The Houston Rockets (4-5) could not have picked a worse time to encounter a case of déjà vu than Friday night, when Houston lost again to Western rival Portland Trail Blazers (4-5) in yet another overtime thriller 119-117, this time at the Rose Garden in Portland.
In a game that went down to the wire-and beyond-both teams struggled on defense, but managed to launch an offensive fireworks display that kept fans riveted even into the final seconds of overtime.
The Rockets took advantage of Portland's defensive lapses and turned them into a 17-1 fast-break point frenzy in the first half, shooting 55 percent before the break. But despite being up by as many as 15, lapses of their own and 18 turnovers helped Portland hang around long enough to take the lead in the final quarter.
Rockets star James Harden scored 29 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, while co-star Jeremy Lin recorded a double-double of 11 points and 11 assists. But they got plenty of help from their fellow starters, all of whom were in double digits in scoring. Emerging center Omer Asik scored 16 points and grabbed 16 boards, while small forward Chandler Parsons had another strong game with 19 points and 11 rebounds and power forward Patrick Patterson scored 15 for Houston.
But the Blazers got huge games from rookie phenom Damian Lillard, who scored 27 points and dished five assists, and star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge , who put up 29 points, while Portland small forward Nicolas Batum led all scorers in scoring with 35 points.
Marcus Morris drained a three-pointer for Houston with 10 seconds left in the game to tie it up, sending it into overtime. But Portland kept them at bay in overtime, and after a Rockets turnover on the other end, Aldridge capitalizes, going 1-for-2 at the free throw line before making a critical turnaround jumper to extend the lead to 119-116 with 36.8 seconds left.
Despite posting a double-double, Rockets interim coach Kelvin Sampson benched Lin for the entire overtime period, opting to sub in Toney Douglas as a defensive option to guard Lillard.
"I just thought it was a little better defensive matchup," Sampson told the Houston Chronicle. "I thought Jeremy did well. I thought Toney did well."