Winners of their last five, the Houston Rockets are a fiendishly good team. The return of Chris Paul has hardly marred the path of destruction that has been James Harden’s season. He has scored 100 in his past two games. Chris Paul has been no slouch either, and Clint Capela is back now, too. Houston is looking like a championship contender, and Nick Nurse said as much in his press conference before the game.
The scary thing is that the last time they met, Houston beat Toronto despite only middling contributions from Harden. The Beard scored 35, sure, but it was Eric Gordon’s 24, PJ Tucker’s 18, and Kenneth Faried’s 21 that really sunk the Raptors’ battleship. Toronto has the guns to hamper Harden; Danny Green will likely start on him, but Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and even OG Anunoby could see possessions on Houston’s primary option. It will be the performance of Houston’s secondary and tertiary scorers and creators that largely determine the results of this one.
For Toronto, Kyle Lowry is coming off of possibly his best game of the season. He scored 35 in a loss to Detroit, but his shot-making both inside and behind the arc was the largest factor keeping the Raps in the game to begin with. Count this as one of the few remaining chances Lowry, Leonard, and Gasol have to get on the same page before the playoffs. They’ve been improving dramatically as of late, but the regular season is waning. Toronto is almost certainly locked into second place in the East for playoff standings. The Houston matchup is about winning, sure, but it’s more about building the vibes between Toronto’s stars.
Nurse confirmed that before the game, saying that the team is not using any specific defensive gameplan against Houston. In general, they’re probably done gameplanning for specific teams in the regular season. The scouting department is likely honing in on possible first-round playoff opponents instead of hitting the road ahead of the team. Toronto is firmly focussed on Toronto, not Houston, ahead of this one.
Toronto Updates
Fred Van Vleet (thumb) remains out, but Kawhi Leonard will play. With Jordan Loyd on the road last night and tomorrow night, he isn’t available.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Jeremy Lin
SG: Danny Green, Patrick McCaw
SF: Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell, Malcolm Miller
PF: Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby
C: Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Chris Boucher
Houston Updates
Kenneth Faried (hip) and Iman Shumpert (right calf) are both questionable.
PG: Chris Paul, Austin Rivers
SG: James Harden, Gerald Green
SF: Eric Gordon, Vince Edwards, Danuel House
PF: PJ Tucker, Gary Clark
C: Clint Capela, Nene Hilario
The Line
Toronto’s is -3. I can’t remember the last time they were an underdog in a game. The over-under is 228.0.
