A triple-double from Jose Calderon spurred the Toronto Raptors past the Houston Rockets 103-96 Sunday night.
Calderon finished with 18 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds
"I made up my mind, I want to be the most professional player in the NBA. I don't know if I'm going to be on the court or not but I want this team to win," Calderon, who started for the third straight game in place of the injured Kyle Lowry, said.
"This is my team, this is what I've been doing for eight years now, and that's what I do. I know my teammates know that, there's the trust behind it, it's really comfortable to play with these guys."
Calderon himself had a triple-double, but did not allow Rockets guard Jeremy Lin to dominate.
"Huge," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Calderon's game. "He's a solid pro. I love him, he's going to win a lot of basketball games for you. Defensively, he did a solid job on Lin. I just can't say enough about Jose."
The Rockets outscored the Raptors 28-26 in the first quarter, while in the second, Toronto outscored Houston 23-21.
The Rockets are passing through a bad phase on the road and they have already lost seven games in a row.
"It was a disappointing one," Lin said. "We obviously didn't get the win and I don't think we played particularly well. Not the best feeling."
The Raptors misses services of their star players Andrea Bargnani and Lowry for the second straight game.
Alan Anderson, however, scored 24 points, DeMar DeRozan finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Ed Davis added 13 points for Toronto.
For the Rockets, James Harden added 28 points, while Marcus Morris scored 19 points and chipped in with six rebounds.
The Raptors were leading 77-71 in the final quarter but the Rockets managed to cut their lead to four points. After that, Carlos Delfino made two baskets with 1:04 remaining in the game, but Calderon's two free throws again gave the Raptors a four-point lead. At the end, with the help of Anderson's layup, the Raptors won the game.
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