Houston Rockets vs Indiana Pacers Prediction: Can we believe in Houston's at home win?

The Rockets have only beaten the Pacers once in the last 3 years, and it was a recent away preseason match. Will Houston be able to get their long-awaited home win over Indiana in the regular season?

The Rockets have a very interesting team with a lot of young players, but they need time to make progress. This is especially true for rookie Jabari Smith Jr. He is very talented but he's developed only two key skills: three-point shooting and defense. His fundamentals are great, but they are not enough to help Houston win. The Rockets are currently in last place of the Western Conference and have suffered 8 losses in their last 10 games.

The Rockets' biggest problem right now is their high number of losses: They are the worst in the league in that regard. Only Detroit is worse at shooting from the field, so the team's outsider status is completely natural. There are some positive aspects, however. Houston plays very aggressively at home and ranks second in the NBA in offensive rebounding. They have no problem with their second chances, either, and Jae'Sean Tate is one of the best players in the league in that regard. Tate is currently on the injured reserve list, and Bruno Fernando will definitely not play against Indiana, while Kevin Porter Jr.'s participation is questionable.

In the last regular season game Stephen Silas's team defeated Dallas 101-92 on the road. At that time, only Alperen Şengün was able to hit at least 50% of his shots from the field and the defense was the priority. First of all, Houston was incredible under the basket, blocking 19 (!) shots. Alperen Şengün had 5 blocks and Usman Garuba had 3, but even smaller players like Daishen Nix and Kevin Porter Jr. contributed to the team's excellent defense. By the way, Garuba and Kenyon Martin Jr. together hit 9 of 10 shots from the field, so the benchwarmer's help was yet another significant factor in the Rockets' success.

The Pacers have won six of their last eight regular-season games, and they are now sixth in the East, though before the season started, hardly anyone expected the team to even be in the top 10. During Indiana's lucky streak of games, four players scored 19+ points, with Tyrese Haliburton just 4th in scoring behind Bennedict Mathurin, Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. That said, rumors of a possible trade of Hield and Turner haven't died down, and the value of these players has risen noticeably recently. Newcomer Andrew Nembhard has replaced Chris Duarte in the starting five and his shooting from behind the arc has also been a big help to the team. By the way, Duarte is the Pacers' only big loss right now. Daniel Theis is still injured, but with Isaiah Jackson, Jalen Smith and Myles Turner in the team, Indiana doesn't have to worry about losing the German big man.

The day before, Richard Carlisle's team defeated Charlotte on the road, 125-131. Indiana scored nearly half of its points in the paint, but also 39.3 percent from behind the arc made a significant difference. Mathurin had a good game, scoring 20 points in just 22 minutes on the floor. Turner added 10 rebounds and three blocked shots to his 20 points, while Haliburton had 22 points, 11 assists and three steals.

Houston is still one of the worst teams this season, but there are positives in their game. For example, the Rockets are in the top 10 of the NBA in terms of defense at the arc, while Indiana is missing a lot of three-pointers. Yes, the home team lacks experience, but Indiana also has a lot of youth. The most recent head-to-head meetings between the Pacers and Rockets have been tight, and Houston lost by only 3 points at home last season. We also keep the Rockets' preseason win in mind, so we should take advantage of the fact that the odds on their win are growing.