TORONTO – Collin Murray-Boyles doesn’t think he’s had his “welcome to the NBA” moment just yet, but he’ll never forget the first time he tangled with the Houston Rockets.
Murray-Boyles started for the first time in his NBA career on Wednesday, playing at centre for the Toronto Raptors in a 139-121 loss to Houston. That meant playing defence against former leading scorer Kevin Durant, former all-star Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., backup centre Steven Adams, all of whom are over six-foot-10.
“That’s a great challenge, especially early on, especially for this team, going up against a team that’s going to make it really deep in the playoffs,” said Murray-Boyles. “You never know what type of lineup you’re going to go up against every night.
“Going up against a supersized line like this showed us what we need to do better, what we did good, and we can watch and see how we can improve.”
Murray-Boyles was taken ninth overall by Toronto in this summer’s NBA Draft. The six-foot-seven 20-year-old has only played in three games so far this season.
Although Durant — a surefire Hall of Famer who has been named an all-star 15 times — would theoretically be the toughest Rockets player for Murray-Boyles to guard, it was Adams who caught his attention.
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“Steven Adams is insanely strong. My wrists are sore right now. I’m trying to box him out and tussle with him and it’s impossible,” said Murray-Boyles, rubbing his forearms. “I didn’t think it was like that. Nobody gets over his screens.
“I was asking him what his routine is mid game. It’s insane. It’s insane. There’s him and then you have to worry about him and KD. It’s crazy what they got.”
Murray-Boyles’s first-ever NBA start was necessary as Jakob Poeltl, Toronto’s usual starting centre, was ruled out hours before the opening tip-off with lower back stiffness. Murray-Boyles finished with 13 points and two assists over 25 minutes, briefly getting benched after he got four personal fouls.
“We had to start Collin, Collin played in just his third game and he was already starting in the game tonight,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “Without Jak, who’s supposed to help us with rebounding, and controlling the paint, and then do all of that, it puts all the guys in different roles on our second unit.
“(The reserves) are still searching for those combinations, and how those guys can help each other. I think their energy is good. They really trying in games like today, they’re just smaller. They punked us on the glass.”
At different points in the night, Houston was able to put five players out on the court who are all over six-foot-10, at least an inch taller than six-foot-nine Sandro Mamukelashvii, Toronto’s tallest healthy player.
The size advantage held by Smith (6-11), Durant (6-10), Sengun (6-11), Adams (6-11), and Clint Capela (6-10) over the entire Raptors roster allowed them to out-rebound the hosts 53-22.
Houston also outscored the Raptors 66-36 in the paint and the Rockets bench had 37 points to Toronto’s reserves getting 23.
“That’s what comes with it. You’ve got to be more gritty,” said Murray-Boyles. “They had all five crashing sometimes, we had three, two, but we never had all five crashing.
“Some of that falls on me. But we’ve got to be more gritty on the rebounds, try to be as physical as possible throughout the whole game, not giving them anything easy around the rim.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press