Houston Rockets v Denver Nuggets
March 29th 2019; Toyota Center, Houston

After enduring a painful loss against Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, Houston Rockets flew back to Toyota Center where they await the 2nd seed in the West; Denver Nuggets for the 4th H2H match of this season.

Houston Rockets enjoyed an exceptional run of 9 consecutive wins from the end of February to mid-March, however, it all ended when they met Golden State Warriors (104:106), who managed to stop the unstoppable Rockets. Since that defeat, Houston won 5 matches and lost only 2, which is still an exceptional record. Looking at their last 5 fixtures, Houston were defeated by Memphis Grizzlies (126:125)(OT) and most recently against the 1st seed in the East Milwaukee Bucks (108:94). On the other side, Houston defeated New Orleans Pelicans (90:113), San Antonio Spurs (111:105) and Atlanta Hawks (105:121). Due to their defeat against Milwaukee Bucks, Houston dropped down to 4th spot in the West, where they are now 0.5 games behind 3rd placed Portland Trail Blazers. Looking back at their defeat against Bucks, Houston played good defence, however, failed to perform up to par in the offensive end. This should not come off as a surprise, solely due to the fact they were facing one of the best defensive teams in the league. In fact, we were watching a match between two extremely good defensive teams and the result speaks for itself.

Denver Nuggets continue with their impressive run of 8-2 in the last 10, which is a nice change of pace after their 0-3 run at the start of March. Denver Nuggets will come into this match after a low scoring match against exhausted Detroit Pistons, who kneeled down to Denver who won by mere 3 points (95:92). Prior to that, Denver lost to Indiana Pacers (124:88), won against New York Knicks (93:111), Washington Wizards (108:113) and Boston Celtics (105:114). From the schedule of Nuggets, we can see they had to endure a tough schedule with 4 consecutive road games, however, they still managed to put up impressive numbers and won 3 out of 4 away games. In their most recent match against Detroit Pistons, Denver ran out of steam which was expected, however with two days to rest, I do believe they are more than ready to face off against Houston Rockets.

The home side will be without Faried and Green. Eric Gordon is listed as probable. Denver Nuggets will remain without Porter Jr. and have Beasley listed as probable.

After a tough schedule, Denver Nuggets got themselves a well-deserved rest in before the important match against Houston Rockets tonight. While their performance against Pistons was not praiseworthy, we can attribute it to fatigue, so a better show with more energy is expected tonight. On the other side, we have got Houston Rockets who failed to penetrate Milwaukee defence on Tuesday night, ending the match with less than 100 points, which is rather uncommon to see. As it stands now, Rockets are only 2 games ahead of 5th placed Utah Jazz and 0.5 behind 3rd placed Portland Trail Blazers. Despite being playoff bound, the higher seed will be their priority and a win tonight could potentially see them passing Portland and reclaim the 3rd seed. The next match will by no means be an easy one for Houston, however, we can expect it to be a fast-paced one, with plenty of points on both sides. While Houston failed to perform up to par against Bucks, they surely won't as many issues in the offence tonight. Expect an entertaining fast-paced match which should end in 220s

Prediction: Over 217.00 points