NBA Betting Picks, Odds, And Preview: Houston Rockets vs Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers are sizzling with five straight victories that placed them back at the No. 2 spot in the West. They aim to extend their run when they visit the Houston Rockets on Thursday and make strides on the road where they post a 17-13 record. The Rockets are two and a half games behind the Clippers sitting at the fourth spot in the conference. Mike D' Antoni and his boys were stunned by the New York Knicks on Monday, 125-123, in the process, had their own six-game winning streak arrested.

Houston Rockets

The All-Star duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, as usual, did the heavy lifting for the Rockets on Monday - only that it failed to translate to a win against, of all teams, a reeling Knicks squad. Harden had 35 points and eight dimes while Westbrook posted 24 markers and nine boards that all just went for naught. The team rued their complacency in a match they initially thought was easy as ABC. Westbrook even said at post-game "Can't take games like this lightly. It's the NBA. Everybody goes out and competes. You've got to be ready to play."

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers' wealth of basketball talents is now starting to mesh and that's bad news for the rest of the teams in the NBA, most especially for the contenders whom they could face in the postseason. Inconsistency relative to health issues hampered the Clips in some stretches of this season. But now that they are at full strength, the plethora of skills they are gifted with finally took off and clicked. Paul George, who missed a chunk of games early this year as he had to heal up from his offseason surgeries, is beginning to rediscover his lethal form as he is averaging 21.3 points over the last three games. The way the Clippers manhandled the opposition in their current winning surge has also served notice as four of the mentioned five straight wins ended with a double-digit margin in their favor.

Odds and Trends

The matchup is projected to be a dog fight as the betting lines in the spread and money markets show an evenly matched affair in the offing. Expect a high-scoring and fast-tempo game as the total line is pegged at O/U 236.5.

Trends will be updated soon.

Prediction

Rockets win, 126-122.