Houston Rockets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 1/15/16 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Houston has won six consecutive games against Cleveland but the Cavaliers also have been playing well and had an eight-winning streak halted by red-hot San Antonio on Thursday.

The Cavs were led by LeBron James (22 points) and Tristan Thompson (18 points, 14 rebounds).

Of course, the Spurs may face their biggest test Thursday night when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers in San Antonio.

The Rockets were held to a season-low in scoring after averaging 103.4 points during their five-game winning streak, which the Cavs ended.

Tony Parker had 24 points and San Antonio used a furious start to the fourth quarter to beat Cleveland on Thursday night, remaining undefeated at home and avenging their previous loss in their own arena.

“We just played better defense in the second half”, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

It was the first game Wade missed this season due to injury. In their last game against the Spurs, Irving was hot on the floor for a career-high 57 points, including 21 on 7-of-7 shooting from the 3-point line. One had better results than the other. No trade rumors about him, but we might hear more and more of them around mid February. “They play different than most of the teams. As a team we were pretty sharp after that first quarter”. James hit 6-of-10 over the first two quarters, with six of those attempts coming from inside the paint from an average distance of 9.1 feet.

James had 22 points, five assists and seven boards, while Leonard matched him with 20 points, five assists and 10 boards. Paul Millsap scored 23 points to lead the Hawks.

Eighteen of Parker’s points came in the first half, when just about every other San Antonio player was struggling.

“I don’t know how to explain that – it is just going to happen”, Parker said. “I’ve got a long way to go”. Howard is putting up 14.2 points and 11.9 rebounds per game – surprisingly the second-highest scorer on the team. That’s not easy to do, and he was still aggressive defensively. “When you have the opportunity to play against four greats – Tim, Manu, Tony and Pop – you enjoy that”. The Spurs have shown that they are capable of beating the tough teams like they did the Cavaliers today.

As for the Cavaliers, they are still in first place in the Eastern Conference despite the loss.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points and Deron Williams had 18 in Dallas Mavericks’ 83-77 win over Chicago Bulls and 33 points from Damian Lillard guided Portland Trail Blazers to a 116-104 win over Brooklyn Nets. After Varejao knocked down a jumper, Irving took a pass from Varejao and made a layup, which gave the Cavaliers a 31-23 lead and forced the Rockets to call a timeout. The Spurs have won nine games in a row, with six at home. Still, this was one heck of a game and could very well have been an NBA Finals preview.

Where San Antonio is putting things in historical perspective is on the opposite side of the floor than Golden State.

Sager also received a warm welcome during his in-game interview with Popovich, but only after some ribbing.

“I was just shooting the ball”, Butler said. Cleveland has won eight straight for a second time this season.

The Rockets took both games against the Wine and Gold last season including a 105-103 overtime victory in the two teams’ most recent meeting on March 1st at the Toyota Center.