HOUSTON — In the aftermath of a blowout loss in San Antonio, the Rockets returned home and bounced back with Tuesday’s 113-99 victory (box score) over the Raptors.
Houston (40-24) temporarily moved into a tie for the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings, pending Minnesota’s later result against the Los Angeles Lakers. Meanwhile, Toronto (36-28) will stay at No. 5 in the East.
As a team, the Rockets shot 50.0% overall and 41.7% on 3-pointers, easily outpacing Toronto (43.6% and 25.0%). Houston also had a decisive rebounding advantage, 52-30.
Individually, the big story for the Rockets was All-Star forward Kevin Durant, who finished with 29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks while making 12-of-16 shots (75.0%) and 4-of-5 from 3-point range (80.0%).
Other individual standouts included:
After giving up 145 points in Sunday’s loss, Houston held Toronto below 100 and improved to 12-0 when doing so this season. The Rockets are 21-1 when holding opponents below 105, with the lone loss coming due to Tari Eason’s tip-in at Portland being a split-second late (on Jan. 7).
Next up for Houston is night two of a split back-to-back, as a difficult and important game looms at Denver (39-26) on Wednesday night. Tipoff of Rockets-Nuggets is at 9:00 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised and streamed regionally on Space City Home Network and nationally via ESPN.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets 113, Raptors 99: Kevin Durant leads 40th win on peak efficiency
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
