Houston arrives in Los Angeles locked in a battle with the Portland Trailblazers for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets (51-25) lead Portland by a game and a half in the Western Conference after stringing together two consecutive wins that included a 130-125 overtime win over Denver last time out.

For the season, Houston is averaging 107.1 points on 47.3 percent shooting while giving up 102.4 points on 44.1 percent shooting.

James Harden, who is averaging 31 points in his last five games, led the way with 32 points and 10 assists for the Rockets in their win over the Nuggets, and played their fifth straight game without starters Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley.

The Houston defense in the meantime has allowed five straight 100-point performances and will need to step it up if they’re going to make a serious championship run and get by the Lakers.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ season has gone from bad to worse, as it has lost four straight and 10 of its last 13 games.

The Lakers (25-52). like Houston, don’t seem to have much of a problem scoring, as they average 102.5 points on 44.9 percent shooting. However, like the Rockets, they do have a problem defensively, surrendering 109 points per game on 46.6 percent shooting.

Making things even worse for the Lakers is the fact that the entire roster seems to be banged up, including Nick Young who scored 18 points off the bench before leaving with a left knee injury midway through the fourth quarter against the Clippers last time out.

Young is expected to play in this game even however, and will hope that the Lakers can compliment his offensive play by beefing up their poor defense, which has allowed 19 of their last 22 opponents to top 100 points.
Matt’s Free NBA Prediction:

The Lakers are probably going to lose this one, but I’m not sure if it will be by 10.

These are two teams that do a lot of scoring, but don’t play too good on the defensive end.

I expect to see a ton of points, but I still don’t see this game going over the total number.

Rockets 109, Lakers , 105