Houston Rockets vs. Toronto Raptors 7/24/20: NBA Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2020-07-24 19:30:00 EDT
The Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors meet Friday in NBA preseason action at The Arena.
The Houston Rockets entered the NBA break losing four of their last five games. The Houston Rockets are averaging 118.1 points on 45.4 percent shooting and allowing 114.4 points on 46.1 percent shooting. James Harden is averaging 34.4 points and 7.4 assists while Russell Westbrook is averaging 27.5 points and seven assists. Eric Gordon is the third double-digit scorer and Robert Covington is grabbing 7.9 rebounds. The Houston Rockets are shooting 34.8 percent from beyond the arc and 78.7 percent from the free thitem line. The Houston Rockets are allowing 34.8 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 44.9 rebounds per game.
The Toronto Raptors entered the NBA break winning six of their last nine games. The Toronto Raptors are averaging 113 points on 45.8 percent shooting and allowing 106.5 points on 42.9 percent shooting. Pascal Siakam is averaging 23.6 points and 7.5 rebounds while Kyle Lowry is averaging 19.7 points and 7.7 assists. Fred VanVleet is the third double-digit scorer and Serge Ibaka is grabbing 8.3 rebounds. The Toronto Raptors are shooting 37.1 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free thitem line. The Toronto Raptors are allowing 33.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.2 rebounds per game.
This should be a fun scrimmage game between two high quality teams that have hopes of making a deep run in the playoffs. The one thing to keep an eye on in this game before betting is to make sure Russell Westbrook is playing, as he’s listed as questionable due to a lack of practice reps because of a late start to the bubble. The Houston Rockets are also a team that changed their style a bit a little before the break happened, so it’s going to be interesting to see if they can hit the ground running or if it takes some time to adjust.
The bottom line here is that both of these teams are really good and you can make a case for either side. So, I’m going to back whichever team is getting points here. I’ll obviously update once a line is released.
