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NBA: Houston Rockets vs Golden State Warriors Betting Tips



This Thursday night we have a treat as the Houston Rockets will host the Golden State Warriors in the WCF re-match! Both teams have been under some controversy with Houston starting the season slow and Golden State having chemistry issues after Green and Durant had a few interesting choice of words for each other as it lead to Green being suspended for a game which only makes this game even more interesting. Steph Curry will unfortunately not feature but for sure this is going to be a very interesting game!


Houston Rockets


It’s been an up and down season for Houston mainly due to injuries, adjusting to losing key defenders but now seemingly they are starting to figure it out with back to back wins over Indiana and in Denver to improve to 6-7. Houston’s defense has been much improved and the shots are starting to fall so tonight the Rockets have the right to be confident about winning this game. Houston will be without Nene, Knight and Melo who are all out. Gerald Green is questionable and Gary Clark is likely to play as he said he’ll be ready.


Expected Starting Line-up – C.Paul, J.Harden, J.Ennis, PJ Tucker, C.Capela


Injuries – B.Knight, C.Anthony, Nene – Out, G.Green – Questionable, G.Clark – Probable


Golden State Warriors


The controversy around the Warriors current surrounds after Draymond got suspended for cussing out Kevin Durant however they are NBA’s best with a 12-3 record and have put the beef behind them in their recent win over Atlanta. However, Draymond Green returns and it will be very interesting to see how him and KD get along. We expect it to be just fine and they should put the mini beef behind them as they look to knock off Houston. Cousins is of course still out meanwhile Steph Curry is likely to be out for another 1-2 weeks however Quinn Cook has played amazing in his absence so far.


Expected Starting Line-up – Q.Cook, K.Thompson, K.Durant, D.Green, D.Jones


Injuries – S.Curry, D.Cousins – Out


Key Facts


Houston Rockets have held opponents under 100 pts in 5 of their last 6 games giving up on average 96.3 ppg in that stretch. They have the 4th best DEF RTG in this current stretch and are 4-2 in those games.


Rockets have been worse at home this season at 1-4 compared to their 5-3 road record.


Houston are only 22nd in the OFF RTG this season and are only 28th in pace and they only average 103.2 ppg this season (28th best). However they did put up 115 and 109 on Indiana and Denver in their current 2 game win streak.


Rockets average the least amount of points at home this season (102.8).


Golden State are 2-1 in Steph Curry’s absence. Back up PG Quinn Cook has filled in averaging 17.3 ppg in this run.


Warriors have the best OFF RTG in the NBA this season, however that plummeted to 11th since Curry went out and they’re just 23rd in pace without Curry averaging 114 ppg which is an 8 pt drop compared to what they averaged with Steph.


Kevin Durant was the leading scorer in the playoff series against the Rockets last year with 30 ppg (34.5 in Houston).


Rockets and Warriors are 5-5 against each other in the last 10 meetings (all last season) in reg season + playoffs. 3-3 in Houston.


Betting Tips and Predictions


Expect a close game tonight. As we’ve seen Houston have been succeeding though defense recently with a ton of low scoring games but in their last 2 they picked it up with 112 ppg against Indiana and Denver so maybe they are just starting to roll. Warriors themselves have understandably dipped offensively without Curry and they mostly rely on Klay and KD and of course Cook but is he going to be playing like this consistently is a question. We would be willing to back an under 218 if we had to pick between an over and under simply because Houston have been suffocating teams on defense and that smells trouble for the Warriors without Steph. These teams were very low scoring in the playoff series last year and this game does hold big importance for both squads to try and gain momentum so we do anticipate both squads to lock up on defense. Rockets -3 handicap is the next pick as they are starting to look like themselves while GS have been suspect without Steph. Also Klay over 22.5 pts over at 2.10 looks a good pick, Warriors will need him to play well tonight to have a chance and if he knocks his shots down he’ll get 25+. Prediction is Houston to win 105-100.




Match Odds (TonyBet)


Houston Rockets Win – 1.60 (Regular Time – 1.65)


Golden State Warriors Win – 2.48 (Regular Time- 2.68)


Overtime – 13.00



Match Start – 16th November 2018 – 1am UK Time

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