Cleveland Cavaliers at Houston Rockets (+2, 205)

The Houston Rockets are playing their best basketball of the season and put a season-best five-game winning streak on the line when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Houston has won six consecutive games against Cleveland but the Cavaliers also have been playing well and had an eight-winning streak halted by red-hot San Antonio on Thursday.

The Cavaliers are 4-1 on a six-game road excursion that concludes in Houston, and they let a double-digit lead get away in the 99-95 loss to the Spurs. "We could have executed better but it's tough to do against San Antonio," forward LeBron James told reporters after seeing an early 15-point lead dissipate. "They are always in the right position to make the most out of every possession." The Rockets have put aside their early-season troubles and their winning streak continued with Wednesday's 107-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "We're playing for each other, that's the most important thing," guard James Harden told reporters. "So if a guy messes up, guys got his back. Everything isn't going to be perfect all the time and that's what we're starting to realize and we're just helping each other out."

TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), ROOT (Houston)

LINE HISTORY: Despite playing the second half of a back-to-back the Cavaliers have opened as 2-point home favorites. The total has opened at 205.

INJURY REPORT: 

Cavaliers - PG M. Williams (questionable Friday, personal).

Rockets - PG P. Beverley (questionable Friday, personal), PF D. Motiejunas (out indefinitely, back), SF S. Decker (Mid February, back).

COVERS POWER RANKINGS: Cavaliers (-9.5) - Rockets (-1.7) + home court (-3) = Rockets +4.8

DANCE TEAM WAR:

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (27-10, 16-20-1 ATS, 17-20 O/U): The loss to San Antonio was just the third in 17 games for Cleveland, which was outscored by 16 points during the final three quarters and also committed 18 turnovers. "They did a good job of taking us out of our sets but we also had some really good looks that didn't go down for us," said James, who scored 22 points for his seventh 20-point outing in eight games. Power forward Kevin Love has notched three straight double-doubles but is shooting just 34.4 percent from the field in the past eight contests.

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (21-19, 16-24 ATS, 21-19 O/U): Harden had 27 points and 11 assists against Minnesota and went over the 10,000 career-point mark — his total sits at 10,005 points. "It's definitely a great individual achievement," Harden told reporters. "Credit to this organization for helping me get there. But that's just the beginning. I've got a long way to go." Harden was just 8-of-22 shooting against the Timberwolves while scoring 20 or more points for the 10th time in 11 games.

TWEET BEAT:

TRENDS:

* Cavaliers are 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games in the second half of a back-to-back.
* Rockets are 6-1 ATS in their last seven versus teams from the Central Division.
* Under is 4-0 in Cavaliers last four games in the second half of a back-to-back.
* Over is 4-0 in the Rockets last four games overall.

COVERS CONSENSUS: The public is backing the Cavaliers with 61 percent of wagers backing them. As for the total, 61 percent of wagers are on the Over.

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