Houston Rockets vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction, 2/26/2023 Preview and Pick

Game: Houston Rockets vs Portland Trail Blazers

Date: Sunday, February 26, 2023

Location: Moda Center in Portland, OR

TV: ROOT Sports

Odds/Point Spread: Houston (+10)

The Houston Rockets are traveling to Moda Center on Sunday where they will try to beat the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland opens this contest as 10-point favorites from Vegas oddsmakers. The over/under has been set at 234.

The Rockets took the court against the Warriors and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 116-101 in their last game. Regarding personal fouls, the Rockets finished with 18 and the Warriors totaled 20 personal fouls. They also made 26 of their 54 tries from beyond the arc. Golden State finished the game at 88.9% from the charity stripe by making 16 of their 18 shots. Additionally, Golden State snagged 47 rebounds (7 offensive, 40 defensive) and had 3 blocked shots. Golden State earned 27 dimes and had 3 steals in the matchup. Pertaining to defense, Houston let their opponent shoot 47.4% from the field on 37 out of 78 shooting. They also recorded 23 assists for the matchup in addition to forcing 18 turnovers and having 12 steals. When talking about getting rebounds, they earned 44 with 13 of them being of the offensive variety. From the free throw line, the Rockets knocked down 18 of their 22 tries for a rate of 81.8%. Houston walked away from the contest with a 39.1% field goal percentage (36 of 92) and converted 11 out of their 35 shots from 3-point land.

Kenyon Martin Jr. is one guy who was a major factor in this matchup. Martin ended up going 58.3% from the floor and totaled 2 assists. He played 36 minutes played and also snagged 8 boards. He finished with 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting.

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Houston heads into this game with a record of 13-46 for the year. They have an average of 109.6 points per outing (29th in the NBA) while hitting 44.9% from the floor. The Rockets are shooting 32.6% on shots beyond the perimeter (640 of 1,964) and 75.6% from the free throw line. As a team, Houston is collecting 46.5 rebounds per game and is sitting with 1,322 dimes for the campaign, which is 30th in the league in terms of passing the rock. They lose possession by turning the ball over 16.9 times per game and as a team they are committing 20.6 personal fouls on a nightly basis.

On the defensive end, the Rockets have forced 13.4 turnovers every game and they draw 21.3 fouls. They rank 14th in the NBA in giving up assists with 1,519 surrendered on the year. The Rockets defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 47.7% (2,484 of 5,211) and they surrender 41.7 boards per contest as a team. They are giving up 37.1% on 3-point shots while they are 25th in the league in PPG allowed (118.1).

In their last game, the Trail Blazers walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 133-116 against the Kings. The Trail Blazers earned 24 defensive rebounds and 9 offensive boards for a total of 33 for the matchup. They gave up possession of the ball 12 times, while recording 12 steals for this game. The Kings committed 16 personal fouls for this contest which got the Trail Blazers to the charity stripe for a total of 17 tries. They were able to make 14 of the free throws for a percentage of 82.4%. Regarding 3-point attempts, Portland buried 16 of their 38 attempts (42.1%). When the game finished, the Trail Blazers ended up going 43 for 93 from the field which gave them a percentage of 46.2%. The Trail Blazers allowed the Kings to make 47 of their 85 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 55.3% for this contest. They went 41.2% from behind the 3-point line by going 14 of 34 and ended up going 25 of 31 at the free throw line (80.6%). In the matter of team rebounding, Portland permitted Sacramento to collect 49 in total (12 offensive).

Nassir Little pitched in for the Trail Blazers for this game. Little scored 26 points in his 34 mins of playing time and totaled 2 dimes for this game. He converted 10 of 19 in this matchup for a field goal rate of 52.6%, and tallied 3 rebounds.

Portland has a mark of 28-31 for the campaign. The Trail Blazers commit 20.6 personal fouls every game and they connect on 80.3% from the free throw line. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 24.3 times per contest (21st in the league) and they turn it over 14.6 times per game. Portland has totaled 6,779 points this season (114.9 per game) and they collect 41.4 boards per contest. As an offensive unit, the Trail Blazers are connecting on 48.2% from the floor, which ranks them 8th in basketball.

The Portland defense allows 37.1% on 3-point attempts (711 of 1,917) and opponents are knocking down 78.7% of their free throw shots. They allow 26.0 dimes and 41.5 boards every game, which is ranked 25th and 3rd in the NBA. The Trail Blazers on the defensive end are ranked 18th in the NBA in points given up per game with 115.3. They are forcing 13.4 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 48.5% from the floor (25th in the league).

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Houston (+10)

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