The fifth seed Rockets will visit the ninth seed Trail Blazers tonight, tipping off at 10 PM EST. Both of these teams have gone 6-4 in their last ten games and should both be playoff-caliber teams.
Houston will be missing star big man Alperen Sengun for a couple of weeks, but they have the bench depth necessary to fill in for him, at least defensively. Tari Eason returned from injury eight games ago and has been getting ramped up slowly, maintaining a starting role while providing plenty of hustle on the defensive end.
For the Trail Blazers, Deni Avdija has been captain of the ship with a stellar 25.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 7.1 APG. He’s looked excellent on this team and has been putting up massive counting stats. I wager they’ll get even better once Jrue Holiday, who was having a resurgent season before he went down, returns from his lengthy absence.
The Rockets are currently –265 favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 222.5. Below, I’ll break down tonight’s matchup and offer my prediction.
Houston Rockets at Portland Trail Blazers Pelicans preview, prediction
The Rockets have some lofty expectations for them after acquiring Kevin Durant over the offseason. And by lofty, I mean championship. Things took a turn for the worse when Fred VanVleet went down before the season even began, forcing Amen Thompson to the point guard position. He still hasn’t looked quite right running an offense, and perhaps he’ll never be suited for it. Without VanVleet, the Rockets are missing a primary playmaker at the 1 position. Even with the amount of talent on this team, it’s tough to say whether they’ll be capable of making a deep playoff run with an offense centered around Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant, one that involves Sengun working in the low post finding cutters and open shooters while finding some magic of his own. It certainly does help to have Kevin Durant, one of the most lethal half-court offensive weapons in the world, to address their issues with having a go-to scorer.
The Trail Blazers have no such expectations at this moment. They’re still young and the entirety of their starting lineup was born after the year 2000. And it’s tough to say whether they truly have any standout permanent pieces outside of maybe Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, and Donovan Clingan. We haven’t heard much from their lottery pick, Scoot Henderson yet.
The Blazers have beaten some impressive teams lately, such as the Spurs, the Celtics, and the Warriors back in mid-December. They’ll look to keep things close tonight and are a serious threat to squeak out a win against a Houston team that’s missing its best player.
Rockets at Blazers pick, best bet
Best bet: POR Trail Blazers +6.5
The Blazers have looked seriously competitive this season and get a nice matchup against a Rockets team that’s missing Alperen Sengun. They’re 21-16 against the spread this season, which bodes well for them covering tonight.
