Memphis @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2017 ) Houston 89, Memphis 103

The Houston Rockets are back to doing what they did last season - letting James Harden be one of the best players in the game while leading the team to victories. Harden will try to guide the Rockets to a fifth consecutive win when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

Harden followed up a 56-point, 13-assist performance in a win over Utah on Sunday with a triple-double on Thursday, collecting 35 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds and five steals in a 117-113 win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. "We rely on him, and we'll always rely on him," Houston coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters of Harden. "...But when you're a superstar, you're going to carry the team a lot of times." The Grizzlies take pride in stopping the opposition's best players and limited Damian Lillard to 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in a 98-97 win at Portland on Tuesday. "Defense has a lot to do with communication," Memphis center Marc Gasol told reporters. "It allows you to see a little bit of what's going to happen, maybe half a second or a second early, and it brings also trust. The guy on the ball knows where you're going to be at and then you get a little bit higher and more into it and you just trust the next guy behind you, and that's what defense does for you."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Memphis), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (7-4): Memphis wrapped up a 2-1 west coast trip with the win at Portland and is seeing Houston for the third time already in 2017-18. The Grizzlies had little trouble stopping Harden and company in those first two games, holding the Rockets to an average of 89.5 points and limiting Harden to 21 points on 35.9 percent shooting. Memphis did not have a starter score in double figures in a 103-89 home win over Houston on Oct. 28 but is getting better production of late from point guard Mike Conley, who reached 20 points in each of the last three games.

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (9-3): Houston acquired Chris Paul over the summer to take some of the load off Harden, but Paul has been out since the season opener with a knee injury and is not expected back until next week. "I do see in a week or so that we'll get Chris Paul back and take a lot of that off of (Harden)," D'Antoni told reporters. "The season's long. (Thursday's) focus was to win this game. Then we've got to worry about Saturday." Harden logged 43 minutes on Thursday and is averaging 36.2 minutes while putting up 29.9 points, 10 assists and 4.9 rebounds.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Rockets PF Luc Mbah a Moute (knee) sat out Thursday and is day-to-day.

2. Memphis SG Ben McLemore (foot) is expected to make his season debut on Saturday.

3. Rockets SG Eric Gordon scored exactly 20 points in each of the last three games.

PREDICTION: Rockets 108, Grizzlies 101