Houston defeats Portland

The Houston Rockets took care of business on their home floor defeating the Portland Trailblazers 92-76. Ron Artest was the offense as opposed to just the defense for the Rockets, posting 27 points. Yao Ming finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldrige led the Blazers with 26 points. Brandon Roy scored 22 in another tough effort with physical defense form Artest and Battier. The Rockects will now meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round on Monday night.

In a post game interview, directly after the game, Artest praised the Blazers and Roy for their effort. Saying Roy was the toughest player he had to guard. Artest claimed no had had ever had 40 on him, referring back to game of the series where Roy had 42 points. When TNT sportscaster Craig Sager asked about Kobe Bryant being a tougher player to guard Artest quickly returned to his original comment of Roy. I don't know if Kobe Bryant watches TNT but I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe take the challenge of making Artest think twice about the number of people to "give him 40".

Houston is one win away

The Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 88-87, taking a 3-1 series lead. Houston has come within one win of reaching the second round, something they had failed to do the previous 6 seasons. Late clutch baskets by Shane Battier gave the Rockets an edge in a highly competitive game throughout. Battier finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Yao Ming provided 21 points and 12 rebounds. Luis Scola had a strong performance with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Ron Artest was also a force for Houston with 12 points and 9 assists. All-star Brandon Roy lead the way for the Blazers with a game high 31 points. A hard earned 31 points, due to a tough defensive effort from Houston. LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Portland. Game 5 is Tuesday April 28.

Houston holds on

Portland was able to contain Yao Ming again in game 3 but were unable to sneak away with the victory. Ming only scored 7 points but had 13 rebounds in the 86-83 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Luis Scola led the Rockets with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Shane Battier added 16 points. Blazer, Brandon Roy scored 19 points but was harassed the entire game by both Ron Artest and Shane Battier. Steve Blake had a strong performance with 16 points and 10 assists. Rudy Fernandez came off the bench for Portland with 17 points, but the all around team play from Houston was too much for Portland in the end.

Houston dominant

Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets looked very dominant on the road against the Portland Trailblazers in their 108-81 victory. Yao scored 24 points on 9-9 shooting from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line. Another miraculous aspect of his night was that he only played 24 minutes. After slight foul trouble early in the 2nd half, coach Rick Adelman decided to sit Yao. Adelman basically didn't require Yao's services after that point with the game seemingly out of reach. Starting point guard Aaron Brooks had a strong night as well posting 27 points and 7 assists. Ron Artest was a pest defensively as he had the task of guarding all-star Brandon Roy of the Trailblazers. Artest did a sound job up front with effective team defense to help limit Roy to 21 points on 10-23 shooting from the floor. Roy was much if not all of the scoring presence from Portland on this night. Game 2 of this series is April, 21 10:00 p.m. ET