Houston Rockets vs. Memphis Grizzlies game preview

The Houston Rockets face off against the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth and final time this year. The Grizzlies won the first two games going away and it looked as if their March 6 contest was going to have the same result.

Then the third quarter happened and Kevin Porter Jr. took the game over. Porter Jr scored 19 of his 22 points in the third as the Rockets overcame a 10 point halftime deficit and went on to win 123-112. It wasn't just Porter Jr. that had a good game. Jalen Green continued his great play over the last couple of months putting up 24 points in the win. Christian Wood added 28 points and 13 rebounds to help the Rockets end their 12 game losing streak.

‘’I honestly would say this is the best that we have all played all together,’’ Wood said. ‘’It’s really good to see when we are all clicking like that. It’s a really scary sight, so we just have try to harp on that, try to build on that, try to see if we can repeat that same effort, that same energy.’’

The Grizzlies own the second-best record in the Western Conference and you can almost guarantee no one outside of Memphis saw this coming. After one of Ja Morant's worse shooting games of the season in the previous matchup vs the Rockets, you have to imagine he will come out strong in this game. The Grizzlies boast a big frontline with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams, so we may actually get another Christian Wood and Alperen Sengun starting lineup. Which is a good thing considering the Rockets gave up 16 offensive rebounds last time.

Memphis comes into this game first in points in the paint per game by a wide margin and top five points per game. The Rockets come in giving up the most points per game so they will have their hands full.

The Rockets come into this contest with the Grizzlies after a close loss to the Indiana Pacers in a game they led at one point by double digits. Goga Bitadze had 23 points and became the latest in a long line of role players to have career nights vs the Rockets. Jalen Green started slow but finished with a great fourth quarter and Christian Wood had one of the best games of his career finishing with a 32 point double double and only 3 assists short of his first triple-double but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

Draftkings has the Rockets as 11.5 point underdogs vs the Grizzlies. Considering the Grizzlies are 30.5 games ahead of the Rockets, I can't say that I am surprised but this is why they play the games. As stated earlier the Rockets have beaten the Grizzlies this year and anything can happen in the NBA.

Rockets host the Grizzlies at Toyota Center 2:30 March 20th.

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