Warriors Get Another Crack at Portland, This Time With Home Court on Their Side

The Warriors host Portland in a preseason rematch after dropping the first meeting 123-118 last week, when DarkHorse's under call got torched by two teams that clearly didn't get the memo about exhibition defense. Now the script flips: Golden State catches 1.5 points at home despite being the marginally better offensive outfit last season—112.7 efficiency versus Portland's 111.5. The market's hanging this line entirely on Golden State's injury report, but here's the thing about preseason: stars play half the game anyway, and Curry's still penciled into the starting five.

Portland being a road favorite smells like recency bias from that Week 1 win. The Blazers averaged more raw points last year (115.5 to 114.6), but they also ran more possessions and were less efficient doing it. In a game where rotations are chaos and third-stringers decide the fourth quarter, home court matters more than usual—and Chase Center is worth every bit of that 2.5-3 point cushion.

DarkHorse is riding Warriors +1.5 at low confidence, banking on the idea that laying -186 on a preseason road favorite against a home team that was actually better per possession last season is fool's gold. It's an exhibition, sure, but value is value. Give me the points at home.