It wasn’t pretty, but the Portland Trail Blazers managed to finally get a road win, fending off the lowly Houston Rockets 104-92.
This was a showdown of franchises at different stages of existence. The Blazers: playoff hopefuls, looking to maximize the the talent of their star. The Rockets: staring down the barrel of a youth movement, paying their best player to ride the pines while youngsters feel their way through forming a basketball identity. Houston doesn’t win much - they’ve only done so once so far this season - so Portland needed this one in the bag merely to save face.