Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs on Sunday and we will see Portland Trailblazers travel to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas to take on the Houston Rockets. The game has a start time of 9:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Vegas odds have the Rockets listed as 5 point favorites, while the total sits at 214.5.
Stat Packs: The Portland Trailblazers went 54-28 on the year to grab the 5 th seed in the Western Conference. Portland fished the year strong, winning 9 of their last 10 games and they went 23-18 away from home for the year. Portland comes in averaging 106.7 ppg, which is 4th in the league. They are also ranked 15th in FG% (45%), 10th in 3pt shooting (37.2%) and 1st in FT shooting (81.5%). Lamarcus Aldrige leads the team in scoring at 23.2 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding (11.1 rpg). Damian Lillard leads the team in assists (5.6), while scoring 20.7 ppg and hitting 39.4% from beyond the Arc. Wes Mathews (16.4 ppg), Nicola Batum (13.0 ppg) and Robin Lopez (11.1 ppg) round out the DD scorers for the team. Defensively the Blazers rank 22nd in points allowed (102.8 ppg) 11th in defensive FG% (45.1%) and 11th in 3pt defense (35.5%).
The Houston Rockets come in as the 4th seed in the west, after going 54-28 on the year. Houston has won just 2 of their last 5 games, but are 33-8 at home for the year and they did take 3 of 4 vs Portland this year. The Rockets are a high scoring offense that averages 107.2 ppg (2nd) on 47.2% shooting (5th). Not a good FT shooting team, as they hit just 71.2% from the line, which is 28th in the league. The offense is led by James Harden, who averages 25.4 ppg, while Dwight Howard leads the team in boards at 12.2 rpg and is 2nd in scoring at 18.3 ppg. Chandler parsons (16.6 ppg) rounds out the top 3 scorers on the teams. Defense is really an afterthought for this team as they come in ranked 23rd in points allowed (103.1 ppg). They do rank 7th in defensive FG% (44.3%) and 9 th in 3pt defense (35.3%), so not all that bad on defense.
Pick: Going with the Over in this one. Both teams play an uptempo brad of ball and both teams are ranked in the top 4 in the league in scoring. The Trailblazers come in averaging 106.7 ppg, which is 4th in the league, while Houston is 2nd in scoring, putting up 107.2 ppg. On defense both teams have struggled this year as the Rockets have allowed 103.1 ppg, while Portland has allowed 102.8 ppg overall and 104.2 ppg on the road. The teams met 4 times during the regular season and 220.8 ppg were scored in those games. These teams like to play high scoring games and i see another one here.
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