Special thanks to Achebe of the Clutch BBS who snapped these great photos from the game. Click to view a larger version. Eddie Griffin holds the ball out on the wing Griffin watches after shooting a baseline jumper Griffin defends a Blazer backing up in the post Griffin shoots free throws Eddie makes his move in the post against Blazers rookie Zach Randolph Hey, former Rocket Pig Miller is in the house! Larry Smith is to the left of Rudy Tomjanovich, both checking out the Revue action Rockets Revue squad during a team huddle What is Lenny Wilkens doing in Utah? Shouldn't he be in Houston trying to pillage the Rockets of their Dream? Numbnuts Sloan is in the far right.

First Period
The first period started out promising. Langhi scored on a short jumper, Griffin tried a lay-in and got fouled then hit both FT's. Langhi put up a jumper got blocked but it came right back, he then passed to Griffin down low for 2. The Rox began to get comfortable with taking 1 jumper and back on D. There must have been about 4 missed 3's in a row at one point. Portland had a chance to put us away early but they couldn't hang onto the ball and kept turning it over. Every time the Rockets would made a good play the Blazers would come right back down the court and shove the ball down our throats. If we only could have gotten a few rebounds here and there, the period would have been ours. The one bright spot was Griffin. He found his touch early and looked comfortable on offense. At the end of one Portland 28 H-Town 24.

Second Period
Here is where the Rockets came out strong. Sneed nailed a 3, then on a Morris miss, Sneed grabs the rebound and puts it back in for 2. The next trip down the floor, Blakeney gives a nice feed to Griffin for a bucket. Blakeney grabs another rebound on the defensive end and sends it down court to Griffin for another 2. The Rox suffer a relapse and can't grab another rebound for about 2 mins. Then the Rox catch fire again, Blakeney knocks the ball loose and there off and running with Sneed laying it in on the other end. On their next defensive set, Langhi grabs the rebound, sends it to Blakeney (who almost loses it)recovers it and sends it back to Langhi for a nice driving shot in the lane. The next defensive stand has Griffin blocking his man twice and the Rox were off on another break. The Rox have yet another lapse in the rebounding/defense dept. The blazers went on 6-0 run to end the period with a score of, Portland 52 Houston 50.

Third Period
The third period was a good one for the Rockets. Hamilton came in at the start of the period grabbing every one of his 5 rebs in a 4 minute span. Behind the scoring of Griffin and Sneed, the rox pulled right back into the game. The Rox stepped up their overall defensive intensity and rebounding, and it lead to fast break after fast break. Omar Sneed did hog the ball much of the period but his shot was falling and thats all that counts. At the end of the period, the Blazers stole the ball and got out on the break, but number 33 for the blazers tried to do a pretty dunk and ran out of time on the clock. If he only would have layed it in for 2 instead of trying to get fancy, they would have had another bucket. At the end of three Portland 66 Houston 66.

Fourth Period
Now for the final period, the Rockets started out strong yet again. Morris grabbed a board and sent a bullet pass down to (ball hog) Sneed, who was fouled on the play, and only hit 1/2 FT's. Then they couldn't buy a bucket for almost 3 mins. Sneed missed a shot, Langhi missed a shot, Colson turns the ball over, Langhi misses another. Finally Griffin stops the drought with a nice turn around jumper. At that point the blazers and Rox kept trading buckets. The rox go thru another scoring drought for 2 mins until Griffin blocks a shot and sends it on the break for a score by Langhi. Griffin gets a steal but Langhi takes a bad shot. On the next trip down the floor Langhi throws the ball away. Throughout the whole game, Zack Randolph of the blazers was abusing whoever was guarding him (mostly Griffin). They kept getting the ball to him in the final minutes and he did not dissapoint, scoring time after time. The Rox still had a chance to win or tie with about 12 secs left but Langhi got called for a costly Tech (I still do not know what for, I was pretty far from the play and could not hear what the refs were saying). The Rox were only down by 4 at the time so that 1 tech put the game out of reach.

Final score Portland 89 Houston 84.

Overall it was a better game. Better passing (except for Sneed) and their shots were falling most of the night. The rebounding is still atroucious but the 3 Rockets that will be on the roster did ok.

Grades for the Rockets
Colson- 6 pts 1 reb 1 foul
Likes to shoot a lot for a point guard. Who does he think he is, Tim Hardaway? C

Dench- 3 pts 2 reb 3 fouls
Missed 3 three pointers, missed them really badly, did a decent job on the defensive side. C

Blakeney- 9 pts 1 reb 1 foul
Scored really well tonite but a little on the hyper side. B

Griffin- 16 pts 6 reb 3 blocks 5 fouls
Did a good job getting invloved in the offense early but the man he was gurading scored 39 pts. B

Hamilton- 2 pts 5 reb 2 fouls
Was the only factor on the boards, when he played. Had a few ugly shots from the perimeter but overall not a bad showing. B

Jensen- 0 pts 2 rebs 1 foul
I sat no where near his sisters so for that he gets an A.

Kelley- 13 pts 2 reb 1 block 2 fouls
Was really impressive in his scoring and overall defensive intensity. If only the other Rox could have eaten whatever he had for dinner. A

Langhi- 15 pts 3 reb 2 fouls
Costly Tech at the end might have cost Rox the game. He scored well and was ok on D. B-

Morris 2 pts 3 reb 2 fouls
A non factor most of the night. C-

Sneed- 18 pts 3 reb 3 fouls
although he hogged the ball most of the night his shots were falling and thats all that counts. B+

Smith- 0pts 0 reb 0 fouls
Had a really ugly airball 3. He did look good playing D though. He was pretty intense. C

Walls- 0 pts 2 reb 0 fouls
only noticed him play a few mins in the 1st half. Missed the 2 shots he took. D