Houston at Portland

Houston has been a defense-first team for several years now and this year is no different as they bring in the NBA's fifth-best mark in points allowed at 88.2. Last year they put the clamps on this Portland team, as they did not allow them to score more than 86 points in any of the four games, but at the same time Houston was not able to top 95. Houston will come in here and do the same, and try to make a defensive statement early in this game. Last year these teams averaged just 87.8 first-half points in the four games that they played, so I will play this one to go UNDER the first-half total.