Houston Rockets vs Denver Nuggets NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/16/21
2021-04-16 20:00:00 EDT
The Denver Nuggets travel to the Toyota Center to do battle with the Houston Rockets on Friday night.
The Denver Nuggets have been in red-hot form as they’ve won nine of their past 11 games and they will be looking to stay hot after blowing past the Heat in a 123-106 home win on Wednesday. Michael Porter Jr. led the team with 25 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks on 10 of 14 shooting, Nikola Jokic tallied a triple-double of 17 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists, JaMychal Green scored 17 points off the bench while Aaron Gordon chipped in with 16 points. As a team, the Nuggets shot 53 percent from the field and 17 of 36 from the 3-point line as they held the Heat to just 18 points in the second quarter to take 11-point lead at halftime, before pouring in 36 points in the third quarter to put the game to bed early.
Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets have been in terrible shape as they’ve lost nine of their past 10 games and they will be hoping to arrest a four-game slide after falling short to the Pacers in a 132-124 home loss on Wednesday. John Wall led the team with 31 points and nine assists, Kelly Olynyk and Christian Wood each scored 25 points while Kevin Porter Jr. chipped in with 19 points. As a team, the Rockets shot 46 percent from the field and 10 of 34 from the 3-point line, but they really let themselves down defensively as they were always fighting an uphill battle after allowing the Pacers to pour in 75 points in the first half.
Looking at the betting trends, the Nuggets are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven games following a win of more than 10 points. The Rockets are 4-1 ATS in their last five games against a team with a winning record, 16-35 ATS in their last 51 home games and 18-41 ATS in their last 59 games overall.
Head to head, the Nuggets are 0-6 ATS in the last six meetings in Houston.
The Nuggets will once again be without Jamal Murray who will miss significant time with a torn ACL, but they’ve been in red-hot form, especially compared to the Rockets who have lost nine of their last 10 games. These two teams have already met once earlier this season and it was the Nuggets who won by 124-111 back on Dec 28. A lot has changed since their last meeting but I’m expecting a similar result as the Nuggets should cruise in this one.
