THE UNDERDOGS

HOUSTON vs PORTLAND

James Harden, the Houston Rockets (43-20) travel to face the Portland Trail Blazers (41-20) in a Western Conference showdown. Harden (27.1 ppg) has played on a elite level all season and carried the Rockets offense in Dwight Howard's absence. The Rockets, who are 19-11 on the road this season, are sixth in the NBA in scoring (103.3 ppg) and rely heavily on the 3-point shot to fuel their attack. They take one-third of their field goals behind the arc and connect on 11.6 per game to lead the league in both categories.

The Trail Blazers have the fourth best record in the Western Conference, including a 23-6 mark at home. However, the Trail Blazers suffered a major blow March 5th when starting guard and third leading scorer Wesley Matthews (15.9 ppg) tore his Achilles tendon. In his absence, LaMarcus Aldridge (23.2 ppg, 10.5 rpg) and Damion Lillard (21.4 ppg) must shoulder even more of the offensive burden. The Blazers are in the top 10 in scoring offense (102.4 ppg) and defense. Both teams are 7-3 in their last 10 games.

They split two meetings in Houston this season. Recent Betting Trends:
Rockets are 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
Road team is 7-2 ATS in the last 9 meetings.
Underdog is 7-2 ATS in the last 9 meetings.

SPORTSBUCKS PICK:
HOUSTON +2.5

The loss of Wesley Matthews is going to cost them tonight as the added depth is needed to beat great offense like the Rockets. Houston three point shooting has been the key all year and it carries them again tonight. Harden is the MVP and he shows why tonight....

LA. CLIPPERS vs OKC

Since Blake Griffin went down with his surgery the Los Angeles Clippers have been trying to find their new identity. Coming off of a 13 point defensive oriented win against Minnesota, L.A. will have to change things up going forward.

Next up on the schedule for the Clippers is a visit to the home stadium of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City has been struggling to find wins without Kevin Durant in the line up but superstar Russell Westbrook has been doing everything in his power to keep the team afloat.

Los Angeles is 2nd in the league in points per game with a beefy 106 point average. Of course they have had to make do without Jamal Crawford and Blake Griffin on the court and this has turned the team into a more grind it out type of offense. Chris Paul continues to be fantastic dishing the ball around but scoring has had to get spread out. J.J. Redick is coming off of a 26 point outing and he is carrying more of the load.

The Thunder are one mans team right now: Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has put on a phenomenal, borderline video game type show in the past week or two. He is averaging a triple double and looking deadlier on the court by the game.

Recent Betting Trends:

Clippers are 15-7 ATS in the last 22 meetings in Oklahoma City.

Clippers are 1-6 ATS in the last 7 meetings.

Road team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.

Underdog is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.

SPORTSBUCKS PICK:
LA. CLIPPERS +7

Despite the Thunder's struggles without K.D. the Thunder are still favorites at home against L.A. The Thunder are 6-4 ATS in their last 10 and we like them to win again, problem for OKC is they have not been winning with big margins and think we see another close game.