NBA / betting tip

Houston Rockets v San Antonio Spurs March 23rd 2019; Toyota Center, Houston Houston Rockets arrive into this match after a disappointing defeat against Memphis Grizzlies, which ended their 3 games winning streak. Tonight they will look for an opportunity to bounce back with a match against San Antonio Spurs who fell against Houston in last two H2H matches. Houston Rockets were unstoppable only a month ago when they started their impressive run of 9 consecutive wins, which ended with a 104:106 defeat against Golden State Warriors on March 14th. But it did not took long for Houston to bounce back, as they managed to win the next 3 matches against Phoenix Suns (108:102), Minnesota Timberwolves (117:102) and Atlanta Hawks (105:121), only to fall against Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night (126:125)(OT) in a close contest which ended in Memphis favour. To be fair, Houston were not too impressive in the mentioned match, as they were trailing the home side since the first quarter. At one point in the 3rd quarter, Memphis were even 19 points ahead, which did not stop Houston from trying and catching up to Memphis in the last quarter. Despite managing to catch up to Memphis, Houston once again underperformed in the overtime, where they were outscored by Grizzlies, who celebrated their 29th win of the season. San Antonio Spurs enter this match as the 6th seed in the West, with an overall record of 42-30. Despite sitting at 6th spot, San Antonio share the 42-20 record with 3 other teams; Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers. As it stands now, they are only 2.5 games from reaching the 4th placed Portland, which is most likely their goal for this season, but being that there are 3 other teams with the same goal, Spurs need to prove their worth in the upcoming match. Starting with the visit to Houston. Looking back at Spurs last 5 matches, they won against Dallas Mavericks (105:112), New York Knicks (109:83), Portland Trail Blazers (108:103) and Golden State Warriors (111:105). Despite their impressive run, Spurs failed to make it 5-0 as they were defeated against Miami Heat on Wednesday night (105:110). Nonetheless, they are still 9-1 in the last 10, which is an impressive record to hold. San Antonio enter this match without Murray who has been sidelined since October. Other than that, there are no new reported injuries. Houston Rockets will remain without Jones and Faried who still hasn't recovered from a knee injury. Despite a disappointing result against Memphis Grizzlies in the last fixture, Houston are still holding an impressive run of 12-3 in the last 15 and are without a doubt of the strongest team in the West. I would even go so far to say they could defeat Golden State Warriors if all the stars align. However, there is one problem I have with the Houston Rockets, which I have mentioned before. Their defence really is all over the place, and not in a good way. In one match they can perform exceptionally well in the defensive end, only to disappoint in the next one. After watching them play I think we have figured it out. If they play against a strong team they will be solid in the defensive end. If they play against anything else than playoff contender, their defence falls asleep. With that in mind, I don't believe Houston Rockets will let Spurs get to any easy points. As for the visiting side, Spurs hold the 6th spot as the most efficient offensive team in the league and did not disappoint in that aspect in their last 10 fixtures, however, their pace has notably slowed down. They tend to take it slow and use their possession wisely and quite efficiently, which slows down the matches they participate in. Taking all into consideration, we expect this one to be a slow paced match between the two playoff-bound teams, who just might play against each other in the playoffs. All thing point towards this one ending with less than the line suggests. Prediction: Under 220.00 points