Jazz vs. Rockets Wednesday NBA injury report, spread, odds: Houston league's only team winless in second of back-to-back

The NBA tries to limit the amount of back-to-backs that teams play each season, but cramming 82 games over less than seven months means every club will play around 14 of them – as recently as the 2014-15 season, teams averaged nearly 20. No club has been worse in back-to-backs this year than the awful Houston Rockets as they are 0-9 SU in the second of them, the only such winless team in the NBA. That figures to "improve" to 0-10 on Wednesday with the Rockets as 12.5-point home underdogs vs. the Utah Jazz.

Just for a point of comparison, the Phoenix Suns have the best winning percentage in the second of a B2B this year at .700 (7-3). Charlotte is the next-worst after Houston at 1-11. I have not been able to determine if a team went winless in the second of a B2B for an entire season (not an easy stat to find). In 2020-21, Houston was 4-10 in them.

Against the spread, the Rockets are 1-7-1 in the second of a B2B, a cover percentage of 12.5 that is also the league's worst. They lose those games by an average of 8.1 points against the spread. Toronto has the NBA's best ATS mark in the second of a B2B at 9-4 (69.2 percent).

For Tuesday's home game vs. the Clippers, Houston was without starting guard Kevin Porter Jr. as he missed a second straight game, meaning he's unlikely to play here. Houston lost its 10th in a row, 113-100 despite leading by a point at halftime. Dennis Schroder sustained a contusion to his right eye in the third quarter but returned to the game. The Rockets tend to rest players in the second of a B2B, which leads to my first point below.

Frankly, at this point it benefits Houston to lose so it finishes with one of the three-worst records in the NBA and an equal 14 percent shot at winning the draft lottery. The Rockets had the worst record in 2020-21, but Detroit won the lottery. Houston picked second and took guard Jalen Green, who has been uneven and is +15000 at Caesars Sportsbook to win NBA Rookie of the Year. He's not winning it.

Utah (38-22) sits fourth in the West as it tries to earn home-court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. The Jazz are 3.5 games behind No. 3 Memphis. Utah is given an Over/Under playoff seed of 3.5, with the Over a big -320 favorite so oddsmakers don't expect the Jazz to catch the Grizzlies or Warriors.

The Jazz lead the season series vs. Houston 2-1 and both wins were complete blowouts. The 116-111 home loss on Jan. 19 came without leading scorer Donovan Mitchell. Utah doesn't appear to have any key players in jeopardy of missing tonight due to injury. 

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