Now that Victor Oladipo is acclimated with his new team and with DeMarcus Cousins playing some of his best basketball in years, the Rockets have won a season-high three in a row and Thursday they will welcome back the guy who has been their best player, Christian Wood, from a three-game absence. He had 31 points and 13 rebounds at Portland on Dec. 26th.

Portland remains without three starters in CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Robert Covington so Portland lacks a lot of offensive firepower.

With John Wall and Victor Oladipo, Houston has two elite defenders to throw at Damian Lillard.