James Harden and Patrick Patterson performed brilliantly to help the Houston Rockets past the Toronto Raptors 117-101 Tuesday.
Harden contributed with 24 points, six rebounds and a career high 12 assists, whereas Patterson scored 22 points and had five rebounds for the Rockets. Omer Asik added 13 points and had 18 rebounds. It was Asik's seventh double-double of the season.
Coach Kevin McHale's daughter Sasha McHale died Saturday from complications of lupus. The Rockets team members had planned to go Minneapolis to attend a memorial service Wednesday.
"I think we're strong enough to get through it," the associated Press quoted Harden as saying. "We've got to be there for Coach.
"He's going through a lot right now. Our biggest thing is just supporting him, and making sure we comfort him.
"It'll be good to see some faces, some old teammates and coaches. I look forward to every game I play. It's another game."
Terrence Ross scored a career-high 19 points for the Raptors, whereas Andrea Bargnani contributed with 21 points. The Rockets added 27 points off 16 Toronto turnovers, which played a huge role in Toronto's fifth straight defeat.
"Houston outran us down the floor and our turnovers killed us," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "Houston shot the heck out of the ball, but we caused some of that by our turnovers."
For Rockets, Jeremy Lin scored16 points and had 10 assists. He made a serene seven out of nine attempts from the field.
"This is the best game Jeremy has played, no question," interim coach Kelvin Sampson said. "I thought he got his swagger back against New York. He's been working hard with his shooting."
The Rockets were good from the field against the Raptors. "Right now, it's an emotional time for the whole team," Lin said. "We're missing our leader.
"Right now, we're just focused on coming out and playing the way we're supposed to play. Hopefully, when he is watching, he can be proud of us."
"So you can tell he is down," Parsons added. "But just watching us get these wins is helping him and I think that should give us more incentive to keep playing together, keep playing hard and being a product of him."
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