Philly in Toronto

Houston seems to have developed a disturbing trend of coming out flat in road games. On Friday in Philadelphia, they went down by seventeen in the first half before reviving themselves and coming back to win. They had a similar start today against Toronto, but opened the second half with a 1-15 shooting slump that doomed the Rockets to a 13 point loss. Only Luis Scola and Carl Landry played well offensively against the Raptors, but nobody seemed to remember how to play defense. Houston shot only 36.4% and allowed Toronto to hit at a 50% clip.

The loss was not due to a lack of effort. The Rockets played hard. They were just not sharp and they did not seem to be on the same page with each other on either end of the court. It would be easy to blame the 11:30 AM start for their asyncronicity, but it was 11:30 for the Raptors too. All in all, a forgettable game.

The Rockets' schedule doesn't get any easier next week. They fly home for a Tuesday game against Detroit, then head to Denver on Wednesday. Two days later, they play the Mavericks on the road before returning to Toyota Center to face the much-improved Oklahoma Thunder. Two back-to-backs in four days is a stern test.