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Golden State Warriors face Houston Rockets for the 3rd time this season in a potential WCF preview this Saturday night in hopes of beating Houston for the first time this year.
Golden State Warriors
Warriors have been absolutely on fire, ever since that loss to Houston at Oracle, they have not looked back and have won 17 of 19 which has moved them all the way back to 1st seed at 42-16 record and a 2 game lead. The DeMarcus Cousins integration into the line-up has worked pretty smoothly, the Warriors have gotten even better with him in the team, in fact they’re undefeated when the whole big 5 that being Curry, Klay, KD, Green and Cousins play at 11-0 and assuming they all play, safe to say the percentages are in their favour. One worry about Golden State entering this game is their strange struggles against top teams at home, they have dropped games to Toronto, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, OKC, Houston, Lakers here and their combined home record against these teams is 1-6 so we’ll see how they figure this out tonight. Health wise, Shaun Livingston is likely to be back while Damian Jones is the only player that remains out, but he’s been out for a couple of months now so unless any news come out, every key player should be available tonight.
Injury Report
Shaun Livingston – Probable to Play
Damian Jones – OUT
Houston Rockets
Houston are coming into this game after a very frustrating defeat to the Lakers in their first game post all star break where they blew a 19 point lead. Some would say referees had a hand in it, but in the end Houston’s lack of shot making in the clutch essentially let them down from which they got to move forward and focus on Golden State now. A worry for Houston entering this game is James Harden’s questionable availability as he’s been dealing with some sort of neck/shoulder issue against the Lakers which despite that he posted 30 pts anyway on Thursday. Harden right now is questionable and if he doesn’t play then it could end up being a very long night for Houston. Rockets have struggled lately on the road having lost 6 of last 10 road games since their win at Oracle when Harden hit that ridiculous 3 to win. A couple of things Houston got going though is it seems like Chris Paul is back to playing his best and Clint Capela has returned and performed well himself so expect these two to be key for Houston tonight.
Injury Report
James Harden – Questionable
Iman Shumpert – OUT
Betting Stats
Totals
Warriors have covered 46.7% of their total goal overs at home this season (14-16). Total for this game is 234 points and Golden State have had that exact total once before against the Clippers which resulted with an over in a 129-127 win. They also had a very similar 234.5 total against the Lakers which was an under in a 127-101 loss.
Rockets have covered 41.4% of their total point overs on the road this season which is one of the worst percentages in the league (12-2-15). Rockets have had a 234 point total once before against the 76ers which resulted with an under in a 121-93 loss. They also had a 234.5 point total at Sacramento which also resulted with an under in a 127-101 win.
Handicaps
Warriors have only managed to cover 36.7% of their Handicaps at home (11-2-17) despite having a good home record themselves. Warriors are 9 point favourites tonight and they’ve been 9 point favourites once before which they failed to cover against the Lakers in one of their worst games this season as they lost 127-101. They were also 9.5 point favourites against 76ers also failing to cover having lost the game 113-104.
Rockets have only managed to cover 34.5% of their Handicaps on the road this season (10-2-17) which again is one of the worst in the NBA. Rockets have in particular been poor at covering Handicaps lately covering justt 2 of last 10, 1 void 7 lost. 9 point underdog tag is the largest underdog Handicap that they’re assigned all season with the previous largest being a pretty close one at 8.5 points against? The same Golden State Warriors which they covered winning the game thanks to a famous James Harden crazy 3 pointer 135-134.
Recent H2H in Golden State
Since KD’s arrival to Golden State, the Warriors have actually had a negative record against Houston at 3-4 including playoffs so Houston have actually been able to grab an edge over Golden State. The wins have come in this order though: Houston, GS, Houston, GS, Houston, GS, Houston so if this continues, it’d be Golden State’s turn to win.
The last meeting as already mentioned happened earlier this year where Houston shocked the Warriors with a 135-134 win despite being down Chris Paul. In that game Houston covered a +8.5 Handicap while total 225.5 points resulted with an over, even despite OT happening, that over was cashed by the end of the 4th QTR as it ended 119-119.
TIP OFF – 24th February 2019 – 1:30am UK Time
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