The Houston Rockets started off the season just how they wanted to after signing Dwight Howard after winning their first three games of the year and now they come into Tuesday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers after losing to the Los Angeles Clippers and the game will be at the Rose Garden starting up at 10:00 pm and streaming online from the NBA League pass.
The Rockets have been impressive on offense early on with over 100 points per game to rank fourth in the league and the team is also third in rebounding, which has been helped along by the play of both Howard and Omer Asik. The team has not been very stout on defense this season while allowing over 104 points per game and they were whalloped by the LA Clippers on Monday with a 137-118 loss and now they will play against the Blazers before a huge and anticipated matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Toyota Center on Thursday in what will be the first game where Howard will face his former team. The Blazers are coming off of a nice win over the San Antonio Spurs and they are 2-1 early on in the season and have played very well on offense, ranking fifth in points per game with over 106 per contest.
Check here for the Rockets and Blazers live stream on the NBA League Pass.
The team is ranked fifth in assists this season and LaMarcus Aldridge has played well early and Damian Lillard had a nice game with 25 points in the victory, while Nicolas Batum had a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists. Aldridge is leading the team in scoring with 25 points per game through three matchups and the Blazers next play against the Sacramento Kings before playing a big matchup with the Nets in a week.
The Rockets come in after having beaten the Dallas Mavericks and the Charlotte Bobcats as well as the Utah Jazz and James Harden has been the focal point of the offense, scoring 21 points in the opening game and 34 points in the second win against Dallas. Howard has been a beast on the boards so far this season while putting up 26 rebounds in his home debut before having 16 against the Mavericks, while he added nine against the LA Clippers. The team plays back to back games at home against the Lakers and the Clippers after losing to them for their first defeat of the season and later in the month of November they have some notable matchups with the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden as well as games against the Brooklyn Nets and then later against the San Antonio Spurs.
