NBA on TNT: Rockets Host T-Wolves in Late Game

Harden May be Back for Rockets

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets will meet on Thursday at Toyota Center. They play in the TNT late game with tip-off scheduled for a little after 9:30 pm EST.

Oddsmakers have the Rockets as 5-point favorites and the total is at 224.

The Rockets were a 113-102 loser in their most recent outing on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers. They failed to cover the -4.5-point spread as favorites, while the total score (215) made winners of UNDER bettors.

James Harden has been sidelined for seven games with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. He is listed as questionable for the Rockets tonight.

Harden leads the league in scoring at 32.3 points. He also ranks third in assists at 9.1 a game. Harden sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of a double-overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 31.

Harden earned a reputation for durability prior to this setback. He missed a total of two games over the previous three seasons. He will play under a minutes restriction.

The NBA announced that Rockets forwards Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green will serve two-game suspensions for their roles in a postgame confrontation inside the Clippers locker room Monday night.

The league ruled that Ariza and Green aggressively sought a confrontation with injured Clippers guard Austin Rivers. Chris Paul and Harden were not penalized for their participation in the incident.

T-Wolves Won 12 of 15 Heading into Tonight's Rockets Matchup

Minnesota was a 108-102 loser in its last match on the road against the Orlando Magic. They failed to cover the -8.5-point spread as favorites, while the total score of 210 sent UNDER bettors to the payout window.

The T-Wolves had thrived just out of the spotlight for most of this season. Minnesota had not only had great momentum with their stretch of outstanding play. The team also gained notoriety after winning 12 of 15 games.

They had won 5 in a row heading into Orlando and abruptly laid an egg. Orlando had won only once in its prior 17 games. The surging Timberwolves produced an effort of a team playing down to the level of its competition.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
Minnesota	29-17	22-22-2	108.65	104.76	3.89	11-12-1	11-10-1	23-22-1	12-11-1	11-11
Houston	30-12	20-21-1	114.64	107.14	7.5	8-12-1	12-9	21-21	14-7	7-14

Power Stats

Assists Turnovers
Name	Assists	Turnovers	Ratio
MIN	22.74	12.15	1.87
HOU	22.43	14.43	1.55

Rebounding
Name	Offense	Defense	Total
MIN	10.52	31.22	41.74
HOU	9.69	34.43	44.12

ShootingPercentage
Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
MIN	47.66	47.48	0.18
HOU	45.97	47.03	-1.06

Team Records

Minnesota Timberwolves

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	29-17	18-6	11-11	22-22-2	11-12-1	11-10-1	108.65	104.76	3.89
Last 10	7-3	6-0	1-3	7-3	6-0	1-3	108.90	97.90	11.00
vs Div	9-1	6-0	3-1	7-3	3-3	4-0	112.20	106.20	6.00
vs EAST	6-11	4-5	2-6	4-12-1	3-6	1-6-1	105.71	107.00	-1.29
vs WEST	23-6	14-1	9-5	18-10-1	8-6-1	10-4	110.38	103.45	6.93

Houston Rockets

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	30-12	15-6	15-6	20-21-1	8-12-1	12-9	114.64	107.14	7.50
Last 10	5-5	2-1	3-4	4-6	1-2	3-4	113.10	112.20	0.90
vs Div	5-2	4-1	1-1	4-3	3-2	1-1	108.00	100.43	7.57
vs EAST	13-5	6-2	7-3	7-10-1	1-6-1	6-4	112.00	105.11	6.89
vs WEST	17-7	9-4	8-3	13-11	7-6	6-5	116.63	108.67	7.96

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	108.65	6	107.14	21
Away Team Away Scoring vs Home Team Home Defense	106.50	10	110.38	28
Away Team Road Rebounds vs Home Team Home Rebounds Allowed	40.45	25	40.86	8
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	114.64	2	104.76	12
Home Team Home Scoring vs Away Team Road Defense	117.76	1	105.73	11
Home Team Home Rebounds vs Away Team Road Rebounds Allowed	44.05	12	42.23	6

Head To Head Summary

Team	record	ATS	O/U	AVG	AVG ½	FG%	REB	3PT	steals
Minnesota	1-9	8-2	9-1	112.00	57.40	47.77	42.00	150/410	10.30
Houston	9-1	2-8	9-1	118.00	54.20	47.36	46.10	68/189	9.80

