NBA Playoff Betting – (2) Rockets at (1) Warriors (Game 2)

Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors (-10, 220 o/u)

The Houston Rockets (56-26, 26-15 Away) lost a hard-fought Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors (67-15, 39-2 Home) on Tuesday (110-106). The team will be looking for a similar effort but a better result in Game 2 tonight at ORACLE Arena (9:00 PM Eastern).

The Rockets let a 16-point lead slip away in the second quarter en route to the narrow four-point loss. Houston managed to keep the game close until the bitter end despite losing Dwight Howard to a knee injury; a matchup they hoped to exploit against the small Golden State lineup. Without “D12,” Harden carried an even heavier load down the stretch, scoring 28 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing nine assists.

“We’ve been through it this year,” Harden said to the Associated Press of playing without Howard. “Those guys are ready to come in and contribute. Hopefully, big fella can get his body healthy and can go out there and help us.”

Howard is questionable to return for tonight’s game but will likely want to play it safe with a knee that forced him to miss 41 games this year.

“It’s a long series. We’re not going to lose our minds because we lost in the first game,” Howard explained to the AP.

Golden State were led once again by Steph Curry in Game 1, with the MVP scoring 34 points. Curry had ample help on offense, though, as six Warriors scored in the double-digits. That production was not enough for their backers, as Golden State failed to cover the spread as ten-point favorites.

The Warriors are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games after failing to cover the spread, and 2-7 ATS in their last nine home games. The Rockets are 23-9 ATS in their last 32 games following a SU loss, and 4-0 ATS in their last four games overall.

Pick: Rockets +10.

(Photo credit: Matthew Addie [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)