Rockets are Flying High – Houston at Denver

BetOnline NBA Basketball Betting Odds: DENVER -4, Total 198

Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* HOU has won 10 of its last 12 games SU

* HOU has covered two of its last six road games

* HOU has lost five of its last six road games SU

* DEN has covered three of its last ten games

* DEN has lost four of its last five games SU

* DEN has played four of its last six games UNDER the total

* DEN has won seven of its last eight home games SU

* DEN has played six of its last nine home games UNDER the total

Also…

* HOU has won and covered eight of the last 12 meetings

* Four of the last six meetings have gone OVER the total

* HOU has covered four of the last six meetings as the road team

* Seven of the last ten meetings in Denver have gone OVER the total

* DEN has had the shooting edge in three of the last four meetings

* HOU has made more three-pointers in four of the last six meetings

Houston has lost only twice in its last 12 games, which fuels some theorizing; namely, that on an overall basis, this is a team that is better off without Tracy McGrady, who declared himself out for the year after the All-Star break as a way of resting his very sore knee. Yet it was McGrady who led last season’s 22-game winning streak that accomplished for the most part without Yao Ming. The bottom line for Houston, though, is defense, and it is better than the 44.8% yielded to opponents would seem to indicate. The Rockets have some of the better practitioners in the NBA (Shane Battier, Ron Artest, Yao among others), although they have allowed three of the last six opponents to score 100 or more points after holding six straight foes below that figure.

Houston’s hot string has allowed the team to gain ground quickly in the tightly-bunched Western Conference; the Rockets are now in third place overall and trail San Antonio for second place (and the Southwest Division lead) by two games.

Denver, which has lost four of five games, is losing ground. The Nuggets are in a tie for sixth place in the West, but are just a game and a half ahead of Dallas, which is eighth. A prolonged slump would almost certainly deposit them in that 8th position and another date with the Lakers, who soundly thrashed them last season. Chauncey Billups has been a major positive in the Denver lineup, but Carmelo Anthony, who is about himself more than anything else, is being disobedient again.

Yao has become more of an offensive force than usual in games against the Nuggets, scoring 30 or more points twice against them. After the loss of Marcus Camby, Denver has been trying to find a big man who is reliable, and even though Nene and Chris Andersen can block shots, they don’t defend man-to-man like Camby did, and neither can really deal with the 7’5" Yao.

As long as we’re getting points, we’d much rather go with the hot team than the cooled-off team. That’s why we’re on the Rockets, the four-point underdog in the BetOnline NBA pro basketball sports betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: HOUSTON +4 ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)