Tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET the Houston Rockets, the No. 2 seed in the West, will take on the No. 7 seed Dallas Mavericks on ESPN. Live stream Game 1 for free by clicking this link. Rockets fans can hear the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790, while Bucks fans may do likewise on 103.3 ESPN.
Rockets guard James Harden is a strong contender for the 2014-15 MVP award and nearly took home his first scoring title, but making a championship run is what will validate his season. Harden's been bounced from the playoffs in Round 1 in both of his seasons with Houston, and is hungry for more.
"I feel like we've got a great opportunity," Harden said. "We've got the right guys in this locker room to get it done and go further than that."
They have to avoid feeling haunted by last season's buzzer-beating loss to the Portland Trailblazers, and head coach Kevin McHale spoke about keeping focused on the Mavericks.
"You can't play that game anymore and you can't play that series anymore," McHale said. "You can't do anything with that stuff, now it's just about (Saturday) ... If you drive in your rearview mirror you run into a lot of stuff in front of you -- I've noticed that."
For most of the year the Rockets have relied on Harden's brilliance, but they do have Dwight Howard ready to go for Game 1. He only played in 41 games this year, averaging 15.1 points and 10.5 rebounds. He will be at war this series with Mavs center Tyson Chandler, one of the premier post defenders in the NBA.
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