The Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets went in opposite directions last week — the former started losing and the latter winning. Will those trends continue?
Houston Rockets
Despite losing two games in a row, the Houston Rockets are still ahead of the Colorado-based Denver Nuggets. They even occupy a direct play-off spot, sitting sixth with seven wins from 10 games. Their home and away records are identical — four wins and one defeat in each. The bench could be a problem: in their latest game against Phoenix, players outside the starting five contributed just 15 of their 99 points, despite some spending more than 20 minutes on court.
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets, by contrast, are climbing. Their even win-loss record (3-3) has become a winning one (5-3), thanks to victories over the Toronto Raptors (128:109) and the Indiana Pacers (114:102). The win over the Pacers came in an exhibition game in Mexico City. Nikola Jokic was the leading scorer in both games, recording a triple-double against the Raptors (32 points, 10 assists, 11 rebounds) and a double-double against the Pacers (19 points, 13 rebounds).
Houston Rockets vs Denver Nuggets Prediction
The Denver Nuggets' starting five also usually contribute more than 60% of their points, but the Houston Rockets' bigger priorities will be to deny Jokic space and overcome his reach on the offensive boards. The teams met four times in the regular season last term, with the Rockets losing three of those games. Despite that, the bookmakers make them clear favourites. We certainly would not write off the Nuggets, though: they scored 101 points in their only defeat of the 2025/26 season and at least 112 in their wins. A bet on the visitors to score over 101.5 points therefore has every chance of landing, particularly with the Serbian centre in such fine form.
