Denver Nuggets vs Houston Rockets Prediction, 1/1/2022 NBA Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Denver Nuggets vs Houston Rockets

Date: Saturday, January 1, 2022

Location: Toyota Center in Houston, TX

TV: AT&T SportsNet

The Denver Nuggets (17-16) are hitting the road to Toyota Center on Saturday where they will compete against the Houston Rockets (10-25).

The Nuggets faced the Warriors and earned the victory with a final of 89-86 in their last contest. Concerning fouls, the Nuggets ended up walking away with 19 and the Warriors racked up 16 fouls. They converted 10 of 32 shots from 3-point range. Golden State finished the game at 51.6% at the free throw line by knocking down 16 of 31 attempts. In addition, Golden State collected 35 rebounds (8 offensive, 27 defensive) and added 5 blocks. Golden State doled out 43 dimes and had 20 steals for the contest. Regarding defense, Denver let their opponent shoot 41.7% from the field on 30 of 72 shooting. They also dished out 24 assists for the matchup while forcing 2 turnovers and earning 10 steals. In the matter of getting rebounds, they compiled a total of 44 with 13 of them being of the offensive sort. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Nuggets made 13 of their 20 shots for a rate of 65.0%. Denver finished with a 41.0% field goal percentage (34 of 83) and made 8 of their 33 shots from distance.

Nikola Jokic is one guy who was a major factor in the game. Jokic ended up going 42.1% from the floor and also distributed 5 assists. He saw the court for 35 minutes and snagged 19 boards. He walked away with 22 points on 8 of 19 shooting.

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Denver will enter this game with a record of 17-16 on the campaign. They turn it over 13.6 times per contest and as a team are committing 18.9 fouls per contest. As a unit, Denver is collecting 42.6 rebounds per contest and has totaled 846 dimes for the season, which ranks 11th in basketball in terms of passing. The Nuggets are shooting 34.5% on shots beyond the perimeter (416 of 1,207) and 76.2% from the charity stripe. They average 105.8 points per outing (23rd in the league) while shooting 46.0% from the floor.

On the defensive end, the Nuggets are able to force 13.9 turnovers per game and they draw 18.9 fouls. They currently rank 10th in the NBA in allowing assists to the opposition with 800 surrendered for the season. The Nuggets defensively are allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 46.6% (1,322 of 2,839) and they relinquish 44.7 rebounds per game as a unit. They give up 33.9% on 3-pointers and they are ranked 10th in the NBA in PPG from their opponents (106.0).

In their last game, the Rockets went home defeated by a final of 132-123 against the Lakers. The Rockets earned 26 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive rebounds for a total of 30 in this contest. They also coughed it up 14 times, while earning 10 steals in this game. The Lakers committed 12 personal fouls in this contest which took the Rockets to the free throw line for a total of 25 tries. They were able to knock down 19 of them for a clip of 76.0%. With respect to shots from 3-point land, Houston converted 16 out of 35 tries (45.7%). When all was said and done, the Rockets walked away from this one shooting 44 for 83 from the floor which gave them a rate of 53.0%. The Rockets allowed the Lakers to make 48 of 92 attempts from the floor which left them shooting 52.2% for the matchup. They finished the game shooting 41.2% from distance by going 14 out of 34 and ended up shooting 22 of 29 at the free throw line (75.9%). In relation to how they cleaned up the glass, Houston allowed Los Angeles to collect 34 in total (14 on the offensive glass).

Christian Wood ended up being important for the Rockets for the contest. Wood racked up 22 points in his 33 mins of playing time and accumulated 3 dimes for the matchup. He knocked down 8 out of 12 for this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 66.7%, and had 6 rebounds.

Houston has a mark of 10-25 on the year. On the offensive side of the court, the Rockets are connecting on 45.2% from the floor, which ranks 17th in the league. Houston has accumulated 3,745 points on the season (107.0 per contest) and they snag 42.9 rebounds per game. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 23.2 times per game (18th in the league) and they turn the ball over 17.3 times per contest. The Rockets commit 20.3 fouls per game while shooting 70.7% from the charity stripe.

The Rockets on defense are ranked 29th in basketball in points allowed per game with 114.8. They are forcing 13.8 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 46.4% from the field (24th in basketball). The Houston defense gives up 34.6% on 3-pointers (468 of 1,351) and opponents are connecting on 78.5% of their free throw attempts. They have surrendered 24.0 assists and 44.9 total boards per game, which is ranked 15th and 16th in the NBA.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Denver

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