This last January, the Portland Trail Blazers arrived in Houston to a familiar sight: four-game road trip, riding a small win-streak, no James Harden. That night, the Blazers probably walked into the Toyota Center believing they had a decent shot at upsetting the new league heartthrob which had gotten off to a historically great start - Chris Paul ended up booming them for 39 points and left Portland licking its wounds at he heels of a 121-112 loss.
Tuesday’s contest had the setup to offer a similar storyline, with Harden riding the pine nursing a bum hamstring, but the end result was anything but, as the Blazers cruised to a a 104-85 blowout over the Rockets.