Portland at Houston

The Houston Rockets find themselves with their backs to the wall, trailing their opening round series 3-1 vs. the Portland Trailblazers. The answer will not come from the offensive end, it is going to take a concerted effort on the defensive end to find the win column in game five. This series has seen three games decided in overtime, so the four games played OVER the total, have seen the boost come from overtime. The public is being baited into the UNDER by the oddsmakers who have lowered the total for game five despite four straight OVERs. The public has taken the bait at over 70% on the OVER. History shows that when a series is into the fifth game or more, with four consecutive games have played OVER, the UNDER is actually 8-1! The better news is that the first half points scored are just 92 - well below the posted total for the first half in this one. It concurs with the thinking that Houston is going to come out hungry on the defensive end. The Blazers' history in the NBA quarterfinals round is not blazed in glory, as they are just 2-9-1 ATS in their last 12. The Rockets have been a strong team at home this season where they are 33-10, and they have not lost three in a row here all season. Play on the first half UNDER, and take Houston to keep the series alive for another game.