Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets are looking to shake off a rough loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday when they take on the Utah Jazz at home on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Houston is a massive favorite in this game, as the Jazz have been tanking to keep their top-eight protected pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Utah shut down Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee) for the season, and both Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George have recently been out of the lineup.<\/p>\n
Markkanen (probable) appears to be in line to return tonight, while George is listed as questionable.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t moved oddsmakers, as the Rockets are favored by 13.5 points at home as they aim to stay in the mix for a top-four seed in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
These teams split their first two matchups this season, but Houston has a 28-point win under its belt against this Jazz team, which ranks dead last in the league in several defensive metrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Can Durant and company handle business to move to 19-7 at home?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at the betting odds, my favorite prop bet and a prediction for Monday\u2019s Western Conference clash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jazz vs. Rockets Odds, Spread and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Spread<\/p>\n Jazz +13.5 (-112)Rockets -13.5 (-108)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n 228.5 (Over -108\/Under -112)Jazz vs. Rockets How to WatchDate: Monday, Feb. 23Time: 9:30 p.m. ESTVenue: Toyota CenterHow to Watch (TV): PeacockJazz record: 18-39Rockets record: 34-21Jazz vs. Rockets Injury ReportsJazz Injury ReportLauri Markkanen \u2013 probableKeyonte George \u2013 questionableWalker Kessler \u2013 outJaren Jackson Jr. \u2013 outJusuf Nurkic \u2013 outRockets Injury ReportFred VanVleet \u2013 outSteven Adams \u2013 outJae\u2019Sean Tate \u2013 outTristen Newton \u2013 outJazz vs. Rockets Best NBA Prop BetsJazz Best NBA Prop BetLauri Markkanen OVER 1.5 3-Pointers Made (-137)<\/p>\n Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column \u2013 Peter\u2019s Points<\/a> \u2013 why I\u2019m backing Lauri Markkanen against Houston:\u00a0<\/p>\n This season, Utah star Lauri Markkanen has shot the ball well from beyond the arc, knocking down 36.3 percent of his attempts while taking 7.7 per game.<\/p>\n At some point, his numbers are going to fall if the Jazz continue to limit his minutes \u2013 they\u2019ve sat him in fourth quarters this month while also playing him less than 30 minutes per game \u2013 but that hasn\u2019t been the case so far this month.<\/p>\n Markkanen has made two or more 3-pointers in five of his six appearances, including three games with at least three shots made from beyond the arc. The Jazz forward is still getting up a ton of attempts, taking 6.5 per game during this stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n That makes him an intriguing target at this discounted number on Monday, even though the Rockets rank in the top 10 in the NBA in both opponent 3-pointers made per game and opponent 3-point percentage.\u00a0<\/p>\n I expect the Jazz star to knock down at least two shots from deep, something he\u2019s done in 35 of his 41 games in the 2025-26 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jazz vs. Rockets Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n The Rockets are heavily favored on Monday against a Utah team that is clearly tanking at the moment, limiting Markkanen\u2019s minutes while also sitting him and other key players in the fourth quarter of recent games.<\/p>\n So, I\u2019m going to back the Rockets to pick up a much-needed win, as there is a chance they dominate the second half or fourth quarter of this game if Utah decides to rest players down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rockets are still sixth in the NBA in both net rating and defensive rating, and that should help them make up for the fact that they have the No. 25 offense in the league over their last 15 games.<\/p>\n On the bright side for Houston\u2019s offense, Utah is dead last in the NBA in defensive rating and opponent points per game. So, it\u2019s going to be tough for the Jazz to hang around in this game, especially if Markkanen doesn\u2019t play 30-plus minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Jazz are just 7-21 overall on the road and have posted an average scoring margin of -10.2 points when they\u2019re set as road underdogs. Houston should pick up an easy win on Monday night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to taking Houston to cover, there is a Kevin Durant prop that I like in this game that I shared in today\u2019s best NBA props story for SI Betting. You can read that here<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Rockets -13.5 (-108 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Find Peter Dewey’s\u00a0NBA betting record here<\/a>\u00a0(futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on \u00a0BetStamp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets are looking to shake off a rough loss to the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-494365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}