This game would have been the first time Greg Oden got to play against Yao Ming. I remember watching Ming and Shaq battle head to head a couple of times during Mings rookie season. Instead, Greg will watch from the bench and prepare for Saturdays game against the Timberwolves and the rest of us will get our first look at this seasons version of the Houston Rockets and Center Yao Ming. Ming is leading the league in minutes played by centers, and appears fully recovered from last seasons stress fracture and his Chinas poor showing in the Olympics.
Steelblazer and his wife will be attending this game complements of ucatchtrout and ClubBlazers.
This game will also feature the return of Von Wafer and Steve Francis, fomer OSU Beaver Brent Barry, and former Oregon Duck Aaron Brooks, as well as our first look at Ron Artest in a Rockets uniform. Should be fun.
Starting lineup
Rafer Alston
Tracy McGrady
Ron Artest
Luis Scola
Yao Ming
Last seasons edition of the Rockets were good enough to win 55 games. This season they may be even better. Rick Adelman has them running a passing offense. And new addition Ron Artest has added some toughness to the roster. One thing is certain about this game though. The X factor won't be Steve Francis, as he will likely miss the first month of the season with a quadriceps tendon tear.
Starting at Point Guard for the Houston Rockets will be Rafer Alston. Alston is a solid 32 year old veteran of 9 NBA seasons. From deep on the bench last season he worked himself into a starting role with his solid play. Solid, not spectacular. He is a decent defender, can hit the three point shot, but isn't very good at creating his own shot. His play can be streaky, and he'll have to share minutes with Aaron Brooks and Brent Barry. Our own Steve Blake has younger legs and plays a similar game to Alston. And after matching up against Derek Fisher, and Tony Parker and Steve Nash, and Deron Williams to start the season this should be an easier game for Blake. Add to that the Blazers ability to put Brandon Roy, or Sergio, or Rudy at this position the matchup at point guard favors the hometown team. Advantage-Blazers
At shooting guard the Rockets will likely start Tracy McGrady. McGrady isn't really a shooting guard and he has had a lot of injury problems in recent years. For some reason the chemistry between him and Yao Ming has never worked out the way Rockets fans wanted it to. Maybe this will be the year. Ron Artest, McGrady and Ming together make up a Big Three that on paper looks as good as any in the league. Taller than Brandon Roy and with more seasoning some might pick McGrady at this matchup. The homer in me favors Roy, who is probably a better defender than McGrady. But the man who received Jordans shoes is like Roy a great passe, and a creative scorer, and he has Ron Artest covering his back this year. And so he gets the nod at this position. Advantage-Rockets.
Small Forward Ron Artest is like a box of chocolates. You never know which Ron you will get. One of the best forwards in the league on both sides of the court he has been a Blazer killer in the past. The Rockets are a perfect home for Ron Ron as he reunites with Coach Rick Adelman. Rick and Ron Ron have worked well together as Sacramento Kings. Knowing that and the fact that his is a contract year for Artest I see him making a real effort to put his best foot forward. Artest is far and away a better player than any small forward on our roster. Even if magic suddenly healed the broken foot of Martell Webster there is no Blazer that compares to Ron Ron as a small forward. Advantage-Rockets.
Luis Scola starts at Power Forward for Houston. He is a banger from Buenos Aires, Argentina. It took him a while to get adjusted to life in the NBA but he finished last season strong. He'll get his rebounds in this game, and collect a few points. He is a good garbage type player. But whether the Rockets choose to bring Artest in behind him to back him up or use Carl Landry off the bench our team is better at this position. LaMarcus is taller and stronger than Scola. But Scola will push him to assert himself. This is probably the most important matchup in the game and LaMarcus has to have a good game for us to win. With Channing Frye and Trout being able to spell him we win this matchup. Advantage-Blazers.
I always marvel at how much taller Yao Ming is than everybody else. The top of most guys heads reach his neck. This is the part of the preview where I wanted to speculate about what Greg Oden would look like playing against Yao. Unfortunately we'll all have to wait for that. Last season the Rockets really pulled together when Yao went down and went on a win streak that set a franchise record. Yao is bigger and better than Joel on both ends of the floor, and unless he gets into foul trouble or hurts himself we are going to have real trouble going inside against the Rockets. Advantage-Rockets.
The Rockets are among the leagues top teams. Depending on whose power rankings you like they are often found as the number three ranked team behind the Lakers and the Celtics. They are a tough veteran team with some good bench players that is capable of coming into the Rose Garden and beating our Blazers. As with the Spurs we are overmatched., However the Rockets have a full compliment of players to use other than Stevie Franchise. Rudy and Batum and Sergio....the European Union will have to have present problems that Rick Adelman cannot find a solution for if we hope to win this game. And LA will have to NOT let Scola and Artest outtough him inside. I'm picking the Rockets to win by 5.
Here is a link to a video preview of this seasons Houston Rockets
click on link to watch video
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_t ... r=whatsnew
props to ucatch 
