On night two of a tough road back-to-back, the Houston Rockets visit the injury ravaged Cavaliers on Monday night. Cleveland will be without a pair of high impact starters in Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, who are sidelined for weeks due to injuries.
But it’s far from an easy game for the improving Rockets, who will be battling their own fatigue issues while facing an opponent that still has plenty of talent — headlined by a pair of recent All-Stars in shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and big man Jarrett Allen.
Houston enters with five wins in its last six, while Cleveland has dropped three of four. But the Cavaliers won their most recent game on Saturday versus Atlanta, while Houston took a loss in Sunday’s competitive loss against an NBA title contender in Milwaukee.
For the Rockets, it’s the first of three back-to-backs over the next 10 days. They also have one on Dec. 22 (home versus Dallas) and Dec. 23 (at New Orleans) and on Dec. 26 and 27 versus Indiana and Phoenix, respectively. Both of those final two games are in Houston.