Houston Rockets vs San Antonio Spurs 10/2/22 NBA Picks, Predictions, Odds

San Antonio Spurs vs Houston Rockets
October 2, 2022 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Rockets -4 / San Antonio Spurs +4
(Get latest betting odds)

The San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets meet Sunday in NBA preseason action at the Toyota Center. The San Antonio Spurs have split their last 10 preseason games. The Houston Rockets have split their last 12 preseason games.

The San Antonio Spurs are coming off 34 wins and enter the 27th year under coach Gregg Popovich. The Spurs weren’t very good last year, and they traded away their best player in Dejounte Murray. There’s a reason why Popovich told people not to bet on the Spurs to win the NBA title this season. This season is all about finding players who can be part of the future of this franchise. There’s only two players on this roster who are 30 years old or older. Guys like Tre Jones, Keldon Johnson, Joshua Primo and Romeo Langford have golden chances to prove they can be a face of a team. It will be interesting to see what a healthy Zach Collins looks like. Jakob Poeltl, Josh Richardson and Doug McDermott are the veterans of this Spurs team. With all the winning the Spurs have done over the last decades, a down year here or there shouldn’t be a big deal.  

The Houston Rockets won 20 games last year and enter the third year under coach Stephen Silas. The Rockets are going with the slow build of the young, raw talent and hoping these kids mature into stars eventually. Jalen Green is still the face of the Rockets and appears on that path, while Kevin Porter Jr. showed flashes last season. There’s three new young players added to the mix in Jabari Smith Jr., TyTy Washington Jr. and Tari Eason, and it will be fun to see what they bring to the table. The Rockets are extremely young, but there’s talent here, and they’re fun to watch given the offensive ability. It will take time for the Rockets to blossom into a complete team that can win consistently, but this is an NBA League Pass squad in terms of entertainment. 

The Spurs are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games and 10-1 ATS in their last 11 games overall. The Rockets are 7-15-1 ATS in their last 23 Sunday games and 25-55 ATS in their last 80 home games. The over is 6-1 in Rockets last 7 overall. The Spurs are 3-1-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings in Houston and 7-3-1 ATS in the last 11 meetings.

The San Antonio Spurs weren’t a good team last year, and they’re probably going to be worse off this season. Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets are raw, but they have a lot of young talent and these are spots where they usually shine. Guys eager to prove themselves and earn playing time. Teams like the Rockets typically have preseason success. I’ll lay the small number with the Rockets here.