The NBA regular season continues, the East and West usher in a strong and weak confrontation, and the Rockets sit at home to meet the Raptors.
Before the game began, the Rockets suffered a three-game losing streak, while the Raptors were in a seven-game winning streak.
At the same time, before the game began, the two teams also completed the trade, including the Raptors sent Dragic and the Spurs to get Thaddis Young from the Spurs to further improve the thickness of the team's flanks.
The Rockets, which had previously been mired in rumors of a deal, also completed a small lineup adjustment, sending Theiss to the Green Army in exchange for some players including Schroeder.
Since neither trade touched the core rotation of the two teams, so the competition for this game had little impact, the Home Rockets quickly found a feel at the beginning and established an advantage under Porter Jr.
Although the Raptors Trent was also in hot form, scoring 17 points in a single quarter, with multi-point blossoming, the Rockets exploded with 41 points in the first quarter to establish a four-point lead.
In the second quarter, the rocket team's offensive efficiency that has been used by the three-plate axe has declined significantly, while the Raptors have not only maintained a fiery feel in the Raptors, but also Siakam has also hit the inside line.
This allowed the Raptors to quickly complete the score reversal, and at the end of the half, the Raptors not only completed the rebound, but also established a 9-point lead.
Easy side to fight again, Siakam and Trent continued to exert strength, the point difference was quickly pulled apart by double digits, fortunately, the young Rockets have good resilience, under the leadership of Porter Jr., Green and Wood once narrowed the point difference to 6 points, helpless is the lack of continuity of the team, at the end of the third quarter, the Raptors have led by as many as 12 points.
Entering the final quarter of the competition, the Raptors continued to play the advantage of the interior line, playing the Rockets without the ability to fight back, and the point difference was quickly stretched to as much as 19 points.
Since then, the Rockets' state has begun to pick up, with consecutive three-pointers from the outside, and the point difference has been forced to close to 10 points, after which the Raptors have quickly replaced the main players.
With the return of Siakam and Trent, the game gradually lost suspense, and finally the Raptors won 139-120 against the Rockets, winning eight consecutive games to continue to rank sixth in the East, closely following the 76ers in front of the fifth, and the two teams are currently only one win away.
On the other hand, the Rockets sent Theiss away through a trade before the game began, and returned to Schroeder and Fernando.
In order to complete the transaction smoothly, He also laid off Augustine and Armony Brooks, but still did not solve the team's current 3 major dilemmas.
The first major dilemma is the immaturity of Porter Jr. and the downturn of the leader green, Porter Jr. performed well in this game, handed over 36 minutes, 11 of 16 shots (9 of 3 points, 2 of 3 free throws) got 30 points, 3 boards, 8 assists and 1 steal, and the overall performance improved significantly from the beginning of the season.
As a result, after the game, Porter Jr. exposed the problem of immaturity, and in the last 3 seconds, Porter Jr., who held the ball, did not honestly wait for the time to end.
Instead, it sent out a strange behavior, directly smashing the ground in the direction of its own basket, and the result was that the ball fell directly into the basket, and this ball could undoubtedly climb the five big ones.
Green shot 7-of-13 from the field, handed over 18 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, a performance improvement, but still tepid, the Rockets want to return to the contenders around the two is almost impossible.
The second biggest dilemma was that the team did not clean up Gordon, Wood and other players who did not meet the team's reconstruction plan, and Wood had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in the whole game, and Gordon continued to be absent due to injury.
The third dilemma was some of the excellent immediate combat and not being replaced by the Rockets for a young player suitable for reconstruction, with Matthews continuing his form, handing over 19 points and 6 rebounds, and Tate delivering 12 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
Although the Rockets have no requirements for game wins and losses this season, the failure to complete a large-scale cleanup before the trade deadline still makes the Rockets look hopeless at present.