Houston Rockets vs. Toronto Raptors game preview

More short previews for the rest of the week because of Thanksgiving and the fact that I’ll be doing a lot of driving over the next few days.

The Raptors have been in existence since 1995. The Rockets hold an 18-3 record in Houston against Toronto. Until last year, Houston hadn’t won in Toronto since 2007. During most of these teams’ coexistence, the Rockets have objectively had the better team, yet have struggled mightily north of the border.

So it was odd that the Rockets finally beat the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre last year, during a season where Houston was clearly the inferior squad. And then they further added to the oddity by blowing out the same Raptors in Houston.

Therefore, Houston has been a house of horrors for the Raptors.

So far, the season has gone better than all but the most optimistic of Rockets fans could have imagined. The Rockets are 4 games over .500, which last year’s squad never accomplished. Plus, Houston is making a case that it belongs at the top of the second tier of Western Conference teams when most had Houston pegged as a team that would be a fringe playoff team. Obviously it’s too early to be thinking about the playoffs, but it is important to see that these Rockets aren’t like last year’s. And hopefully, free agents will see the same thing this summer.

Tip-off is at 7pm CT.