Houston Rockets vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction: Can Rockets take advantage of the fatigued Trail Blazers?

The NBA Regular Season is on and this has been another fantastic season full of amazing battles. As we head deeper, things are going to become more heated up as the midseason window is arriving at a quick pace. What trades will we see? Which teams will rise? Which teams will fall? Anyway, in this game, the Houston Rockets are going to take on the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Rockets come into this affair after losing a close 108:111 battle against the Miami Heat despite a 22 points outing by Jalen Green. The loss curbed an impressive two-game winning streak where Houston beats heavyweights Bucks and the Suns. They also gave a stiff fight to Heat and had half of their last 14 games to improve their 12 losses and two wins record to 19 losses and nine wins.

One of the major components during the current period has been the scoring of Jalen Green whose high scoring determines the outcome more often than not. Kevin Porter Jr has quietly upped his production too whereas Jabari Smith is having his most efficient month of the rookie season after some underwhelming offense earlier. Alperen Sengun is a solid Center but the Rockets find their energy largely from the dynamic play of Green.

The Trail Blazers come into this game after losing 110:130 against the Dallas Mavericks despite a 24 points performance by Damian Lillard. This loss brought the three-game winning streak but they conceded 41 points in the second quarter which stalled their rhythm big-time. These defensive lapses have hurt the team but they still have a decent 16 wins and 13 losses record.

Damian Lillard cooled off a bit, after having scored in the 36-40 points range in four games straight. In the last game, Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons both scored under 10 points, but they have been scoring 20+ consistently, something which has enabled the Trail Blazers to post a decent record. Josh Hart is a sparkplug whereas Jusuf Nurkic is a strong presence in the middle. Shaedon Sharpe has scored 10+ in three straight games.

• Rockets: OUT: Jae’Sean Tate. PROBABLE: Alperen Sengun. Game-Time Decision: Tari Eason;
• Trail Blazers: OUT: Gary Payton II, Nasir Little.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Damian Lillard(28-34 Points), Jalen Green(23-26 Points);
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Jabari Smith(10-13 Rebounds), Josh Hart(8-11 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Damian Lillard(6-9 Assists), Kevin Porter Jr.(5-7 Assists).

The Rockets have been playing some of their best basketball lately and they have shown that they can even close out close affairs, they aren’t the same squad that they were a month ago and they are no more an automatic win here. Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers have been improving and although they have a long way to go, they have built a solid foundation. Portland plated last night but I still believe they will recover from their awful defensive performance and post a win here. I predict a scoreline of 114:107 in favor of Portland.