Rockets dominate, slip, recover and bumble their way to win over Raptors. – The Dream Shake
The second half brought a continuing Toronto surge in the third quarter, with the margin narrowing to as little as four. The Rockets countered and at one point had the lead at 18. If you know these Rockets, though, you’ll know they didn’t extend the lead to 25 and put the game on ice. No, indeed. While a combination of strong drives (and James Harden unleashing a lethal floater) and some long range shooting built the lead, settling for threes, and missing wide open ones allowed the Raptors to once again climb in the game.
The fourth quarter was both better and worse. The Rockets withstood another Raptors run, and built what would normally be a safe lead with under two minutes left. Where PJ Tucker was the goat in the narrow win over the Knicks, Eric Gordon, otherwise having a fine game, decided to see how close the Raptors could make it. With every Raptor hitting three point shots, making three within the span of 50 seconds from the 1:07 mark, they made it uncomfortably close.
On the final Rockets offensive play, Eric Gordon, believing himself to be the target of an intentional foul, flung up a three point attempt, rather than running more clock. No foul was called, and Toronto was behind only two, with plenty of time to shoot.
The call was for Kawhi Leonard to take the final shot, and attempt a three for a win. Leonard switched onto James Harden. Despite a push off, Harden stayed close for an excellent contest. Kawhi may be many things, but Harden’s equal at shooting step back threes he is not.
Leonard airballed the potentially winning shot for the Raptors and the Rockets escaped with a win in a contest that never should have been that close.
Once again the Rockets show themselves to be one of the least opponent driven teams in the NBA. Their victory tonight over the team with the best record in the NBA was much like theirs over the woeful Knicks.
Highlights: Kenneth Faried looked like his younger self tonight, flying around the court, rebounding, dunking passes from Harden, and generally being a good all-around player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBc79wOypAk
Raptors' late charge comes up short as Rockets escape with win – TSN.ca
When Chris Paul was injured, they got a boost by signing Austin Rivers following his release by the Suns. And after the recent injury to Clint Capela, Houston scooped up Kenneth Faried after he was released by the Nets. After just three games, Faried is proving another great fit as he scored 21 points and had a season-high 14 rebounds Friday night to help the Rockets to a 121-119 win over the Toronto Raptors.
“The lift was great,” James Harden said. “Kenneth brought the energy that we’ve been waiting on.”
Harden scored 35 points for his 22nd straight game with 30 or more and the Rockets never trailed and held off a late charge in the victory.
After averaging 52.2 points over the last five games, capped by a franchise-record 61 in Wednesday’s win over the Knicks, Harden’s torrid scoring pace slowed a bit as all of Houston’s starters scored 10 points or more.
Eric Gordon led that group with 24, P.J. Tucker added 18 and Austin Rivers scored 13.
Houston led by 11 points after two free throws by Harden with 1:14 remaining before the Raptors made three straight 3-pointers to cut the lead to 121-119 with 27.3 remaining. Gordon missed a 3 to give the Raptors a chance, but Kawhi Leonard’s 3-point attempt was short as he was defended by Harden.
Tucker, who is Houston’s leader on defence, was asked about Harden’s defence on the last play.
“He plays defence when he wants to,” Tucker said with a laugh. “Everybody talks about him playing defence but … since I’ve been here he’s stepped up (after) everybody called him out.”
Is Kawhi Leonard having the best season in Raptors history? | CBC Sports
It remains to be seen whether Kawhi Leonard will play more than one season with the Toronto Raptors, but his first year with the team is shaping up to be one of the best-ever played in team history.
Whether on offence or defence, the small forward is showing Raptors fans why he’s one of the best in the NBA, averaging career highs in points (27.6) and rebounds (7.9) to go along with 1.9 steals and 3.1 assists a night.
“I think when it’s all said and done, Kawhi Leonard will be looked upon in this season, as perhaps having the best season of anyone in a Raptor uniform with what he’s able to do both ways,” said Chuck Swirsky, the former play-by-play television and radio voice of the Toronto Raptors from 1998-2008.
Whether Leonard is in the process of delivering the greatest individual Raptor season is debatable. The team, after all, has had some great players over the years, including Vince Carter, Chris Bosh and DeMar DeRozan
How do those four stars stack up? Take a look at the graphic below.
10 things from Raptors-Rockets (Jan. 25) – The Defeated – Medium
Frustrating: This was a terrible performance by the Raptors who were a no-show to start, got outworked all night, couldn’t execute their offense, committed far too many errors on defense, never once held a lead at any point, and squandered a gift at the end to perhaps salvage the result.
Awful: Kenneth Faried, who was bought out by the Nets and signed for the veteran’s minimum, straight-up punked his Raptors counterparts. He poured in 21 points and 14 rebounds off pure hustle, and was also a disruptive force on defense.
No-show: Faried’s work rate stood in stark contrast to the sluggish showings by Serge Ibaka and Greg Monroe. Ibaka recovered from a lazy first half in which he was consistently a beat late on defense by showing more effort on the defensive glass and finishing with a double-double.
Unplayable: On the other hand, Monroe was flat-out benched after a miserable sequence in which he flubbed a layup, then allowed an uncontested layup the other way, before losing a rebound to Austin Rivers on the ensuing possession. He has been abysmal over the past three games.
Beat: The Raptors actually had a fairly decent game plan against James Harden, who shot just 9-of-25 from the field. Toronto’s defenders stayed parallel to Harden while denying him of his favored left hand, contested his step-back threes with length, and forced him to get his points going to the basket. Danny Green was particularly effective against Harden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBtLaExIIXI
Fans have stuck with Kawhi Leonard as he has stuck to Raptors schedule | The Star
“I’m not sure what it’ll be like, to be honest,” he told reporters before Toronto’s shootaround in Houston on Friday. “I didn’t see what happened last year so I don’t know. I’m not even involved in it.”
