Portland travels to Houston for conference showdown

Sat, Dec 17, 2022
NBA News (AP)

Portland Trail Blazers (16-13, sixth in the Western Conference) vs. Houston Rockets (9-19, 15th in the Western Conference)

Houston; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK NBA LINE: Rockets -3.5; over/under is 227

BOTTOM LINE: Western Conference foes Houston and Portland meet on Saturday.

The Rockets have gone 5-14 against Western Conference teams. Houston is second in the Western Conference in rebounding with 46.9 rebounds. Alperen Sengun paces the Rockets with 8.8 boards.

The Trail Blazers are 12-8 in conference games. Portland is eighth in the Western Conference with 10.5 offensive rebounds per game led by Jusuf Nurkic averaging 2.7.

The teams square off for the second time this season. The Trail Blazers won 125-111 in the last meeting on Oct. 29. Anfernee Simons led the Trail Blazers with 30 points, and Eric Gordon led the Rockets with 18 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jalen Green is scoring 21.8 points per game with 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists for the Rockets. Kevin Porter Jr. is averaging 17.3 points and 5.6 assists over the last 10 games for Houston.

Simons is shooting 44.5% and averaging 23.0 points for the Trail Blazers. Jerami Grant is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Portland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rockets: 5-5, averaging 111.1 points, 47.5 rebounds, 20.7 assists, 7.5 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 113.6 points per game.

Trail Blazers: 5-5, averaging 116.5 points, 44.3 rebounds, 25.2 assists, 5.7 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.1 points.

INJURIES:

Trail Blazers: Nassir Little: out (hip), Gary Payton II: out (core).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.