NBA · Finalupdated 19:09 UTC

New Orleans Pelicans vs Houston Rockets

at Houston Rockets

HOU expected to win by about 7 · both teams together expected to score about 228 points · odds to win: NOP 3.33, HOU 1.37

Game odds from Pinnacle (the bookmaker we use as the reference), Sun 00:05 UTC

NOP 117 – HOU 146

Final

We had no picks in this game; every posted line is still scored below.

Getting a better price than most bookmakers offer is the only thing that made money in our past tests, measured on WNBA bets; NBA has not been measured yet. Player rates are context, not tips.

Explore every player and prop

How to read this page

A pick is a player line, for example Under 13.5 points, that we published before the game together with the price we found for it. We do not take bets.
Odds are shown in the decimal format: 1.93 means you get back 1.93 for every 1 staked, so a higher number pays more. The American format (−108 means risk 108 to win 100; +111 means risk 100 to win 111) appears only in the Data log at the bottom of the page.
'Posted at' is the price we found when we published the pick; 'better' is a higher price for the same line at another bookmaker. Taking the better price is the one thing on this page that made money over many past bets; that was measured on WNBA bets, and NBA has not been measured yet.
'Market puts Under at 48.5%' is the chance implied by all bookmakers' prices together, with their built-in margin removed. Pinnacle is a bookmaker whose prices are widely treated as the most accurate reference, so it is the one we compare against.
A player's rate is how often that player has gone over the line in every game we hold since the 2019-20 season (not only this season), for example over in 41 of 78 games (52.6%), with a likely range such as 32–52%: fewer games means a wider range, and under 10 games we show no rate word at all.
'Past record stronger than the price' means the whole likely range sits above the chance the bookmakers' price implies; 'weaker' means below; 'agrees with the price' means the price sits inside the range, which is the usual case. None of these is a tip.
'Not measurable' is the usual honest answer: too few games to tell a real difference from chance.
'What could go wrong' lists the facts that can change a line: who is out, whether the starting lineup is confirmed, expected playing time (RotoWire's estimate), rest, and how many bookmakers price each line.
After the final, every pick is checked against the official stats and compared with the last price before the game started, the market's most informed price; getting a better price than that is the fairest test of a pick, whether or not it won. A tie means the player landed exactly on the line and the stake is returned; lines ending in .5 cannot tie.
Results are given for every 1 staked: 'would have returned +0.93' means a stake of 1 would have come back with 0.93 in profit. We do not stake anything; the record is what a stake of 1 on each pick would have done. Our record counts a smaller stake when the price advantage was small.
S beside a name marks an expected starter. Times are shown in your device's time zone; our data is recorded in US Eastern Time (ET). Team codes are the league's three-letter abbreviations.
'Your prediction' lets you pick Over or Under on any line before the game starts; we check your predictions the same way and keep your record, and one game of results proves nothing.
Team codes on this page: NOP = New Orleans Pelicans, HOU = Houston Rockets.

Picks and prices

Odds of at least 1.70 only · highest odds first · results checked

A line is the number a bookmaker sets, e.g. 13.5 points; Over means more than it, Under fewer. Odds 1.93 pay 1.93 for every 1 staked. 'Posted at' is the price we found when we published the pick; after the game it is compared with the last price before the start.

We had no picks in this game.

Why the better price matters

A higher price for the same line pays more whenever the pick wins; that is arithmetic, not a forecast.

What taking the best price is worth has been measured only on WNBA lines (25 Aug 2026); NBA has not been measured yet.

The players

6 players checked · 4 whose past record points the other way from the bookmakers' price · 0 out · 0 with too few games

Rate: the share of every game we hold for the player since the 2019-20 season (not only this season) in which the player finished above tonight's line. S beside a name marks an expected starter.

Against this opponent, 1 of 6 players has performed clearly differently and 2 show a slight hint · No starting lineup yet; showing every player with a line

Context only A player's rate describes the past; it is not a tip and has not been tested as one. Expected minutes come from RotoWire, a lineup news service.

Sign in to see each player's rate The numbers below (for example 15.5 points) are the lines the bookmakers actually posted.

New Orleans Pelicansplaying HOU

Zion Williamson · minutes unknown

points 23.5 → 20 actual

Houston Rocketsplaying NOP

Alperen Sengun · minutes unknown

points + rebounds + assists 37.5 → 31 actual

Amen Thompson · minutes unknown

points 16.5 → 15 actual

Jabari Smith Jr. · minutes unknown

points 11.5 → 14 actual

Steven Adams · minutes unknown

rebounds 4.5 → 8 actual

Tari Eason · minutes unknown

rebounds 6.5 → 2 actual

What could go wrong

updated 19:09 UTC

Who is out

Injury report not checked yet: none has reached us for this game, so an empty list here does not mean everyone plays.

