Pinnacle    +125     BET365  +125   Sportsinteraction  +125  888port  +125

Posted at 8:00 AM ET. Odds are subject to change

SAN ANTONIO +125 ML over Houston

Frost Bank Center – San Antonio, TX

NBA Cup

7:30 PM ET. It’s easy to understand why the market gravitates toward Houston here. The Rockets have won and covered the last three meetings against San Antonio, they added Kevin Durant in the offseason, and they’re suddenly a chic pick to emerge from the West. The storyline is shiny. The narrative sells itself. And the market, predictably, has bought right in.

Let’s peel back the surface. Both teams enter at 5–2. Houston isn’t actually ahead of San Antonio in the standings — they’re simply ahead in perception. The Rockets have won six of their last seven and five straight overall, including Wednesday’s 15-point win at Memphis. San Antonio, meanwhile, has dropped two straight after starting 5-0, losing at Phoenix and then at the Lakers in a game they closed as road chalk. That slight dip has the average bettor treating the Spurs like they’ve been “figured out.”

This is where the value emerges. In rivalry games, history and streaks mean less than the market believes. Everyone sees Houston’s recent dominance in the series and assumes it continues. Everyone sees Durant and assumes matchup advantage. But the one player who actually poses the biggest matchup nightmare is Victor Wembanyama — the player Houston has no real answer for. Twenty-five points, thirteen boards, and four blocks per game on average, all while impacting every possession on both ends. He changes spacing, alters game plans, and demands double teams that Houston’s rotations that can simply struggle to handle.

While the Rockets get priced like a contender, the Spurs get priced like a hot start that’s “coming back to Earth.” Yet they remain undefeated at home and carry the emotional intangible in a rivalry where they’ve been pushed around recently. That alone creates the motivational spike you want when taking a live dog. Wrong side favored.

Take advantage of BET365's early MLB payout offer! 

For straight bets, if the team you back to win goes 5 runs ahead at any stage during the game, BET365 will pay out your bet in full regardless of whether the opposition comes back to win the game.

For parlays and Same Game Parlays, if a team you have backed goes 5 runs ahead, this selection will be marked as won within My Bets, with the remaining selections left to run.

Here is a wager we were paid out early on that would eventually lose. 

v