Toronto Raptors @ Houston Rockets - Friday Jan. 25 at 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacifc

[Jclaw]

Mike D’Antoni says Chris Paul is out tonight vs Raptors. ‘If it was a playoff game he could go, we’re just being extra cautious’

— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) January 25, 2019

[The Great One]

Harden is as close to unguardable as there is. Tougher than Curry.

Game Day!

What?

Curry > Harden. This is not even close.

[The Great One]

If Curry shoots as much 3's a game like Harden, he'd probably average 50 a game.

[planetmars]

Should Serge even play in this one? I'd give him a rest day. Faried is their starting center, and I'm not sure they will even play Nene.

Go with Siakam, OG, Kawhi, Green, Lowry to start.. and bring Moose in off the bench to give Siakam some rest.

Serge could use a few days off. He looked so gassed against Indiana.

[bertarapsfan]

People here overrate Harden so much smh. Forget Jordan, he's not even in Kobe's league.

I'd put him in the T-Mac tier.

T mac in his prime was on kobe level when it came to scoring. What Harden is doing over the last 2 weeks is unbelievable. Number we havent seen since some of kobes big scoring runs.

[inthepaint]

Should Serge even play in this one? I'd give him a rest day. Faried is their starting center, and I'm not sure they will even play Nene.

Go with Siakam, OG, Kawhi, Green, Lowry to start.. and bring Moose in off the bench to give Siakam some rest.

Serge could use a few days off. He looked so gassed against Indiana.

Yeah but that was a back to back, and he was doing a lot (never thought I'd ever get to say this but yeah, Serge was our leading scorer (23pts), on a back to back).

I think this is a good game for him to feast inside. I'd say play him tonight, and have him rest the Dallas game, so he can go back to Toronto tomorrow and have an extended rest until the Bucks game next Thursday (against which he always have great games as well)

[planetmars]

Yeah but that was a back to back, and he was doing a lot (never thought I'd ever say this but he was our leading scorer on that back to back).

I think this is a good game for him to feast inside. I'd say play him tonight, and have him rest the Dallas game, so he can go back to Toronto tomorrow and have an extended rest until the Bucks game next Thursday (against which he always have great games as well)

Do you start Moose against Jordan then? I'd prefer to play Serge against DeAndre but I see the point of having a longer rest schedule against the Bucks if he skips the Dallas game. Or just have him sit out both tonight and the Dallas game.

I really don't think we need Serge to feast. Houston has to play small with Capela out. Siakam/OG should be able to handle Faried/Tucker. And we don't need Serge's 16-18 points to beat them... not with Kawhi playing.

Or maybe the plan is to just give Serge his rest when JV is back in the rotation. Serge has been a huge trooper for us this year.

[inthepaint]

Do you start Moose against Jordan then? I'd prefer to play Serge against DeAndre but I see the point of having a longer rest schedule against the Bucks if he skips the Dallas game. Or just have him sit out both tonight and the Dallas game.

I really don't think we need Serge to feast. Houston has to play small with Capela out. Siakam/OG should be able to handle Faried/Tucker. And we don't need Serge's 16-18 points to beat them... not with Kawhi playing.

Or maybe the plan is to just give Serge his rest when JV is back in the rotation. Serge has been a huge trooper for us this year.

What, you don't think Moose can't posterize Jordan on a massive dunk from the free throw line?! [bellylaughs]..Yeah you're right the Moose would most likely be eaten alive. I think vs. Houston we need all the points we can get though. Yes, they're a one-man show, but it's the beard at home we're talking about here, so we gotta come out guns blazing imo.

So realistically yeah I think Serge is only gonna get his "load management" game when JV is back. With JV out, it's incredible how vulnerable this team would be if Serge wasn't here for them. A great soldier for sure.

[KeonClark]

People here overrate Harden so much smh. Forget Jordan, he's not even in Kobe's league.

I'd put him in the T-Mac tier.

Hes averaging 45 points over the last 23 games. 36.3 on the year and 54 over the last 3 games.

Harden is every bit the offensive player Kobe was. 2 things. 1. He sucks on defense where Kobe was all nba. 2. He hasnt shown the killer Instinct from regular season to playoffs

[Demographic Shift]

Toronto @ Houston Zach Zarba (#15) Courtney Kirkland (#61) Aaron Smith (#51)

Good ?
Bad ?
Indifferent ?

[Demographic Shift]

I don't understand why teams don't just double team the Beard and leave Tucker, Faried or Rivers open.

Im with you on this one... Gordon has been struggling this year compared to last year and he is the second scoring threat...
Hope they go full Belicheck and try to close Harden down with two guys on him all night long... even when he brings the ball up......make the other stiffs beat you.. They can't..

[inthepaint]

Toronto @ Houston Zach Zarba (#15) Courtney Kirkland (#61) Aaron Smith (#51)

Good ?
Bad ?
Indifferent ?

Ref Courtney Kirkand was once suspended for a week (yes the ref) for a physical altercation with Shaun Livingstone once. Should be fun.

[Demographic Shift]

Crap. This doesn't look good. Kawhi bought a house in San Diego for $13.3M

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...-13-3-million/

I'd buy a multi million dollar home there if I had a spare 13.3M too... Its a fantastic place to live.. especially La Jolla....

[Demographic Shift]

Ref Courtney Kirkand was once suspended for a week (yes the ref) for a physical altercation with Shaun Livingstone once. Should be fun.

Could be good if he lets em play.. favours a more physically involved Raps defense ...

[G__Deane]

Because it's probably still tender enough to be re aggravated in game scenarios...I'm no doctor but that's an easy one

Agreed but as the quote notes, he's already at the back end of the anticipated timeframe to be out