Leonard will be making his third all-star start after doing it in both 2016 and 2017 as a member of the Western Conference team, representing the San Antonio Spurs.
“I don’t know how many people have changed conferences the last year, it just shows how real fan support is worldwide and everybody is still enjoying your talents,” he said.
Leonard played Friday night in Houston after getting four games off for rest as part of the yearlong maintenance program to have him fresh for the playoffs in April.
Raptors general manager Bobby Webster laid out what that process entails during an appearance at an Empire Club function in Toronto earlier this week.
“When you bring in a player like Kawhi Leonard, you need to have some sort of analytical benchmark intake situation,” Webster said. “So we’re going to say, ‘OK, Kawhi’s coming to us on July 20, how are we going to measure the five things our medical group thinks are very important?’
“And then how are we going to keep track of those things over the course of the year so that we know when he’s tired, we know when he’s had too much load, we know when he’s been working too much, we know when he needs rest?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_2v-a2fYfo
Raptors nearly pull off miracle comeback, but Rockets hang on for win | CBC Sports
It’s the 22nd straight game in which Harden has led his team and Houston’s opponent in scoring, which moves him past Michael Jordan for the second-longest streak in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain, who did it in 40 in a row.
Danny Green, who led Toronto’s effort to slow Harden down thought they did a “decent job” on him.
“We wanted the other guys to beat us and they did, and they did well,” he said. “They shot well and Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Faried, we made those guys look really good tonight. We have to do a better job of … doing both — stopping one guy and limiting the other guys from getting into rhythm as well.”
Harden’s stretch of 30-point games is the fourth-longest in league history, behind three streaks by Chamberlain of 25, 31 and 65 games. Harden was 15 of 15 on free throws, but struggled from long-range, shooting just 2 of 13 on 3-point attempts. The strong play of Faried gave Harden some much-needed help Friday and The Beard will get another reinforcement Sunday night when Paul is expected to return after missing 17 games with a strained left hamstring.
“I love playing basketball, so for me just to be out there with those guys helping out any way I can, rebounding, defense, blocks, just being out there giving my all,” a beaming Faried said.
I spoke with Kawhi Leonard about his week away from the floor and how he's managed his health the season: pic.twitter.com/zFXxj1WQsi
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) January 25, 2019
Game Recap: Toronto Raptors lose to the Houston Rockets 121-119 – Raptors HQ
Things weren’t looking too hot for Toronto, admittedly. There were a few glimpses of hope late in the first (Toronto cut the lead to seven at one point), but the bench unit eventually found themselves back in a 13-point hole by the first buzzer. Ibaka led the team with six points in nine minutes, followed by Leonard with four. The starters were all at best -11 in box plus/minus. Yikes!
Entering the 2nd quarter, the Raptors had an opportunity to cut the lead if they buckled in and focused their play in transition. Instead they let the Rockets blow the game open, staring at a 50-29 deficit with just over seven minutes remaining the half.
Toronto looked like a team that hasn’t practiced in a few days, and with this having been the third game in four nights — it’s true, they haven’t. It’s been a long week for the Raptors, and flying to Houston after a back-to-back didn’t help their weary legs, contributing to an incredibly slow start.
Again, though, the team had its moments. With 4:43 remaining in the half, Lowry scored points three and four on the night, cutting the Rockets lead to 13, and after Faried missed a bunny layup on the other end, Leonard found Danny Green (22 points, six 3PM) for a transition three to get within ten. This is the team nowadays — they feel out the first half, and begin to make moves in the second half.
Rockets' Harden showcases playmaking touch to seal Raptors' fate – Sportsnet.ca
In the end, the Toronto Raptors did a passable job slowing down James Harden, the Houston Rockets’ high-revving scoring machine, but they couldn’t get out of their own way often enough as Harden eventually had his way with them.
“He’s playing at a high level. He’s always a guy that can go off for 60 points,” Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard said in the buildup to his club’s first meeting of the season against Harden, who came into the game averaging 43.1 points in his last 21 starts, scoring at least 30 in every one, the longest such streak by anyone not named Wilt Chamberlain. The streak is at 22 now.
“[He’s] aggressive on every possession,” Leonard continued. “Also [he’s] willing to pass [and has] guys out there that can shoot the ball, space the floor for him. But it’s just his overall mindset, trying to will his team to win, taking shots, making shots.”
Leonard’s scouting report proved prescient – not so much about Harden’s scoring. Two nights after going off for a career-high 61, the Raptors held Harden to 35 points on 25 shots, in part by limiting him to just 2-of-13 from deep.
3-pointers: Takeaways from Rockets' win over Raptors – HoustonChronicle.com
More than in any game for a month, the streak seemed in jeopardy. James Harden kept it going, with room to spare, scoring 35 points to push his run of games with at least 30 points to 22 games, the fourth-longest streak in NBA history.
When he switched defensively onto Kawhi Leonard, forcing the airball that preserved the win, he also had 22-straight games leading both teams in scoring, the second-longest run in NBA history behind only a 40-game Wilt Chamberlain roll.
This time, however, he did it with the 3-point shot misfiring and against a defense with a very solid plan to defend him.
Harden’s 35 points, his fewest since scoring 32 in the win against the Nuggets Jan. 7, and the 121 the Rockets put up while making just 10 of 46 3-pointers showed they do have other ways to score than the methods they prefer. More than that, he might have shown mastery of another offensive skill that had been shaky in the past.
The Raptors used a defense very similar to the style the Spurs have tried in recent years, down to the two defenders assigned to check Harden. They started with Danny Green overplaying on the perimeter (with Norman Powell and OG Anunoby taking turns, too), dropped their big men to the rim and converged hard into the lane.
