Houston Rockets (1-1) vs Boston Celtics (0-2)
Game Info: Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 7:00 pm (Toyota Center)
Betting Odds: Houston Rockets +6 -- Over/Under: 227 Click Here for the Latest Odds
The Houston Rockets play host to the Boston Celtics at the Toyota Center on Sunday night.
The Boston Celtics are still searching for their first win of the season and they will be hoping to put up a better performance after getting routed by the Raptors in a disappointing 115-83 home loss on Friday. Jayson Tatum led the team in scoring with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists, Josh Richardson added 12 points off the bench while Al Horford racked up 11 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and four blocks, but no other player finished in double figures in scoring. As a team, the Celtics shot just 39 percent from the field and 11 of 34 from the 3-point line as they hung with the Raptors in a tightly contested first half, before getting completely run off the court in the second half where the Raptors outscored them by 64-36. Marcus Smart had a night to forget as he finished scoreless on zero of six shooting while Jaylen Brown scored just nine points on three of 13 shooting.
Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets are coming into this game with a bit of confidence after taking apart the Thunder in a 124-91 home win on Friday. Christian Wood led the team with 31 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks on 13 of 19 shooting, Eric Gordon added 22 points off the bench, Kevin Porter Jr. added 18 points with 10 assists while Jae’Sean Tate chipped in with 16 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. As a team, the Rockets shot 50 percent from the field and 17 of 38 from the 3-point line as they stormed out of the gates with 69 points in a dominant first half and the margin only grew as the game wore on.
Looking at the betting trends, the Celtics are 6-14 ATS in their last 20 games as a road favorite, 0-4 ATS in their last four road games and 1-5 ATS in their last six games following a loss of more than 10 points. The Rockets are 4-17 ATS in their last 21 home games against a team with a losing road record, 0-8 ATS in their last eight games following a win and 16-36 ATS in their last 52 home games.
Head to head, the under is 19-7 in the last 26 meetings overall and the Celtics are 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings overall.
The Celtics must’ve still been hurting from their tough double-overtime loss in their season opener as they just stunk it up in a bad loss to the Raptors at home on Friday. Meanwhile, the Rockets are suddenly looking dangerous after blowing past the Thunder in a 33-point win, so who knows what could happen if the Rockets get off to another quick start. The Celtics have yet to put together a complete performance and they’re still committing too many turnovers, but they should be good enough to escape with the much-needed win and cover in this one as the Rockets fall back down to Earth.