Warriors vs. Rockets Prediction
The featured matchup in the NBA Wednesday night is in Houston where the Rockets will host the defending champs at 9:30 p.m. ET. Even without Kevin Durant, are the Warriors a good play as a road underdog tonight?
Game Snapshot
555 Golden State Warriors at 556 Houston Rockets
9:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Our NBA Live Odds page pulls spreads and totals from multiple different online sportsbooks so you can compare betting odds to ensure you’re getting the best line.
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sportsbook BetNow.eu, the Rockets are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Warriors. The total, meanwhile, sits at 230.5 points and as of this writing, 54% of the public betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Rockets to cover the point spread.
Golden State Warriors Fantasy Spin
Kevin Durant (right ankle contusion) will not play on Wednesday vs. Houston. The Warriors did not have a mandatory practice on Monday, and KD did not practice on Tuesday night. The Warriors have listed KD as day-to-day, so he can be considered questionable for Golden State’s only other game of the week on Saturday vs. the Thunder. The usual four starters will all get a bump in usage/value without KD, and we could see more of guys like Andre Iguodala (possible streamer) and Alfonzo McKinnie.
Houston Rockets Fantasy Spin
James Harden (right wrist) got into foul trouble on Sunday, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-25 shooting, five rebounds, four assists, three 3-pointers and one block in 34 minutes. Harden had an X-ray after Friday’s game but the results were negative, and it doesn’t sound as though he needed an MRI. His wrist was wrapped tonight and when asked what else he could do to protect it, he said, “Just try to not fall on it … Keep icing it, keep getting treatment on it. But when you keep falling on it, it keeps aggravating it and it keeps getting worse.” He draws a ton of contact and gets to the line more often than any player in the league, of course, so owners can only hope he manages to avoid any spills.
NBA Betting Trends
Golden State
The Warriors are 3-8 against the spread in their last 11 games coming off a loss and failed to cover the spread in 13 of their previous 16 games.
Houston
The Rockets are 4-1 at the betting window in their last five games and are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games versus an opponent that owns a winning percentage above .600.
Prediction
The Warriors might be the defending champs and the team that ended the Rockets’ season a year ago but they’re not firing on all cylinders. Durant won’t play tonight but even with him in the lineup, Golden State hasn’t been consistent. Perhaps the mundane regular-season has caught up with the champs, or maybe it’s the constantly shuffling of their lineup by Steve Kerr as he tries to keep guys rested for the postseason. Either way, the Rockets are the better team right now and while the value has been sucked out of this line, I’ll still lay the wood with a red-hot Houston squad tonight.
Wednesday NBA Prediction: Houston Rockets -3.5