{"id":11897,"date":"2019-02-13T03:24:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T03:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bb-auae-prd-ext-blog-01.azurewebsites.net\/more\/nba-betting-preview-14-february-2019\/"},"modified":"2023-06-28T09:30:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T09:30:02","slug":"nba-betting-preview-14-february-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/nba\/nba-betting-preview-14-february-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Betting Preview – 14 February 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston Rockets @ Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> (ESPN)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Houston (33-23) will travel to the Target Center for a match-up against the struggling Timberwolves (26-30) who sit four games outside the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The story for Houston, as it has been for several weeks, will be James Harden and his 30-point scoring streak which currently sits at 30 games.<\/p>\n

The reigning MVP is currently averaging 36.5 points per game and is on track for the best scoring season since Kobe Bryant in 2005-06.<\/p>\n

The Rockets as a team have won seven of their last ten games and will enter the Minnesota game off the back of a 16-point victory against Dallas.<\/p>\n

The Wolves are enduring another mediocre season, currently sitting in twelfth in the West.<\/p>\n

Despite the struggles Karl-Anthony Towns is having another strong season and is set to play in his second All-Star Game in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

The big man is averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds as well as a career high in blocks and will be looking to exploit the injury to Rockets centre Clint Capela and dominate down low.<\/p>\n

The Wolves picked up a win in their last game against the Clippers with Towns and Derrick Rose leading the way.<\/p>\n

Given the Wolves\u2019 struggles and the ongoing form of Harden, the safe choice for this game would be the Rockets as they continue to push for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Tip: <\/strong>Houston to win – $1.68<\/a><\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors @ Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> (ESPN)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a Western Conference showdown, the Trail Blazers (33-23) host the first-placed Warriors (40-15).<\/p>\n

Golden State have been on a hot streak since the return of DeMarcus Cousins in January.<\/p>\n

Cousins has played ten games since his return, losing one of those, with the big man averaging 14 points and six rebounds in only 23 minutes a night.<\/p>\n

The Golden State juggernaut has only gained momentum with the seamless addition of Cousins to go along with their three 2019 All-Stars in Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.<\/p>\n

The trio are averaging over 20 points per game, illustrating the ability for Golden State to share the load.<\/p>\n

The Blazers are having another promising season currently sitting in fourth place in the West.<\/p>\n

The two leaders of the franchise, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, are once again having strong seasons, both averaging above 20 points.<\/p>\n

However, it has been the work of role players like Jusuf Nurkic that have helped the Blazers compete in the West.<\/p>\n

Nurkic is averaging a double-double and has a triple-double to his name, showing his contributions cover many areas for Portland.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that the Golden State dominance over the NBA will continue with a win over the Blazers here, especially with no Blazer being a solid match for Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n

Tip: <\/strong>Golden State to win – $1.50<\/a><\/p>\n

Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The 76ers (36-20) will travel to New York for the second half of a back-to-back against the Knicks (10-46).<\/p>\n

These two teams are at completely opposite ends of the Eastern Conference, with the 76ers sitting in fourth and the Knicks dead last.<\/p>\n

The Sixers are a completely different team compared to the start of the season. The additions of Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler have the team firmly set in win-now mode.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s two young stars, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, will both be wanting to head into the All-Star break with plenty of momentum on their side as they try to make a push for the top three seeds.<\/p>\n

Embiid is having an MVP-calibre season, averaging 27 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, while Simmons has career highs in points and rebounds.<\/p>\n

The Knicks are in the middle of a franchise worst losing streak that currently sits at 17 games and the end is not in sight.<\/p>\n

The franchise has fully embraced the tank as they look to get a top three pick in the hopes of landing Zion Williamson.<\/p>\n

Will all that being said, a Philly win by double digits is more than likely as they look to find more chemistry between their new starting line-up.<\/p>\n

Tip: <\/strong>Philadelphia – 9.5 @ $1.92<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Houston Rockets @ Minnesota Timberwolves (ESPN) Houston (33-23) will travel to the Target Center for a match-up against the struggling Timberwolves (26-30) who sit four games outside the playoffs. The story for Houston, as it has been for several weeks, will be James Harden and his 30-point scoring streak which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[706],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15987,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897\/revisions\/15987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prdextblog01.bluebet.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}