It was early in Sunday’s meeting between the Raptors and the Houston Rockets, but the game already had the feel of a melting pot for the weird.
There was the Rockets’ reported 3 a.m. arrival into Toronto from a loss in Chicago to the Bulls on Saturday night and the malaise that a compact back-to-back like that can bring. There was Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan limited to three first-half points, but his team matching its season average of assists (18.7 per game) at the half (19) to build up what at one point was an 18-point advantage.