basketball | Monday, January 23, 2023 1:16 PM (Revised at: Monday, January 23, 2023 1:17 PM)

Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Best Bet: Rockets Fail to Launch Again

Milan Stanojic

Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Best Bet: Monday, January 23rd

The Houston Rockets host the Minnesota Timberwolves for a rematch of Saturday night’s game and their 4th encounter of the season! The Timberwolves have dominated this match-up recently, but with injury issues to both of their star centers, the bookmakers think the hosts have a shot at keeping this one close.

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Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Preview
Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Best Bet

Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Preview

Tue, Jan 24th. 01:00 (UK time)

The Houston Rockets are officially the worst team in the league now with a 10-36 record and are on a magnificent 13-game winning streak. We all knew coming into the season that these guys would be losing a lot but just 10 wins in late January is definitely going to be tough on team morale. They’ve covered the spread in just 1 of their last 10 games and are coming off a 113-104 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They had a terrible offensive night in that one, going well above their average turnover numbers with 21 and a disappointing 19/33 from the free-throw line.

The Rockets have been the worst offensive side in the NBA this season, ranking dead last in offensive rating, whilst averaging just 109.7 points per game. Defence has also been a huge issue as the Rockets are 28th in defensive rating and an opponent 3-point percentage of 36.7%. Nothing has changed in recent games either, as they have ranked 29th in net rating over their last 5 games with -13.7. They have won just 6 of their 21 home games this year covering the spread in 9. They have failed to cover the spread in each of their last 5 games, even with double-digit numbers, and I don’t see the 6 points tonight as a favourable number.

I was bashing the Timberwolves’ decision to acquire Gobert this summer, and I still stand by this, but they are still a team with some solid talent in D-Lo and Anthony Edwards. Despite not being among the best, they are still 8th in the West with a 24-24 record. They have won 7 of their last 10 games and are looking to go on a 3-game winning streak with a win against a bottom-feeder tonight. They got the job done last time out against this team with a 9-point cushion and I’m expecting a similar result this time around.

The T-Wolves haven’t exactly been the epitome of a winning road team this year with a record of 8-14, but they have beaten this team 3 times this year already and they can do it again. KAT remains out, but Gobert might come back for this one, and if that’s the case, the spread should shift toward the double-digits. Regardless, this team plays very fast, ranking 5th in pace rating, and their offence should have no issues getting going against such a meagre defence.

Houston Rockets vs Minnesota Timberwolves Best Bet

Backing underdogs is something I love to do, and if the spread were more realistic I would definitely consider backing the Rockets at home tonight. But that’s not the case and we have just +6.0 points next to their name. That’s far too few for a team that has failed to cover recently, and I trust Edwards and Russel to get the job done once again.