Tip-off: Thursday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -1, Total: 198

The Kings get suited up for another game without DeMarcus Cousins when they host the Rockets on Thursday night.

Despite a plethora of injuries, Houston has been doing quite well of late at 7-2 SU (5-4 ATS) over the past nine contests. The Rockets have been thriving thanks to a high-powered offense averaging 109.0 PPG over their past four victories. They were not up to the task of competing with a sizzling-hot Golden State team on Wednesday night though, as they went on the road as 9-point underdogs and absorbed a 105-93 loss. The game was close throughout, but the Warriors captured their 14th straight win by hitting 49.4% FG and wearing down the depleted Rockets. Sacramento is trying to keep things together with Cousins out of the lineup, but is a poor 2-6 SU (2-5-1 ATS) over the past eight games while committing 16.3 turnovers per game in that time. The Kings struggled again with ball control against the Lakers in their most recent game as they coughed it up 16 times while forcing a mere five turnovers in the 98-95 loss as 3-point road underdogs. They fell despite winning the rebounding battle and limiting L.A. to 39.6% FG and 5-of-25 threes (20%). Hitting the road has actually proven an easy task for the Rockets, as they are 8-2 SU (5-4-1 ATS) away from home this season, while the Kings are just 6-5 SU (5-6 ATS) in front of their home fans. Houston the edge in this matchup over the past two seasons, going 5-3 (both SU and ATS) while coming away with a nice 102-89 win as 5-point favorites at home earlier this year on Nov. 26. Sacramento turned the ball over a whopping 20 times in that loss and has now been defeated by an average of 20.0 PPG in the past three meetings with this opponent. Trends show that the Kings are a putrid 31-62 ATS (33%) when playing their fifth game in seven days since 1996 while also being a solid 34-17 ATS (67%) when playing their third game in four days in the past three seasons. Injuries could be factor into this one, as C Dwight Howard (knee), PF Terrence Jones (leg), SF Kostas Papanikolau (knee) and PG Isaiah Canaan (ankle) are all expected to miss this game for the Rockets, while C DeMarcus Cousins remains out for Sacramento with viral meningitis.

Which Western Conference team will get back in the win column on Thursday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. While StatFox Forecaster has a stellar 62% ATS record (63-39) in featured games this season, the five experts have also caught fire with a collective 73% ATS mark (35-13) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29. StatFox Gary is 8-1 ATS during this timeframe to give him a 63% ATS record (20-12) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Brian is 9-1 ATS since Nov. 29 to improve to 59% ATS (19-13) in NBA Best Bets this season. Also during this surge, StatFox Scott and StatFox Dave are both 7-3 ATS.

The Rockets have been great on offense recently, but overall they are scoring just 98.6 PPG (11th-worst in NBA) behind a meager 42.8% shooting from the floor (3rd-worst in league). Things do look much better on the defensive side of the ball though, as they are allowing opponents to score a low 94.6 PPG (4th in NBA) on 42.9% shooting (4th in league). SG James Harden (25.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 6.4 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.1 BPG) has been a one-man wrecking crew this season with some of his peers out, and did everything in his power against the Warriors with 34 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. He will once again be expected to do most of the heavy lifting in this contest and averaged 32.5 PPG (48% FG) to go with 5.3 APG, 4.3 RPG and 2.0 SPG last season over four games against Sacramento. SF Trevor Ariza (14.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 SPG) has been a nice second option for the offense with Howard down, and has tallied 16.8 PPG (34% FG) over his past five games while playing nearly every minute (41.0 MPG). He didn’t do much against the Kings last season with 10.0 PPG on 29% FG, but played much better in the Nov. 26 meeting with 13 points, 5 rebounds, one steal and one block. PF Donatas Motiejunas (9.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG) has been the biggest beneficiary of the injuries, as he has recorded 16.4 PPG (58% FG) and 7.6 RPG over his past five games. He was huge against this same Kings team on Nov. 26, as he connected on 10-of-15 shots for 21 points while adding six rebounds and three steals.

Sacramento sits right in the middle of the pack while on offense with 101.1 PPG (14th in league) on 45.8% shooting (13th in NBA), but has scored below 100 points in two of the past three contests. The Kings are allowing exactly the same amount of points (101.1 PPG) as they are scoring, which puts them as the ninth-worst defense in both scoring and shooting defense (44.1% FG). SF Rudy Gay (21.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 4.4 APG, 1.1 SPG) has carried the team on his back while Cousins has been out with at least 20 points in four of his past five games while being on the court for 35.6 MPG in that time. Over his 31 career games (27 starts) against this Houston team, Gay has averaged 16.8 PPG (45% FG) to go along with 4.9 RPG and 1.5 SPG. PG Darren Collison (16.3 PPG, 6.3 APG, 1.6 SPG) has upped his scoring output to 21.0 PPG over the past four games, and has made 17-of-30 shots (57% FG) over his past two contests. He did not perform well in his four meetings with the Rockets last season, as he netted 11.8 PPG (35% FG) while dishing out 4.3 APG in 27.6 MPG. PF Jason Thompson (5.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG) has been a nice replacement with Cousins out, averaging 10.5 PPG and 9.0 RPG over his past four contests. Thompson contributed six points, 11 rebounds and three blocks over 35 minutes the first time these teams met this season.