Tip-off: Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. ET
Line: Portland -2.5, Total: 207

Two of the more impressive teams in the West, the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, attempt to improve their playoff standing with a win on Wednesday night.

Houston continues to put together a solid season and comes into this contest with wins in seven of its past nine games. The Rockets have averaged 106.4 PPG in the victories over that time and had their only losses against some of the better teams in the league, Atlanta and Memphis. This will be the second contest of a four-game road trip and in the first one they traveled to Denver and earned a 114-100 victory as 4-point favorites. The Rockets were able to get to the line 32 times in the game, making 24 of them (75% FT) and held the Nuggets to a mere 38-of-92 shooting (41% FG). Portland has also been playing some great basketball of late as well and has won in nine of its past 13 outings. The defense was impressive over the stretch, allowing opponents to score in the triple-digits just four times. In their last matchup, the Blazers took on a young Timberwolves group and were unable to keep up on the road in a tough 121-113 loss as 5-point favorites. The Blazers allowed Minnesota to hit an amazing 54.1% of its shots in the defeat and were outrebounded 45-36 while in the process of having their five-game winning streak snapped. Houston has done a good job when playing as the away team and is 18-11 SU (15-14 ATS) on the road as it faces-off against a Portland group that is 26-6 SU (18-14 ATS) in its home stadium. The first two games of this season series have been in Houston with the teams splitting the games both SU and ATS with the Blazers winning on the road as 4-point underdogs most recently. In that game they built up a solid 61-48 halftime lead and eventually won by a score of 109-98 behind some tremendous shooting (52.6% FG). It has been one of the better matchups in the sport over the past three seasons with the clubs splitting 16 games against each other in that time as the Rockets hold a 9-6-1 ATS edge. Some trends to consider before dropping money on this game include that Houston is 27-15 ATS (64%) after playing a game as the favorite this season while Portland is 37-22 ATS (63%) after covering two of its past three games ATS in the past two years. On the injury front, the Rockets remain without the services of C Dwight Howard (Knee) and have SF Kostas Papanikolaou (Ankle) listed as questionable. On the other side of the ball, SG Wesley Matthews (Achilles) will be out for the remainder of the season for the Blazers.

Can the Rockets win a tough road game in Portland on Wednesday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 55% ATS record (168-138-1) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, the experts have a huge 61% ATS (90-57) record since Feb. 1, led by StatFox Brian who has a stellar 61% ATS (30-19) mark in Best Bets since Dec. 31, and is now 57% ATS (54-41) in season Best Bets. StatFox Scott is also sizzling with a 63% ATS record (35-21) in Best Bets since Dec. 21, improving his record to 56% ATS (54-42) for the season. StatFox Gary is also hot with a 59% ATS (29-20) mark in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 1, and is 56% ATS (54-42) this season. StatFox Zach is a robust 65% ATS (32-17) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 2, while StatFox Dave is a red-hot 68% ATS (21-10) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 28.

As usual, Houston’s offense is one of the best in the game and is scoring 103.3 PPG (6th in league) behind 43.9% shooting (9th-worst in league). The defense has also played well on the year, giving up 99.7 PPG (15th in league) with the opposition making 43.9% of their shots (9th in league). SG James Harden (27.1 PPG, 7.1 APG, 5.8 RPG, 1.9 SPG) has been putting up MVP performances all year long and is averaging 28.0 PPG, 10.7 APG, 6.7 RPG and 1.3 SPG over the past three games. He has gone absolutely insane in the two meetings with Portland this year, scoring 44.5 PPG to go along with 7.5 APG, 6.0 RPG and 3.5 APG. PF Terrence Jones (12.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.0 BPG) has helped the team cope with the missing Dwight Howard and has gone for 16.4 PPG (56% FG), 8.6 RPG and 1.8 BPG in the past five contests. He was on the court for only 14 minutes in the last matchup with this opponent, scoring three points on 1-of-5 shooting with two rebounds. SF Josh Smith (12.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG) had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) with four assists and two steals in his last outing, but has shot a meager 38% in his past five performances. He has played just one game against the Blazers as a member of Houston, netting 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting as he added five rebounds and four assists.

Just like their opponent, the Blazers have one of the better offensive units in the game and are scoring 102.4 PPG (9th in league) on 44.4% shooting. It is the defense that has really improved, though, and is allowing opponents to put up just 97.4 PPG (9th in league) on 43.3% shooting (4th in league). PF LaMarcus Aldridge (23.2 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG) has four double-doubles in the past six games and has taken at least 20 field goal attempts four times in the same timeframe. He played in just one of the two games against the Rockets this year as he went for 24 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks. PG Damian Lillard (21.4 PPG, 6.2 APG, 4.9 RPG, 1.4 SPG) had a near triple-double (32 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds) in the loss against Minnesota and has 7.6 RPG in the past five outings. He hit a mere 1-of-10 threes in the two contests against the Rockets this year, but has still been able to average 20.5 PPG behind 16-of-17 shooting from the charity stripe. SF Nicolas Batum (9.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.1 SPG) hasn’t had the best of seasons, but has turned it on over the past three games with 17.3 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 5.7 APG and 1.0 BPG. He’s done very little (3.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.5 APG) in the two meetings with this opponent already this season.