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Recap: Rockets vs. Raptors - 02/21/2015

Corey Brewer scored a season-high 26 points to lift the Rockets over the Raptors 98-76.

“Last night was a rough game,” Brewer said. “We didn't have any energy coming back from the break and it bit us pretty bad. So, tonight I felt like personally I had to bring energy because last night I didn't have any energy myself. So, I just tried to come out and play hard and everything worked out tonight.”

Brewer’s big night conveniently came when the Rockets’ starters needed help from the bench. At halftime, neither James Harden nor Patrick Beverley had hit a field goal and the remaining three starters had just one each.

“Brew did what he does every game. He brings energy. He gets very active on the defensive end and gets out in transition,” Harden said.

Though the starters eventually got going and Harden finished with 20 after exploding for a 16-point third quarter and Donatas Motiejunas notched his seventh double-double of the season, the bench did most of the heavy lifting. Houston’s reserves outscored Toronto’s 48-17 on the night.

Josh Smith scored all eight of his points in the first quarter, hitting two big three pointers to break Houston out of an early offensive funk. Smith also added three blocks, including an incredible stuff at the rim when Terrence Ross went for the poster dunk.

In addition, Terrence Jones continued to show progress since returning from his lengthy absence, tallying 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

“I just feel more agile, able to jump. I really need to be able to jump and just have energy. That's what I'm trying to bring,” Jones said.

Although Houston committed a season-high 25 turnovers, it evened out as they forced 25 Raptors turnovers thanks to a season-high-tying 17 total steals. Brewer led the team in that category tonight with five. He also added 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.

“I thought we were trying to set the record for the most amount of turnovers between two teams but we played hard the whole game. Guys came in and were much more in tune with what we were doing. We chased down balls and we just did a great job of playing with high energy,” Kevin McHale said.

Toronto All-Star Kyle Lowry was held to just 11 points and committed a game-high seven turnovers. Meanwhile, James Johnson scored a career-high 27 points.

Tonight’s 22-point win marked the Rockets’ third-largest margin of the season and the third time the team has won by more than 20 (+36 vs. MIA on 1/3 and +24 at NYK on 1/8).

The Rockets host the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night.