NBA: Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Preview, Odds, Prediction

The LA Lakers host the Houston Rockets in the closing matchup of Tuesday’s NBA program. This is the second of back-to-back matches between these two sides. The purple and gold didn’t start the season as planned, plus they have problems with injured players. On the other side, the Rockets are where everyone expected them to be, at the bottom of the conference, with one win in six games. For now, that is the reality of the team from Texas, but we see that they have quite the potential, and this could change very quickly.

Preview

Houston Rockets (1-5, +450) have four losses in a row, thus voiding the win over the Thunder some 10 days ago. One by one, the Celtics, Mavs, Jazz, and the Lakers defeated Stephen Silas’s unit. What was noticeable in those matches is that they didn’t reach 100 points on three of four occasions.

We understand that the rivals were pretty tough, all of the playoff contenders in the respective conferences, but then again, sub-100-point performance in the NBA is terrible regardless of the opponent.

Rookie, Jalen Green, is accomodating to the new environment, scoring 13 points per game but having only, 8.22 PER. Opposite to him, the top scorer of the crew, Christian Wood, has 19.2 points, 11.5 boards with 19.22 PER. We need to mention the Turkish rookie Alperen Sengun, who averages 9 points and 4.5 boards per game with 2.5 steals. Keep an eye on this guy, as he has All-Star potential.

LA Lakers (4-3, -700) bounced back following a bad start, winning four in the past five, with the sole loss being the one in OKC, against the Thunder, 123-115. It was the match in which the former champs blew away a 26-point lead.

Overall, Frank Vogel has more trouble with injuries than with the performance of the healthy players. LeBron is questionable; Talen Horton-Tucker is out as well, the same as Wayne Ellington. Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard should play, but they aren’t 100% healthy. AD struggles with all sorts of injuries for a long time, and the Lakers are trying to spare him of the unnecessary activities, but that isn’t easy too.

That is why one other veteran had to step up in the previous match against the Rockets. Carmelo Anthony had 23 points off the bench with five threes in eight shots. He played only 25 minutes which was enough to cover up AD and LeBron, who posted 31 points combined. Westbrook had 20 buckets.

Head to Head Game

That last game ended 95-85 for the LAL, who didn’t impress, but still wasn’t in any danger throughout the entire game. The Rockets’ top score was Eric Gordon with 17 points off the bench, which tells a lot.

Prediction

Regardless of who plays, the Lakers should win this one without any particular trouble. They are better, have more experienced players, and play at home. Furthermore, we believe that the hosts are going to cover a -11 point spread. Their win in the first game could have been even higher, but the purple and gold didn’t want to spend too much energy. Vogel and his boys scanned the rivals well, which is the reason why we expect to see them more confident tonight.

Pick: Lakers -11