Houston is a team that is very stingy at home and their home defense ranks amongst the top of the league. Utah has scored 41 and 43 first half points in 2 of their last 3, and in the other held Portland to 35. The Houston defense, combined by the low scoring Utah recent games has again put us on this first half under play. Consider that the past three seasons, Utah is 10-1 UNDER in the first half when on the road vs. an elite team (60%+ SU) and 15-4 UNDER vs. good defensive teams that allow under 92 points per game. Also, Houston is 20-8 UNDER the first half total when playing against a top-level team (70%+) over the last 3 seasons. Finally, no Yao here. Go UNDER first half.