Houston @ Minnesota

Current Records: Houston 12-31; Minnesota 10-34

The Minnesota Timberwolves are 4-19 against the Houston Rockets since January of 2016, but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit Friday. The Timberwolves will look to defend their home court against Houston at 8 p.m. ET. Both teams were wiped off the court in their previous games and will be looking to bounce back in a big way.

Minnesota's and the Dallas Mavericks' contest on Wednesday was up for grabs at halftime, but Minnesota was thoroughly outmatched 72-53 in the second half. Minnesota's bruising 128-108 defeat to Dallas might stick with them for a while. A silver lining for Minnesota was the play of small forward Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points along with five rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have to be aching after a bruising 122-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. Houston was down 93-70 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. Point guard John Wall put forth a good effort for the losing side as he had 20 points and seven assists.

Minnesota is the favorite in this one, with an expected 3.5-point margin of victory. Now might not be the best time to take Minnesota against the spread since they've let down bettors for the past three consecutive games.

With the two teams each stumbling in off of a loss, both will be hungry for the victory. Allowing an average of 117.34 points per game, Minnesota hasn't exactly asserted themselves on the defensive end. We'll see if they can patch up the holes in their defense before their upcoming game.

The Timberwolves are a 3.5-point favorite against the Rockets, according to the latest NBA odds.

The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 3.5-point spread, and stayed right there.

Over/Under: -111

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Houston have won 19 out of their last 23 games against Minnesota.