Houston at Sacramento
Time: 10:30 PM ET
TV: TNT
Spread: HOU -1
Total: 197
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The Houston Rockets have been without star center Dwight Howard, but it really hasn’t seemed to matter much. Hot shooting from James Harden and his fellow perimeter Rockets has continued to make Houston a team to beat in the West.
Traveling to Sacramento to face a much improved Sacramento Kings team will test Kevin McHale and the Rockets, who find themselves to be one-point favorites in the affair according to listed NBA odds.
Harden has been playing brilliant basketball, and one could make a strong argument that the reason for it has been the acquisition of Trevor Ariza. During Ariza’s first tenure in Houston, he was a featured player on a very bad team. That wasn’t the best fit for his talents, which basically render Trevor the quintessential role player, something he flourished in with the Los Angeles Lakers after departing from H-Town.
This year, Ariza has done a lot to enhance the talents of Beard Harden. Harden has oft been criticized for porous defense in the past, but with Ariza’s help side defense coming from the opposite wing and Patrick Beverley pestering 1-men, Harden has had the benefit of just being able to make plays.
Resultantly, No. 13 has inflated numbers (vastly so) for both steals per game and blocks (over three-plus combined per game), but it’s really a testament to Houston’s team defense to be able to cover for Harden.
Even with increased effort, he’s still a far cry from even an average defender. All these drawbacks, and there is still a Houston team that at 16-5 has to be considered as legitimate a contender as all of the other top seven or eight teams in the West. There has been no fall off from the loss of Chandler Parsons, and his replacement came at less than half the cost, and is thriving far more than Parsons did to begin with. Daryl Morey continues his march as one of the best GMs in the Association.
The Sacramento Kings are finally beginning to translate some of the talent the team has on paper into success on the basketball court. Sacto still doesn’t move the ball well for a team plagued with selfishness in the past (see: 3rd to last in assists), but the Kings are dominating opponents on the glass and playing better (yet still mediocre) defense this season.
DeMarcus Cousins is a huge reason behind the turnaround, as franchise players tend to be. The former Kentucky Wildcat is averaging 23.5 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.66 blocks/steals per game. Rudy Gay has been his typical self, which is what the Kings needed when they acquired the athletic, high scoring forward.
Darren Collison proved too good to be Chris Paul’s backup, and he’s a very good starter, so it’s been clear to see that was the right call. Even Ben McLemore, who was deemed rather disappointing as a rookie, has elevated his game to average double figures (11.1 per game).
The Kings are finally starting to gel as a team, but sport an even 0.0 point differential this season. Improving team defense is the first step towards achieving true relevancy given that the team is already in the top half of the league in scoring.
Sacramento lacks depth in a major way, but it’s a positive step to post a .500 mark in the Western Conference through the quarter mark of the season. The Kings are in fact 9-9 vs Conference opponents, which is something that coach Michael Moore can hang his hat on at this point.
The Rockets are 7-3 without Howard this season, who prior to injury had been posting over 18 points and 11 rebounds per contest. Obviously the Rockets are better off with Superman on the floor, but the team is rolling along doing what it does best: Hoisting and burying threes.