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	away score	Home	home score	line	ATS	Total	O/U	FG% Edge	Reb Edge	3PT Edge	Away Half Score	Home Half Score	Away FG%	Home FG%	Away Rebounds	Home Rebounds	Away Three Pointers	Home Three Pointers	Away Steals	Home Steals
Apr 12, 2017	MIN	118	HOU	123	-8	MIN	227	O	MIN	MIN	HOU	60	60	52.7	46.4	49	47	11/23	19/56	7	11
Feb 25, 2017	MIN	130	HOU	142	-12.5	MIN	229.5	O	MIN	MIN	HOU	58	66	52.1	46.8	58	31	9/26	22/58	10	15
Jan 11, 2017	HOU	105	MIN	119	3	MIN	218.5	O	MIN	MIN	HOU	54	55	41.4	54.3	32	49	15/42	8/23	7	8
Dec 17, 2016	HOU	111	MIN	109	2.5	MIN	220.5	U	MIN	MIN	HOU	44	57	40.6	44.6	47	55	17/51	7/21	14	9
Apr 11, 2016	HOU	129	MIN	105	3.5	HOU	216.5	O	HOU	HOU	HOU	68	47	55.8	45.8	43	40	15/30	5/21	12	12
Mar 18, 2016	MIN	111	HOU	116	-9	MIN	224	O	HOU	HOU	HOU	52	54	50.6	56.5	35	42	6/16	11/29	14	9
Jan 13, 2016	MIN	104	HOU	107	-7.5	MIN	207	O	HOU	MIN	MIN	50	57	46.2	49.3	43	39	8/17	7/30	11	11
Mar 27, 2015	MIN	110	HOU	120	-14	MIN	205.5	O	HOU	HOU	HOU	50	60	48.7	53	31	41	6/14	20/44	6	10
Feb 23, 2015	MIN	102	HOU	113	-8	HOU	213.5	O	HOU	MIN	HOU	56	56	33.3	41.5	58	56	5/18	12/38	9	11
Dec 5, 2014	HOU	114	MIN	112	7	MIN	205	O	HOU	MIN	HOU	55	57	48.7	46.4	42	43	12/32	3/10	3	12

NBA Betting Trends

Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Minnesota's last 11 games
Minnesota is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Minnesota is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Minnesota's last 5 games on the road
Minnesota is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Houston
Minnesota is 1-10 SU in its last 11 games when playing Houston
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Minnesota's last 13 games when playing Houston
Minnesota is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
Minnesota is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota's last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston

Houston Rockets
Houston is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games
Houston is 17-8 SU in its last 25 games
Houston is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Houston is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games at home
Houston is 1-7 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Minnesota
Houston is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games when playing Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Houston's last 13 games when playing Minnesota
Houston is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Minnesota
Houston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games when playing at home against Minnesota

Team Last 5 Games

Minnesota Timberwolves

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Jan 16, 2018	ORL	102-108	L	-8.5	218	L/U	43.88	90.00	7	A
Jan 14, 2018	POR	120-103	W	-6	213	W/O	53.75	81.82	7	H
Jan 12, 2018	NY	118-108	W	-9	208.5	W/O	51.58	62.50	10	H
Jan 10, 2018	OKC	104-88	W	-4.5	213	W/U	48.75	70.37	7	H
Jan 8, 2018	CLE	127-99	W	1	223	W/O	52.00	76.47	10	H

Houston Rockets

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Jan 15, 2018	LAC	102-113	L	-4.5	230.5	L/U	40.43	81.25	13	A
Jan 12, 2018	PHO	112-95	W	-7	231	W/U	41.49	86.36	15	A
Jan 10, 2018	POR	121-112	W	-7	217.5	W/O	45.00	76.00	12	H
Jan 8, 2018	CHI	116-107	W	-6	220	W/O	45.35	75.00	20	A
Jan 6, 2018	DET	101-108	L	-6	212	L/U	42.22	90.91	15	A

Next up:
Minnesota home to Toronto Saturday, January 20
Houston home to Golden State Saturday, January 20

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