The Toronto Raptors have lost their second game at home in a row. This time, it were the Houston Rockets who defeated them following a loss to Miami Heat. The final result, 119-109 for the franchise from Texas.
It was the contest in which we haven’t seen James Harden trashing the rivals’ defense. The Beard was quiet for his standards, posting just 23 points, and not taking too many shots. But the rest of the team was more than impressive.
Almost whenever he had the ball, the Raptors’ defense would double up against him. It is why he didn’t want to force anything and was eager to pass the ball to his teammates and that opened up a lot of positions for the guests to score. According to Nick Nurse, this was an “experiment,” and he wanted to see if it is productive.
“It was an interesting experiment to see play out,” said Nurse. “I think it was pretty good. It wasn’t great, but it was pretty good. We just weren’t good enough again in some of the other areas around it.”
It was effective against Harden, but for the overall results, it wasn’t. Ben McLemore took over the wheel, dropped 28 points, and was 8 for 17 from downtown. He was the leading scorer in tonight’s game and an X-factor, which eventually decided the result.
Besides him, the Rockets had Russell Westbrook, who posted a triple-double with 19 points, 13 boards, and 11 assists, but shooting 7 for 27 from the field. Also, the former MVP couldn’t hit a single three in six attempts.
PJ Tucker had 18 points and 11 boards along with five threes, and Danuel House Jr. scored 16 points.
“Tonight was our first time seeing this defense. Guys did an unbelievable job of moving their bodies and being ready to shoot,” said Harden.
Among the home team, Pascal Siakam dropped 24 buckets with 9 rebounds. Fred VanVleet had 20 with 6 boards, while Kyle Lowry scored 19 and had 8 assists. Norman Powell had 14 off the bench.
The Raptors were outrebounded with 45-54, and also had a far worse three-point percentage. Nick Nurse’s guys shot 12 for 39 from a distance, while the Rockets sunk 22 of their 55 attempts. In the end, that was the biggest reason for their win.
“I don’t think we played offense well enough,” said Nurse. “I thought we missed open shots. We just didn’t shoot it very well.”
The Raptors now have 15 wins and 6 losses and are tied at the fourth place in the Eastern Conference. With 3.5 games behind the leaders Milwaukee Bucks, they will need to step up in the next few games and post a few wins. Otherwise, the Bucks will create a nice advantage in the standings early on this season.
Up next, they have the 76ers at home, and then the Bulls on the road, before coming back to Scotiabank Arena for a three-game homestand.
On the other hand, the 14-7 Rockets stopped their three-game losing skid on the road. They are heading home now, to meet the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, and the Sacramento Kings on Monday.
