The Houston Rockets (13-38) will host the Toronto Raptors (23-30) Friday night. The Raptors beat the Rockets 116-109 back on November 9. Toronto has won four of the last five meetings head-to-head, but the Rockets have covered the number as an underdog in three of those games.

Trouble in the North

Expectations have not been met this far, and injuries have taken a toll on Toronto. The team’s top four scorers (Siakam 24.9 ppg), VanVleet 19.5 ppg, Trent Jr. 18.7 ppg, and Anunoby 16.9 ppg) have missed a combined total of 44 games between them. Anuboby is still out due to a wrist injury.

If the season ended today, the Raptors would not even make the Play-In Tournament, as they are 12th in the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games behind Indiana for 10th.

Toronto is 2-3 on its current seven-game road trip and has lost two in a row after falling to Phoenix 114-106 on Monday and Utah 131-128 on Wednesday.

The Raptors have been much better at home, where they are 15-12 straight up and just 8-18 on the road. In road games, the Raptors are eighth in the NBA in offensive rating and 17th on defense.

Rockets win two straight without top two scorers

The Houston Rockets are in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, currently only half a game ahead of the Detroit Pistons who have the worst record in the Association. The Rockets have won just five out of 26 games on the road, but the Toyota Center has been better to them where they are 8-17 straight up.

Houston has a chance to win three straight games for the first time this season, after beating the Pistons 117-114 in Detroit on Saturday and Oklahoma City 112-106 on Wednesday. Veteran guard Eric Gordon led the team in scoring with 24 and 25 points in the last two games but has only led the team in scoring on four occasions this season.

Houston is dead last in the NBA in offensive rating when at home and 18th in defensive rating at home. The top two scorers for the Rockets, Jalen Green (21.7 ppg) and Kevin Porter Jr. (19.2 ppg) are both out with injuries. Green has missed the last two games, and Porter Jr has missed the last 10 contests.