Suns Host Rockets on Friday Night

Harden Will Miss Suns Game

The fans at Smoothie King Center will see the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans when they take their seats on Friday. This game is the nightcap on ESPN and will tip-off 10:30 pm EST.

Oddsmakers have the Rockets listed as 7-point favorites. The total is at 229.

Houston guards Chris Paul, Eric Gordon and Gerald Green have stepped up big time in the five games that James Harden has missed. Harden has a Grade 2 left hamstring strain.

Paul has acted as the leader they want him to be in the last four games. He has had games of 37, 28 and 24 points while chipping 42 assists and 29 rebounds. Paul has two double-doubles in that stretch. He was one assist short of a double-double in the other two.

Gordon has a pair of 30-point games with 14 3-pointers as well since Harden went down. He was an assist short of a double-double in a victory at Chicago on Monday. Gordon is averaging 23.2 points a game while starting in place of Harden.

Green signed a one-year deal with the Rockets two weeks ago. He is averaging 21 points in the last five games. He has made 26 3-pointers.

The Rockets have made at least 10 threes in 36 straight games, a continuing league record.

Harden is averaging 32.3 points and 9.1 assists per game. He is expected to miss several more games.

Harden will not be the only Rockets player out Friday. Nene is expected to miss his fifth straight game with a knee problem. Center Tarik Black is out with a right eye abrasion suffered against Portland.

Suns Playing Well Since Booker Returned

 

The Suns have been on a bit of a roll since their top scorer, Devin Booker, has returned. They have won four of their last seven.

The Suns will be well-rested. They have not played since beating Oklahoma City 114-100 on Sunday.

Booker had 26 points and TJ Warren had 23 against the Thunder. The Suns received well needed support from reserve forwards Dragan Bender and rookie Josh Jackson.

Bender set career highs with 20 points, six 3-pointers in 39 minutes. He played most of the game in place of starting forward Marquese Chriss, who suffered a right hip strain in the second quarter. Chriss has been ruled out for Friday's game.

Jackson recorded his first career double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. He also had a season-high three 3-pointers. He is averaging 14 points, 5.7 rebounds and three assists since being benched against Atlanta the week before.

The Suns made a season-high 17 3-pointers against Oklahoma City. They only committed nine turnovers.

Booker made 5 of 10 shots from downtown against Oklahoma City. He is averaging 26.9 points and 3.3 threes in seven games since returning from a left adductor strain injury.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
Portland	22-19	20-18-3	103.46	102.37	1.09	6-11-3	14-7	15-26	6-14	9-12
New Orleans	20-20	20-19-1	110.55	110.80	-0.25	8-10-1	12-9	23-17	13-6	10-11

Power Stats

Assists Turnovers
Name	Assists	Turnovers	Ratio
POR	18.83	13.85	1.36
NOH	26.33	15.35	1.72

Rebounding
Name	Offense	Defense	Total
POR	9.76	34.90	44.66
NOH	8.02	34.35	42.37

ShootingPercentage
Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
POR	45.05	44.71	0.34
NOH	48.99	46.41	2.58

Team Records

Portland Trail Blazers

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	22-19	10-10	12-9	20-18-3	6-11-3	14-7	103.46	102.37	1.09
Last 10	6-4	3-1	3-3	5-4-1	2-1-1	3-3	106.70	108.10	-1.40
vs Div	3-3	2-1	1-2	4-2	2-1	2-1	102.33	101.50	0.83
vs EAST	11-8	3-4	8-4	10-8-1	2-4-1	8-4	102.32	103.05	-0.73
vs WEST	11-11	7-6	4-5	10-10-2	4-7-2	6-3	104.45	101.77	2.68

New Orleans Pelicans

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	20-20	10-9	10-11	20-19-1	8-10-1	12-9	110.55	110.80	-0.25
Last 10	5-5	2-2	3-3	4-6	1-3	3-3	109.70	108.10	1.60
vs Div	2-4	1-1	1-3	3-3	1-1	2-2	107.00	108.33	-1.33
vs EAST	10-5	6-3	4-2	8-6-1	3-5-1	5-1	112.67	109.07	3.60
vs WEST	10-15	4-6	6-9	12-13	5-5	7-8	109.28	111.84	-2.56

