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McGrady looks to continue red-hot start as Rockets host Blazers

Nov 3, 2007 - 2:03 PM Portland (0-2) at Houston (2-0) 8:30 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Houston Rockets are off to a nice start, but the Portland Trail Blazers are enduring the complete opposite.

The Rockets look to remain undefeated when they host the young Trail Blazers in a Western Conference matchup on Saturday.

Superstar Tracy McGrady scored 47 points to off-set a dismal outing by Yao Ming as Houston coasted in Thursday's 106-95 victory over the Utah Jazz.

"There are a lot of opportunities for me on the offensive end," McGrady said. "I can play off the ball and I can come off screens. I can hide behind Yao sometimes. There are so many ways I can score in this offense. It's great."

It has only been two games but McGrady is enjoying the offensive scheme of new coach Rick Adelman, who has seen the 6-8 forward shoot 57 percent (27-of-47) from the field in the early going.

Portland enters after suffering its second straight setback, a 113-93 loss at the hands of the New Orleans Hornets on Friday despite 23 points from Brandon Roy.

Blazers second-year big man LaMarcus Aldridge failed to backup his 27-point performance in the season opener at San Antonio, netting just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting in Friday's loss.

Houston and Portland split their four meetings last season, but the Trail Blazers came away with an 85-78 triumph here on April 6.