Portland Trail Blazers vs. Houston Rockets 2014 NBA Playoffs Game 5 will begin today at 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. The No. 5 seed Trail Blazers will be visiting the No.4 seed Rockets at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Information on how to watch Trail Blazers vs. Rockets Game 5 live stream free online can be found below.
Houston Rockets James Harden and Jeremy Lin
In Game 4, Trail Blazers took the lead and beat the Rockets 123 by 120 in overtime. The two teams battled and kept their opponents pushing to outscore. Although Rockets had the chance to pull away from the Trail Blazers during fourth quarter, Jeremy Lin had a turnover that gave Portland the lead. Both Lin and Harden placed the blame on themselves for the mistakes that they've made. Rockets will need to win tonight's game if they hope to remain in the Playoffs or face elimination.
In Game 3, Rockets won 121-116 in overtime on Friday night. James Harden had a career playoff-high 37 points on 13-of-35 shooting in Friday's game. Through pick-and-roll with Harden, Howard had 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge was effectively kept at 23 points. He had over 40 points in the first two games, but the Rockets' Howard and Omer Asik kept him at bay in Game 3.
"We're still in control, the pressure is still on them," said Aldridge, according to NBA.com. "They lost two home so they're trying to come here and they have to take two. They came out and played as they should, they played like they were desperate and needed a win, like they didn't want their season to end."
Despite such kind of rhetoric, Harden said, "The pressure is on them. Sunday is going to be a great game and we have to do a great job of being ready, being focused. We have to quiet runs to a minimum and just be out there for four quarters. The hustle plays, the loose balls, we have to get all of those."
In Game 1, Rockets missed several opportunities to stamp out the Trail Blazers after losing the lead multiple times. The score was 120-122. But losing again in Game 2, it is evident that Rockets could not stop Trail Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge from scoring past 40 points per game. On Wednesday night, Aldridge leads his team in scoring 43 points in the 112-105 win.
Rockets' center Dwight Howard said it's no time to panic.
"We've played against Portland in the regular season and we were successful. We just got to play basketball. We can't look back. We have to stay positive," he said, according to NBA.com. "They (Portland) won two games but it's the first to four and we can't let our heads down. We dug a hole but we can always get out of it."
Guard James Harden was the league's top shooting guard in the regular season, but Portland's Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum worked effectively to block him. Harden was 14 of 47 from the field in the Playoffs, his worst two games of the season.
All in all, the Rockets are concerned about how to stop Aldridge's offenses.
Rockets' flagship radio station is SportsTalk 790, and the team's radio network affiliate can be found here. Online radio stations can be accessed here.
Trail Blazers radio network stations can be found here. Online radio stations can be accessed here.
Trail Blazers vs. Rockets Playoffs Game 5 will be televised nationally on TNT, and locally on KGW and Comcast SportsNet Houston (CSNH), and online live stream in HD can be watched live at TNT Overtime.
