Matt Tierney - Raptors.com
Toronto (41-19) faces Houston (30-32) tonight at Air Canada Centre for the first of two meetings this month. The Raptors had a day off yesterday after their shootout win over Portland Friday night. The Rockets are on the second of a back to back following a 108-100 loss in Chicago last night.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Trevor Ariza – James Harden is the focal point of this Houston offence and the attention he gets creates opportunities for others including Ariza. The 30-year old’s ability to shoot the long ball opens up defences and allows room for both Harden and Dwight Howard to operate. In his second stint with the Rockets, Ariza is averaging 12 points, five rebounds and two assists a game.
Norman Powell</strong – The Raptors rookie seemed to have dropped down the pecking order after losing his place in the starting lineup to James Johnson. That didn’t faze Powell as the 22-year old put his head down, worked hard and waited for his next opportunity. After an impressive display with Raptors 905 (36p, 12r, 6a), Powell was recalled the following day and immediately inserted into the starting lineup, tasked with guarding the Blazers C.J. McCollum. He responded with his best game of the season, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds in a Raps win.
MORE RECORDS
It’s been difficult to keep up with all the records and milestones being set by this Raptors team this season.
The 65 fouls called in Friday’s game provided an opportunity for even more landmarks for both the players and team as a whole.
Toronto ended up going to the free throw line 54 times, converting 43 of them. Both attempts and makes were franchise highs for the Raptors.
It was also a big night for DeMar DeRozan. The Raps shooting guard was responsible for 25 of his team’s free-throw attempts of which he made all but one. The 24 successful free throws was a single-game team record previously held by Chris Bosh and Vince Carter (22). Unfortunately for DeRozan, his sole miss resulted in him losing the NBA record of consecutive made free throws in a game without a miss, held by Dominique Wilkins (23).
In the end, the record did not matter, with the Raptors emerging victorious. The 26-year old scored a team-high 38 points and in the process became only the third player in franchise history to score 9,000 points alongside Bosh and Carter.
As has been the case this year, DeRozan was unaware of the feat when he was reminded by the media after the game.
“I don’t know anything until you all tell me, or I read it on Twitter.” Well, congrats DeMar.