Free Pick | NBA | Friday | Oct. 24

Nelly’s will start our basketball season in early November. We’ve had terrific success in both the NBA and college basketball in the past decade including a great NCAA regular season and a 9-5 NCAA tournament last year plus winning results in the NBA as well.

Nelly’s Football is having a terrific season including a 17-7 college run and a 12-6 run the past six NFL Sundays! We also closed the LCS on a 3-0 run looking to finish strong in what has been an excellent MLB season overall.

Our weekend football packages will be out this afternoon – or consider SIX WEEKS of service for only $199!

#554 Portland Trail Blazers +1.5 over Golden State Warriors 9:10 PM CT

Tiago Splitter will be the interim coach for Portland after the shocking situation that has developed around Chauncey Billups but amid the chaos the Blazers are in a favorable situation to play well in a prominent game Friday night. Portland won 36 games last season and finished 22-19 S/U at home while 24-17 ATS and the Blazers covered in the season opener hosting Minnesota in a tight finish Wednesday. Golden State has played two high-profile games already this week, starting 2-0 with an opening night win at the Lakers Tuesday before going to overtime to hold off Denver in the home opener last night. The Warriors shot nearly 51 percent in that game and made 18 3-pointers for a nice result, but the workload was substantial with all five starters playing at least 34 minutes while the rotation is thin right now with only nine players on the court for at least five minutes. Portland led Wednesday’s game most of the way but fell short in the 4th quarter, but Golden State is more likely to face late game fatigue Friday. The Blazers have Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant leading a collection of lesser experienced but talented players, and Deni Avdija thrived in his first season with the Blazers last year while Shaedon Sharpe has blossomed into a go-to scorer. This is a group that has mostly played together for a few seasons and adding Holiday as a veteran leader that can also set the tone on defense could put the Blazers back into serious playoff contention while posting another season of improvement after hitting rock bottom with a 21-win 2023-24 campaign. Golden State is just 9-7 S/U and 7-9 ATS in Portland since 2017-18.