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TSN Raptors Reporter

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HOUSTON - Outside of Kyle Lowry, their deserving All-Star, which Raptors player has been the most valuable this season?

Despite DeMar DeRozan's fallen shooting numbers, the team is 25-9 with their second-best player in the lineup. Patrick Patterson has been their most reliable two-way contributor, Amir Johnson is still an anchor on defence and Jonas Valanciunas continues to grow into his role as a third-year centre.

While an argument can be made for any of the aforementioned, no one has impacted the Raptors' nightly success, or lack thereof, quite like Lou Williams. And they really could've used him on Saturday. 

"That plays a big part," said DeMar DeRozan, speaking on Williams's absence after the injured reserve missed Toronto's embarrassing 98-76 defeat in Houston. "He’s a big key for us coming in and changing the dynamic of the game, especially with that second unit. He helps us get to the free-throw line and slows down the game. Not having him out there definitely hurt us."

First thing's first: the caveat. It's hard, albeit not impossible, to envision a scenario in which the Raptors could have won this game, even with the dynamic guard. Toronto committed a season-high 25 turnovers, leading to 21 Rockets points. They were bested by 22 in the paint and doubled in second-chance and fast-break scoring. These are fatal, game-deciding roadblocks that generally fall outside of his expertise as a volume scorer off the bench.

"We missed his scoring, that was a part of it," said Dwane Casey, before echoing the prevailing concerns on this night. "The second unit, we didn't get any punch off the bench, but that's not an excuse. The 50-50 balls, Lou had nothing to do with that. The long rebounds, the transition buckets, getting back in transition, the turnovers, Lou had nothing to do with that. We can't use that as an excuse because there were just too many other areas we weren't sharp in other than scoring."

Would Williams have helped? Without a doubt. The question is, how much?

Despite what Casey called a lack of "mental sharpness," the Rockets weren't exactly crisp, either. Houston matched Toronto's 25 turnovers and hit just two of its 17 three-point attempts through 24 minutes.

The game was lost for Toronto in the third quarter when James Harden, held without a field goal in the opening half, and the Rockets got hot, while the Raptors continued to shoot bricks. Playing through an emotional hangover coming off of Friday's 25-point win over the first-place Hawks, the Raps were in desperate need of a spark. Overall, they shot 33 per cent and narrowly missed their season-low in scoring. The lone offensive bright spot on the evening was James Johnson, who contributed a career-best 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

While Williams's frenetic style is often boom or bust, we know he can almost single-handedly alter the outing of a game when he's hot.

Williams was a late scratch on Saturday night, missing his first contest of the campaign. He had sprained his left ankle the night before, late in Friday's win over Atlanta. The super sub scored a game-high 26 points on 14 shots in just 24 minutes, hitting a career-high seven three-pointers while leading Toronto to its fourth straight win.

He's scored 25 or more points four times in his last nine contests, something he accomplished just as often in the previous 45 games. Sandwiched in there is a scoreless outing and a two-game stretch in which he shot 2-for-23. He can shoot you into a game just as quickly as he can shoot you out of one and the results speak to that.

When Williams shoots 40 per cent - his season mark - or better, the Raptors are 26-6. When he doesn't, they're 11-11. Toronto is undefeated in the 11 games Williams has scored at least 22 points this season.

"He’s pretty much the go-to guy on the second unit," said fellow reserve Patrick Patterson. "We were missing that a lot tonight. If he was out there, it definitely would’ve been a closer game, because he would’ve been hitting shots."

Per ESPN.com, Williams is tied with Lowry for the team lead in player efficiency rating. Second in the NBA in bench scoring (15.4) behind the Clippers' Jamal Crawford, he has made his case for the league's Sixth Man of the Year award.

Although it's unclear how long he'll be out, the injury is not believed to be a serious one - good news for the Raptors as they'll need him with another tough back-to-back in New Orleans and Dallas on deck.