Tonight, the Houston Rockets visit Portland for a rematch with the Trail Blazers.
Portland has been on a roll, winning five of its last six games. You can only play the competition in front of you, but
those victories have come against Eastern Conference opponents (BOS), losing teams (DAL, NOP, UTA) or teams playing without their best player (SAS & BOS).
The Blazers will face a tougher test tonight when the Rockets take the court at Moda Center. While neither team will be at full strength, Houston has offensive and defensive ratings in the top ten and is led by all-time great, Kevin Durant. In November, Houston blew out Portland 140-116. Tonight will be an exciting challenge for the surging Blazers.
What You Need to Know
Houston Rockets – (22-11) at Portland Trail Blazers (17-20) Wed., Jan. 7 – 7:00pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to stream: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Trail Blazers Audio Network
SB Nation Affiliate: The Dream Shake
Trail Blazers Injuries: Scoot Henderson, Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard, Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley (Out); Kris Murray (Doubtful).
Rockets injuries: Isaiah Crawford, Alperen Şengün, Fred VanVleet (Out).
Kit: The Blazers will take the floor in their white Association Edition jerseys. Houston will wear its red Icon Edition unis.
Stat Leaders:
Trail Blazers: Points, Avdija (25.9 per game). Rebounds, Clingan (10.8). Assists, Holiday (8.3). Steals, Thybulle (2.5). Blocks, Clingan (1.4).
Rockets: Points, Durant (25.7 per game). Rebounds, Şengün (9). Assists, Şengün (6.5). Steals, Sheppard (1.5). Blocks, Durant (1).
Tale of the Tape
Trail Blazers: Offensive rating: 113.6 (21st place) Defensive rating: 116.2 (19th place)
Rockets: Offensive rating: 120.7 (3rd place) Defensive rating: 112.3 (6th place)
Storylines:
.700 Club
Jefferson High School and Portland Trail Blazers alum, Ime Udoka, enters the game with a 7-3 record as head coach against his former team. Tiago Splitter coached the Blazers for just one of those games. He is 0-1 vs. Udoka.
Immortality
This month, Kevin Durant, the former No. 2 NBA draft pick, is likely to pass Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) for No. 7 on the all-time scoring list, Elvin Hayes (10,976) for No. 10 on the all-time field goals made list AND Jason Terry (2,282) for No. 11 on the all-time made three-pointers list. (BTW, he’ll need just nine more 3-pointers after passing Terry to overtake Vince Carter [2,290] for tenth place.) In his most recent outing, the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer hit a game winner with 1.1 seconds left to give Houston a 100-97 win over Phoenix. Not bad KD.
Climbing the Ranks
With Houston’s Alperen Şengün sitting out with a sprained ankle, Blazers big man Donovan Clingan will square off against Rockets’ reserve, Steven Adams. Starting in place of Şengün on Monday night, Adams had eight points and seven rebounds against the Suns. Meanwhile, Clingan had 12 points and 17 boards versus the Jazz. His game has improved in nearly every statistical category over last year. Clingan is currently the fifth best rebounder in the league and has been a vocal leader at both ends of the floor.
What Others Are Saying:
An MVP Kind of Week
The Blazers jumped three spots on The Athletic’s power rankings based on the commanding play of tight end and Western Conference Player of the Week, Deni Avdija. In addition to winning league accolades, the man has notched a birthday victory, got his own Blazers glass and sits in elite company as one of only three players in the NBA averaging at least 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. They are Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić and Blazers MVP, Avdija.
All About the Postgame
After 23 clutch games decided by five points or less, acting head coach Splitter told The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman that he has learned to wait until the final buzzer before celebrating with a cold one.
“Right now, when I go to the locker room and I have a beer, that’s it,” Splitter said, smiling, in his postgame interview at the Moda Center. “That’s when I enjoy it.”
👀
In his comments after hitting the game-winning shot over Phoenix Monday night, Durant got real about how things ended with his former team:
“A place that I didn’t want to leave,” Durant told reporters postgame of the extra emotions for him hitting that shot against the Suns. “My first time being — I don’t want to sound dramatic but I will — kicked out of a place. It felt like I’ve been scapegoated for the issues we had these last few years, (so) it felt good to beat them (and) hit the game-winning shot.”
Let’s hope he’s not still salty about being passed over by the Blazers in the 2007 NBA draft.
