Houston at Portland

Portland is favored, but only two games separate these teams in the win column. Houston is a dog, but has a great offense that can hang with anyone, #5 in the NBA in points scored and on an 8-5 spread run. The last two games they blew out Phoenix on the road and covered in a close loss at Utah, tallying 114 points in an overtime defeat. James Harden is doing his part with an average of 34.6 points in the last five games and went for 42 at Utah on Tuesday. That was against a great Utah defense, but now they face a Portland defense ranked #17 in points allowed, #18 in field goal defense, and #22 at defending the three. The Rockets are 7-3 ATS when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game. These teams just met with Portland winning easily, but that was the second of a back-to-back spot for Houston after running with defending champion Golden State the night before. Now they are rested. The road team is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings, and the Rockets are 8-3-1 ATS at Portland. Play Houston.