2015 NBA scores: DeMar DeRozan’s career night saved the Raptors and 3 other things we learned

DeMar DeRozan scored 42 points to lead the Raptors past the shorthanded Rockets and the rest of the action from Monday in the NBA.

by Jeje Gomez

Mar 31, 2015, 11:55 AM UTC

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Raptors were in a rough spot midway through the second quarter on Monday. Down 10 at home against a severely shorthanded Rockets team, it looked like another tough loss was on the horizon. Toronto had dropped 13 of its last 20 coming into the game and since the All-Star break had looked nothing like the contender it appeared to be early in the season. With Kyle Lowry out, the Raptors needed someone to take over and stop the skid. DeMar DeRozan answered that call and in the 30 minutes that followed scored 37 of his career-high 42 points on the night to spearhead the comeback.

During that stretch, DeRozan pulled the offense to himself and scored from everywhere on the floor but did most of his damage inside. No one on the Rockets could stay in front of him and with Dwight Howard out, he feasted on weak interior defense by Houston.

It was hero ball at its finest, as the former All-Star outscored his teammates’ combined output by six points during those 30 minutes to overcome a slow start that saw him struggle from the field while committing three turnovers in the first quarter and a half.

James Harden did his best to will his team to victory like he has many times this season, scoring 31 points despite not shooting well. The Rockets refused to go away at any point and got contributions from Clint Capela -- called up from the D-League due to the absence of Howard, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas -- and the rest of the deep bench. A Trevor Ariza three had them up one with under two minutes to go, but the Raptors locked down on defense and DeRozan closed the game out, scoring the four final points of the night, including a pullup jumper contested by Harden to get the lead to three with 18 seconds to go.

Under normal circumstances, a close win against an opponent missing its three best big men would feel hollow, but the Raptors really needed this one after such a bad few weeks. The schedule gets easy now, with only mediocre at best Eastern Conference teams left to play. For the Rockets, the loss means little in the grand scheme of things and they can find comfort in knowing that they were missing key players. For Toronto, this game could be the beginning of a turnaround, so it surely won’t mind any asterisks being attached to the victory.

3 other things we learned

The Celtics are hanging on to the eight seed for now. Boston beat Charlotte on a crucial game behind a career night by Avery Bradley, who scored 30 points. With the win, the Celtics managed to hold off the Brooklyn Nets, winners of seven of the last 10, and reclaim the eight seed in the East. The Nets, with Brook Lopez leading the way, are making a furious push for the last playoff spot so the Celtics can't afford to drop any winnable games. Boston has the tiebreaker over Brooklyn and now also over Charlotte, which looks like a long shot to make the postseason at this point anyway. The bottom half of the Eastern playoff picture is too close to call, but the Celtics seem to have enough talent and cohesiveness as a team to hang on, if Monday's game is any indication.

The Lakers keep winning games they should lose. The Lakers beat the 76ers in overtime thanks to a backdoor cut and bucket from Jordan Clarkson. Normally, that would be a highlight in a sad season for Laker fans, but the win could actually have negative repercussions. The Lakers owe Philadelphia a top-five protected draft pick and are now slated to pick fourth. If the Magic continue to lose, Los Angeles could end up with the fifth-worse record in the league. If that happens and just one team leapfrogs the Lakers in the lottery, the pick would convey and the season would turn into a complete disaster. There are a lot of "ifs" in that scenario and the Lakers could also get lucky in the lottery, but nothing good can come from them winning games going forward.

The Suns will likely miss the cut again. The Suns completely unraveled in the third quarter after a good first half and lost handily to the Portland Trail Blazers on the road. They are now 4.5 games back from the Thunder for eighth in the West and with seven games left, they will almost surely miss the postseason for the second year in a row despite having a winning record. They have a young team who could grow organically, but they will probably need to make some additions in the offseason if they finally want to get over the hump, since a move to the East is not possible and the Pelicans should be better next year.