Boracay Island, Philippines – Coming off a painful double-overtime loss to their Texas rivals Spurs, the Houston Rockets bounced back to beat the defending champions Toronto Raptors 119-109 on Thursday night (Friday morning, Philippine time) at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.
Former MVP and scoring leader James Harden cut backed a little bit on his shot attempts, allowing the unheralded Ben McLemore to erupt for 28 points, including 8 three pointers for Houston. Russell Westbrook had another triple-double of 19 markers, 13 boards, and 11 dimes, although he committed 8 turnovers.
Harden finished with 23 points on a very efficient 7-for-11 field goal shooting, including 3-for-5 from deep and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block for the Rockets, who improved to 14 wins and 7 losses.
Pascal Siakam topscored for Toronto with 24. Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry added 20 and 19, respectively for the Raptors, who dropped to a 15-6 win-loss card.
The Raptors will travel to Philadelphia on Sunday night (Monday morning, Philippine time) to face the 76ers.
Meanwhile, the Rockets will host the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night (Sunday morning, Philippine time).
How they scored:
Rockets 119 – McLemore 28, Harden 23, Westbrook 19, Tucker 18, House Jr. 16, Rivers 9, Capela 6
Raptors 109 – Siakam 24, VanVleet 20, Lowry 19, Powell 14, Ibaka 10, Anunoby 9, Davis 6, Gasol 5, Holllis-Jefferson 2
AROUND THE LEAGUE:
(Road Team – Home Team)
PHI 113 – 119 WSH
HOU 119 – 109 TOR
DEN 129 – 92 NYK
PHX 139 – 132 NOP(OT)
GAMES TODAY, DECEMBER 7, 2019 CT
ORL @ CLE 8:00 AM CT
IND @ DET 8:00 AM CT
BKN @ CHA 8:00 AM CT
WSH @ MIA 9:00 AM CT
GSW @ CHI 9:00 AM CT
MIN @ OKC 9:00 AM CT
DEN @ BOS 9:00 AM CT
LAC @ MIL 9:30 AM CT
SAC @ SAS 9:30 AM CT
LAL @ POR 11:30 AM CT
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