The San Antonio Spurs are looking for their season-high, eight wins in a row when they visit the Houston Rockets at the Honda Center on Christmas Day as part of the five-game holiday. The Spurs have built the second-best team in the NBA at 25-5 while the Rockets just got into .500 with a 15-15 record.

It is the first meeting of the season for the Southwest Division rivals with San Antonio winning the season series last year, 3-1, but the Rockets swept the Spurs in four games in the 2013-2014 season. San Antonio has padded an 8.5 game lead over the rest of the division while leading the NBA in defense by allowing only 88.8 points per game.

The Spurs are coming off a 108-83 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday at the Target Center. Kawhi Leonard continued his stellar season with 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Tony Parker added 14 points and six assists while LaMarcus Aldridge had 12 points and eight boards.

"Guys are competing at a high level. We're paying attention to detail and playing defense. If we keep doing that, things should go well for us," Aldridge said postgame. David West and Kyle Anderson combined for 23 points off the bench to help make up for the two-point performance by Tim Duncan.

The Rockets, on the other hand, lost a close and hard-fought game against the young Orlando Magic team on Wednesday, 104-101. It snapped their three-game winning streak and only the fifth loss in ten games.

James Harden had a stellar outing with 31 points, three rebounds, and seven assists while Dwight Howard added 12 points, seven boards, two dimes, and three blocks. Clint Capela scored ten points in 19 minutes while Trevor Ariza struggled from the field, shooting only 28.5 percent for eight points to go along with his eight rebounds.

"We can't have mental lapses where we do everything the right way for a couple possessions and go back to just taking it easy on teams. We have to do a better job of playing the same way for 48 minutes," Howard said after the game.

Ty Lawson contributed 11 points and three assists off the bench, playing his first game back after a two-game suspension. Lawson has been part of some trade rumors early in the season and the Rockets are reportedly shopping the point guard, per an ESPN report. Tip-off in Houston starts 8:00 PM ET and is nationally televised on ESPN. It is also available via live online streaming on WatchESPN.