Two Western Conference teams will meet on Saturday night as Houston Rockets will host Portland Trail Blazers. Houston is the worst team in the conference with 9 wins and 19 losses while the Trail Blazers are the 5th-best team with 16 wins and 13 losses. I'm predicting that Portland will win this game and cover the handicap.

The Rockets have played very well lately. They have 4 wins in the last 7 games and that's almost half of all wins this season. Two times Houston has beaten Phoenix and 1 win against Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Portland is playing well also because they have 5 wins in the last 7 games. Last night the Blazers lost in Dallas and there are many factors that caused the loss. Portland shot from the field with 43% while their season average is 47.6% and made 3-pointers with just 35% accuracy while their season average is 38.9% (2nd best in the league). Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simmons played poorly as they both scored just 7 wins although their season average is 21.9 and 23 respectively.

In the last 6 games, Portland has been the best team on offense (121.8), only the 21st-best on defense (116.1) with the 5th-best net rating overall (5.8). During the same stretch, Houston has been the 27th-best on offense (108.8), and the 8th-best on defense (110.2) with the 15th-best net rating (-1.4). As a home team, the Rockets have covered the spread in 7 out of 12 games while the Trail Blazers have done it away from home in 11 games out of 16. Only 2 times this season Portland has been an away favorite and they have covered the spread both times.

If we look at the adjusted team stats, Portland is the 6th-best team on offense while Houston is only the 26th-best on defense. Both teams are talented on offense but Portland has more firepower. Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons are a much more dangerous duo than Jalen Green and Kevin Porter. Jusuf Nurkic and Jerami Grant should be able to guard Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith.

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两支西部球队将在周六晚上相遇，休斯顿火箭将主场迎战波特兰开拓者。火箭是西部最差的球队，9胜19负，而开拓者以16胜13负排名第五。我预测波特兰队将赢得这场比赛并克服障碍。

火箭最近打得很好。他们在过去7场比赛中赢了4场，这几乎是本赛季所有胜利的一半。火箭曾经2次击败太阳，1次击败雄鹿和费城。开拓者打得不错还因为他们在过去7场比赛中赢了5场。昨晚，开拓者在达拉斯输球，造成这场输球的原因有很多。开拓者的投篮命中率为43%，而他们的赛季平均命中率为47.6%，三分球命中率只有35%，而他们的赛季平均命中率为38.9%(联盟第二)。杰拉米·格兰特和安芙妮·西蒙斯表现不佳，虽然他们赛季场均分别是21.9场和23场，但他们都只拿到了7场胜利。

在过去的6场比赛中，开拓者一直是进攻最好的球队(121.8分)，防守最好的球队(116.1分)，净效率总排名第五(5.8分)。在同一段时间内，火箭的进攻得分(108.8)排在第27位，防守得分(110.2)排在第8位，净效率(-1.4)排在第15位。作为主场球队，火箭在12场比赛中有7场取得了胜利，而开拓者在16场客场比赛中有11场取得了胜利。本赛季开拓者只有2次在客场夺冠，而且他们两次都取得了胜利。

如果我们看一下调整后的球队数据，开拓者在进攻上排名第六，而火箭在防守上仅排名26。两支球队的进攻都很有天赋，但是开拓者的火力更强。达米安·利拉德和安弗妮·西蒙斯是一对比杰伦·格林和凯文·波特更危险的组合。尤瑟夫·努尔基奇和杰拉米·格兰特应该能够防守阿尔佩伦·森根和贾巴里·史密斯。