Houston Rockets vs. Toronto Raptors game preview

Houston looks to keep up their winning ways in Canada

In the Playback room on Thursday night, we talked about how the biggest improvement Houston could make over last season was winning on the road. Last year’s team didn’t get their first road win until December 8. The team finished with 14 road wins, but every team that made the playoffs or play-in in the West won at least 19. Coincidentally, those five games were the difference between the Rockets making the play-in and finishing in 11th.

The current Rockets are halfway to that 14-win mark at 7-6.

The other area that Houston can improve on is winning games that they are supposed to win on paper. There are always going to be upsets and bad nights against bad teams. Houston has their fair share of those already. But if Houston can consistently beat sub-.500 teams like they did against the injury-ravaged Pelicans, they can start planning for April.

So tonight counts on both fronts. The Toronto Raptors should get R.J. Barrett back tonight, and combined with Scottie Barnes, Gradey Dick, and a grabbag of young talent that can step up on any given night they have a chance to play spoiler. That’s especially true in Canada, where Rockets teams have always seemed to underperform.

Tonight’s game has an early start time. Just wanted people aware.

We’ll be in the Playback room tonight, so you should come join to watch the Rockets and talk about the game. Remember, we get a handful of VIP passes that we give out to anyone who wants to watch the game. No League Pass necessary!

Tip-off

5pm CT

How To Watch

Space City Home Network and Playback

Injury Report

Rockets

Tari Eason-OUT

Raptors

Jakob Poeltl: OUT

Bruce Brown: OUT

Immanuel Quickley: OUT

Davion Mitchell: GTD

The Line (as of this post)

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

Tomorrow at Charlotte Hornets