Houston Rockets at Denver Nuggets
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Denver Nuggets will go for their fourth consecutive victory tonight when they host the Houston Rockets, who continue to try and get over the .500 mark for the first time this season. Denver won 104-86 at home against the Kings on Saturday, giving them three straight wins by 15 or more points. The Rockets improved to .500 with a 114-105 win against the Raptors on Friday, but fell 100-85 at Portland on Sunday. Denver beat the Rockets 107-94 at Houston way back on Oct. 30. Taking a look at the spreads for tonight’s games, the oddsmakers have the Nuggets favored by 7-points over the Rockets at home.
Carmelo Anthony returned to the Nuggets Saturday against the Kings, and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but was just 6-22 from the field. Anthony had missed the previous five games dealing with the death of his sister. Anthony had 24 points against the Rockets earlier this season, and look for him to have a much better shooting night in his second game back.
Chauncey Billups continues to play his best basketball of the season, as he finished with a game-high 22 against the Kings. Billups is averaging 25 points over his last six games, and is shooting nearly 59% from the field.
Denver is hoping that power forward Al Harrington will be able to return the lineup after missing the last three games with a dislocated right thumb. Harrington torched the rockets with 28 points and 10 rebounds earlier this season.
There is no question that the Rockets are playing better basketball right now than they were earlier this season, but they continue to struggle against teams with a winning record. After the loss to Portland, Houston is just 3-11 against teams who currently have a winning record.
In the Rockets last game against the Trail Blazers, the starting five managed to score just 39 points for the entire game, led by 15 points from Kevin Martin. You simply can’t win in the NBA when you get that kind of production out of your starters.
Louis Scola led the Rockets with 28 points and 10 rebounds in the first matchup with the Nuggets, while Martin chipped in 21 points. Houston not only needs both of these players to be on tonight, but they are going to need a complete team effort to win this one.
Winning on the road has been a struggle for Houston, as they are just 6-12 away home, with just one win against a team with a winning record. That right there is reason enough to take the Nuggets and lay the points in this one. Denver is 14-3 at home this season, and 19-6 ATS as a home favorite of 6.5 to 9 points over the last 3 seasons.
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