Once again the Raptors came out at the beginning of the game as they got a lot of timely defensive stops and after going 3 for their first 8 from the floor they hit 7 in a row and after the game being tied @ 12 the Raptors outscored the Sixers 13-4 to take a 25-16 and kept the 9 point lead going into the second as they lead 29-20. Then of course the Sixers went on a 17-4 run to open up a 37-33 lead and then the Raptors took a 40-39 lead with a 7-2 run and then the sixers went on a 8-2 run to open a 47-42 lead and the Raptors went on a 8-3 run to tie the game going into the second half @ 50. It was simple the team who decided to play defense in the second half would win the game and lets just say the Sixers opened the second half on a 10-2 run and never looked back the rest of the game as they scored 34 in the third and the Raptors scored 27 and in the fourth the Sixers scored 23 but the Raptors were only able to score 17 in the final quarter and won going away 107-94. The Sixers bench killed the Raptors bench 58-17 with all four Sixers of the bench in double figures with Marreese Speights (25 points), Louis Williams (15 points), and Thaddeus Young/Evan Turner (10 points each) and had something insane like 60 plus points in the paint and eat up the offensive boards 17-9 while they humiliated the Raptors on the glass 43-33. The Raptors had 13 assists from Jose Calderon and DeMar DeRozan lead in points with 29 but only 4 in the fourth while Amir Johnson lead with 6 boards while Marreese Speights had 9 boards and Elton Brand had 7 boards to go with his 14 points and Jrue Holiday had 11 assists to go with his 15 points. Andrea Bargnani was a very distant second with 17 points and the reality is that the Raptors can put up points with ease but after the first quarter of most games the Raptors D goes MIA the rest of the game and I do not know who the Raptors should keep maybe an Ed Davis because he can get good rebound in some games and if he can practice playing defense in practice he maybe able to set the tone on the defensive side of the court. While guys like Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan like shooting the ball and if their on they can put up big numbers but neither has any interest on the defensive side of the game so they need to try a bit on the D or they can get out of here while a guy like Jose Calderon is nice but has little time left in the NBA and it is time to see if Jerryd Bayless can distribute first and shoot second or he can leave too because point guard is to get everybody else involved more than getting yours. The rest of the team can be interchangeable as they can have good game but in the long term are not game changing players and if Jay Triano is not able to get the point of playing defense before playing offense through to the players the Raptors have no choice but to figure out what kind of coaches are on the staff before finding someone else in the off-season. At the end of the road is a lot of cap room to play with in free agency this July but I have no clue how to find a defensive minded player in the frenzy and it is the last chance for Brain to build a playoff team or he will be headed back the united states.
Hope their is a rainbow somewhere someone please help me find it please
Tom Mehegan
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