John Wall, Victor Oladipo Help Rockets Hold off Damian Lillard, Blazers

The Houston Rockets seem to be figuring things out in the aftermath of the James Harden trade.

Houston overcame an early 20-point deficit and extended its winning streak to four with a 104-101 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Thursday's Western Conference clash at Toyota Center. Victor Oladipo, Christian Wood and John Wall led the way for the victors, who are still just 8-9 overall despite the recent hot streak. 

A solid showing from Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. was not enough for the Trail Blazers, who fell to 9-8 on the season and just 2-4 in their last six games.

Anfernee Simons had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but he airmailed his three-pointer.

Notable Player Stats

• Victor Oladipo, G, HOU: 25 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST
• Christian Wood, C, HOU: 22 PTS, 12 REB
• John Wall, G, HOU: 20 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB
• Damian Lillard, G, POR: 30 PTS, 9 AST, 4 REB
• Gary Trent Jr., G, POR: 23 PTS, 7-of-13 3PT

Trio of Playmakers Lead Way in Comeback Victory

There was plenty of reason for optimism from Houston's perspective coming into this contest.

Not only was it riding a three-game winning streak that saw a number of contributors fill up the box score, but Wood also returned for the first time since a Jan. 20 loss to the Phoenix Suns. The 25-year-old has been a revelation for the Rockets this season and entered play averaging a double-double of 23.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

It took the big man some time to get readjusted during a scoreless first quarter, but he took over while protecting the rim, battling for boards and running the floor on his way to 14 points in the second quarter.

The attention he drew opened up driving lanes for Wall and Oladipo, and Houston came roaring back to take a halftime lead with that trio and a strong defensive effort leading the way.

Just having three go-to options like that gave Houston more firepower than the short-handed Trail Blazers, but the bench helped the home team expand its advantage in the third quarter with Danuel House Jr., Eric Gordon and Sterling Brown all hitting multiple triples and DeMarcus Cousins providing support down low.

Winning time belonged to the familiar names, though, as Oladipo and Wall each hit a clutch three in the fourth quarter. Wall's free throws put the Rockets up heading into the final two minutes, and Oladipo hit arguably the biggest shot of the game with a driving layup to go up three with less than 30 seconds remaining.

While the ceiling may be lower in Houston than it was when Harden was leading the way in his prime, the pieces are starting to come together for a potential contender in the Western Conference playoff race with three legitimate go-to options leading the way.

Fast Start Not Enough for Blazers

The team that took the floor Thursday was not the one Portland envisioned at the start of the season.

CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, Robert Covington and Zach Collins were all sidelined by injuries. What's more, Rodney Hood was on a minutes restriction and came off the bench after he missed Monday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

That put even more pressure on Lillard, and he wasted no time taking over with three triples in the first quarter alone from well beyond the arc. It appeared as if Portland was going to cruise to an easy victory when it built a 20-point lead in that opening quarter, and Lillard dancing through the defense, launching from deep and dishing out assists was the primary reason.

However, that lead quickly disappeared with Enes Kanter as the only other Trail Blazer to reach double figures by halftime. As soon as Lillard went to the bench, Portland struggled to find any consistent source of offense.

Some of that much-needed help came in the form of Trent catching fire from deep in the second half.

After carrying the offense for stretches in the third quarter, Trent remained on the floor with the bench unit in the fourth and spearheaded a comeback from Portland's side. His three triples in the span of one minute gave the visitors the lead, and another one in the final five minutes trimmed their deficit to one and set the stage for a dramatic finish.

It wasn't enough, though, as the Trail Blazers managed just two field goals in the final 3:50 as their offense that seemingly couldn't miss at the start went missing with fewer than 30 points in each of the final three quarters.

What's Next? 

Both teams are on the road Saturday when the Trail Blazers face the Chicago Bulls and the Rockets square off with the New Orleans Pelicans.