The set-up: It would be an understatement to say that it's been rough sailing in the early going for the Cleveland Cavs, the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs. The Cavs ended a three-game home slide on Monday 124-119 over the Bucks but needed to shoot 55.5 percentage from the floor to do so. Kevin Love had 32 & 16 plus LBJ had 30-8-9, as the Cavs moved to just 5-6 by outlasting the Bucks, who received a 40-point effort from Giannis Antetokounmpo.The Cavs visit Toyota Center tonight in Houston, where they'll face the 8-3 Rockets. Houston owns a three-game winning streak and even without PG Chris Paul, who is inching closer to a return having missed the past 10 games with a sore left knee, have overcome a slow start offensively to climb to fifth in offensive rating (108.4) and 13th in pace (101.2).

Cleveland: The Cavs' 39-point first quarter vs. Milwaukee represented a reversal from a series of slow starts and then, with LBJ and Love on the bench, Cleveland extended its lead during a key stretch to open the fourth. "We got stops and we made shots," James said. "They had a couple defensive miscues: J.R. (Smith) came off one and hit a 3, D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) hit a pull-up, and Jeff (Green) was able to get to the free-throw line and get two free throws as well. And then we got stops defensively. That was very key." Dwyane Wade's criticism of the Cleveland Cavaliers' starting five was answered in a big way on Tuesday. After the four non-James members of the starting-five combined for 25 points on 9-of-29 shooting in a 117-115 loss to the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, his criticism seemed to light a fire under the team ahead. "In my experience, what I've learned is you're going to go through different things throughout the year," Wade told reporters after the 124-119 win over Milwaukee. "This is the first one. The first 10 or 11 games we went through something. ... But now we move on from this phase, hopefully, and we move into another one. Then we will have another something and we will have to figure out as a team how to get over that. But at the end of the day, we're all getting over it together."

Houston: The Cavs will have their hands full keeping pace with the Rockets, who are hitting their stride after scoring a season high in a 137-110 win at home on Sunday over the Jazz. That makes it three wins in a row, averaging 125 points per game on 51.2 percent shooting, including 42 percent on three-pointers. Harden has chipped in 38.7 points and 11 assists per game during the three-game stretch. Harden went 19-of-25 from the floor and 7-of-8 from three-point range en route to his career-high 56 points against the Jazz. "I was just shooting it, I don't know," Harden told reporters. "I don't really pay too much attention to it. I just try to take good shots and pretty much make the right decision. Obviously, I'm going to make mistakes, but as long as I have that mindset, I'll be good." Harden is getting plenty of support from SG Eric Gordon, who is averaging 23.1 points on the season and knocked down 6-of-11 from three-point range on Sunday, plus center Chris Capela checks in averaging a double-double at 12.7 & 10.6.

The pick: Sure the Cavs scored 124 points with a great offensive effort to snap the team's three-game home losing streak on Monday but in the process, allowed at least 112 points for the ninth consecutive game! The Bucks shot 56.6 percent and knocked down 13 three-pointers. Numbers don't lie. The Cavs are allowing 113.9 PPG (28th) on 48.5% shooting (29th), including 41.9% on threes (30th). Surely the Cavs will be "focused" when playing the Rockets but the team's only way to compete (win), is to out-score their opponent(s). Make the Over an 8* play.