Houston Rockets stay tough down the clutch to squeak past Toronto Raptors 88-85 - NBA Update
Houston Rockets had been on a roll entering the All-Star weekend and on Tuesday night, they continued from where they left off.
Up against the Toronto Raptors, Houston churned out an 88-85 win in a thrilling encounter, to extend their winning streak to four games, and improve their overall record to 21-14 in the condensed season.
Kyle Lowry stole the show with 26 points that included a perfect quadruple from the long range, 6 for 7 from the charity stripe, 3 boards and 5 assists. Luis Scola had a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards while Kevin Martin
tallied 14 points on a 7 for 8 from the free throw line. Samuel Dalembert also chipped in with 10 points.
DeMar DeRozan marshalled the Raps with 17 points while James Johnson amassed 16 points along with 8 rebounds. Leandro Barbosa and Amir Johnson finished with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Although Toronto lost the game, their coach Dwane Casey seemed satisfied with the overall performance of his team tonight.
"I liked our effort and we competed as a team," Casey said. "Basketball plays and basketball decisions have to get better."
Rockets started the game strongly with a 15-6 spurt that allowed them to finish the first frame with a 12 point lead, 27-15. The Raptors put up a good fight in the opening minutes of the second frame and got as close as 26-30
with the help of an 11-3 spurt, however in the ensuing passage, the Rockets fuelled a 7-0 run to again boost their lead into double figures, 37-26.
Raptors just never got going in the remaining minutes of the quarter and by the end of the first half, found themselves trailing behind 9 points 36-45.
Scola, Martin and Lowry kept attacking in the third frame to ensure that the Rockets lead stayed in double figures. Houston were ahead by 62-49 midway through the frame when Raptors changed gears and rattled a 13-3 burst to get
within a striking distance, 62-65. The Rockets though, did not let Toronto penetrate further into their advantage and finished the frame with a 5 point lead 69-64.
Kevin McHale’s team maintained the lead for most of the time in the deciding quarter and were heading to a win, ahead by 85-79, with a minute remaining in the game, before Toronto made one last comeback to make it 83-85.
With few seconds remaining in the game, Martin sealed the victory for his team with the help of three crucial free throws.
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