The NBA Playoffs continue on Thursday night and we will see the Houston Rockets travel to Oracle Arena to take on the Golden State Warriors, in game 2 of their best-of-7 series. The game has a start time of 8:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Current Vegas betting odds have the Warriors listed as 10 point favorites, while the total is set at 220.
Analysis: The Rockets had an easy time of it in round 1 vs Dallas, but in round 2 they were in a 7 game war vs the Clippers. Many were expecting them to have a tough go in game 1 vs the Warriors, but the Rockets took them to the wire in a 110-106 loss. The Rockets are now 27-19 on the road this year, but 3 of those losses have been at the Oracle. Houston has gone 23-9 ATS in their last 32 games following a S.U. loss, but just 1-5 ATS the last games in this series. The Rockets have scored 104.8 ppg on 44.5% shooting overall and 34.4% from long range on the road this year. Defensively they have not been so good away from home, where they have allowed 105.2 ppg on 45.6% shooting overall and 35.1% shooting from long range.
The Warriors have really been the best team in the NBA and took out the Pelicans in 4 games, before having a 6 game battle with the Memphis Grizzlies in round 2. The may have been reading the press clippings as the were supposed to take out the Rockets easily n game 1, but they really had a hard time putting the team away in the 4 point win. The Warriors are now 44-3 at home this year. Golden State has gone 20-9 ATS in their last 29 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600, but just 3-7 ATS in their last 10 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game. The Warriors have scored 111.7 ppg on 49.2% shooting overall and 40.8% from long range at home this year. Defensively they have been decent at home as they have allowed just 97.9 ppg on 42.9% shooting overall and 33.9% shooting from long range.
Pick: I had teh Warriors in game 1 and that didn't pan out, but I will go right back to them here. The Rockets took the momentum they had from the Clippers series and came out swinging here, which pretty much surprised the Warriors. They won't be surprised again. This team has been winning big at home all year and I expect them to do so here as well. Houston just doesn't play good enough defense to hang with the Warriors for long in this series and I expect them to get exposed here bigtime. Warriors by 15+ here.
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