The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder meet at the Paycom Center on Wednesday night in a battle between two of the bottom teams in the league this season.
Houston has won three straight games after losing 15 in a row earlier this season. The Rockets are 4-16 on the year and they have the worst record in the Western Conference and third-worst record in the entire NBA.
Meanwhile, the Thunder have lost six straight games and are 6-14 on the season. OKC has the third-worst record in the Western Conference and the 5th worst record in the entire league. The Thunder lost to the Rockets in Houston last Monday, 102-89, which is their second loss to Houston this season.
The Rockets beat the Thunder 124-91 in Houston during their first meeting of the season last October 22, 2021. The Thunder bounced back by beating the Rockets 101-89 in OKC last November 17th.
The Rockets won their third straight game last Monday as they defeated the Thunder 102-89 behind a monster 24 points and 21 rebounds performance by Christian Wood. Garrison Matthews added 19 points on 5-11 three-point shooting while starting in the place of the injured Jalen Green while Kevin Porter Jr. recorded a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Houston is 26th in the NBA in scoring at 103.5 points per game. The Rockets are 14th in rebounding at 45.9 boards grabbed per contest and are 25th in passing at 21.9 dimes per contest. They are also 25th overall in scoring defense at 112.0 points per game allowed this season.
The Thunder lost for the sixth straight game on Monday in Houston. OKC was led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 22 points but shot just 9-20 from the field and 2-6 from the foul line. Isaiah Roby and Tre Mann each scored 17 points off the bench but no one else scored more than 7 for the Thunder who only got a total of 11 combined points from Darius Bazley and Lu Dort.
OKC is the lowest-scoring team in the NBA at 98.5 points per game this season. The Thunder are also last in the league in passing at only 20.2 assists per game. They, however, are the no. 1 rebounding team in the NBA at 47.7 boards grabbed per contest. OKC is allowing opponents to score 105.8 points per game, the 12th best in the league.
Houston is 3-15 SU in their last 18 games played. The Rockets are 0-10 SU in their last 10 games played at home. Oklahoma City is 0-6 SU in their last six games played. The Thunder are 1-4 SU in their last five games played at home.
Head to head, the Thunder have won three out of the last five meetings between these two teams, although the Rockets are 2-1 SU against the Thunder this season.
The Rockets head to this game with a three-game winning streak and the last leg of that winning run was a 102-89 win against this Thunder team at the Toyota Center. While the Rockets are playing well on both ends of the floor right now, even without Jalen Green, the Thunder have struggled heading to this contest.
OKC has dropped six straight games but the first five losses during that stretch were to teams that have a winning record and three of those losses were 7 points or fewer. This is a Thunder team that has fought well and given a good account of themselves despite their 6-14 record.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is slowly getting back to his pre-injury form and if the Thunder can get the needed support from the likes of Giddy, Dort, and Bazley who were ice-cold against Houston last Monday, there’s no doubt the Thunder should end their losing streak and the Rockets’ winning streak as well.
Prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder
Houston is 4-1 ATS in their last five games played. The Rockets are 24-49 ATS in their last 73 games when playing on one day rest, 16-34-1 ATS in their last 51 Wednesday games, 3-7 ATS in their last 10 road games against an opponent with a losing home record, 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games after a straight-up win, and 0-5 ATS in their last five games after an SU win of more than 10 points.
Oklahoma City is 6-1 ATS in their last seven games played. The Thunder are 4-0 ATS in their last four Wednesday games, 5-0 ATS in their last five games when playing on one day rest, 8-1 ATS in their last nine games against an opponent with a losing SU record, 5-1 ATS in their last six games after a straight-up loss, 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games as betting favorites, 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games as home favorites, and 7-2 ATS in their last nine home games.
Head to head, the Thunder are 8-1 ATS in their last nine games played in OKC.
Since beating the Bulls, the Rockets have added two more wins to their resume including a 13-point win over the Thunder in their most recent outing. Houston’s first win of the season was also a 33-point blowout of OKC at home so you have to like them at plus 3 points here.
However, Houston has yet to win on the road this season in 11 tries. They are giving up nearly 114 points per game on the road this year so going to OKC isn’t a fun thing for these Rockets. Four of OKC’s six wins have come at home where they are 4-6 SU this season so for them, Home has been a more comfortable place to play in them this season.
Then there is the fact that despite their 6-14 record, the Thunder are 13-7 ATS this season. In fact, they covered five times during their current six-game losing streak, except the Rockets’ loss. Houston has also covered once in their last eight meetings in OKC so I’ll take my chances on OKC getting revenge than Houston repeating over the Thunder.
Prediction: Thunder -3
The total has gone under in six out of the last nine games played by the Rockets. The under is 4-1 in Houston’s last five games against the Western Conference, 7-0 in their last seven games against the Northwest Division, 6-1 in their last seven games when playing on one-day rest, 4-1 in their last five games against an opponent with a losing SU record, 21-9 in their last 30 Wednesday games, and 5-1 in their last six games after a straight-up win.
The total has gone under in 11 out of the last 15 games played by the Thunder. The under is 8-1 in OKC’s last nine games against the Western Conference, 6-0 in their last six games against the Southwest Division, 4-0 in their last four games after an ATS loss, 5-0 in their last five home games against an opponent with a losing road record, 7-2 in their last nine games against an opponent with a losing SU record, and 5-2 in their last seven home games.
Head to head, the total has gone under in four out of the last five meetings between these two teams. The under is also 17-7 in their last 24 games played in Oklahoma City.
Points should be hard to come by in this matchup between two of the worst offenses in the league this season. OKC ranks last in scoring offense at only 98.5 points per game this season while Houston is just 26th at 103.5 points per game scored.
The Rockets have allowed 108 or fewer points in five out of their last seven games while the Thunder have conceded 103 or fewer points five times in their last eight outings so these are two teams that can play good defense or slow down games.
In their most recent game, these teams combined to score only 191 points with the Thunder missing 36 of 42 three-point attempts. They have combined to score an average of 209.0 points per game in their last 10 meetings and 198.67 PPG in their most recent three. I’ll go with the under.
Prediction: Under 213.5
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