Houston Rockets (3-1) vs. Portland Trailblazers (1-3) NBA Picks: While the Houston Rockets and their offseason acquisition, Ron Artest (22.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 1 apg) have both gotten off to solid starts, the same can't be said about the Portland Trailblazers and top-prospect draftee, Greg Oden (NBA Career: 0 ppg, 5 rpg, 0 apg).

After missing his entire rookie season due to a microfracture knee surgery, Oden finds himself in another difficult situation early on in his second NBA season. Oden went down with a foot injury during the Blazers' 96-76 season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Thus, the Trailblazers have suffered tremendously in the highly competitive Western Conference, as their (1-3) record indicates.

Odds makers at SBGglobal.com foresee the Houston Rockets [-5] winning this Thursday night NBA Picks game by a pair of buckets against the struggling Portland Trailblazers [+5].  

Thing aren’t getting any easier for the Trailblazers either, as they get set to meet yet another (2007-08) playoff team for the fifth straight game. Portland will try to avoid its 4th loss (in 5 games), against a team opening up a five-game road trip tonight.

The Blazers' lone victory was a 100-99 win in their home opener against San Antonio on Friday, and they've dropped their last two on the road at Phoenix and Utah. The OVER/UNDER for this Houston Rockets vs Portland Trailblazers NBA Picks has been set at a combined total of 182½ points.

After finishing 55-27 last season and losing in the 1st round of the playoffs to the Utah Jazz, the Rockets won their first three games thanks to the new trio of Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and Ron Artest. However, the Rockets couldn’t get passed the NBA champs Tuesday night as Artest and Yao struggled significanlty, shooting 3-of-16 and 4-of-14 respectively. "We did not play well at all," Artest said. "Usually you can say you've got to give them credit. But there were things that we could've done better to pull out the victory."

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