The Cavs are the defending NBA champions but have struggled of late, and could be underdogs as they play this game on the road. The Rockets have used their impressive offense to overrun teams this season and would love to knock off Cleveland, but it won’t be easy.
This will be an intriguing matchup between two of the best teams in the league, with the spread expected to be small.
This war on the floor will go down Sunday, March 12, 2017, at 9 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The game will be televised live on ESPN.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Rockets are 44-21 straight up and 37-28 against the spread as they have exceeded expectations. Houston has played in 32 home games this season and has covered in 15 of them. The Rockets have done much better against the spread on the road.
Houston is 27-25 against the spread as the favorite on the year and has covered in eight of 11 attempts as the underdog.
The Cavaliers are 42-20 straight up and 28-32-2 against the spread. Cleveland has played in 29 road games and only covered in 12 of them. The Cavs are 26-25-2 against the spread as the favorite this season. They have only been the underdog nine times this year and have not performed well at all, covering just twice.
Key Stat
14. That’s how many road losses the Cavaliers have this season. The team has a record of 16-14 overall on the road, a number not befitting a team expecting to repeat as NBA champions.
Cleveland is a very good home team, but has struggled this season in hostile environments. The Cavs have lost three of their last four road games with their most recent loss coming to the Heat in Miami on Monday.
Houston is 23-9 at home this season but has struggled a bit lately defending their home court. The Rockets have gone 2-3 in their last five games at the Toyota Center. The location should play a big role on where the spread ends up in this matchup.
Player to Watch
James Harden -- It’s still early in March, but Houston’s star shooting guard has been playing lights-out so far this month. He finished with 35 points against Utah on Wednesday and had 39 points and 12 rebounds against the Spurs on Monday.
Harden leads the team with 29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds per game. He is averaging 33.3 points per games in the first four games of this month.
Harden scored 41 points the last time these two teams met and finished with 15 assists and seven rebounds. He’s been playing at an MVP level all season long and will be a huge factor in this matchup against the defending NBA champs.
Free NBA ATS Pick
The Cavs have the best player in this game in LeBron James, but Harden has proven to be nearly his equal this season. The Rockets are playing very well as a team and have a slightly better overall record than Cleveland this year.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cavs get this one because having LeBron and Kyrie Irving will keep the team competitive against anybody. However, the Rockets have a superstar of their own and some good synergy.
The home court advantage is enough to tip this one in favor of Houston.
NBA Odds: Rockets 114, Cavaliers 112
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