NBA Betting: Can the Rockets Pull off Another Miracle?

League MVP Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors will look to bounce back from their humbling Game 4 loss and dispatch James Harden and desperate Houston when the two rivals square off on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their Western Conference Finals showdown. While I’m going on record right now to say that I like the Dubs to get the series-ending win in Game 5, I also refuse to count the Rockets out after seeing the miraculous comeback they pulled off in climbing out of a 3-1 hole to beat the Clippers in the last NBA betting round. Now, let’s find out if Houston can pull off the huge season-saving win or whether they’ll simply fade into the postseason like a cheap pair of blue jeans.

Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors

When: 9:00 PM  ET, Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California TV: TNT NBA Odds: Golden State -10.5 Over/Under: 215.5 Analysis: The Houston Rockets got a ‘monster’ performance from MVP runner-up James Harden as ‘Mr. Stir-It-Up’ scored a game-high 45 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, including 7 of 11 from beyond the arc. Harden’s heroics however, were almost overshadowed by league MVP Steph Curry’s horrifying first half fall. Still, Harden scored 33 of his points in the second half as the Rockets held off a handful of serious runs by the Warriors to win 128-115 in a high-scoring affair. “When you have a tough game, you’re not very happy with everything,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said of Harden. “He was extremely unhappy yesterday, and took it out — but that’s what you’ve got to do. “You’ve got to take it out on them. It doesn’t do any good to take it out on the trainer and your teammates and your coach. You take it out on the other team, and he did. He went out and he played a hell of a game.” Houston didn’t get its first win of the series without a fight, despite leading by 25 points at one point in the first half. The Warriors looked like they were finished when Curry flipped over Rockets forward Trevor Ariza and landed on his neck and head areas midway through the second quarter. However, Curry showed some serious heart in coming back into the game after passing a concussion protocol. When Golden State’s gifted floor leader drilled a pull-up 3-pointer with 8:24 remaining, Golden State trailed by just six points 104-98. “I remember everything about it,” Curry said of his tumble. “I feel pretty good, just not how I envisioned the game going. I’m disappointed we lost, but all in all, thankful that I came out of that relatively OK and was able to go back in there and try to give my team something.” Houston also placed five other players in double figures in scoring, with veteran forward Josh Smith putting up 20 points and Dwight Howard adding 14 points and 12 rebounds. Ariza added 17 points and the Rockets shot an incendiary 17 of 32 from three-point distance (53.1 percent). “Combination of just moving my body, setting screens, cutting and when I got an opportunity, coming off hard to attack,” Harden said, contrasting the differences between his two home outings. “Ultimately just being aggressive. Taking my shot when I had it and mixing it up.” Curry, who returned with 5:58 left in the third quarter, scored 23 points while ‘Splash Brothers’ backcourt mate Klay Thompson scored a team-high 24 points. Both all-stars shot an identical 6-for-13 from downtown to help Golden State shoot an impressive 20 of 46 from beyond the arc (43.5 percent). Versatile Golden State forward Draymond Green added 21 points and 15 rebounds in the loss before fouling out with 3:09 remaining. Still, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was not very happy afterward. “We got beat on backdoor cuts. That’s usually a pretty good sign that you’re not ready to play defense,” Kerr said. “Got lost a couple times in transition. There were some signs, I thought, early on that we were not sharp. We got a grasp of what we needed to do, and you hope that’s the case each series and that it carries forward,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But … things change.” … Houston is 4-0 under head coach Kevin McHale when facing elimination for the first time in a series. Prediction: The Houston Rockets have had an absolutely fine 2014 season, but I genuinely believe they’re going home following this Game 5 matchup. While the Rockets have an impressive group of veterans that play hard far more often than not, the fact of the matter is that Golden State simply has too much offensive firepower for the Rockets – or any other team – to keep up with. Five players averaged double digits in scoring for Golden State during the regular season and that doesn’t even include competent veterans like David Lee, Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguoadala, Leandro Barbosa, Shaun Livingston and blossoming center Festus Ezeli. I know the Golden State Warriors have gone 15-6-1 ATS in their last 22 home games against a team with a winning road record and an impressive 23-11 ATS in their last 34 games following an SU loss, but the Warriors are also just 2-8 ATS in their last 10 home games while the Houston Rockets have gone 10-1 ATS in their last 11 games following an SU win of more than 10 points and a near-perfect 6-1 ATS in their last seven games overall. With Houston in all-out ‘desperation mode’ and the Underdog in this series going 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings, I believe the Rockets will find a way to keep the final margin of victory inside single digits, thereby, easily covering the NBA betting line as a double-digit road dog.

NBA Betting Trends

The Pick: Houston Rockets +10.5 Points