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	103.46	21	110.80	28
Away Team Away Scoring vs Home Team Home Defense	104.76	14	112.63	30
Away Team Road Rebounds vs Home Team Home Rebounds Allowed	45.62	3	41.74	14
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	110.55	4	102.37	7
Home Team Home Scoring vs Away Team Road Defense	113.26	4	102.86	5
Home Team Home Rebounds vs Away Team Road Rebounds Allowed	41.26	25	44.00	21

Head To Head Summary

Team	record	ATS	O/U	AVG	AVG ½	FG%	REB	3PT	steals
Portland	5-5	5-5	5-5	103.90	52.90	46.57	41.50	102/263	7.00
New Orleans	5-5	5-5	5-5	105.80	53.30	42.08	51.20	110/311	5.40

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
Dec 2, 2017	NOH	123	POR	116	-7.5	NOH	210.5	O	NOH	NOH	NOH	60	57	52.3	44.8	48	44	15/31	11/35	2	6
Oct 24, 2017	NOH	93	POR	103	-5.5	POR	216	U	NOH	POR	POR	48	47	39.5	37.5	42	63	9/30	10/29	5	7
Apr 12, 2017	NOH	103	POR	100	-6.5	NOH	202.5	O	POR	POR	POR	53	53	44.4	48.2	42	53	8/24	13/30	13	4
Mar 14, 2017	POR	77	NOH	100	-4	NOH	214.5	U	NOH	NOH	POR	36	50	30.3	47.5	48	49	11/32	6/21	3	10
Nov 25, 2016	NOH	104	POR	119	-4	POR	217	O	NOH	POR	NOH	57	66	47.4	47	34	52	13/23	12/32	3	7
Nov 18, 2016	POR	101	NOH	113	0		214.5	U	NOH	POR	POR	51	64	37.5	54.9	48	37	12/34	9/24	2	9
Mar 18, 2016	POR	117	NOH	112	2	POR	220	O	NOH	POR	NOH	67	53	46.2	48.2	45	34	9/27	10/21	4	7
Dec 23, 2015	POR	89	NOH	115	-7.5	NOH	203.5	O	NOH	POR	NOH	36	53	34.7	48.2	58	49	7/28	13/31	7	5
Dec 14, 2015	NOH	101	POR	105	-3	POR	211	U	NOH	POR	POR	48	50	43.9	43.2	41	50	8/25	13/32	9	7
Oct 28, 2015	NOH	94	POR	112	-2.5	POR	206.5	U	POR	POR	POR	43	70	39.6	50	39	51	11/33	12/32	7	7

NBA Betting Trends

Portland Trail Blazers
Portland is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Portland's last 6 games
Portland is 10-3 ATS in its last 13 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland's last 5 games on the road
Portland is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing New Orleans
Portland is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games when playing New Orleans
Portland is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing New Orleans
Portland is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing on the road against New Orleans
Portland is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against New Orleans

New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games
New Orleans is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 14 of New Orleans's last 20 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New Orleans's last 5 games
New Orleans is 2-4-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home
New Orleans is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 9 of New Orleans's last 10 games at home
New Orleans is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Portland
New Orleans is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing Portland
New Orleans is 5-10 SU in its last 15 games when playing Portland
New Orleans is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games when playing at home against Portland
New Orleans is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Portland

Team Last 5 Games

Portland Trail Blazers

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Jan 10, 2018	HOU	112-121	L	7	217.5	L/O	48.19	71.88	9	A
Jan 9, 2018	OKC	117-106	W	8	204.5	W/O	53.09	80.77	10	A
Jan 7, 2018	SAN	111-110	W	-1	196	P/O	52.17	70.00	8	H
Jan 5, 2018	ATL	110-89	W	-7	208	W/U	53.75	78.57	13	H
Jan 2, 2018	CLE	110-127	L	8.5	216.5	L/O	46.67	68.42	13	A

New Orleans Pelicans

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	Total	ATS Result	field goal percentage	free throw percentage	three pointers	Location
Jan 10, 2018	MEM	102-105	L	1	210.5	L/U	44.16	67.65	11	A
Jan 8, 2018	DET	112-109	W	-6	211	L/O	56.10	66.67	6	H
Jan 6, 2018	MIN	98-116	L	1.5	218	L/U	42.31	92.86	6	A
Jan 3, 2018	UTA	108-98	W	1	212.5	W/U	50.00	100.00	14	A
Dec 30, 2017	NY	103-105	L	-5.5	216.5	L/U	45.24	77.78	6	H

Next up:
Portland at Minnesota Sunday, January 14
New Orleans at New York Sunday, January 14

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