After 1 free day, NBA is back! 13 games are being played on Wednesday night but I'm going to talk about the duel between Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets. Toronto right now is 5th best team in the Eastern Conference with 6 wins and 5 losses but Houston is the last team in the Western Conference with 2 wins and 9 losses.

Expectations are pretty high in Toronto as they are 1 of the teams that will compete for the 4th-6th spot in the conference and try to avoid play-in games. 1 of the reasons for the Raptors' success so far is depth as 5 players averages at least 14 points per game. Yes, Pascal Siakam is out for some time but other players like Chris Boucher, Precious Achiuwa and Christian Koloko can step in and fill his role.

The Rockets snapped 6 game losing streak in the previous game as they beat Orlando Magic on the road. It was a very successful night for Houston as they shot 53% from the field (their season average is 2nd league-worst 43.3%) and 50% from 3-point land (season average is 13th best 36.2%). That great shooting was an anomaly that probably won't repeat in Toronto.

While the Magic is a similar defensive team to the Rockets, the Raptors are on a different level. Toronto is the 6th best defensive team per advanced stats (rating of 108.4) and allows 106.5 points per game which are the 4th best in the league. Houston is only 28th best on defense (defensive rating of 116.2) and allowed 117.9 points per game is the 4th worst result. If we look from an offensive perspective, Toronto is also in the lead. The offensive rating for Toronto is 113.9 (10th best) but Houston is only in the 25th position (108.4). Toronto has the 5th best net rating in the league (5.5) but the Rockets are 2nd worst with a net rating of -7.8.

Toronto is playing very well at home this season. They have won 3 out of the 4 games by an average of 16 points. Those beaten teams were the Cavaliers, Hawks and Bulls and the only loss was against the 76ers. The Rockets have won only 1 road game out of 8 and that was against Orlando. All losses have been against good teams and 5 times they have lost with at least 10 points.

Although Pascal Siakam won't help Toronto, I'm very confident about their victory. They have a talented roster and their home support has been great. Houston is still learning about playing on the road and the Raptors have a versatile roster that will lead to good defensive performance and comfortable victory.

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自由一天后，NBA又回来了!周三晚上有13场比赛，但我要讲的是多伦多猛龙和休斯顿火箭之间的对决。猛龙目前以6胜5负排名东部第五，而火箭是西部最后一支2胜9负的球队。

人们对猛龙队的期望相当高，因为他们是争夺分区第4 -6名的球队之一，而且他们会尽量避免比赛。到目前为止，猛龙成功的原因之一是球员的深度，有5名球员场均至少得到14分。是的，帕斯卡尔·西亚卡姆将缺阵一段时间，但其他球员如克里斯·鲍彻、普雷西·阿丘瓦和克里斯蒂安·科洛科可以填补他的位置。

火箭在客场击败奥兰多魔术队，结束了之前的6连败。对于火箭来说，这是一个非常成功的夜晚，他们的投篮命中率为53%(赛季平均投篮命中率43.3%，联盟倒数第二)，三分球命中率为50%(赛季平均投篮命中率36.2%，联盟倒数第13)。那个伟大的投篮是不正常的，可能不会在多伦多重演。

虽然魔术是一支类似于火箭的防守球队，但猛龙是在不同的水平上。猛龙的先进数据(108.4分)在防守榜上排名第六，场均失分106.5分，排名联盟第四。火箭的防守排在第28位(防守效率116.2)，场均失分117.9分，排在倒数第四。如果我们从进攻的角度来看，多伦多也是领先的。猛龙的进攻效率是113.9(排名第十)，但火箭只排在第25位(108.4)。猛龙的净收视率排在联盟第五(5.5)，而火箭的净收视率是-7.8，排在倒数第二。

多伦多猛龙队本赛季在主场打得很好。他们在4场比赛中赢了3场，平均领先16分。那些被击败的球队是骑士、老鹰和公牛，唯一输的是对阵76人。火箭在8场客场比赛中只赢了1场，那还是对阵魔术。所有的输球对手都是强队，他们有5次输掉至少10分。

虽然帕斯卡尔·西亚卡姆不会帮助多伦多，但我对他们的胜利非常有信心。他们有一个天才的阵容，他们的主场支持是伟大的。火箭还在学习如何在客场打比赛，猛龙有一个全能的阵容，这将带来良好的防守表现和轻松的胜利。