There are 10 games on Thursday including some huge matchups, but the Warriors and Rockets could be the pick of the bunch, with both starting the season strong.
Golden State Warriors @ Houston Rockets
Although it's early in the season, wins are becoming more important than expected in the West due to how stacked the conference has proven to be. We have eight teams with three losses or fewer, compared to just three in the East.
The Warriors could make a case as the form team in the NBA. They've now won eight straight and did a number on an undermanned Pelicans team last start.
As for the Rockets, they've had a few minor slip-ups recently, the big one losing to the Suns, who have been poor so far this season. On their home court, will they be too big for this Warriors outfit?
Same Game Multi
Leg 1 - Draymond Green Over 11.5 RA
It's simply a minutes play for Draymond, and the acting centre in this Golden State lineup has been in strong assist form of late as the team chemistry continues to strengthen.
When Green has played 22+ minutes this season, he's covered the 11.5 RA in four of six games, and it's his last four games where he's covered, and comfortably. In the two misses, Draymond still landed on an RA of 11 both times.
Draymond has had double-figure assists in the last two games he's played 22+ minutes, producing RA numbers of 16 and 19. He'll definitely be required to play a bigger role against the Rockets.
Leg 2 - Tari Eason 4+ Rebounds
He plays valuable minutes off the bench for the Rockets, providing strong defensive effort and rebounding.
Tari Eason has played at least 18 minutes in every game this season, and when he's done that in his last 60 games, he's hit 4+ rebounds in 51 of them, an 85% strike rate.
Eason has recorded 4+ rebounds in eight of his ten games this season and is averaging 5.9 per game, only slightly down on his 6.3 per game last season.
Leg 3 - Al Horford 1+ 3PM
I feel the sheer size of the Rockets will result in us seeing slightly more Al Horford in this.
Horford has knocked down a triple in six of his last eight games, and when playing 16+ minutes he's hit a three-pointer in 34 of his last 39 games.
The veteran is averaging just under 18 minutes per game this season, but in a game where size and keeping the Houston bigs off the glass is vital, we might see Horford take some of Gui Santos' minutes.
Green Over 11.5 RA / Eason 4+ Rebounds / Horford 1+ 3PM @ $3.60
Value Bet
Draymond Green 10+ Assists @ $5.20
As mentioned earlier, in Green's last two games playing 22+ minutes he's produced double-digit assist games, 11 against the Heat followed by 13 against Orlando.
When Steph is shooting the ball like we've seen so far this season, we generally see Draymond produce strong assist numbers, and with Lendeborg another offensive option in this Golden State team, plus Podziemski having some strong games, we'll likely continue to see Green's assist numbers stay high.
The last time he played the Rockets, Green had a 12-assist game, and he has recorded at least eight assists in four of his last five against Houston.
