Houston at Minnesota
Time: 6:30 PM CT (ESPN)
Spread: HOU -6
Total: 214.5
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Houston Rockets won Games 1 and 2 at home, but the series now shifts to Minnesota where the Timberwolves posted a 30-11 mark this season. The Timberwolves were just 17-24 on the road, so losing to the 65-17 Rockets team on its home court may have been expected. Can Minny steal a game at home and push this series a little further?
We both called it one of the best No. 8 seeds in recent history while simultaneously explaining just how good this Rockets team is. The Rockets are 6-point favorites in NBA odds as the game tips off at 6:30 PM (CT) on ESPN with an over/under set at 214.5 points according to NBA oddsmakers at bookmaker 5dimes.
Minnesota may have been blown out in Game 2, but it did keep the series opener close while losing by just three points. To see the young T-Wolves manage to snag one game on its home court would not be the biggest of surprises. The problem for Minnesota thus far has been a lack of intensity and defense, but Karl-Anthony Towns announced that would be coming to its end in Game 3. Taj Gibson said of Towns, “He is only 22 years old…We understand this is a big step for him.” Needless to say, Towns has had his own struggles in his first playoff series in his young career.
Clint Capela has certainly got the better of Towns thus far, too. In Game 2 the Kentucky big man mustered just five points on 2 of 9 shooting, while Capela had eight points and 16 boards and a team-best +22 for his 29 minutes of court time. Capela had 20 and 10 just in the first half of Game 1. While Towns is certainly regarded as the better 5-man in this matchup, it has hardly shown through the series’ first two games. The Timberwolves really had trouble getting much offense at all going in Game 2, too, with just three-scorers in double-figures, led by Nemanja Bjelica’s 16 points off the bench.
Swingman Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler combined for just 24 points on a combined 9 of 20 (45 percent) shooting, and the Wolves hit just 27 percent of its triples while turning it over 16 times and collecting just 15 team assists in the game. Against a team, as offensively loaded as the Rockets, all of that is little more than the recipe for being blown out, to be sure.
Minnesota may simply just be far too outmatched in this series though. The Rockets only got 12 points from James Harden in Game 2, as he shot 2 of 18 from the field and 1 of 10 from three-point range, while posting a plus-minus of just “+1” in 31 minutes of play. Chris Paul more than picked up the slack with 27 points and eight assists, but the Rockets are winning by 20 in Game 2 with one of the worst games it has received from its main offensive cog all season. Harden will have his off nights, but to see the opponent fail to take advantage of it in such fashion basically accounts for who the much stronger team is in a 1 versus 8 matchup.
The Rockets also got 30 combined points off the bench from Gerald Green and Eric Gordon, while going 7-players deep into its bench in a blowout. Even Zhou Qi, a rookie from China seldom used, managed to score himself his first postseason points.
ATS TRENDS
| Houston | |
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| Minnesota | |
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