The Clippers return home from an eight game road trip with just three wins to show for it, but they are coming off a positive result in Dallas on Monday. They host the Rockets tonight, and Houston is coming off a 127-118 win at Phoenix on Tuesday. The Rockets might be low on fuel here playing on the road on back-to-back nights.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Home Cookin' - The Clippers boast a home record of 20-7, and they have covered the spread in five of their last seven versus teams from the NBA Southwest. The Rockets have failed to cover in four of their last five road games versus an opponent with a home win rate better than 60%.

2. No Blake = No Problem - Often bookmakers overcompensate when a star player goes down with an injury. It's not uncommon to see other players step up, and fill the void so that the team doesn't skip a beat. That was certainly the case in Dallas on Sunday, with Chris Paule scoring 25 points and 13 assists, and DeAndre Jordan pulling down 27 rebounds.

3. X-Factor - James Harden might be a little worse for wear after a hard fall in the third quarter of last night's game. "I went to the basket pretty hard, and all my weight went on my elbow," he said. "But I'm all right. It went numb right away and I had some pain but I got the feeling back right away." said Harden.

Selection: This is a play on the L.A. Clippers (8*)