Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers game preview

Writer's edit: I wrote this preview before the news came out last night. Our condolences go out to the McHale family after the passing of Kevin McHale's mother. Family comes first, and McHale understandably won't be with the team in Portland tonight. I hope he takes all the time he needs.

And now for the worst segue ever.

I'm weird with highlights.

I only watch highlights when the Rockets win. When they lose, I avoid highlights like the plague, especially if I didn't watch any of the game. For example, I didn't watch the Rockets lose in Dallas, and I haven't seen any highlights from that game. I know it will break my heart.

I get too into sports. That's not a revelation to anyone here. Heck, if you're on a basketball blog, you probably care a lot about the game. I don't go on baseball blogs, for instance. If I expect my team to lose, I don't get too down when they do. But if they're expected to win, or it's a 50-50 game, I'm devastated when we lose.

I'm more sarcastic the next day. I go around a little pissed off. I have a problem, and I know it.

Mostly, I can't wait to get to the next game to get the sour taste of losing out of my mouth. And yes, I realize that I didn't lose. But I see the Rockets as an extension of myself. I can't stand to see them lose, and I remember each loss as a personal failure.

Which brings us back to highlights.

Last year, James Harden's greatest individual play was this one:

James Harden goes BEHIND the back and BETWEEN the legs! (via NBA)

Bill Worrell and Matt Bullard are crazy homers (whom I love), but even their most cynical critics would have to agree that their reaction to that play was warranted. It's an absolutely incredible display of individual talent and control. When NBA.com released their "Top 10 Plays of the Year" for the stars of the league, this was rightly number one for Harden's list.

But I hate watching that highlight. HATE IT!

Because the Rockets lost that game.

Which, in turn, brings us to tonight and the Portland Trail Blazers.

If you've been a Rockets fan for the last six years, you know what's coming. Sorry, but I have to go there.

On November 6, 2008, the Rockets headed into Rose Garden at 3-1. Daryl Morey had traded for Ron Artest in the offseason and everyone in Houston was buzzing. Sound familiar?

The Rockets and Blazers played a back-and-forth game all night. In the end, 48 minutes wasn't enough time and we got free basketball. With over a minute left, the score was tied still. Here's what happened.

Brandon Roy's Game-Winning Three vs. Rockets (via NBAVideoProvider)

Throughout the final couple of minutes, I was on the phone with my roommate and friend, Noel Bryant. Noel is actually the person who introduced me to The Dream Shake just a couple of months later. We were at a Houston Dynamo game (a win over hated Pachuca in the Superliga tournament) earlier that year when the Artest trade happened, so Noel and I had a special connection that season.

I can't remember why he wasn't there, but for most of the overtime I gave Noel a play-by-play over the phone. When Roy hit the shot with less than 2 seconds, I yelled "SHIT!" right into my phone. When Yao hit the turnaround and got fouled, I yelled into it. And when Roy did that, I went speechless as a helpless Noel asked, "WHAT HAPPENED?"

It was a devastating loss, but there was more. I would be haunted by that highlight in EVERY NBA COMMERCIAL FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS. Until another superstar hit a more amazing game winner, that was what the NBA used at the end of their promos. And for some reason, superstars went silent those next few years.

Every time I saw it again, I had a flashback to that November night. I can still remember being two inches from the screen. I remember Roy getting a clean look from 40 feet away. And I remember that shot hitting nothing but nylon.

So, I don't like highlights. When we lose.

But these Rockets dating back to last year have given me many more wins than losses. And I've been able to watch plenty of highlights.

Hopefully I'll get to watch 4 from the same year of the Finals one day.

Tip off is at 9:30pm CST on TNT.