Prometheus NBA picks 1/22/18

Welcome to my NBA series picks. Today, I will discuss the Heat vs Rockets game.

The Game

The Miami Heat visit the Toyota Center in Houston, to face James Harden and the Rockets. This game is sure to be a cracker. The Heat have won 8 of their last 10 and are very close to taking third place in the east from Cleveland. On their last game, on Saturday, they made a miraculous comeback in the last 30 seconds, defeating Charlotte after trailing 105-100. The Rockets are riding a hot wave as well, they are 7/3 in their last 10 games and they defeated Golden State. What's truly impressive about that game is how well Houston defended in the last quarter. They held GS to just 17 points. I believe they will not be easily beaten come playoff time. As far as injuries go, Miami will play without their star point guard, Goran Dragic and without his back up, Tyler Johnson. The Rockets welcome back both Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green, back from suspension.

Stats

The Rockets are 20 games above .500 mark, 32-12 and are catching up to GS in the standings. They have the second best offense in the league (114.7 ppg) and the 19th defense. But, as we saw in the game against GS, they can lock down defensively when needed to. Conversely, Miami has one of the best defenses in the league, at number 4 (101.9 ppg allowed), but their offense is terrible, scoring on average 101.2 ppg. The Rockets are also better in rebounding the ball, with an average of 44.2 vs the Heat 42.

Prediction

All in all, this seems like a sure W for Houston, the only question being whether they will cover. If Miami were healthy, or at least had Dragic on the floor, I would say no. But, considering they operate at diminished capacity, I say this will be Houston rout.

• Point Spread, Houston Rockets, -9.5, 1 unit (1.9 odds)
• Point Total, Over 214.5, 1 unit (1.89 odds)

Well friends, this is it for today, I wish you all good luck. If you like this content, please upvote, follow and reply to this post!