The Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets return to the Toyota Center for Thursday's Game 6 of their first-round playoff series. Houston leads the best-of-seven series 3-2, but after Portland's 88-77 win on Tuesday, there was a division of opinion in the Blazers camp on where the pressure now lies.
The Rockets "still need one game to close the series, and they're going back home," coach Nate McMillan said. "For us, it's still a one-game season. We're trying to get back to Portland. It's still a huge challenge for us, and for them. They need one more, and we need to win to stay alive. "They've been able to win here in this series, and we haven't won there. The pressure's on us to go out and win on Thursday."
Point guard Steve Blake said the pressure "is on both teams. Either way you look at it, next game is a big game."
But center Joel Przybilla places the onus on the Rockets.
"They're still up 3-2, but the pressure's on them going to their place," he said. "I guarantee they don't want to come back here for a Game 7. We let those two (Games 3 and 4) go in Houston, but we're very confident going back in their building."
TRAIL BLAZERS 88, ROCKETS 77: Portland took control of the game with a 15-0 fourth-quarter run after the Rockets had erased an 11-point deficit to go in front 68-64 with 8 1/2 minutes to play.
"Our guys came out and played their hearts out," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "I've never questioned this team's heart. These guys wanted to go back (to Houston). They didn't want their season to end, and they played their behinds off."
In the first four games of the series, Portland had sustained 18 more fouls than Houston, which had shot 27 more free throws than the Blazers. That turned around Tuesday. Houston had twice as many fouls (24-12) and the Rockets got only 10 free throws, making eight, compared to 16 for 23 for the Blazers. The Rockets also had a series-high 17 turnovers that led to 24 Portland points.
"We didn't want to lose this game on our home floor, but more than that, we wanted to extend our season," Portland guard Brandon Roy said. "We want to play in the next round. In order to do that, we were going to have to win this game first."
