The Toronto Raptors fell yet again to one of the league’s top teams Tuesday night, this time in a 113-99 defeat to the Houston Rockets in the Toyota Center. Going into the second night of a back-to-back, they will need to bounce back in the Smoothie King Arena against the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night. 

It would be easy to point to the Raptors’ record of 1-18 against the top-10 teams, outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and say the loss proves their inability to compete with the best competition. Against the Rockets, the Raptors were depleted in the front-court rotation, as Collin Murray-Boyles, Jakob Poeltl, and Trayce Jackson-Davis all sat due to injuries or illnesses. This, as many expected, turned out to be a recipe for disaster due to the Rockets being one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA. 

Injuries have been an issue for the Raptors for the majority of this season. Poeltl missed 24 straight games due to a lower back strain, RJ Barrett played just six games over a two-month span due to separate knee and ankle injuries, and now Murray-Boyles has been dealing with a thumb contusion, which has now become a sprain, since mid-December and has caused him to miss several games. 

Going into New Orleans, the Raptors have a slightly better outlook than the night prior, according to the official NBA injury report. 

Standout rookie Murray-Boyles is out again due to the thumb injury, while Poeltl is again listed as questionable due to an illness. Jackson-Davis, who was immediately ruled out in Houston, is listed as questionable for tonight’s game with a dislocated finger suffered at practice. 

Questionable tags can mean good or bad things, given on the player’s circumstances. Poeltl is somewhat neutral because he was questionable yesterday as well, so it seems his illness neither got better nor worse overnight. As for Jackson-Davis, his questionable tag is a positive because it shows that he is making progress through his finger injury. 

Although the Raptors have been notorious for dominating the worst teams in the NBA, playing without their front-court rotation could be a repeat of last night’s loss. The Pelicans are the best team in the NBA in terms of points in the paint per game with 57.1, and rank eighth in offensive rebounds per game with 12.4. New Orleans feasts on more opportunities and field goal attempts, so if the Raptors want to win this one, they need to crash the defensive glass and push the pace in transition. 

These numbers are largely influenced by superstar forward Zion Williamson, who is quietly putting together one of the most durable seasons of his career, including a stretch of 35 straight games played. His former teammates (Brandon Ingram in New Orleans and Barrett at Duke University) will look to pour it on offensively, while Scottie Barnes does the heavy lifting in trying to stop one of the most physical players in the NBA.