Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for December 17 (Will Portland Underestimate Houston?)

Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Game Info

• Date: Saturday, December 17, 2022
• Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
• Venue: Toyota Center -- Houston, Texas
• Coverage: ROOT Sports NW and SportsNet SW

Seven matchups are on the NBA's Saturday, Dec. 17 schedule, including a Western Conference showdown between the Houston Rockets (9-19) and Portland Trail Blazers (16-13).

Although they've been winning more often recently, the Rockets enter tonight's game fresh off a 111-108 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday. The Trail Blazers were also vanquished in their last outing, picking up a 130-110 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

Can the Rockets win tonight to finally improve to over .500 at home? Or will the Trail Blazers be victorious despite playing less than 24 hours ago?

Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Odds & Spread

• All NBA betting lines, odds and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.
• Moneyline: POR: (-180) | HOU: (+152)
• Spread: POR: -4 (-110) | HOU: +4 (-110)
• Total: 228 -- Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)

The Trail Blazers enter this contest as slight road favorites on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook's odds. This 8 p.m. ET clash also features an over/under of 228 points, which is the third-highest of Saturday's projected totals.

Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Betting Trends

• The Trail Blazers are 18-11-0 against the spread this season.
• The Rockets are 10-11-2 ATS when underdogs by 3.5 points or more this season.
• Trail Blazers games have gone over the total 15 times out of 27 chances this season.
• The Rockets have eclipsed the over/under 48.1% of the time this season (13 of 27 games with a set point total).
• Portland sports a worse record against the spread when playing at home (7-6-0) than it does in road games (11-5-0).
• Houston's winning percentage against the spread at home is .545 (6-4-1). Away, it is .375 (6-9-1).

Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Prediction & Pick

Even though the Trail Blazers blew the Rockets out, 125-111, back in October, a lot has changed since then. Portland is just 11-12 straight up over its subsequent 23 games, whereas Houston has been strong at home, winning five of its last six games at Toyota Center.

The Rockets have also been beating strong opponents lately, defeating the Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers over the last five games. Meanwhile, the Blazers might have three wins in their last four outings, but those victories came against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs.

On top of that, Houston's defense has been phenomenal lately, holding opponents to just 100.0 PPG over the last three games (third-best). With Portland running on little rest and having shot the ball poorly on Friday night (43.8% field-goal percentage), there's a very real possibility of the Rockets pulling off an upset.

Final Score Prediction: Rockets: 117 | Trail Blazers: 114

Rockets vs. Trail Blazers Best Bet

Even if the Rockets don't win, I do think that they can keep things closer than the spread implies. Not only are they 6-0-1 ATS in their last seven home games, but they've also covered the spread in two of their last three games against the Trail Blazers.

Furthermore, Houston has a plus-7.3 scoring margin in its last six home games, whereas Portland is minus-2.8 on the road this season. At the end of the day, don't be surprised if the Rockets are in this until the end, whether they win or lose.

Bet: Rockets +4 (-110)

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.