Raptors 101 Rockets 88
TORONTO — Hedo Turkoglu finally showed the Toronto Raptors what he can do.
The forward added a season-high 23 points to Chris Bosh’s game-leading 27 on Sunday as the Raptors defeated the Houston Rockets 101-88.
The Raptors (11-15) found more ways to get the ball to Turkoglu, who responded with a more aggressive effort than he has shown so far this season.
“Today, I got the ball more and the chance to be more aggressive,” Turkoglu said. “As long as I do those things I’m going to look for the best opportunity for myself and try to find my teammates to get them easy shots.”
Turkoglu, who was acquired from the Orlando Magic in the off-season, also had six rebounds and five assists and remained a force even after picking up his fifth foul in the fourth quarter.
“I think we got the ball into his hands in different times with a new set that we put in today,” head coach Jay Triano said. “He was able to turn the corner quite a bit.
“We’re going to give it to him. He’s not going to get it necessarily off the first pass but maybe off the second and third pass.”
Carl Landry came off the bench to lead Houston (13-10) with 25 points, while Luis Scola had 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds and Aaron Brooks added 20 points.
Houston guard Trevor Ariza was ejected from the game with 3:47 left in the third quarter for taking a swing at DeMar DeRozan from behind as he dribbled up-court. Ariza drew a technical foul and the ejection but no personal foul because there was no contact. Ariza scored one point, going 0-for-9 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line.
“It was right in front of me but unfortunately, I did not see it,” Triano said.
“I had no idea. I haven’t even seen the replay yet. I thought we had a breakaway and a foul and we were going to shoot two free throws and was surprised when everything happened.”
DeRozan was puzzled, as well.
“I didn’t really know what happened,” he said.
After the play, Raptors point guard Jarrett Jack went face-to-face with Ariza, but the two were quickly separated.
It was a solid overall effort by the Raptors, who had lost their two previous games after winning three in a row. They shot 50 per cent from the floor while limiting Houston to 36.8 per cent before a crowd of 17,111 at the Air Canada Centre.