Both the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers may be without multiple key players in Friday night's matchup.

Teams trending in different directions will square off in an interconference meeting on Sunday, when the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers host the flailing New York Knicks.

The Portland Trail Blazers are the owners of an 18-20 record and a four-game winning streak, good enough for ninth place in the Western Conference. Houston lost to the Trail Blazers (103-102) on the road. Portland beat the Rockets (103-102) at home.

Following the trail blazed by the Portland Diamond Project, the NBA franchise plans to ask for a similar "jock tax" to fund arena renovations.

The Portland Trail Blazers visit the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night for an 8 p.m. ET tip from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The Portland Trail Blazers took an unnecessary risk when they drafted Yang Hansen with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

"I’m very aggressive," Avdija said. "I initiate the contact and that’s my game … if it’s hard to stop, you’ve got to own it or do something else."

But once again the Rockets gave as good as they got. Their next man was Amen Thompson, who plastered 24 on the Blazers in an awesome show of athleticism. The best word to describe the words of some players are “sweet” or “smooth”. With Amen, it’s, “Yikes!!!”