Houston Rockets vs Portland Trail Blazers NBA Picks: The Rockets are (3-1) off a home loss to Boston 103-99. Houston's reserves helped keep the Rockets in the game. They trailed 81-78 after three quarters. Team leaders this season for Houston are Tracy McGrady with (20.0) points, assists (5.8) and rebounds, Yao Ming (10.2). They're coming off their first loss of the season to the Celtics two nights ago and will want to bounce back.  They've been playing well with the newly acquired Artest. The sports odds posted by the oddsmakers at BetUS.com currently list Houston Rockets -5 favorites to Portland Trail Blazers heading into this matchup.

The Trail Blazers are (1-3) coming off a road loss 103-96 to Utah. Portland rookie forward Nicolas Batum made his first start, replacing Travis Outlaw in the starting lineup. They are playing the second of back to back games. Prior to last night's game, Portland had three nights off. The Blazers  were happy entering this season with 2007 top overall draft pick Greg Oden finally set to take the court after missing all of last season following microfracture knee surgery. He got hurt in first game of the season and still will be out for the next two weeks. The online sports betting odds at BetUS.com has the OVER/UNDER in this Houston Rockets vs Portland Trail Blazers game is set at 183 points.

"It was a winnable game and we let it slip," Roy said on Wednesday. "Tonight was another case where we panicked and they made a run."  

NBA Picks: The Blazers are a young team and have fared very well at the betting window when playing the second of back to back games. The Blazers were 10-6 ATS the last two seasons when listed as home underdogs in the +3.5 to +6 range. Under is 6-0 in Rockets last 6 games playing on 1 days rest. Under is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.

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