Toronto Raptors vs. Houston Rockets: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/3/2023

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: Toyota Center, Houston, TX

Where to watch: ATTSN-SW, TSN

DraftKings: Raptors -6

FanDuel: Raptors -6

BetMGM: Raptors -5.5

Caesars: Raptors -5.5

Raptors: 23-30

Rockets: 13-38

The All-Stars have been announced, the trade deadline is days away, and the NBA season has never seen so much parity and intrigue than it has at this moment. All you need to do is look at the Western Conference and laugh with a hearty burst at how ridiculous this season has been. You know what's not ridiculous? Our champion handicappers continuing to kill it on the NBA level over the last 30 days. All you need to do is take one look at what they're doing and see that this is the place to be as we purge through the second half of the season. Doc's Sports has been tremendous over the last month with a 17-8-0 run and net profit of $8,100. Team Del Genio has also been very good at an 11-6-1 run that has made for some very exciting runs near to the top. Basketball is taking full swing with football about to be set on the back burner, and you want to be locked in at bigal.com. Take advantage of our Best Bets page at bigal.com to see what our champion handicappers bring to the table. Make sure you're following winners at bigal.com and get that same kind of money in your pocket.

Raptors: lost 131-128 at Jazz

Rockets: won 112-106 vs. Thunder

This could be the last day of the Toronto Raptors as we know them. The championship core that shocked the world in what seems like ages ago is likely on the verge of being broken up due to the trade deadline in just a matter of days. Is that a distraction, it could be. And if that's the case, you don't want to be facing a team that has nothing to lose in the Houston Rockets, which is what the Raptors will be doing on Friday inside Toyota Center.

 

The Raptors are in complete freefall mode at the current moment. At 23-30 on the season it is seemingly likely that the Raptors are going to blow things up and begin the rebuild that now many people expected to be the case over the course of any season really.

 

Toronto has lost two straight and three of its last four and is coming off another loss on the road, this time to the Utah Jazz by the final score of 131-128 on Wednesday. You know things are going bad for Toronto when they can put up all these points in a weird fashion and completely forget how to play defense.

 

Fred VanVleet led the way with a game high 34 points and made 43 pointers, while Pascal Siakam had 21 points and 10 rebounds but shot 9 of 22 to get there. Scottie Barnes wasn't any better with 18 points and 14 rebounds but shot 7 of 23 from the floor. All in all, the Raptors took 110 field goal attempts which seems absurd, but had 25 offensive rebounds which kept them in the game. Unfortunately Toronto could not get anything after that.

 

“Obviously you saw a lot of those rebounds were off our own misses,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought we had some really good chances down there that we didn’t finish and those led out to some transition 3s.”

 

The main trade ships right now involving Toronto happen to be centered around VanVleet, who could be on the move to a contender in the Western Conference that desperately needs a point guard. There is also OG Anunoby, who apparently is priced at three first round draft picks if Toronto seems to want to go that route.

 

In addition to losing three out of four outright, the Raptors have lost three out of four against the spread and have been underdogs in the last five. This might be the one time where they are not underdogs, but given the situation and the morale surrounding Toronto, you might want to consider taking Houston with the points in this one.

 

The Rockets have won two in a row and three of their last five after defeating the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday by the final score of 112-106 in which Houston was underdogs by six points.

 

Eric Gordon, another trade ship that could potentially be used for contender, showed his trade value with 25 points on 8 of 17 shooting and Kenyon Martin Jr. also had 18 points to go along with seven rebounds to help pace Houston to a victory despite shooting 7 of 23 from 3 point range.

 

“Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that’s important,” coach Stephen Silas said. “That veteran presence … was huge tonight.”

 

The Rockets have been a team that has shocked a lot of contenders this year with some outright upsets. Even though they are 3-2 in their last five against the spread and outright, Houston tends to shock some teams when they least expect it, case in point Oklahoma City. So I wouldn't be surprised if with the points, they are able to hang around against Toronto or outright win.

 

Toronto is just in a weird place right now and something tells me that it is going to be a very long next few days before the trade deadline. If that is the case, then I am not looking forward to the backlash that may be stemming from Toronto at this point. Rockets 114, Raptors 112

Raptors are 13-21 ATS as a road favorite the past 3 seasons.

Raptors are 10-13 ATS after a road game this season.

Rockets are 12-27 ATS as a home underdog of 6 points or less the last 3 seasons.

PG: Fred VanVleet

SG: Gary Trent Jr.

SF: Jauncho Hernangomez

PF: Scottie Barnes

C: Pascal Siakam

PG: Jae'Sean Tate

SG: Jalen Green

SF: Eric Gordon

PF: Jabari Smith Jr.

C: Alperen Sengun

Injury report

Raptors: O.G. Anunoby (wrist, out)

Rockets: Jabari Smith Jr. (hip, questionable), Jalen Green (out), Kevin Porter Jr. (foot, out)

Points: Pascal Siakam -- 24.9

Rebounds: Pascal Siakam -- 8.0

Assists: Fred VanVleet -- 6.6

Points: Jalen Green -- 21.7

Rebounds: Alperen Sengun -- 9.0

Assists: Kevin Porter Jr. -- 5.6