Houston at Los Angeles

Houston is on a roll again, 7-3 against the spread. James Harden, the league's leading scorer at 27.3 points per game, had 33 points and 10 assists in Friday's 113-111 win in Phoenix, including a 20-foot jumper as time expired. The shooting guard is averaging 37 points in his last three games while connecting on 13 of 24 from 3-point range. Houston is 10-1 ATS against a team with a losing record and faces one of the worst in the Los Angeles Lakers. The numbers are ugly. Los Angeles is 18th in scoring, 29th in points allowed, and second to last in field goal shooting defense. And they just lost their best player, Kobe Bryant. The Lakers are 1-3-1 ATS at home, plus a 0-7 SU/0-6-1 ATS run overall. Play Houston. Also take the UNDER. This total is set very high and for good reason with how these two teams play. Note, however, that the Lakers are really slumping offensively, getting just 90.4 per game over their last five. Given that, the total here is too high. Over the past two and a half seasons, the Rockets are 52-34 to the UNDER when it's set in this range (200 to 209.5). The Lakers are 8-1 to the UNDER in their last nine games playing on one day rest, and they are 12-3-1 to the UNDER in their last 16 overall. Take the Rockets and the UNDER.