Denver
Nene Hilario (C) Shelden Williams (F) Gary Forbes(F)
Arron Afflalo (SG) Chauncey Billups(PG)
Toronto
Amir Johnson (F) Andrea Bargnani (C) Sonny Weems (F)
Jerryd Bayless (PG) DeMar DeRozan (SG)
First Quarter
With Jose Calderon out with a cold so Jarryd Bayless (2 assists) has his first Raptor start and Bargnani (9 points and an assist) and Sonny Weems (6 points along with 3 boards and 3 assists) are leading the Raps while DeRozan and Barbosa have 6 each and they had 7 assists. Chauncey Billups-Nene Hilario had 19 of the Nuggets 21 points and Chauncey Billups (15 points and an assist) and Nene (10 points and 2 boards) and with a Nugget lead of 39-33 after 1 nobody played defense.
Second Quarter
The non-defense game continued as the Nuggets gave up their most points (74) in a half at home and the Raptors had 65 points and were down 9 at half. Al Harrington (16 points with 5 boards and 3 assists) and Nene (7 points with 2 boards and an assist) lead the Nuggets while Billups passed the ball around (3 assists) and the Nuggets went 6 for 12 for 3 and shoot 62.5% in the quarter. Kleiza aganist his old team (17 points and 7 boards) and Jarryd Bayless (2 assists) with Bargnani (3 points and 2 steals) and Barbosa (4 points, a board, a steal, and 2 assists). The Nuggets take the 74-65 lead into the half with a lot help from a 15-4 run to end the quarter.
Third Quarter
With the Nuggets winning the quarter 24-21 it means that both teams have played much better in the quarter and the Nuggets out rebounded the Raps 14-4. The Nuggets were lead by Gary Forbes (13 points, 3 boards, and 2 steals and Nene (5 points along with a board and an assist) and the Raptors were lead by Barbosa (8 points) and Sonny Weems (6 points along with a steal and a board). The Nuggets lead by 98-86 and the Raps need to get a better defense effort in the final quarter and keep them from making 3's.
Fourth Quarter
The Raptors outscored the Nuggets 32-25 and they were lead by Bargnani (9 points with 2 boards along with an assist and a steal) and Sonny Weems (7 points with a board and an assist) while Kleiza (5 points with 3 boards and an assist) and Barbosa (4 points) kept up their above average games. The Nuggets were lead by Al Harrington (10 points)while Billup and J.R. Smith both had 2 boards and the Nuggets were out rebounded 10-7 and the 2 teams tied with 4 assists each.
Final Thoughts
The Raptors were killed the 15-4 Nugget run to end the first half as the Raps were up 61-59 and had their first lead of the game and they went into the half down 9 (74-65) and with both teams tighting up the D in the second half the Raps were not able to come back as the Nuggets opened up a 19-point lead early in the third quarter. With the Nuggets going 6 of 12 from 3 in the second hurt a lot because in the other 3 quarters they went 6 of 13 from 3 so they need to work on defending 3-balls a lot better. Former Nuggets Linas Kleiza (26 points with 12 boards along with an assist and a steal) and Leandro Barbosa (22 points with 2 assists along with a board and a steal) were huge keeping game not a 30-point blow out through 3 quarters and Bargnani had a 9 point quarter followed by 6 points over the middle quarters and finished with 9 points in the final quarter and took him til the third quarter to get a board so he needs to be more consistent during the game. The Nuggets without Anthony playing they had Harrington with 31, Nene with 26, and Billups with 21 points took over the game and they out boarded the Raps 21-14 in second half(14-4 in the third) and out assisted 21-13 in the final 3 quarters (Raps only 7 assists in the second half. Now with a home and home with the Detroit Pistons the Raptors need to be much better on defense and defending the 3-ball while sharing the ball more often.
See U Sunday
Tom Mehegan
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