Rockets vs Raptors Picks, Prediction Today | Friday, Feb. 9

Here's everything you need to know about Rockets vs. Raptors on Friday, Feb. 9 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

The Rockets will travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors on Friday night. Can the Raptors defend their court or will the Rockets blow them out again? Let’s break this one down.

Let's get to our Rockets vs. Raptors prediction and pick.

The Rockets have a significant edge here given that they have little to no turnover in their roster following the trade deadline. The Rockets also have a one-day rest advantage over the Raptors here. However, the Raptors' core rotation is all healthy while the Rockets are missing two of their most impactful players in PG Fred Van Vleet and F Tari Eason.

Eason and Van Vleet have been the two most impactful players on the Rockets in terms of net-rating swings, as Eason is +10.6 while Van Vleet is at +9.0. When Van Vleet is off the court the Rockets have a poor net-rating of -4.9 for the season. When both Eason and Van-Vleet have been out they have an awful -9.9 net-rating on the season. Clearly, these are big losses and this is not the same Rockets team without these two.

We saw their offense assault the rim in their recent loss to the Pacers on Monday night. The Rockets had an elite 130.3 offensive rating and posted an impressive 48% rim-rate while also rebounding 50% of their misses on offense. It was a dominant offensive performance in the paint but they were unable to pull out the win as the Pacers shot 71.5% (99^th percentile) effectively from the field. The Rockets' offense should continue to succeed here as the Raptors have been awful defensively since trading away OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. They rank 27^th in defensive rebound rate since the beginning of 2024. The Raptors also rank 20^th in rim rate allowed over that span. All of this bodes well for a Rockets offense that loves to attack the rim. Houston ranks first in the NBA in rim-rate over their last 20 games. Expect their offense to have success here against a bad Raptors defense.

Despite the deals the Raptors made yesterday, their core rotation and starting lineup still is in-tact with Bruce Brown, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poetl all remaining Raptors. These guys should be able to exploit the Rockets' defense as the Rockets are currently playing a lot of extremely young guys like Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore. These guys have the athleticism to defend but at this point in their careers lack the IQ to defend at a high level. I expect the Raptors' offense to have success all game long here.

I like the over in this spot given the edges I laid out for each offense above. I think this line should be closer to 236 so I will grab the over at 233.5 here. Play this up to 234.

Pick: Over 233.5