It was roughly a year ago when Houston travelled to Memphis with new acquisition Josh Smith and upset the Grizzlies in overtime. Suddenly, the Rockets were contenders. Smith had fit in immediately and Corey Brewer was giving Houston punch off the bench. The Rockets were for real, and Memphis was their debut.

Tonight Houston heads to Beale Street on a different plane of existence in the NBA landscape. Discarded, forgotten, and shamed by each and every media outlet, these Rockets don't resemble those fun Rockets.

A buddy of mine asked the other day what Houston needed to get back to prominence, besides effort. The answer is that there's no answer to that question.

We harp on it time and time again. Effort is the key for the Rockets. Sure, Houston has TONS of other issues, but they all seem to melt away when the Rockets try. It's an easy explanation for Houston's 4-0 record in overtime games this season. When the game comes down to 5 minutes, Houston goes all-out and usually comes out on top. When the Rockets play to their potential, they start reminding us of the team that deservedly advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Maybe the Rockets know this. Maybe they think that effort will even the playing field in the playoffs. Maybe they think that not having home court advantage won't be an issue because they will undoubtedly try harder in the nationally televised playoff games. But it's this lack of effort that has made Houston an easy target for any looking to write them off. It's effort that causes them to lose winnable games.

Anyway, how well the Rockets try on offense and defense tonight will dictate how this game goes. Memphis is notoriously stingy on defense. There's a number that keeps popping up over and over again when you look at the Grizzlies' previous games: 90. When Memphis hold opponents under 90 points, they usually win. They are 8-1 in such games. In 17 of Memphis' 18 losses, they allowed 91 points or more.

So the goal for Houston is to hit 91.

Tip off is at 7pm CST.

Matchups:

Point Guard: Patrick Beverley vs. Mario Chalmers Mike Conley is questionable with a sore Achilles so it will probably be Chalmers picking up minutes here for the Grizzlies. Chalmers generally hasn't played well against Houston in his career, and it's easy to say that it's probably due to Patrick Beverley. Chalmers' true shooting percentage is lower against Houston than it is against any other team over the course of his career by a sizable amount. He got the free throw line 13 times against Boston so if he keeps that going it would significantly improve his numbers against Houston. Even if Conley plays, it will be unlikely that he'll be 100% since he was limited in practice on Monday. For Houston, Ty Lawson is eligible to play after serving his 3-game suspension.