The Portland Trail Blazers will travel to the Toyota Center to square off against the Houston Rockets. The game gets underway at 8:00 pm ET on Wednesday, Nov. 18 and will air on RSW and CNW.
The Rockets lost to the Celtics 111-95 on Monday. Trevor Ariza was the team’s high scorer, contributing 19 points. The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, are coming off a 93-80 loss at the hands of the Spurs on Monday. Damian Lillard had a game-high 27 points.
The Rockets are a six-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 206 points. The Rockets look to improve upon their records of 4-7 Straight Up (SU) and 3-8 Against The Spread (ATS). They have the same record SU and ATS against the Western Conference, going 3-4. The Rockets are the fourth-best team in the league at taking the ball away from their opponents, averaging 9.5 steals per game.
Across the court, Portland has a SU record of 4-8 and an ATS record of 5-7. In Western Conference games, Portland has gone 4-6 SU and 5-5 ATS. Portland is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league, hitting 9.0 shots from three-point range per game.
The Rockets and the Trail Blazers will be facing off in their first head-to-head contest of the season. When they last met the Trail Blazers were winners, bringing their SU record in the past 10 games to 6-4. Additionally, with a 5-4-1 record, the Trail Blazers have the advantage ATS.
Predictions: SU Winner – Hou, ATS Winner – Por, O/U – Over
Notes
Houston is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Houston’s last 17 games.
Houston is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
Houston is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games at home.
Houston is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Houston’s last 7 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Houston’s last 16 games when playing Portland.
Houston is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing Portland.
Houston is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Portland.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Houston’s last 8 games when playing at home against Portland.
Houston is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Portland.
Portland ranks 18th in points per game with 100.4, while Houston ranks 29th in points allowed with an average of 108.5 given up.
Portland scores an average of 97.7 points per away game (ranked 21st). Houston ranks 28th in points allowed per home game with 109.0.
When Houston gives up at least 100 points, the team has a losing 4-7 record this season. The Trail Blazers are at 0.500 when they hit the century mark (4-4).
The Trail Blazers have a defensive rating of 105.9 (ranked 25th). The Rockets rank 24th for their offensive rating of 99.1.
Houston averages 101.7 possessions per game, scoring .991 points on each possession. While Portland averages fewer possessions per game with 97.3, the team scores more points per possession with 1.032.
Portland has an average effective field goal percentage of 51.1% (ranked sixth in the league}. Houston is an underachieving 2-5 when opponents have a similar or higher effective field goal percentage.
On average, the Houston Rockets make 21.3 assists per game and the Portland Trail Blazers make 19.9. Houston is ranked 15th, while Portland is ranked 22nd.
Houston makes an average of 5.7 blocks per game (ranked 10th), while Portland makes 4.5 blocks per game (ranked 21st).
The Houston Rockets rank 10th in offensive rebounding, while the Portland Trail Blazers rank 17th in defensive rebounding.
Houston averages 9.5 steals per game, ranking fourth in the league. Portland is a poor 2-5 when it allows at least 9 steals.
