Monday night’s game between the Raptors and the Rockets had major playoff implications for both teams, but it also featured a terrific back-and-forth battle between James Harden and DeMar DeRozan. Harden is the MVP candidate, but tonight, DeRozan got the better of him. He scored a career-high 42 points in the Raptors’ 99-96 win.
DeRozan set the career high with this jumper, which extended the Raptors’ lead to three with 18 seconds left in the game and ultimately sealed the victory.
With this win, the Raptors move to 44-30 on the season. They trail the Bulls by one game for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. The loss dropped the Rockets back into the third seed out west.