Rockets tease Raptors before pulling away in the fourth

The Rockets never seemed to panic when the Raptors inched closer. The Rockets kept going on quick runs to widen the lead and asserted themselves when the game mattered most.

With less than nine minutes left, Amen Thompson’s 3 put the Rockets up nine points. Then, an awful live ball turnover by Mamu widened the Rockets’ lead to 11. Darko let his squad play through it and this was the beginning of the end.

Going into the final frame, the Raptors had built momentum and were trailing by only three. But when it comes crunch time, where do they their punch lines go? They were exactly what we expect of them, though Will Lou’s take was that the Rockets didn’t even play well last night.

In an attempt to narrow the double-digit lead, BI shot back-to-back 3s but missed (kudos to Walter for grabbing a massive offensive board). The Raptors shot a putrid 1-11 from downtown in the fourth quarter; Barrett was the only one to hit a 3.

The Raptors threw an aggressive double and the Rockets broke it and scored again. In fairness, throwing doubles worked, at times, in the third quarter. The Raptors force five turnovers and converted them into seven points. Mamu had a nice steal and finished in transition. Dick made a lay-up after Walter got a steal (then had another one).

But throwing doubles didn’t work when it mattered most. Next thing you know, the Rockets ballooned their lead to 15 points as Jabari Smith Jr. completed the and-one and hit a technical free throw.

In the span of four minutes and 20 seconds since the final frame started, the Rockets stretched a three-point lead into 15, and maintained a large lead until the buzzer. They relied to KD throughout the game to kill the Raptors’ hope.

He led all scorers with 29 points. He drained his signature mid-range jumper, from the short corner, before the Raptors threw in the Garrett Temple and Alijah Martin white towel. In the third, he made a shot from the same spot to stretch the Rockets’ lead to 10 and deflated Raptors’ momentum. KD even hit a jumper with Barnes right in his face.

There was hope for a fleeting moment when Barrett, who led the team in first-half scoring with 17 points, took a beastly drive from the left corner in the third (Barrett led his team in scoring with 25 points, Barnes had 24). That inspired IQ to do the same on the right side of the floor. But instead of going up, IQ kicked it out to Battle who splashed the 3. Smith got Ted up and Ime Udoka followed suit, resulting in a five-point play that helped the Raps inch within one.

But that was just a tease. The Rockets asserted themselves like they had done towards the end of the first half when leads never got larger than five points. When BI hit his second free throw to help his squad inch within three points with 2:40 left in the first half, the Rockets went on a 6-0 run to establish a nine-point lead with Clint Capela becoming a one-man offensive rebounding machine. In the fourth, the Rockets turned it on in a short time-span and the Raptors folded against a better team.

Unfortunately, no surprises there.

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