Oklahoma City Thunder vs Houston Rockets Prediction: Inexperienced yet thriving Thunder takes on zoned-out Rockets

The NBA Regular Season has gotten close to the trade deadline and the rumors have now taken a big boost, especially after reliable sources Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski informed us that Kyrie Irving wants to be traded from Brooklyn Nets. More can follow soon which is a high likelihood. In this NBA Regular Season game, the Oklahoma City Thunder takes on the Houston Rockets.

The Thunder comes into the game after losing 106:112 against the Rockets despite a 24 points performance by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They have lost four of their last six games, after a window where they won seven out of nine games. The Thunder has now lost 27 and won 24 games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been on fire, averaging 30 points a game. Josh GIddey has upped his scoring, averaging over 18 points. Rookie Jalen Williams has gotten it done too whereas Lu Dort has improved his long-range shooting. The Thunder offense is much better this season and let us see how this plays out in long term.

As stated above, the Rockets after losing 111:117 against the Toronto Raptors despite a 28 points performance by Eric Gordon. This loss broke a two-game winning streak and this was just the third instance when they won two in a row but they are yet to win three in a row. Lately, perhaps with the free agency approaching and with leading scorer sophomore Jalen Green out, veteran Eric Gordon has taken over the game and has scored 20+ in three straight games. Overall, the Rockets have struggled for most parts and have ended up losing 39 out of their 52 games, well on their way to the lottery.

The Rockets managed to defeat the Thunder in the last game but things may be different here considering how overall depth has been much better for the Thunder. Despite not having Lu Dort, the Thunder can employ other combinations to relay their effort. That’s why I back them to win and predict a scoreline of 121:109.