Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers Preview
Where: Moda Center, Portland
When: Thursday, March 30, 2017, 10:30 PM ET
Line: Houston Rockets (-1) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (+1); total: 231.5 – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: TNT
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Betting on the Houston Rockets (51-23)
The Houston Rockets had their four-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with a gut-wrenching 113-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets simply had no answer for Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who combined for 57 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. The Rockets will look to get their season back on track when they square off with the Portland Trail Blazers this coming Thursday.
Momentum is with Houston when it comes to this particular matchup as the Rockets are 2-0 against the Blazers this season. The Rockets trounced the Blazers by an average of 16.5 points in their first two meetings last November. Harden was a beast in those two encounters, averaging 32.0 points, 12.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds. The Beard has gone from strength to strength since that time, becoming the first player in league history to score 2,000 points and produce 2,000 points on assists in a single season.
Quite worrisome though for the Rockets is Harden’s injury situation. He jammed his left wrist on March 18 and it seems to be bothering him as the NBA heads into the homestretch. Harden shot just 5-for-20 from the field in the loss to the Warriors, although he still managed to finish the game with a triple-double (24 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds). Harden has been unstoppable over the previous last five games, averaging 36 points, 12.2 assists and 8.6 rebounds per contest.
The Rockets are 6-1 ATS in their last seven road games.
Betting on the Portland Trail Blazers (36-38)
The Blazers are peaking at exactly the right time. Portland extended its winning streak to four games with a critical 122-113 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. More importantly for the Blazers, they established a one-game lead over the aforementioned Nuggets in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Blazers, who also clinched the season-series tiebreaker with the Nuggets, leaned on the offensive brilliance of C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic to get the job done on Tuesday. McCollum scored 39 points on 15-of-24 shooting from the field while Nurkic recorded a career-high 33 points and 16 rebounds in the win against Denver. The acquisition of Nurkic from Denver has coincided with the Blazers’ longest stretch of winning basketball, with Portland going 12-7 since his arrival.
The Blazers will look to sustain the momentum of that huge win when they lock horns with the Houston Rockets this coming Thursday. The Blazers will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have fared extremely well at home of late. They have won each of their last three games at Moda Center, averaging 114.7 points during that span. The Blazers are sixth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 108.1 points per game this season. They will be licking their chops at the prospect of facing a Houston side that’s sixth-worst in the NBA in scoring defense, surrendering 108.9 points per contest this campaign.
The Blazers are 3-0 ATS in their last three home games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Blazers (+1) stretch their unbeaten run to five games with a narrow 120-116 victory.
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