Houston Rockets and the Portland Trail Blazers had a tough match up last time out, with Yao Ming starring for the Blazers in that outing. It was suspected that the young Blazers may not be able to get the job done especially in their first outing, but expect them to go out all guns blazing in this game.

Brandon Roy was the only stand out performer on the night, and his performance was only what 24 points on the night. Greg Oden came out of the bench and did a good show with 15 points and 5 rebounds. The rest of the Blazers including Aldridge, Blake, Fernandez, Outlaw and Rodriguez, didn't manage to do anything significant, and will be looking to bounce back of the Blazers have any chance of coming back in this series.

Houston Rockets really surprised the team, starting with the youngster Aaron Brooks, who came for his first playoff game and really stood out leading the team with 27 points. In addition, Yao Ming, Luis Scola and Ron Artest continued their great performance in the absence of Tracy McGrady. Yao Ming especially was the key to victory on this game with 9-9 from the field and 6-6 from the line. He also had 9 boards and 2 blocks, but fell in to some foul trouble.

With the fans highly on their back and with their star players not performing, expect a huge performance from the Blazers tonight. Rockets will also be keen to win this game and grab a 2-0 lead with 2 home games coming up and looking to finish the game off in Houston.

Looks like we are in for a high scoring affair.