In the exact midpoint of a season-long homestand of seven games, the young Houston Rockets host Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night. The Rockets are 2-1 on the homestand so far and have won five of their last six games at Toyota Center.
The good news for the Rockets is that they will be rested and at home, whereas the Blazers will be on night two of a road back-to-back in Texas after playing at Dallas on Friday night.
The bad news for Houston, of course, is that Portland is led by a perennial All-Star guard and elite scorer in Lillard, who represents the caliber of player that the rebuilding Rockets do not yet have.
The Trail Blazers already defeated the Rockets once this season back on Oct. 28, and Lillard didn’t even play in that convincing 14-point victory. Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic led the way.
But since then, the Rockets have clearly made improvements, and particularly on defense. Saturday could put that to the test.
When and How to Watch
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 17
- Time: 7 p.m. Central
- TV Channel: AT&T SportsNet Southwest, NBA League Pass
- Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free in Houston markets)
Probable starting lineups
Houston Rockets (9-19)
- Guard: Kevin Porter Jr.
- Guard: Jalen Green
- Forward: Eric Gordon
- Forward: Jabari Smith Jr.
- Center: Alperen Sengun
Portland Trail Blazers (16-13)
- Guard: Damian Lillard
- Guard: Anfernee Simons
- Forward: Josh Hart
- Forward: Jerami Grant
- Center: Jusuf Nurkic
Projected lineups are based on each team’s previous game.
Injury reports
Houston’s injury report lists Jae’Sean Tate (right ankle soreness) as out, while Alperen Sengun (right ankle sprain) and Tari Eason (left ankle sprain) are each probable. Portland is not required to issue their report until a few hours before tipoff, due to their back-to-back.
On Friday, the Trail Blazers were without Nassir Little (right femoral head impaction fracture) and Gary Payton II (return to competition reconditioning). It would seem possible that Portland head coach Chauncey Billups might opt to rest a veteran or two for load management on night two of the back-to-back, though that had yet to be determined as of this story’s publication.
