Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazers game preview

Quick preview today since it’s a Saturday game.

The Portland Trail Blazers are 7-6 at home and 9-6 on the road (they are currently trailing at halftime in Dallas as I write this). So even on the second night of a back-to-back, the Blazers are a threat to shoot opponents out of the building.

The Blazers obviously brought in Jerami Grant and traded away C.J. McCollum last season. They added Shaedon Sharpe through the draft and Gary Payton II in free agency. Unfortunately, Payton II had surgery on his core muscles in the offseason and has not made his Blazers debut yet. In fact, it seems that most thought he would be available by now, but just isn’t ready. Here’s to hoping for a return to action soon for the former Rio Grande Valley Viper.

Houston’s home winning streak was snapped by the Miami Heat, mostly because of the Rockets’ collective inability to stop Tyler Herro. The Blazers have their own version of Herro in Anfernee Simons, who’s averaging 24 points per game and has given Portland a 3-headed scoring monster along with Damian Lillard and Grant.

Will we see the Rockets play defense at the level we know they’re capable of? Or was this recent stretch just a mirage?

Tip-off is at 7pm CT on AT&T SportsNet Southwest