Houston Rockets @ Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers are virtually eliminated from claiming the 8th seed in the playoffs. There's 8 games left to their season, and they're 8 games away from Denver, and 7 away from Golden State, who's currently on the outside looking in, holding down the 9th Seed. I know they're done, you know they're done, and trust me, they know they're done. It's time to look forward to next season, and their bright future with Greg Oden. Portland is also coming off a B2B tonight, in what was a hard fought game in Los Angeles, up until the late 3rd quarter. Brandon Roy will once again be out with a groin injury.
Houston is 7-3 straight up against Portland over the last 3 seasons, with the last loss coming 5 contests ago, in January of 2007. They also have a shot at Home Court advantage. In the first round at least. They're currently 6th in the West, but only 3 games away from first. They're 3-5 since the streak ended, and 0-2 in their first 2 games of a 4 game road trip. They need to take advantage of the next 4 contests against teams that are eliminated from the playoffs already which are at Portland, Seattle, the Clippers, and back home against the Sonics. They then have a home game against the streaking Suns, and 2 hard road games in the light air of Denver and the following night, in Utah against the Jazz, a team that never seems to lose in home games. Coach Adelman has been around the game long enough to know that Houston has to take advantage of these next 4 games. I'll take the road chalk at -5, for a team who has won the past four contests against Portland by an average of 9 points, and who hasn't lost IN Portland since 2006.
Houston Rockets (-5 @ -110) for 3 Units
The Blazers are virtually eliminated from claiming the 8th seed in the playoffs. There's 8 games left to their season, and they're 8 games away from Denver, and 7 away from Golden State, who's currently on the outside looking in, holding down the 9th Seed. I know they're done, you know they're done, and trust me, they know they're done. It's time to look forward to next season, and their bright future with Greg Oden. Portland is also coming off a B2B tonight, in what was a hard fought game in Los Angeles, up until the late 3rd quarter. Brandon Roy will once again be out with a groin injury.
Houston is 7-3 straight up against Portland over the last 3 seasons, with the last loss coming 5 contests ago, in January of 2007. They also have a shot at Home Court advantage. In the first round at least. They're currently 6th in the West, but only 3 games away from first. They're 3-5 since the streak ended, and 0-2 in their first 2 games of a 4 game road trip. They need to take advantage of the next 4 contests against teams that are eliminated from the playoffs already which are at Portland, Seattle, the Clippers, and back home against the Sonics. They then have a home game against the streaking Suns, and 2 hard road games in the light air of Denver and the following night, in Utah against the Jazz, a team that never seems to lose in home games. Coach Adelman has been around the game long enough to know that Houston has to take advantage of these next 4 games. I'll take the road chalk at -5, for a team who has won the past four contests against Portland by an average of 9 points, and who hasn't lost IN Portland since 2006.
Houston Rockets (-5 @ -110) for 3 Units
