Houston at Toronto

Houston played some defense the last game, holding Boston to 89 points in a win. In fact, they are on a 2-0 run UNDER the total allowing 93 and 89 points. This is their first road game after a five game home stand and they have a game with the uptempo Knicks on tap tomorrow, so they won't be running and gunning early as the oddsmakers expect. The last time they had a game on deck was at San Antonio and the Rockets scored 21 and 24 points in the first and second quarters and shot 38.9% for the game. They face a Toronto team that is showing some defense, too, allowing 92, 94 and 74 points the last three games, including a 95-74 win over Dallas the last game. They are on a 4-0 run UNDER the total and held Dallas to 41 first half points. Dallas came in ranked as the NBA's fifth-best 3-point shooting team but endured a miserable shooting night. The Mavericks went zero for 13 from 3-point range. The Raptors were again without Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry, so the lack of depth means less interest in going uptempo, especially early. Play the Rockets/Raptors First Half UNDER the Total.