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Without any doubts, hardly any team in the league was plagued by injuries the way the Rockets were over the past few years. Sorely missing All-Stars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, Houston will head to Oregon to take on Brandon Roy and the Portland Trailblazers on Wednesday at 1 a.m. GMT.

In contrast, the Portland Trailblazers are coming off a fourth place finish in the Western Conference in 2008-09, but subsequently experienced an unpleasant first round post-season exit versus the Rockets. Given the fact that the young team around All-Star guard Brandon Roy seemed to lack veteran leadership at times, it is no surprise that GM Kevin Pritchard thoroughly examined his options on the free agent market. Ultimately, the Blazers missed out on Hedo Turkoglu, but were able to sign veteran point guard Andre Miller from the Philadelphia 76ers. Considering the way the team played last year, it looks like Portland will be in the race for home court advantage again in 2009-10.

The Houston Rockets on the other hand have very little to be excited about thus far. According to the Rockets’ medical staff, franchise cornerstone Yao Ming will miss the entire season with yet another foot injury while Tracy McGrady is not expected to return before late November. Without their two All-Stars, Houston might have a hard time to stay in the playoff mix of the extremely competitive Western Conference. Nonetheless, the franchise tried to fill their front-court hole by signing power forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu and center David Andersen. Moreover, Trevor Ariza was acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in order to compensate for the loss of wingman Ron Artest. Yet, it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to give the Trailblazers a run for their money. At the end of the day, Portland undoubtedly has more talent on board and has proven countless times that they are able to play unselfish team basketball.

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