NBA Betting – Brooklyn Nets at Houston Rockets

Forget the records this game is all about the return of James Harden. The Beard will face his former team for the first time when the Brooklyn Nets visit the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Harden forced his way out of Houston earlier this season and the Nets gladly surrendered a lot to acquire the former MVP. The deal has worked out well with the Nets winning nine of their last 10 games to come within spitting distance of the Sixers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.  Bookmaker.eu offers a generous CASH bonus ($1600 max CASH bonus).

Brooklyn Nets at Houston Rockets
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, TX
Opening NBA Odds: Nets -9 (Live Odds Here)
Nets at Rockets TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

We haven’t seen a lot of the Big Three on the court since the Nets acquired Harden. Turns out they haven’t needed Kevin Durant with Harden and Kyrie Irving picking up the slack. Brooklyn had its eight-game winning streak stopped by Dallas last week with the last six in that run coming with KD sidelined with a bum leg. The Nets turned around and started a new streak by beating San Antonio 124-113 in overtime behind Harden’s triple-double. The Nets are 9-1 ATS over those 10 games. And they are 16-7 SU and 13-10 ATS since Harden joined the club in the middle of January. Before getting shipped out of town Harden said the Rockets weren’t very good, or something to that effect. Turns out he was right. And they’ve gotten worse since the deal. They lost their 12th straight game with a 101-90 setback to Cleveland on Monday and are just 1-11 ATS in that stretch. They’ve lost five straight at home and are just 5-9 SU and 3-11 ATS.

Brooklyn Nets

For those who doubted just how valuable Harden is take a look at the direction of the two clubs. Harden has been on fire during the Nets recent run and collected his seventh triple-double in a Brooklyn uniform with 30 points, 15 assists and 14 rebounds in a 123-113 overtime win over San Antonio on Monday night. The win also ended a 17-game losing streak in San Antonio. They way Harden and the Nets are playing we’re likely to see a number of other negative streaks come to an end before the season is over. If the Nets can win nine of 10 games while playing a majority of that time without Durant, just imagine how good they’ll be when the Big Three is reunited.

It won’t happen for this game. KD is still sidelined with a hamstring injury that has already cost him the last eight games. The club said he would miss two games following the original diagnosis, so it makes me wonder just how bad the issue is. With Durant missing time and Irving in and out of the lineup, Harden has been the Big One averaging 25.3 points, 11.3 assists and 8.7 rebounds in 22 games. As a team the Nets lead the NBA averaging 120.8 points while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field. Since the trade the OVER is 16-7.

Houston Rockets

Trading Russell Westbrook then dealing Harden started the crumble of the organization that just a few seasons ago was knocking on the door of the NBA Finals. Those Rockets teams led by Harden had to contend with the powerful Warriors during that time and things just didn’t go their way. So with little hope of going anywhere even with Harden, the Rockets started their rebuild. And those usually come with growing pains. A rash of injuries hasn’t helped Houston’s situation either. Christian Wood was having a breakout season until an injury put him on the shelf a month ago. Eric Gordon has been bothered by a knee injury and Danuel House left previous contest with a lower body ailment.

It’s been a grind on offense with the Rockets barely scoring over 100 points per 100 possessions during their losing streak. The skid started right after Wood was hurt and it doesn’t look to be getting better any time soon. They’ve scored more than 100 points just once in their last five games with the UNDER going 4-1 in that span. Things have gotten so bad for the Rockets that Victor Oladipo recently turned down a two-year, $45 million extension from the club.

Bet Nets at Rockets at BookMaker.eu

It may not seem like it now, but Houston will win a game at some point. Unfortunately that time isn’t on Wednesday. Harden said after the trade he had no hard feelings, but you know he’d love to light up his former team. He’s playing better ball now than he did during his MVP season and the Nets have received plenty of help from reserves in KD’s absence. Expect that to continue.

NBA Score Prediction: Nets 121, Rockets 106

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com