Houston Rockets Could Cause Chaos in the West

The Houston Rockets are 31-26, just a few games over .500, but they look like they’re becoming one of the most dangerous teams in the Western Conference. Their lethal combination of scoring and rebounding virtually guarantees they’ll be in the playoff discussion; the Rockets are second in the NBA in scoring, averaging 106.4 points per game, and are tenth in rebounding.

The Rocket’s signature win so far this season came against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. They were 3.5-point underdogs to the Thunder, but won the game in a thrilling 122-119 victory that saw James Harden score a career-high 46 points.

“I just told the guys on the court that we’ve got to do whatever it takes, we’ve got to get some stops together and make some shots,” Harden said. “It’s not going to be easy, they’re a very good team. But we got some stops at the right time and guys made good shots.”

Here were a few of the gambling trends for both teams heading into the game, per OddsShark.com:

Oklahoma City Thunder Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 5-5
Before playing Minnesota are 7-3
After playing Miami are 5-5
After a loss are 8-2

 

Houston Rockets Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 7-3
Before playing Brooklyn are 7-3
After playing LA Clippers are 2-8
After a loss are 5-5

 

A few Thunder at Rockets trends”
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Oklahoma City’s last 5 games
Oklahoma City is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing Houston
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Oklahoma City’s last 10 games when playing on the road against Houston
Oklahoma City is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston’s last 6 games
Houston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
Houston is 12-3 SU in its last 15 games when playing at home against Oklahoma City
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Houston’s last 12 games at home

Since being traded from Oklahoma City before the season began, Harden has been simply sensational for the Rockets, averaging 26.4 points per game to go with 5.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds.

“He wanted to win the game, just like we wanted to beat him and their team,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “It was about us against them, not James against us or us against James.”

“If he is not up for MVP consideration, I don’t know what else he needs to do,” Lin said. “He made every single big play down the stretch, and even the shots that I was able to have, they were created because of him.”

Then, on Friday night, the Rockets traveled to Brooklyn, where they once again found themselves as underdogs, this time by three points. They also covered the spread, winning easily 106-96. Overall, the Rockets are 33-24-1 against the spread this season, a sensational betting record. With the addition of Thomas Robinson via trade, the Rockets may be able to start shoring up their often-porous defense, making them even more dangerous.

“It was our defense,” Harden said of the Brooklyn win. “We started moving the ball and making the easy pass. We were kind of doing too much playing in traffic and they were causing turnovers and getting easy points, so we kind of slowed down in that sense and got a lot of open looks. It was a very good road win for us. Now we have to go into Washington tomorrow and play well.”

This Houston trade is currently the eighth seed in the West, and only getting better. Look for them come playoff time to make some serious ruckus.