Minnesota Timberwolves vs Houston Rockets NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/20/21

The Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves meet Wednesday in NBA action at the Target Center. The Houston Rockets are coming off a 17-win season and enter the second season under coach Stephen Silas. The Minnesota Timberwolves won 23 games last season and will see a full season under coach Chris Finch.

The Houston Rockets are still in rebuild mode after the trade of James Harden, but they made a lot of positive additions. Guys such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Josh Christopher and Usman Garuba make the Rockets a better and more intriguing team. Some of those players could be the future of this Rockets squad, and that doesn’t include guys such as Kevin Porter Jr. and Christian Wood, who have really high ceilings and can carry the load immediately. Daniel Theis is also an underrated pickup for the Rockets and provides a major boost to the Rockets front court. The Rockets are still a move or two away from being relevant, but there’s enough here to be excited about Houston basketball in terms of the future.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have an underrated trio of D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns and that should be good enough to produce a much more successful season. Malik Beasley has been excellent the last two seasons, and Jaden McDaniels has a chance for a breakout season after a decent rookie year. The Timberwolves also added Patrick Beverley, who adds a defensive spark, intensity and a veteran voice for a rather young team. There’s serious potential for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they’ve been losers for so long, it’s hard to really trust them until you see progress. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Timberwolves early this season, as they could provide some betting value.

The Rockets are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The Timberwolves are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games. The over is 7-1 in Rockets last 8 overall. The under is 4-1 in Timberwolves last 5 overall. The over is 12-4 in the last 16 meetings in Minnesota.

The Houston Rockets are a young team that’s moving in the right direction, and they’ll be fun to watch, but they’re not ready to win or really compete this year. The Minnesota Timberwolves have given us no reason to be high on them, but the talent is here, and it’s about time they start winning some games. I mentioned I was high on the Timberwolves before the preseason started, and they made us some money in those meaningless games as well. I like this Timberwolves roster. Furthermore, I’ll lay the reasonable number with the Timberwolves at home.