Two teams going in opposite directions and battling for a playoff spot meet Monday night in Houston when the Rockets host the Portland Trail Blazers.
Houston has won 11 of 12 to pull into a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, two games ahead of the Blazers, who are 6-9 since winning 17 of 18. Portland has also dropped two straight - but those were without star guard Brandon Roy. The All-Star selection missed losses to Detroit and Indiana due to a death in the family.
The Blazers, 9-18 without the guard since acquiring him in a draft-night trade with Minnesota in 2006, expect to have the reigning Rookie of the Year back in the lineup Monday.
Roy leads his team in scoring (19.7 points per game), assists (5.8) and steals (1.0). He is the Blazers' first All-Star since Rasheed Wallace in 2001.
Houston, meanwhile, has won 10 of 11 since Tracy McGrady’s return from injury and is on a season-high six-game winning streak. The Rockets haven't won seven straight since going 7-0 to close the 2004-05 season and winning their opener in 2005-06.
In the winning streak, the Rockets have averaged 26.8 assists. Prior to this run, they averaged 18.9. Houston matched its season high with 29 assists against the Cavaliers on Thursday, and then surpassed it with 32 against the Hawks on Saturday."When we move the ball and share the ball and get good shots, we score points, and we're a much, much better team," forward Shane Battier said. "When our assists are down, that's the telling stat. Our offense suffers, and it's a slugfest.”
Rafer Alston and McGrady lead the Rockets with 5.4 assists per game. The Rockets would be the only NBA team with two players among the top 20 in assists if McGrady had played enough games to qualify to be listed among the league leaders.
Houston is tied with the Warriors for eighth in the West, with Golden State holding the tie-breaker thanks to wins in two of the teams' three meetings. Houston is 2-0 this season against the Trail Blazers and has won seven of the past eight against Portland in Houston.
"We're still out of the playoffs, so we can't get satisfied," McGrady said. "We're still hungry for more. I think we have a winner's mentality. We're playing so well as far as confidence and how we're approaching every game. We're not going to be satisfied until the last game in the summertime."
McGrady has totaled only 23 points and shot 8-for-25 from the field in his last two games while playing through an upper respirxatory infection, but said after Saturday's win that he's feeling healthy again.
The Blazers shot just 38.4 percent from the field in losing those two games against the Rockets this season -- their worst percentage against any team they've played more than once. Roy, however, scored 23 points in each of those contests while shooting a combined 18-for-35 from the floor.
McGrady, meanwhile, averaged 17.5 points and 5.5 assists in the two games vs. Portland, shooting just 35.1 percent.
Betting Trends
ATS | Portland | Houston |
| Record: | 28-22-0 (.560) | 30-20-0 (.600) |
| As Favorite: | 15-5-0 (.750) | 23-13-0 (.639) |
| As Underdog: | 13-17-0 (.433) | 7-7-0 (.500) |
| At Home: | 20-6-0 (.769) | 14-9-0 (.609) |
| On Road: | 8-16-0 (.333) | 16-11-0 (.593) |
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