Vegas Line at this writing: Golden State -8 (218)
Two of the top teams in the NBA West meet in a quick turnaround game on the ESPN late show as the 29-13 Houston Rockets travel to 33-6 Golden State to face the Warriors at the Oracle in Oakland. The teams met just four nights ago with Golden State blowing out the homestanding Rockets 131-106. Steph Curry had a big night with a 27/7/11 stat line and backcourt mate Klay Thompson also threw in 27. For the game, the Warriors were a blistering 50-91, good for 54.9% from the field. Dwight Howard had 23/10 for the Rockets in a losing effort. Golden State has won four straight in the series, three of the four by double-digits and all four by eight plus points.
Both teams enter the game playing excellent basketball. Despite Saturday’s loss, Houston has won six of their last eight. The Warriors have won 10 of their last 11 games and are 6-0-1 in their L7 as a home favorite. A win tonight would give Golden State its franchise record 17th straight home win. Golden State is beating people with unprecedented ease and is on pace to become just the fifth team in NBA history (since the merger) to finish the year outscoring their opponents by double-digit points. The Rockets currently sit fourth in the West, a half game behind third place Memphis and a full 5.5 game behind the NBA best Warriors.
If the season were to end today, Golden State’s Steph Curry (23.2, 4.8, 8.0) and Houston’s James Harden (27.1, 5.6, 6.7) would likely finish 1-2 in the MVP balloting. Harden scored just 12 points on 4-15 shooting (0-4 downtown) in Saturday’s loss. Harden bounced back with 45 in Houston’s Monday win over the Pacers.
Houston: The Rockets will be plenty motivated here in the final meeting between these two this season. Dwight Howard did not play in the first two games due to injury and the Rockets were just spanked at home Saturday at full strength. Houston has fallen off somewhat from the great defense that they played to start year in November but are obviously much better when Howard is in the lineup. Between Harden and swingman Trevor Ariza, the Rockets are one of the premier three-point shooting teams in the league. Five different Rockets have made at least six treys in a game this season and Houston is on pace to obliterate the league record for three-pointers made by a team.
Golden State: The only questions about the Warriors is to whether or not they can remain healthy and also if they can maintain the the pace they’ve established with their torrid first half. How dominant has Golden State been? Their 11.7 point differential is almost a full two points better than the second and third point differentials COMBINED! Perhaps the best part of the Warriors that gets the least amount of run is the deep quality bench led by former All-Stars David Lee (10.0, 5.9) and Andre Iguodala (6.9, 3.2, 3.0). Toss in Marrese Speights (12.5, 5.) and veteran guard Leandro Barbosa and Steve Kerr has the league’s best nine deep rotation.
Allen’s Angles
Houston is 0-3 ATS this year avenging a same season home loss
The Rockets are 47-26 the L3 years off a non-conference game, 10-4 this year
The Rockets are 7-2 Under this year vs. Pacific division opponents
Eight of the L10 Rocket road games have gone over
Golden State is 17-6 ATS this year off a double-digit win
The Warriors are 9-3 ATS this year vs. winning records
G.S. is 13-6 Over the L3 years after holding an opponent to 85 or less, 2-0 this year
The Warrior’s led by as many as 31 in Saturday’s game