Portland Trail Blazers vs Houston Rockets Watch FREE NBA PLAYOFFS Live Streaming Online NBA 2014 Game From the Toyota Center Arena 9:30 PM ET

The Rockets were happy simply to return to the playoffs last season.

A year later and with the addition of Dwight Howard, the Rockets are back in the postseason and looking to make some noise. They play Game 1 of their first-round series against Portland on Sunday night.

"Just being here is not good enough," said Chandler Parsons, who made his playoff debut last year. "We want to win and we want to contend for a championship and we want to be the last team standing."

The Rockets returned to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2009 and battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the first round before being eliminated by Oklahoma City in Game 6.

James Harden, who is fifth in the NBA in scoring with 25.4 points a game, believes the experience of last year will help Houston this time around.

"I think last year that first-round playoff series gave us a little taste of what it feels like to be in the playoffs," he said. "So hopefully we're familiar with the playoffs and whatnot and we go out there and just play basketball."

Howard's first season in Houston has been a good one. He bounced back from his one tough season in Los Angeles to average 18.3 points and 12.2 rebounds a game. This will be his seventh trip to the postseason and the 28-year-old is looking to help his less-seasoned teammates handle the pressure of the playoffs.

"I just try to lead these guys by example," he said. "Just give the guys some words of advice, but make sure they're also confident that we can win this series and win the whole thing."

The Trail Blazers haven't advanced to the playoffs since 2011.

Second-year point guard Damian Lillard is among the Trail Blazers who are new to the postseason.

"I'm just going to try to go into it and play it like another basketball game," Lillard said, "and not put too much pressure on the fact that it's my first playoff game or that we're on the road or all those other things."

The game will be live streaming at www.nbalivestreamfree.net