The Raptors up aganist Kobe and the Lakers and the Raptors are with out Andrea Bargnani so they need Amir Johnson to set-up and stay on the court because he only played 8 minutes in the first half of Friday games aganist the Nets.
First Quarter
Amir Johnson pl;ayed all 12 minutes in the first quarter (12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and an assist) and the Raptors need to play tough inside the paint on both ends of the floor because they should be make the Lakers shooting jumpers instade of dunks like their 10-1 run to take a 32-24 lead late in the quarter and are leading 34-28 after 1. The Raptors are also lead by Jose Calderon (3 assists) and Linas Kleiza (3 boards and an assist) both with 7 points while Davis has 3 boards too and Kobe who had 9 points Vs the Sixers on Friday has 9 points in the first quarter with a board and an assists while Ron Artest (6 points), Andrew Bynum (5 points and 2 boards), Lamar Odem (3 boards) are helping him. The Raptors need to be more active on defense to not give up easy points and the Raptors need to force the ball the hoop.
Second Quarter
The Raptors are 3 for 14 from the floor in the quarter as they were out scored 29-15 as the Lakers took a 57-49 which is a 14 point swing in the quarter and the Raptors Barbosa (6 points) and DeRozan (4 points and the only assist of the quarter) and four players a board in the quarter. The Lakers were lead by Lamar Odem (3 boards) and Pau Gasol (3 boards and 2 assists) both 6 points each as the Lakers out rebounded the Raptors 14-4 and had 14 second chance points and more assists (4-1) but if the Raptors want to get back into the game pass the ball and get the boards by using your active hands.
Third Quarter
The Lakers started the quarter on a 16-10 run to take a 73-57 lead and then the Raptors went on a 15-3 run to get it to 4 points (76-72) and the leader for the Raptors in the quarter was DeMar DeRozan who had 19 of the Raptor's 30 points in the quarter and Jose Calderon had 5 assists of the Raptors 8 assists. Joey Dorsey had 4 boards of the Raptors 11 and Kleiza had 4 points and 2 boards in the quarter. While Kobe(9 points, 2 boards, and an assist) was back in the third after no points in 5 minutes in the second quarter and Pau Gasol (6 points, 3 boards, and an assist) helped him out this quarter and then at the end of the quarter Barbosa a buzzer beating 3-ball to cut the Lakers lead to 86-79 and the Raptors could keep it respectible aganist the Lakers with some rebounds and tough D in the final Quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The Raptors lose the game 120-110 and were lead by Kleiza in the quarter (12 points and 4 boards) and in the game (26 points and 10 boards) while Jose Calderon had 4 assists and 11 points in the quarter and the Lakers were lead by Matt Barnes (8 points, 4 boards, and an assist), Andrew Bynum (6 points and 4 boards), Shannon Brown (6 points) all off the bench.
Final Thoughts
If the Raptors played the kind of defense they played (zone defense) this game more often the Raptors would win more than they lose and the second quarter was very distructive being out scored 29-15 and out rebounded 14-3 and the most showing thing is that the Raptors had one assist. DeMar DeRozan who has problems from the free throw line was 11 for 11 while the resat of the team went 10 for 14 from the line and Kleiza had a great fourth quarter (12 points and 4 boards), Calderon had a good fourth (11 points and 4 assists), DeRozan had a great third (19 points), and Amar Johnson had a great first quarter (12 points, 2 boards, and 3 assists). This is great but if you can get more than a quarter out of a player the team would be better and hopefully they can play 48 minutes Wednesday aganist the Pistons as the Pistons will be out for revenage after losing after being up 25 in the third.
See u Wednesday
Tom Mehegan
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