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Rockets try to add to Knicks misery Thursday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 1/8/2015  at  5:02:00 AM
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HOUSTON ROCKETS (24-11)

at NEW YORK KNICKS (5-33)

Tip-off: Thursday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -12, Total: 192.5

The Knicks attempt to halt a 13-game losing streak when they host the Rockets on Thursday night.

Houston hasn’t been doing as well of late at 3-4 (both SU and ATS) since Dec. 12, including two defeats when favored. It isn’t the team's offense that has fallen off in that time, as it has scored 100+ points in six of the contests. But the defense has allowed 110+ points three times during this stretch. The Rockets have also struggled with turnovers, giving up the rock at least 15 times in six of their past seven attempts. They were able to pull things together against the struggling Cavs on Wednesday though, defeating them 105-93 as 6-point road favorites. In the victory, they held Cleveland to a low 41.5% FG. While Houston has not been playing great of late, New York is doing much worse, as an SU loser in 13 consecutive games while also failing to cover the spread in seven of the past eight contests. The team's shooting has been horrendous, with less than 42% FG in five of the past six games. The Knicks were finally able to cover on Wednesday when they visited the 14-point favorite Wizards and lost by a score of 101-91. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but they were solid from behind the arc (11-for-26) while forcing 11 steals, but also let Washington make 39-of-76 FG (51.3%), including 8-of-16 from long range. The Rockets have managed to do well when playing away from home, going 12-5 SU with a 9-7-1 ATS record, while New York is just 3-15 SU (4-14 ATS) at Madison Square Garden. Houston has dominated this series over the past few seasons with 10 straight wins (8-2 ATS) by 10.0 PPG dating back to the 2009-10 campaign. But the two meetings in the 2014 calendar year were both Knicks ATS wins, as they fell 102-100 on the road on Jan. 3, 2014 and kept it close in this season's meeting, falling 91-86 as 6-point road underdogs on Nov. 24. Since that game, New York won just one win, going 1-23 SU (10-13-1 ATS) in the past 24 contests. Some interesting trends to keep an eye on include that the Knicks are a putrid 8-20 ATS (29%) as a home underdog over the past two seasons, while the Rockets are just 49-76 ATS (39%) as a double-digit favorite since 1996. On the injury front, Houston continues to be without PF Terrence Jones (leg) and PG Alexey Shved (ankle), but New York is missing three of its best players with SF Carmelo Anthony (knee) and PF Amar’e Stoudemire (knee) and C Andrea Bargnani (calf) all out indefinitely.

Can the Knicks keep the final score respectable on Thursday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 55% ATS record (90-73-1) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, the experts have a collective 68% ATS (15-7) record since Jan. 2, led by StatFox Scott, who is a sizzling 75% ATS (9-3) in Best Bets since Dec. 21, improving his record to 54% ATS (28-24) for the season. StatFox Brian is 62% ATS (18-11) in Best Bets since Nov. 29, and is now 55% ATS (28-23) in season Best Bets, while StatFox Gary is 54% ATS (15-13) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29, and 53% ATS (27-24) this season.

Houston’s offense has the ability to put on a show on any given night, but has been somewhat inconsistent on the season with 101.1 PPG (16th in NBA) on 43.2% from the field (5th-worst in league). Meanwhile, the defense has been phenomenal in holding the opposition to 97.3 PPG (4th in NBA) behind just 43.6% shooting (5th in league). SG James Harden (26.8 PPG, 6.6 APG, 5.9 RPG, 1.8 SPG) can carry this team on his back single-handedly, but has really struggled with his shot lately, shooting 39% FG or worse in three of his past four performances. He was a beast when he met with the Knicks earlier this season (36 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block) and did equally as well in his two games against them last season with 36.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG and 4.0 APG. C Dwight Howard (17.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 1.7 BPG) has been more forceful around the rim in the past three contests with 15.3 RPG and 17.3 PPG. Overall in his 32 career games (31 starts) against New York, he’s put up 18.5 PPG (60% FG) with 12.4 RPG and 2.2 BPG. SF Trevor Ariza (12.7 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.0 SPG) is coming off a solid all-around effort (13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals) in Wednesday’s victory over the Cavs, but has gone ice-cold from deep over the past five games, as he has hit just 5-of-28 (18%) threes. He made only 3-of-10 shot attempts for 10 points against the Knicks in their first matchup this season.

New York has floundered in all areas this season. The team ranks second-worst in offense (93.1 PPG) while making 44.2% of its attempts (21st in NBA). It doesn’t get too much better on the defensive side of the ball where the Knicks are giving up 101.2 PPG (10th-worst in league) behind 46.4% shooting (7th-worst in league). SG Tim Hardaway Jr. (11.0 PPG) has a big opportunity to prove he can be a valuable NBA asset with the injuries to SF Carmelo Anthony, PF Amar'e Stoudemire and C Andrea Bargnani, while the team just traded away the two other main players at his position (Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith). Hardaway Jr. has had double-digit shot attempts in each of his past three games producing 12.0 PPG, and played just 15 minutes in the meeting with the Rockets on Nov. 24. PG Jose Calderon (9.7 PPG, 4.3 APG) is one of the few veterans left standing for this club and is coming off one of his better shooting nights this season (17 points on 7-of-14 FG). He hasn't fared too well over his 18 career meetings (12 starts) with Houston though, netting 9.6 PPG (44% FG) and dishing out 7.2 APG. C Cole Aldrich (6.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG) is another youngster being allowed to showcase his talents as he fills in for injured New York players, and has gotten 30+ minutes in three of the past five games while averaging 9.8 PPG and 7.2 RPG in that time. Aldrich has come off the bench in each of his three contests against the Rockets in his career and only played 13.2 MPG, averaging 4.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG.


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