Portland, OR (My Sportsbook) - The Houston Rockets play the second game of their current five-game road trip when they travel to Portland to play the Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden.

Houston is just 2-4 on the road this season after a 90-89 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Sunday. Steve Francis scored 31 points, but missed an off-balance jumper at the buzzer. Yao Ming, who has been impressive in his last few outings, was held to just four points. largely due to the defensive work of Michael Olowokandi.

"Olowokandi is very strong and he has very good moves," Yao said. "Wang Zhizhi also guarded me very well."

The Rockets have a 4-4 mark within the Western Conference, including an 86-83 victory over Portland at the Compaq Center on November 12.

Portland had a three-game surge snapped 95-94 by the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. The Blazers were doomed by a pair of free throws by Hedo Turkoglu with just 14.4 seconds remaining. A bright spot for the Blazers was the play of reserve Zach Randolph. Randolph scored nine of his 13 points in the final quarter.

"Randolph was great," Portland coach Maurice Cheeks said. "It might have been a boneheaded move on my part to take him out of the game because he was scoring down the stretch."

The Blazers are 4-2 at the Rose Garden this season and have a 5-7 mark within the Western Conference.

Portland has won three of the last four meetings between the teams. The Rockets have won three of their last five at Portland. The Trail Blazers trail the all-time series 72-64.