Lineups

Expected starting lineup, not yet confirmed

Playing time

No playing-time estimates yet.

Rest

Both teams had at least two days between their last game and this one.

Bookmakers

The reference bookmaker, Pinnacle, offers 0 of the 107 lines; the rest rely on other bookmakers.

Every pick is priced by at least 2 bookmakers.

When a player is out, that player's lines are removed: in our past results this helped. Guessing which teammates benefit was also tested and lost money, so nothing else on this page is adjusted for it.

What happened

In 4 of 4 cases where a player's past record disagreed with the bookmakers' price, the past record was right in this game. One game proves nothing.

FinalWe had no picks in this game · every posted line is still scored below

6 other players with a posted line

Steven Adams · rebounds 4.5 → 8 · 3.5 above the line · played 18.3 min · no final price

Tari Eason · rebounds 6.5 → 2 · 4.5 below the line · played 24.3 min · no final price

Jabari Smith Jr. · points 11.5 → 14 · 2.5 above the line · played 24.6 min · no final price

Alperen Sengun · points + rebounds + assists 37.5 → 31 · 6.5 below the line · played 31.8 min · no final price

Zion Williamson · points 23.5 → 20 · 3.5 below the line · played 27.7 min · no final price

Amen Thompson · points 16.5 → 15 · 1.5 below the line · played 33.3 min · no final price

Each prediction is recorded as if you had staked 1 at the line you saw, and your record is shown here. One game tells you nothing yet.

More context

Head to head

HOU vs NOP · last 26 games · HOU leads · HOU record 14–12 · average score 114.7–115.2 · HOU has lost by 0.5 on average

Team results are background only; they say nothing about any single player's line.

29 Mar · HOU 134 at NOP 102HOU won

13 Mar · NOP 105 at HOU 107HOU won

What each defense gives up per game

NOP gives up120.0 points · 45.8 rebounds · 28.1 assists · 35.0% from three-point range

HOU gives up109.4 points · 39.6 rebounds · 24.4 assists · 35.2% from three-point range

Defense by position

How much this is worth

Defense-by-position numbers are mostly random from season to season; shown for context only. We tested it: a team's defense-by-position numbers from one half of the season do not predict the other half, so treat them as noise.

NOP gives up 120.0 points a game · 24th of 30 · league average 115.3+4.7 vs average

HOU gives up 109.4 points a game · 5th of 30 · league average 115.3−5.9 vs average

How the game odds moved

Pinnacle first had HOU expected to win by 7, expected total 228 (Sun 00:05 UTC) and had not changed it by Sun 00:05 UTC.

The odds at the top of the page are the latest we have, from every bookmaker on file; this is one bookmaker's own history.

Data log (technical)

Technical detail for auditing; the plain version is above. Internal ids and formula names print here only.

Line-shopping measurement: project_conditional_minutes_refuted

Defense-by-position measurement: split-half reliability r = -0.033 across 12 cells (7 of 12 negative) against a shuffle null of 0.000; a placebo using the wrong position family reproduced the effect to within 0.12pp · project_dvp_blowout_gate_refuted · 2026-08-26

Our picks, raw · 0

No raw pick rows for this game.

Checked results, raw (basketball-stats shorthand) · 0

No graded rows for this game.

Data fetches · 37

sds schedule/team (meetings)ok · 15 ms

sds defense/team (away)ok 200 · 16 ms

sds defense/team (home)ok 200 · 16 ms

sds games/{id}/boxscoreok 200 · 17 ms

sds analytics opponent_defense (away)ok 200 · 19 ms

sds analytics opponent_defense (home)ok 200 · 19 ms

sds rest/team (away)ok 200 · 94 ms

sds rest/team (home)ok 200 · 95 ms

sds lineups/{id}ok 200 · 100 ms

sds games/{id}ok 200 · 102 ms

sds players/team (away)ok 200 · 7 ms

sds players/team (home)ok 200 · 7 ms

sds injuries/game/{id}ok 200 · 115 ms

sds history (h2h)ok · 125 ms

grading picks/nightlyok 200 · 145 ms

grading clv/picksok 200 · 101 ms

dh lineups/{id}/deltaok 200 · 540 ms

odds game timelineok 200 · 570 ms

grading verdict/boardok 200 · 873 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (rebounds)ok 200 · 35 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 123 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 126 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 129 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (rebounds)ok 200 · 138 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 143 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 147 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 149 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 151 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 167 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (pra)ok 200 · 204 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 210 ms

odds player timeline (pra)ok 200 · 532 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 531 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 533 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 544 ms

odds player timeline (rebounds)ok 200 · 2475 ms

odds player timeline (rebounds)ok 200 · 2555 ms

Classic view →

The older, longer version of this page is still available as the classic view. Nothing there is tracked in our results; this page is.