The injury-riddled Rockets battled in Toronto, but DeRozan’s career night led the Raptors to a 99-96 win.
The Rockets have not won in Toronto since 3/16/2007.
The short-handed Rockets (without Howard, Jones, Motiejunas, Papanikolaou and Beverley – who will miss the rest of the season with a torn ligament in his wrist) got off to a good start in Toronto with threes from Ariza and Terry. Houston built a nine-point lead, but Toronto tied it after one thanks to a 10-2 run to close the quarter.
Rookie Clint Capela checked in early and broke an 0-11 FG streak to start his career when he finished an alley-oop from James Harden. Capela wasn’t finished as he threw down two more vicious dunks in the half for six points.
Capela and the Rockets went on a run of their own in the second to grab an 11-point lead, but Toronto countered again with a run of their own to cut Houston’s lead to just four at halftime.
The Rockets struggled to find the basket early in the third and Toronto capitalized and built a seven-point lead. However, Harden found his rhythm and put up 15 in the quarter to erase the deficit and lead by two heading into the final 12 minutes.
The Rockets and Raptors exchanged leads at a breakneck pace in the fourth (13 total lead changes in the game) but DeMar DeRozan’s career-high 42 points was too much for Harden’s 31 and the Raptors prevailed when Ariza’s two last-second three-pointers were off the mark.
The Rockets return home to face Sacramento on Wednesday.