The Toronto Raptors fly to Space City to test the league’s hottest player and his Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Friday night.
The Toronto Raptors currently have both the second best record in the East and the second best record in the entire NBA. But while the Milwaukee Bucks have the distinction of being the only team better than Toronto this season, the Raptors can be considered the Best in the East because they still have not played Kawhi Leonard on a full-time basis, opting to sit him out in the second game of back to backs and not playing him at full strength early in the season.
Leonard sat out Toronto’s game against the Pacers last Wednesday and they lost. Despite the setback, the Raptors have won 8 out of their last 10 games and are an impressive 9-3 SU this month despite Leonard’s rest games and the injury to Jonas Valanciunas. Leonard will play in this game and his elite defense will be tested against James Harden who is on an absolute scoring tear as of late.
James Harden’s string of 30-point games has reached 21 and is third all-time in the history of the NBA, behind three other records posted by one man by the name of Wilt Chamberlain. Harden’s latest display was a career high 61-point performance at the fabled Madison Square Garden. The output matched the highest ever scored by an opposing player at the current Garden. And Harden is arguably the best scorer since Wilt Chamberlain.
Harden is averaging 52.5 points per game in his last five games with three games of at least 50 points scored. It’s unprecedented and something we haven’t seen since Wilt Chamberlain. Harden’s herculean effort has been born out of need as Houston continues to play without Chris Paul and recently, Clint Capela who are both on the injured list. The Rockets are only 6-5 this month despite Harden’s superhuman games and they are just 3-2 SU when the Beard scores at least 50 points in a game.
Toronto is 8-2 SU in their last 10 games played and 2-2 SU in their last four road games. Houston is 5-5 SU in their last 10 games played and the Rockets are 4-2 SU in their last six home games. Head to head, the Raptors are 3-1 SU in their last four games versus the Rockets.
The Raptors have boasted of a depth that has kept them afloat despite injuries and rest games to Kawhi Leonard. Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Danny Green and Fred VanVleet can light up the scoreboards when given the opportunity. This depth is Toronto’s edge over Houston who has needed Harden to produce video game numbers because of the lack of production from their other players.
It’s really incredible watching Harden mesmerize defenders night after night and putting up ridiculous numbers. But remember that while Harden’s 261 points in his last five games is the 2nd most by a player in the last 50 years, he’s scored every single point without being assisted by a teammate. That means he is doing everything on his own.
Harden’s streak won’t go on forever. In fact, the law of averages say it’s going to end soon. That 30-point streak could very well end against the Raptors, even if Houston is playing at home. I’m picking the Toronto Raptors to beat the Houston Rockets on 1/25/19.
The Raptors are 6-4 ATS in their last 10 games played and are 2-2 ATS on the road during this period. Houston is 3-7 ATS in their last five games, going 3-3 ATS in six home games during this stretch. Head to head, Toronto is 6-4 ATS in their last 10 meetings against Houston.
The Raptors are just 2-8 ATS in their last 10 road games, 1-5 ATS in their last six games after a loss and 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against opponents with winning home records. The Rockets are 11-3-1 ATS in their last 15 home games but are 1-4 ATS in their last five games against teams with winning records and 0-4 ATS in their last four games overall. Harden is on a tear but Toronto plays excellent defense and has a deeper team. I’ll go against the trends and pick the better team here. Prediction: Raptors -1.5
The over is 28-22 in Toronto’s 50 games this season. The over is 14-11 when the Raptors play on the road. The over is 25-21-1 in Houston’s 47 games played so far. The Rockets have seen the total go over in 15 out of their 24 home games played this season. Head to head, the over is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings between these two teams.
The over is 5-1 in the last six meetings between these teams and with Kawhi playing this game and Harden waxing hot, this has the makings of a high scoring game. The over is also 5-1 in their last six head to head games in Houston, over is 4-1 in the Raptors’ last five road games and over is 7-2 in the Rockets’ last nine home games. Prediction: Over 227.5
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