The Rockets travel to the north and take on the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. I'm posting this early because there's an early noon tip-off.

The Raptors are in trouble. Kyle Lowry, Andrea Bargnani, and Landry Fields are all injured. However, they beat the Mavericks by 21 without those players on Friday, in part because the Mavs went 0-13 from the three point line and because the Raptors grabbed nine more rebounds in the game.

The Rockets have had a difficult time winning at the Air Canada Centre.

Quick programming note: BD will be taking the Monday preview against the Knicks, so be on the lookout for that one.

Updates

Rockets announce Patrick Patterson underwent MRI this morning. Results revealed bone bruise in right foot.

— Jason Friedman (@JasonCFriedman) December 16, 2012

Patterson will be out while further testing is conducted and a medical course of action is determined.

— Jason Friedman (@JasonCFriedman) December 16, 2012

Tip off is at NOON CST.

Matchups:

Point Guard: Jeremy Lin vs. Jose Calderon

Lin's knee may still not be back to 100%, as he said it was still swelling. We're getting into that gray area where if one side says something that could be misconstrued, there could be some tension here.

I don't think either side is upset. But I think Lin is frustrated that he's not playing. I don't think the Rockets are mad or are expecting him to be a superstar. I'm just saying things are creeping towards an awkward situation that media would love to grab ahold of, a la the Royce White situation.

Advantage: Raptors

Shooting Guard: James Harden vs. DeMar DeRozan

Harden went for 24/12/6/3 against the Raptors last time.

He just loves dividing by 2, I guess. If he could have had 1.5 blocks he would have.

Advantage: Rockets

Small Forward: Chandler Parsons vs. Mickael Pietrus

Parsons went 18/7/5 against the Raptors. Let's see how well he plays after that monster night against the Celtics.

Advantage: Rockets

Power Forward: Patrick Patterson Marcus Morris vs. Ed Davis

Davis is shooting 61% in his last 10 games.

Patterson had kind of a quiet game against the Celtics, and has cooled off since he had those consecutive 20 point games.

Advantage: Rockets

Center: Omer Asik vs. Jonas Valanciunas

Asik abused Valanciunas last time these teams met. He's got to do that again.

Advantage: Rockets

Bench/Rotation Players

Rockets: Toney Douglas, Carlos Delfino, Marcus Morris, Greg Smith

Raptors: Linus Kleiza, Amir Johnson, Terrence Ross, Alan Anderson

Advantage: Raptors

Prediction: Rockets should win it, but I have a bad feeling about this one. Throw it away 98-91.

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