The Blazers enter this game having had four days off, and rest has been quite good to them this season. Portland's 10-1 ATS in its last 11 games with three days of rest of more. They've also gone 32-19-1 ATS this season when favored, as well as 24-16-1 ATS at home. Lay the points.

Oklahoma City's defense has been their strength all season long. OKC ranks No. 11 since the All-Star break but No. 4 for the entire season while its offense ranks No. 23 since the break and No. 17 overall. Its pace has slowed from the sixth fastest team to just the 11th fastest team. Portland's pace has been steady at No. 19 most of the year. OKC is 15-3-1 under when they're an underdog in 2018-19.

The series between the Trail Blazers and Thunder is expected to be high octane. During the regular season, all four matchups resulted in an average of 232 points. Expect playoff intensity to lead to better defense and fluid offense that eliminates trips to the free-throw line. Grab the Under.

In round one in both the 2017 and 2018 postseasons, the Portland Trail Blazers were swept. It won’t get any easier in the 2019 playoffs with the Blazers missing a key player in Jusuf Nurkic. Yet this is where the foundation of balance and depth pays off to the Trail Blazers' side. Oklahoma City falls in game one as Portland finally get a win in round one.

The Thunder swept four games against Portland this season, which is one of the reasons why this number is so low. Oklahoma City gets 19.7 percent of its possessions in transition (fourth most in the NBA), but the playoffs have a way of slowing down fast-break teams. Home-court advantage is huge in the playoffs, and the Blazers' fans are as rabid as any.