Wednesday NBA Betting Odds & Picks: Our Staff’s Best Bets for Spurs vs. Nets, Trail Blazers vs. Jazz (May 12)

While there may be just six games on tonight's schedule, the slate looms pretty large for a number of teams with postseason aspirations. We're at a point in the season where every game matters, but two stick out among the rest for our NBA analysts on Wednesday night.

Our crew is looking to bet the spread in two important matchups tonight.You can read their full analysis and picks below.

NBA Odds & Picks

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Utah Jazz

Kenny Ducey: No team can say they've been better than the Trail Blazers on offense over the past 10 games. Portland leads the way with 122.7 points per 100 possessions during that time-frame. All the while the Blazers stayed strong on the glass, ranking fourth in rebounding rate, and actually have the ninth-best defense over that span.

Folks have long wondered how good the Trail Blazers might look once they pick things up on the defensive side of the ball, and right now we’re seeing flashes. They’ve won a ridiculous eight of their past nine games and still have everything to play for here, battling to stay out of the play-in tournament.

Utah, on the other hand, has picked things up a bit in wake of the injury to Donovan Mitchell, but now without Mike Conley the Jazz could be taking it easy until the playoffs, with the top spot in the West almost locked up.

I think the Blazers’ offense should find a way past a Jazz defense that has slipped ever so slightly of late, and Enes Kanter and Jusuf Nurkic should be competitive on the glass and take away Utah’s advantage there as well. It’s also worth mentioning that the Jazz have been one of the worst teams against post-ups all season long, and Nurkic has turned into a real threat in the post.

I think there are too many ways here that the Blazers can hurt the Jazz, and once they run out in front there should be no looking back as the Jazz look ahead to two easier wins over Oklahoma City and Sacramento to get into the groove heading to the playoffs. I'd take this to a PK.

San Antonio Spurs vs. Brooklyn Nets

Brandon Anderson: On the one hand, it's not totally clear which Brooklyn Nets players will actually play tonight. Kyrie Irving is questionable after leaving last night's game with a face contusion.

James Harden plans to play tonight, but he has to clear pregame warmups and we don't know how much he'll play, or how hard he'll go. It's entirely possible we get 80% of Kevin Durant, no Irving, and like 40% of Harden for 20 minutes.

And you know what? I'm still taking the Nets.

Because it's the Spurs!! Come on. I know San Antonio just hung 146 points on the Bucks, but the Spurs are still a fringe play-in team at best. Even better, they have virtually nothing to play for here. The Spurs virtually locked into the 10 spot as they sit 2.5 games behind the Grizzlies for ninth and 2.5 games ahead of the Pelicans for 11th.

They'll have to win two road play-in games against superior teams just to make the playoffs and get blown out in Round 1. Unless Gregg Popovich pulls off another magic trick, a playoff berth is not going to happen.

In tonight's matchup, the Spurs don't have an answer for Durant or for whatever version of Harden ends up on the floor, which will certainly be a good one since there's no way Brooklyn would risk anything less than that if the Beard actually plays.

You never know with Brooklyn, but there's still a chance we get a full go from all three guys tonight too, and this line could balloon by tip-off time. If I end up with Durant and the leftover Nets against DeMar DeRozan and the Spurs remnant, so be it. I grabbed the Nets at -5 and would roll the dice on them up to -7 unless both Harden and Irving sit.