Fresh off a beat down victory against the Utah Jazz, the Toronto Raptors have now headed to Texas to take on the Houston Rockets. A win here would be absolutely huge against a somewhat struggling Rockets squad.
Rudy Gay has picked up his play, which is encouraging to see. He will have to continue to dominate against weaker defenders, and step up against elite ones. Also, Kyle Lowry is expected to play against his former team after tweaking his ankle against the Jazz.
Without further ado, let’s get right into the Cage’s 5 Keys To The Game
1. Don’t get killed on the boards
The Rockets are a very good rebounding team. The Raps have been solid on the glass as well, but have done so against relatively weak rebounding teams.
Trying to out-rebound a frontcourt headlined by Dwight Howard and Omer Asik is going to be tough to say the least. If Gay can continue to attack the glass and Jonas Valanciunas can neutralize Howard to a certain extent then this team should be able to even out on the boards.
2. Contain the one-two punch
James Harden and Dwight Howard consist of one of the best one-two punches in the league. Outside these two, the Rockets are beatable.
Harden and D12 haven’t found a particularly great chemistry between each other as yet, so limiting them offensively shouldn’t be impossible. Harden will take his fair share of shots, but he hasn’t been shooting at a particularly high efficiency. Having strong help defense on penetrating plays and closing out on his shots will ensure he doesn’t get hot early, which will be key.
Howard, on the other hand, has been shooting 55% from the field. The key to stopping Dwight is monitoring the post position he gets. The closer he gets to the basket, the more unstoppable he becomes. And once he gets that close, Hack-a-Dwight is always an option.
3. Start strong
The Rockets are going to look to pour in the points right off the bat. It’s happened far too many times already this year – the Raps need to have 4th quarter intensity to start the game, especially when you are dealing with such a streaky offense.
If Chandler Parsons is hitting, Harden is feeling it, and a couple of their shooters are hot, and Howard is being Howard then the Raps will need nothing short of a miracle to pull this one off. This team has the potential to score 120+ points on any given night, and if the Raps can fluster the offense early it will give them a chance.
4. Establish an effective zone
Dwane Casey hasn’t been particularly fond of the zone defense this season. The Rockets shoot around 25% from deep – not a very good number. However, they love to attack the rim and if the Raps aren’t strong inside it will be tough to stop the en-slaughter.
Go to the zone early and you will have a much easier time. Also, I think Aaron Gray needs to get some minutes tonight and get thrown into the middle position of that zone. No joke there.
5. Move the ball
The Rockets aren’t a particularly strong defensive team at this point. However, D12 and Asik are strong defenders, and make it difficult to get points in the paint. With that being the case, the Raps classic Lowry to Gay/DeRozan iso may be even less effective.
The Raptors will have to establish a perimeter game and that will only happen by moving the ball to find that open man. No more stagnant offense – move the rock.
X-Factor – DeMar DeRozan
This one was a no-brainer. DeRozan will have the tough task of trying to contain one of the best scorers in the league. Considering the way DD has played defense thus far, it may not be too pretty.
On the flip side, Harden is a pretty weak defender. DeRozan has been struggling in terms of efficiency this year, but has a chance to step up big time tonight.
If DeRozan can make Harden force his offensive game and exploit him defensively, the Raps will be in a good position. It should be fun to watch DeRozan and Harden go head to head.
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