Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the Toronto Raptors (42-32) will try to maintain their slim lead over the Brooklyn Nets in the Atlantic division when they host the Houston Rockets (49-24) at the Air Canada Centre. Live stream the game by clicking this link; Rockets fans can find the radio broadcast on KBME, while Raptors fans may do the same on Fan590.
The Rockets dropped a game last night to Brooklyn, and are trying to protect their own home court advantage for Round 1 of the playoffs--they lead the Trailblazers by 1.5 games. They may have an edge over Toronto if the knee injury point guard Kyle Lowry suffered Monday forces him to miss significant time.
This year Lowry has put up All-Star caliber numbers, 17.6 points and 7.6 assists per game, while Houston is without their most dogged perimeter defender Patrick Beverley for an undetermined amount of time. "He bumped knees," coach Dwane Casey said after the game. "It puffed up a little bit. X-rays were negative. We just have to wait and see how he is."
Meanwhile, Houston has lost two straight games sans Dwight Howard, who is fighting some ankle problems. In addition to being without Howard, Beverley, and power forward Terrence Jones (flu) the maladies are piling up.
"We had the same problem early in the season," leading scorer James Harden said. "We thought we were getting over it, getting guys healthy and getting into mojo and a groove. Three of our starters are out now so we've just got to figure out a way to get through it. We'll be alright."
The Rockets shouldn't expect any sympathy from head coach Kevin McHale. "It doesn't make any different who's out," McHale said. "We've got to play ... Everybody's got to play better."
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