The Houston Rockets came up with a brilliant game against the Portland Trail Blazers to script a 17-point win in front of their home fans, who were treated to some good plays by James Harden, scoring 26 points. The final score read 126-109.
It comes as no surprise that Harden was in the thick of things once again in Rockets' win. The guard has been impressive this season, and averages an impressive 28.7 ppg. If teams are to defeat Rockets, they need to find a way to silence Harden, which is not going to be easy with the star player looking sharp in every game.
Not only Harden, all their starting five players contributed majorly in the 17-point win. All their first five players, which started against the Blazers, found their rhythm and were able to come with double digit scores.
Forward Trevor Ariza, who is one of their best players, once again looked good, scoring 16, while Clint Capela scored 15. Ryan Anderson looked in good from beyond the arc, drilling three three-pointers from five attempts.
It is such all-round display of the Rockets, which helped them script an impressive win over the Blazers. If these players can continue in the same manner, they can challenge other big teams like Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors as well.
The Rockets got off to a brilliant start, scoring 41 points in Q1, and Blazers did come back well in the second quarter, but the home side were too strong in the third and fourth quarter. Despite the loss, one should not take anything away from Blazers' Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, who scored 18 and 26 points.
The Blazers depend on their three scoring ability, and they are normally not a paint team. But their three point-scoring was not too good with Lillard drilling one from five, and McCollum missing three of his four shots.
Rockets, with this win, have moved to seventh place, but the Blazers need to forget this loss, and look to play good basketball in future matches.
