NBA Picks: Washington Wizards at Houston Rockets
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Houston Rockets will look for their fifth straight win when they host the Washington Wizards tonight. Houston won 97-92 at Los Angeles last Wednesday for their fourth straight win, and with a win tonight they will improve to 15-15, marking the first time this season they will be at least .500. The Wizards on the other hand come in off a 94-80 loss at San Antonio yesterday, and are now 1-9 in their last 10 games. The Wizards are also the only team who haven’t won on the road this season, as they are a miserable 0-14 away from home. Taking a look at the NBA spreads for tonight’s games, the oddsmakers aren’t giving Washington much of a chance to snap that road losing streak tonight, as the Rockets come in favored by 10-points over the Wizards at home.
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The Rockets will also be looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Wizards, as Washington beat Houston 98-91 back on Nov.10. While Rockets small guard Kevin Martin led all scorers with 31 points, it was Wizards rookie point guard John Wall who stole the show with his first career triple-double. Wall had 19 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds. Washington also got 20 points from both Al Thorton and Andray Blatche.
A lot has changed since that game, the Rockets lost Yao Ming for the season, Aaron Brooks has returned from injury, Wall has played in just 10 games because of knee problems, and the Wizards traded away Gilbert Arenas for Rashard Lewis.
Houston was just 1-6 after the game against the Wizards, and after starting the season 3-10, they have won 11 of their last 16 games, and only figure to get better once Brooks is able to take on a bigger role. Brooks hasn’t played more than 18 minutes in his first three games back from injury, but that workload is expected to increase shortly.
The Wizards are finally starting to get healthy, as they should have everyone available for tonight’s game. Wall played for the first time in five games yesterday against the Spurs, and didn’t look all that great, scoring just four points on 2-9 shooting in 19 minutes. Lewis however had a big game with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and I think this could be a dangerous team once Wall gets healthy, as the Wizards have a ton of young talent, but need to stay healthy and get some chemistry together.
I like the Rockets to win this game, as I think they are just playing much better basketball than the Wizards right now, especially with the way Washington has played on the road, but Washington could keep this game close, and I think laying the 10 points on the Rockets is a bit risky.
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