Houston @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 30, 2017 ) Houston 107, Portland 117

The Houston Rockets might be the best team in the NBA right now as they blow past every opponent the schedule throws in front of them. The Rockets are winners of eight in a row -- all by double digits -- and will try to make it nine straight when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers in the finale of a three-game trip on Saturday.

Houston is undefeated since the return of point guard Chris Paul, who came within a rebound of a triple-double in a 112-101 victory at Utah on Thursday, which marked the closest margin of the last eight games. Paul is averaging 10.1 assists over the last eight games and handed out 13 in Thursday's triumph while James Harden scored 29 points to lead the offense. The Portland Trail Blazers have their own star backcourt in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum but can't seem to find their way into the win column quite as consistently and are losers of three in a row -- all at home. "I don't think we're playing well," Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters after a 106-92 loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. "I think we've shown that we can play better with basically the same group of people last year. We know we can play better."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (19-4): Power forward Ryan Anderson was questionable on Thursday due to a back tightness but ended up playing and scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Anderson did most of his damage off feeds from Paul and is thriving with Paul and Harden around to draw the defense. "That's why I'm here -- to shoot the ball around guys that are great playmakers," Anderson told ESPN.com. "Having (Paul) here has just opened up the court so much more for me and all of our shooting ability. For me, it's just easier looks."

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (13-11): Lillard scored 30 points in Tuesday's loss to the Wizards but McCollum was held to 14 and Portland shot 41 percent from the floor in falling to 7-7 at home. "Every year at some point adversity is going to hit and I feel like this is the start of a little bit of that adversity for us," Lillard told reporters. "We've just got to keep playing. We've got to address what we're not doing good enough right now, so it doesn't keep going in this direction." McCollum is shooting 34.2 percent from the floor over the last four games, including 5-of-20 from 3-point range.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Rockets SG Eric Gordon is 8-of-38 from 3-point range over the last five games.

2. Trail Blazers C Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) left Tuesday's game but had x-rays come back negative and is day-to-day.

3. Houston took two of the three meetings last season but dropped a 117-107 decision at Portland in the final matchup on March 30.

PREDICTION: Rockets 121, Trail Blazers 106