The Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets are playing on the NBA playoffs schedule and the Game 1 matchup comes from the Toyota Center on TNT and it starts up at 9:30 pm ET and comes as James Harden and Dwight Howard are pushing towards a championship run and the western conference series could be one of the best of the postseason in the four five matchup.
The Rockets were one of the most impressive offensive teams in the league this season and they ranked second in the NBA in scoring with 107 points per game and that will be their biggest strength coming into things. The team was fourth in rebounding behind Howard and they were also ranked 18th in assists per game the points allowed they were ranked in 23rd and they allowed 103 points per game and now they are matching up with the Blazers in a series that should be hard fought, as they each went 54-28 this season and the Rockets were 33-8 at home and they will try to continue that at the Toyota Center.
Damian Lillard showed that he is one of the best young players in the league and he averaged over 20 points per game this season, while his counterpart Patrick Beverley averaged 10 points per game while outplaying Jeremy Lin. Chandler Parsons will be a key cog in this series and he averaged over 16 points, while James Harden has continued to grow into a great player and he is averaging over 25 points per game this season, while Howard has 18 and LaMarcus Aldridge averaged over 23 points per game. Houston comes into the playoffs after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans and now they will try and start off the postseason with a win.
The Blazers come in with some great stats from this season and they have improved greatly and they averaged over 106 points per game to rank fourth in the league, while the team was first in rebounds per game behind Aldridge. The team was also in the top 10 in assists per game with 23 per contest and they were 22nd in points allowed and are coming into the playoffs after a win against the Clippers.
Check here for the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers live coverage from TNT.
