HOUSTON—Don’t get sucked in, Dwane Casey warned the Toronto Raptors.
Don’t get goaded into trying to do what the Houston Rockets do, because it’s futile. They are too good at it to try to match them.
Do your thing, he pleaded. Play smart. Don’t get down when things inevitably go sideways for a spell and stay with the game no matter what, then see how things turn out.
They listened.
And things turned out as well as they could have hoped.
Putting up a near-franchise-record first half and getting major production off the bench from C.