Wednesday, January 11, 2012

NBA Premium Play 01/10: Houston Rockets @ Charlotte Bobcats

NBA - 501 Houston Rockets @ 502 Charlotte Bobcats

***DOUBLE DIME PLAY***

Projected line: Houston by 7 points
First of all, there is a huge difference on the spot of both teams for today: Houston had 2 days off, while Charlotte will be playing a back to back game and this will also be their 4th game in 5 days! Houston is 0-5 on the road this season, but all their road games until now were against good teams: ORL, MEM, LAL, LAC and OKC! The problem of this team has been their interior defense, as Dalembert arrived to the team late and he still needs some time to adapt. Houston has faced some top interior offensive teams and they had no chance by allowing 71% FG at the rim!

Fortunately for them, Charlotte offers no danger to the Rockets near the basket, as they have no interior threat. The Bobcats are shooting just 56% at the rim and they are #24 in the league in post-up plays with just 0.71 PPP! They have had occasional success on the perimeter with Henderson and Augustin, but with this being a tough physical spot for them, I think that Houston will be able to have a reasonable defensive game, as they won't have the pressure of having to defend a big man and so, they will be able to pressure more the perimeter.

On the other side, Houston is still a good offensive team! Lowry is back and he is the most important player on the team! Martin is questionable for tonight, but if he doesn't play, Dragic will start in his place and even though he isn't as good as KM in the offense, he will be a huge upgrade defensively! Also Scola will have a favorable matchup against Diaw, who is coming from a big game last night against the Knicks, but I doubt that he will play as well two days in a row, especially as he is struggling with weight issues.  It's also clear that Houston will be fired up: “We’ve got a group (who knows) we started off 0-5, 1-6 last year,” guard Kevin Martin said. “We know how the end of the year ended. That was definitely a darker time than what it is now. I think we’re fine around here.”

Considering all of this, I expect a fired up and much fresher Rockets to finally won a game on the road against the Bobcats, who will heavily struggle in handling the Rockets offense. Therefore, I'll be taking Houston in here on a Double Dime Play!

Pick: 4 units (Double Dime Play) on 501 Houston Rockets (-3) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

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