Houston Rockets vs San Antonio Spurs 11/30/18 NBA Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Houston Rockets take on the San Antonio Spurs on Friday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

At any other time, this would have been a game between two Western Conference powerhouse teams but at this stage of the season, this game is simply a battle between two teams under the .500 mark.

Not Enough Depth

The Houston Rockets enter this game on the heels of a four game losing streak. In their last game, the Rockets lost by 20 points at home to the Dallas Mavericks. James Harden had another incredible game with 25 points, 17 assists, 11 rebounds and 6 steals in the loss to become the first player since Chris Paul in 2009 to post a statline of 25 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds and 5 steals. Harden is one game removed from a monster 54 point night against the Wizards. The bottomline though is that they lost both games because as head coach Mike D’Antoni said, his team doesn’t have enough depth.

The Rockets are 20th in the league in team scoring at 108.2 points per game. Houston also ranks 27th in assists at just 20.8 dimes per contest. On defense, it doesn’t get any better as the Rockets rank only 28th in rebounds at 40.7 per game. Houston though is in the Top 10 in scoring defense at 110.3 points per game allowed.

DeMar DeRozan leads San Antonio in scoring with his 24.0 points per game average. The former Toronto Raptors All-Star guard is also chipping in 5.8 rebounds and a team-high 6.0 assists per game. LaMarcus Aldridge is struggling this season, averaging just 17.7 points on 43.2% field goal shooting. The Spurs will be missing Pau Gasol’s 6.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. Gasol is out indefinitely with a stress fracture  in his left foot.

San Antonio is currently 18th in the league in team scoring at 108.6 points per game. The Spurs are also just 16th in the NBA in assists with their 23.5 assists per game average On defense, San Antonio ranks 19th in scoring defense, giving up 110.9 points per game on the season. The Spurs are the 16th best rebounding team in the NBA at 45.0 rebounds per night.

Who Wins?

The Rockets and Spurs have met 194 times in the regular season and the Spurs lead the all-time series 108-86. San Antonio has also won five out of the last eight meetings including the last two. The Spurs have also taken three out of the last four meetings in San Antonio.

These teams have already played once this season with San Antonio coming up on top 96-89 last November 10 in San Antonio. LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points in that game. Aldridge has been on a funk as of late though, averaging just 15.8 points on 43.2% shooting from the floor in his last 10 games played.

The Rockets have since shown improvement but with Chris Paul sidelined as of late, they have struggled again and have lost four in a row heading to this contest. The Spurs are also missing Pau Gasol but between the Spaniard and CP3, it’s the Rockets who are missing more without their starting point guard.

Other Bets To Make

Houston is 0-5 ATS in their last five games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games on the road. San Antonio meanwhile is 2-4 ATS in their last six games played and 5-4 ATS in 9 home games so far this season. Head to head, the Rockets are 5-3 ATS in their last 8 meetings and the Spurs won their last two meetings both SU and ATS.

The over is 5-0 in Houston’s last five games played and the over is also 6-5 in Houston’s 11 road games this season. The total has gone over in 5 out of the last 6 games by the Spurs and also over in 8 out of their last 12 home games against the Rockets. However, the under is 5-1 in the last six overall meetings between these two teams.