Canada Sports News

• The Toronto Raptors played their first scrimmage game last night, and they defeated the Houston Rockets.
• Raptors were better in the last period outscoring the Rockets 22-10, and that was the main reason for their win.
• Up next they face the Portland Trail Blazers.

Raptors’ Excellent Finish

The reigning NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors have won their first scrimmage game in the Orlando bubble. Champs were better than the Houston Rockets, 94-83, indicating that the hiatus didn’t hurt their form at all.

“Man, it felt really good, man,” Terence Davis stated after the match. “It was great to get up and down. I know the guys felt the same way. It just felt really good to continue doing what you love to do.”

The Raptors did open the game a bit slower, but the finish was more than excellent. The Rockets had a 29-22 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes, but slowly the tide shifted in Toronto’s favor.

Before the start of the last sequence, Houston had a one-point advantage, 75-74, but then started an avalanche from the other side. Toronto opened the final period with seven straight points, and that was the crucial moment of the match. Back then the champs created a massive swing on their side, eventually limiting the Rockets to just 10 points in 10 minutes.

Once again, the rule that Toronto’s games are won because of tough defense received confirmation. It was a perfect present for Nick Nurse who turned 53 this Friday night.

“I thought there was some good energy at times, great ball movement, etc. Had some good battling, I don’t think the intensity of the game was super high, but it was really good to get out there and see where we were,” he said about the game.

Serge Ibaka dropped 18 points and was the most efficient among the winners. The Spaniard was 8 for 10 from the field. Terence Davis added 15 with five boards, and Pascal Siakam 13 with the same number of rebounds as Davis. Norman Powell had 12.

On the other side, Harden delivered 24 points in 25 minutes adding 10 assists as well. Danuel House Jr. had 18 and 6 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook had 10 with 9 boards.

The Raptors had more rebounds (43-38) and assists (25-18) than the Rockets.

Blazers Up Next

The next opponents for Nurse and his crew are the Trail Blazers led by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They lost their opening match here against the Pacers, 88-91. Neither of the players from Portland played particularly well apart from Jusuf Nurkic who had 14 points and 8 boards, returning to the court following a tough injury that forced him to sit out the entire season up to this point.

After Portland, Toronto faces the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, July 28, and after that, they begin the official restart of the season against the LA Lakers on August 1.

Two days later, they meet the Miami Heat. In the remainder of the season, Raptors will play against the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and the Denver Nuggets.