Boston Celtics at Portland Trail Blazers 12/4/21 - NBA Picks & Predictions

The Boston Celtics will complete a back-to-back on Saturday when visiting the Portland Trail Blazers after playing on the road Friday against the Utah Jazz.  Boston is 12-10 following an 88-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Boston is second in the Atlantic division 3 ½ games behind first place Brooklyn. In Boston's victory over Philadelphia, Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Celtics.

Jayson Tatum is leading Boston in scoring and rebounding with averages of 24.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, while Marcus Smart is the leader in assists with an average of 5.8 per game. Boston has five players scoring an average of between 10.9 points and 24.4 points per game. The Celtics are scoring an average of 106.3 points per game while shooting 43.4% overall and 32.8% from 3-point territory.

Portland looks to bounce back from a loss when hosting Boston on Saturday. The Trail Blazers are 11-12 following a 114-83 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. CJ McCollum and Norman Powell each scored 16 points to lead Portland.  Damian Lillard did not play because of lower abdominal tendinopathy and the Portland star will be out at least another 10 days if not longer.

With Damian Lillard sidelined, the leading scorer and leader in assists is CJ McCullough with averages of 20.6 points and 4.5 assists per game. Jusuf Nurkic is the leading rebounder with an average of 10.8 rebounds per game. Portland has four active players scoring an average of between 12.5 and 20.6 points per game. The Trail Blazers are scoring an average of 110.4 points per game while shooting 45.8% overall and 35.5% from 3-point territory.