NBA Betting Odds - Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers

NBA Betting Odds

Houston Rockets (11-8 SU & ATS) at Portland Trail Blazers (12-8 SU, 10-10 ATS)
(Records are good through Thursday; please check Friday's results)
Saturday, December 5 - 10 PM ET

Here are some of the head-to-head NBA betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• HOU has won four of the last six meetings SU
• PORT has covered four of the last six meetings
• Five of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total
• PORT has won the last three meetings SU as the home team
• PORT has had the shooting edge in four of the last five meetings
• PORT has had the rebounding edge in each of the last four meetings

To an extent, the mood around the Portland Trail Blazers' offices has been somber, as owner Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, has been diagnosed with cancer. The Blazers' recent on-court performance has been a cause of bad news as well, as this team that opened the season with a record of 8-3 has now gone 4-5 in its last nine games.

OK, that isn't tragic, but they've lost three straight, shooting poorly in two of them, and they have gone four consecutive games without covering the number.

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Obviously Brandon Roy is the centerpiece of the offense (20 ppg), and he also leads the team in assists, despite the presence of point guard Andre Miller. A couple of the component parts of this ensemble are banged up, and that doesn't help.

Travis Outlaw is out with a foot injury, and now LaMarcus Aldridge, the key inside scorer, has a bone contusion in his knee, which sounds painful, and he may not play at all in this game. Dante Cunningham, a rookie from Villanova, had to start for him against Miami four nights ago, and he had six points on two-for-six shooting.

Houston has been playing without both of the guys who could be considered superstar-level players. Yao Ming is out for the year with his chronic foot problem, and Tracy McGrady is out for the tiem being, although he says he is just about ready. Yet Rick Adelman has made things happen even in the absence of those guys.

Trevior Ariza, the free agent pickup who was with the Lakers last year, has picked up some of the scoring slack (18.1 ppg) as has point guard Aaron Brooks (17.1 ppg). There are no big-time shot-blockers, but Luis Scola is averaging 9.4 rebounds. Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes are pains in the neck on defense. It looks like Adelman should be up for coach of the year.

Houston is an excellent 8-3 ATS as an underdog, and I expect them to be pesky again here. With Aldridge slowed, we'll look for the Rockets, who are 7-4 SU on the road, to pull off a straight-up win, covering in the BetUS NBA betting odds.