Houston Rockets vs Denver Nuggets betting tips and predictions for Saturday’s NBA clash. The 4-4 Nuggets look to get over the .500 mark again as they host the 1-7 Houston Rockets. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Despite their 1-7 start to the season, the young Rockets have shown some promise with a few really good performances lately vs the LA Lakers. Tonight’s game will be their 4th straight of the 5-game road trip which ends Monday at Golden State. Christian Wood has emerged as the leader of this team with 19.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. This team also has John Wall on their roster, but have decided not to play him in an effort to develop their young core. It’s going to be a long year for them with losses pilling up, so it’ll be interesting to see how they respond. Houston has done well against the spread in their last 7 games against teams with a winning home record by covering 6 times.
The Denver Nuggets are also in midst of a losing streak having dropped two straight against Memphis away from home. They do have a 2-1 record at their own arena, so tonight’s game should be a good opportunity to bounce back and get into the winning column again. Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic leads the way with 25.1 points, 13.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. But, this team is lacking their 2nd All-Star Jamal Murray who could be back in time for the playoffs, but until then they will have to manage. The Nuggets rank 4th in defensive rating and 2nd in field goal percentage, but their record isn’t showing that right now.
I’m interested to see how the Nuggets cope with the pace of Houston, the Rockets rank as the number one team currently in the NBA averaging 106.1 possessions per game. Although they are still without a win on the road, they have covered the spread twice in their last 5 outings. The Nuggets haven’t been all that convincing so far, so I’m not ready to write Houston off here. Back the Rockets to cover the double digit spread.
Get 10/11 odds on Houston Rockets +10.5 Point Spread on bet365!
Defense wins championships and that’s exactly the Nuggets’ calling card this season and in past years. There are plenty of reasons to side with the under in this one. To start things off there are the turnovers – Houston is dead last in that category and the Nuggets are just 1 spot above them. Neither team takes care of the ball that well, so there will be a ton of wasted possessions. The total has trended towards the under in Houston games so far this season cashing 6 times already. Same goes for Denver with 7 of their 8 finishing under the total. Playing at the fastest pace in the league while being the 28th most efficient offense isn’t really a recipe for success, but that is to be expected from a team that has a bunch of teenagers in the line-up. This should be a slow paced game, controlled by MVP Jokic and the Nuggets. Let’s go with the Under.
Back Under 219 Total Points at 10/11 odds on bet365!
