourth quarter before Lillard and Enes Kanter made some big shots.

Even if George’s shoulder is fine, it doesn’t mean he’ll be back to the player that looked like a star in November and December. He came up short in last year’s postseason when the Thunder were bounced by the Utah Jazz in the first round.

Portland is incredibly difficult to beat at home, where they went 32-9 in the regular season. If Kanter can adequately replace Jusuf Nurkic for a second straight game, the Thunder will likely return to Oklahoma City in 0-2 series hole.

The Blazers are 1.5-point favorites and the over/under is 223, according to the latest betting odds at OddsShark. Portland is a -120 favorite and Oklahoma City has +100 odds to win.

Game 2 starts Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. EDT on TNT.

Prediction: Portland over Oklahoma City, 110-100