The Wednesday night battle between the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers will feature four of the most dynamic shooters in the game right now. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, and C.J. McCollum can all light up the scoreboard and are all currently in the top 20 in points-per-game. An interesting prop has been posted on the board, asking which dynamic duo will finish the night with the most points. Let’s take a closer look at the options and handicap the prop:
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson
The brilliance of Curry cannot be overstated, and yet as great as he is and as much as the Warriors are winning right now, Curry isn’t dominating games left and right. He sometimes dominates but also takes a back seat to either Thompson or Kevin Durant. Curry has been left out of some of the Warriors’ offensive explosions in recent weeks. In his last four games, Curry has been averaging 19.5 points, 3.25 made three-point shots per game, 7-of-16 field goal shooting (numbers rounded), and 2.75 made free throws.
While Curry has been tepid, Thompson is on fire. After a slow start to the season (just 19.6 points per game in October), Thompson is lighting it up in February. So far, this is his best month as he’s averaging 27.0 points per game and has surpassed 25 in each contest.
Against the Trail Blazers, both Warriors thrive. Curry averages 26.6 for his career while Thompson is at 20.9. In the two games that both have been in the lineup against Portland this season, they’re averaging 50.5.
Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum
If you examine these two individually, it might seem like a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Lillard’s last five games include totals of 31 points, 36, 13, 24, and 30. As for McCollum, he has dropped 13, 30, 33, 30, and 14. When you do the math together, we’re looking at 44, 66, 46, 54 and 54. That puts them right around the 52.8 mark.
The challenge here is that McCollum doesn’t have a great track record against the Warriors. Whether it’s Thompson’s defense or just the matchup in general, he does not perform well against Golden State. While Lillard averages a healthy 27.0 points per game against the Warriors, McCollum averages just 19.2. He’s right around those averages this season, averaging just 20.0 points per game in the three contests.
Lillard averages 27.0 points per game against Golden State (28.0 this season), so we should expect about 48 points from this duo.
Outlook
The Warriors are 17-2 since they lost to Portland at the end of December. Both Curry and Thompson play well against the Trail Blazers while McCollum seems to struggle in this matchup. On top of that, Thompson is shooting lights out right now, hitting an incredible 62.1 percent from the field this month and 60.0 percent from three. For those reasons, they’re the side we’ll bet in this prop.
Pick: Curry and Thompson
