The Houston Rockets look to emerge from the All-Star break with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers as road betting favorites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks.
The Houston Rockets are 5-0 straight up over their last five games against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 2-1 against the spread record over their last three. The Rockets will try to extend their winning streak against the Lakers to six games with a road win on Thursday night.
Houston is a 2-point road favorite on the NBA odds in Los Angeles at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Over their last 14 games the Rockets are just 4-10 ATS.
Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
When: Thursday, February 21, 10:30 p.m. ET
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Betting Line / Total: Houston -2 / 233 Points
Houston Rockets Notes
The Rockets went on an absolute tear in the month of December going 11-1 SU and 10-1-1 ATS over an impressive stretch of 12 games. But while the big scoring totals for James Harden have kept piling up, the Rockets have come back down to earth with an 11-9 SU and 7-13 ATS record over their last 20 games.
Harden has scored at least 30 points in each of his last 31 games and is averaging 36.6 points per game on the season, but Houston is hoping that the return of Chris Paul will help to take some of the scoring pressure off of their superstar guard.
In Houston’s last nine games on the road, the Rockets are 4-5 SU and 2-7 ATS per the OddsShark NBA Database.
Los Angeles Lakers Notes
Los Angeles is running out of time to make a push for the postseason. The idea of the Lakers missing the playoffs after acquiring LeBron James this offseason was unheard of coming into the year but at 28-29 SU and 25-31-1 ATS, Los Angeles comes out of the break three games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
With 15 of the team’s remaining 25 games coming against teams in the playoff race, the Lakers will have to do a lot better than the 3-8 SU and 5-6 ATS record they’ve posted over their last 11 games to make some progress.
Rockets at Lakers Betting Total
Thursday night’s total is set at 233 points at online sports betting sites. The OVER is 8-2 in the last 10 games between Houston and Los Angeles.
LeBron James’ injury and Anthony Davis trade rumors have derailed the Lakers over the last couple of months. But with James back healthy and a week to regroup over the break, Los Angeles has an opportunity to start the home stretch off on the right foot with a big win over a quality Houston squad.
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