The Houston Rockets haven't exactly played their best basketball lately. They are 3-5 in their last eight games, with two of those three victories coming against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. Fortunately for the Rockets, that other win came against the Denver Nuggets, their opponent on Sunday and constant victim over the past several years.
James Harden is 11-2 in his past 13 games against Nuggets teams that have included Nikola Jokic. The matchup is awful for the slow Denver center, as Houston does everything in its power to force Jokic to defend Harden in space by running a steady stream of pick-and-rolls with his man. Harden is unlikely to play in this game due to a thigh injury though it's a safe bet that Houston will employ a similar strategy with Russell Westbrook, who is averaging over 31 points on 48 percent from the field in his past 15 games. Houston has a massive stylistic advantage, Denver is dealing with a number of critical injuries, and beating a contender would go a long way in rebuilding the Rockets' confidence.
Here's how you can tune into Sunday's game.
How to Watch
- Date: Sunday, Jan. 26 | 3:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Pepsi Center -- Denver, Colorado
- TV: NBATV | Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)
- Odds: DEN -150 | HOU +130 | O/U 225.5
Storylines
Rockets: Westbrook's improvements as a scorer recently have been enormous, but having Harden by his side is largely what made that possible. Even during one of the worst shooting skids of his career (Harden is shooting 23.3 percent on 3s and 33.3 percent overall in his last nine games), defenses still build their game-plans around him almost exclusively.
That won't be the case on Sunday. While the Nuggets aren't likely to have a Westbrook-specific defense built with Harden being ruled out only a couple hours before the game, they will be able to dedicate the bulk of their defensive resources to stopping him. That's something Westbrook is used to from his MVP season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it's unclear if that caliber of play still exists within him. Houston will need Westbrook to be the best player on the floor by far if it hopes to win this game.
Nuggets: Denver remains severely limited by injuries at the moment. Jamal Murray is out. Paul Millsap is out. Mason Plumlee is out. Gary Harris returned on Friday, but looked far from 100 percent.
The Nuggets are better equipped than practically anyone to work through those injuries. They have enough depth to practically field two separate starting lineups, and extra minutes for young players like Michael Porter Jr., Malik Beasley and Monte Morris are always welcome. But eventually those injuries are going to start taking their toll. Jokic has been tremendous in Murray's absence, averaging nearly a 23-12-7 line, but it's worth wondering how long he can keep that up especially without Millsap lightening his defensive load.
Game prediction, pick
Westbrook playing the style that won him an MVP three seasons ago is going to be fun, but probably not terribly effective. He isn't the same athlete that he was in 2016, and amazingly, with Harden out, he has less talent around him than the Thunder were able to provide then. The Nuggets are missing quite a bit as well, but Jokic allows them to at least maintain stylistic continuity, and their depth insulates them from the sort of problems Houston will face without Harden. The Nuggets have starting-caliber players on their bench. Houston is going to struggle to fill Harden's 40 minutes or so with even replacement-level talent. Don't be too surprised if Westbrook goes nuclear and pulls off the upset, but Denver seems like the obvious pick here. Pick: Nuggets -3.5
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January 27, 2020 at 12:26AM
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Nuggets vs. Rockets: NBA live stream info, watch online, TV channel, odds, start time, prediction, pick - CBS Sports
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