Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers game preview

The Houston Rockets continue their road trip tonight in the Pacific Northwest.

The Portland Trail Blazers will be without Damian Lillard, who suffered a calf strain and will be re-evaluated in 1-2 weeks. The Blazers were the only undefeated team left in the NBA at the time of the injury, but the Miami Heat solidly outplayed the Blazers and won going away.

With Lillard out, Portland will turn to Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, and Jusuf Nurkic. They’ve also given rookie Shaedon Sharpe minutes off the bench, and he’s in line to get more now.

Tonight will be about getting Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. back on track after a subpar night in Utah. The two combined to shoot 9-30 from the field and 4-15 from deep. Tari Eason also shot poorly, which was the knock on him coming in. There are going to be plenty of nights where these guys don’t shoot well, but Houston fans want to see an overall improvement as the season progresses.

Finally, it appears that Alperen Sengun will be available for Houston tonight.

Tip-off is at 9pm CT on AT&T SportsNet Southwest