Oklahoma City Thunder (44-28, fifth in the Western Conference during the regular season) vs. Houston Rockets (44-28, fourth in the Western Conference during the regular season)
Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Thursday, 3:30 p.m. EDT
LINE: Rockets -2.5; over/under is 227.5
WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Houston leads series 1-0
BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Rockets play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference first round with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Rockets won the last matchup 123-108. James Harden scored 37 points to help lead Houston to the victory and Danilo Gallinari scored 29 points in the loss for Oklahoma City.
The Rockets are 28-19 in conference games. Houston averages 14.7 turnovers per game and is 26-14 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents.
The Thunder are 27-19 against conference opponents. Oklahoma City is 43-17 when scoring 100 or more points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Robert Covington leads the Rockets with 8.0 rebounds and averages 11.6 points. Harden is averaging 31.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 2.1 steals over the last 10 games for Houston.
Chris Paul is averaging 17.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists for the Thunder. Gallinari is averaging 15 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 36.5% over the last 10 games for Oklahoma City.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rockets: 6-4, averaging 116.2 points, 38.2 rebounds, 23.1 assists, 9.9 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.8 points on 46.8% shooting.
Thunder: 5-5, averaging 107.4 points, 44.3 rebounds, 20 assists, 7.4 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.2 points on 44.5% shooting.
INJURIES: Rockets: Luc Mbah a Moute: out (knee), Russell Westbrook: out (quad).
Thunder: Luguentz Dort: out (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by , and data from ,.
