San Antonio at Houston

A battle of track teams in Houston? While both can run, San Antonio is actually outstanding defensively at No. 11 in the NBA in points allowed and No. 8 in field goal shooting defense, which is why the UNDER is 4-1 in the Spurs' last five against the Western Conference. San Antonio has a great road record partly because of that defense, as well, at 4-1-1 UNDER the total in their last six road games.  Of course, not having Tony Parker has placed a greater emphasis on defense, too, holding three of the last four opponents under 100 points. They are going to want to try and dictate the pace against an up-tempo Houston  squad, though the Rockets have been overvalued by oddsmakers with totals, on a 5-0 run UNDER the total. They even played defense against the up-tempo Jazz, allowing 93 points in a game that went UNDER by 16 points. Houston is fighting for the playoffs, trying to hold onto the No. 7 seed and the UNDER is 4-0 playing on one day of rest and 5-0 UNDER the total in the Rockets' last five home games. Play the UNDER.