Rockets – Thunder

The Houston Rockets will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in one of the most anticipated Christmas Day matchups in the NBA.

The Rockets (17-15, 10-5 home) had an abysmal start to the season for their standards, but managed to get back on track in the last few games, winning 5 straight until a few days ago when they lost in Miami, and also lost Chris Paul in that game. Houston bounced back with a home win against the Spurs, but losing Chris Paul (maybe for more than a month) in that recent clash will Miami will be a big problem for them going forward.

The Thunder (21-11, 9-7 away) have affirmed themselves as being hands down a Top 3 team in the Western Conference this season. OKC has consistently played good ball this year, with Westbrook doing his thing and George playing at an almost MVP level. Even though last time out the Thunder suffered a disappointing home loss to the Wolves (by 2 points), they are still in pretty good form – winning 4 of the last 5 games overall.

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Team news: The Rockets will be without Chris Paul, while Ennis is questionable. The Thunder will be without Roberson (out since last year), while Ferguson is questionable.

The Rockets had an overall (very) poor season for their standards, but losing Chris Paul right when they looked like they were making a run was a disaster.

Even if the Rockets managed to beat the Spurs a couple of days ago without Paul, that was their first win of the season without their superstar point guard (and it wasn`t necessarily impressive). The Rockets have 1 win and 5 losses this year without CP3 and they might not even be a playoff team without him in this stacked Western Conference.

Houston was already struggling this season, and now they have to play without CP3 against one of the best teams in the league, which also happens to be in good form.

The Thunder are rolling and they have a good chance to take care of this shaky and shorthanded Rockets side here, even if Houston has home court advantage. The visitors should have enough to counter the “James Harden hero ball” style of play which the Houston Rockets will employ in the absence of Chris Paul.

My tip will be the Thunder to win straight up, and odds are dropping on this bet. Personally I think OKC is the favorite, so I see value here. Prediction: Houston Rockets – OKC Thunder 104 – 114.

Pick: Thunder
Odds: 2.01 @ 22Bet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8.08
Event date: 25 December