Raptors king the kings

King Starters

F - Jason Thompson F - Francisco Garcia C - DeMarcus Cousins
G - Jermaine Taylor G - Beno Udrih

Raptors Starters

F - Linas Kleiza F - Joey Dorsey C - Andrea Bargnani
PG - Jose Calderon SG - DeMar DeRozan

First Quarter

The Quarter for the Raptors was good (15 of 20 from the floor) and bad (the Kings 13 of 20 from the floor) and if the Raptors going to win this game they will need to place a good defense and they still could blow the Kings out of the water. The Raptors are lead by Andrea Bargnani (10 points and a steal) and Jose Calderon (8 points and 4 assists) while DeMar DeRozan (7 points) was having a great quarter too as the Raptors started the game 10 for 10 from the floor. The Kings are more active on the glass(7-5) and passing(6-4 in assists) while being lead by Francisco Garcia (7 points) while Jason Thompson (a board), Carl Landry (a board and a block) and Beno Udrih (2 assists aalong with a board and a steal) all had 6 points to help the Kings as they are down 3 (34-31).

Second Quarter

The quarter was more of a better defensive quarter (Raptors 23, Kings 19) as the shooting went down (kings 7 for 23 from the floor and the Raptors 9 for 21) so the rebounds went up(Raptors 15, Kings 10) while the Raptors out assisted the Kings(7-4). The Raptors go into the second half with a 7 point lead (57-50) and are lead by DeMar DeRozan (2 assists and a board) and Andrea Bargnani ( 4 boards and 2 assists) who had 6 points each while Jose Calderon had 2 assists and Amir Johnson had 5 boards in the quarter. The kings were lead by Carl Landry (7 points and 2 boards) and Beno Udrih (5 points with a board and a steal) while Jason Thompson had 2 assists and 3 boards.

Third Quarter

The quarter was the Kings as they had 19 points in the first 6 and a half minutes of the quarter while they had only 19 in the second quarter while the Raptors had only 11 points and the rest of the way in the quarter the Raprtors had 17 and the Kings had 15 and the game was tied @ 85 going into the fourth. The Kings went harder on the glass(14-9) lead by Jason Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins with 5 each and the Raptors passed the ball better(9-3) lead by Bayless with 3 assists. The Kings were lead by Beno Udrih (11 points with a board and a steal) along with Jason Thompson (8 points with a board and a steal) and Francisco Garcia (6 points, 2 assists, and a board) while the Raptors were lead by DeMar (11 points, a board, a steal, and an assist) and Bargnani (6 points, a board, and an assist) and the better defense will win in the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

The Raptors after a bit of back and forth and come up with some defensive stops to take a 8 points lead (108-100) but the Kings get it to 1 with a 9-2 run to make it 110-109 and then Barbosa hits a 3-ball and get it back to 4 (113-109) and the Raptors inch home with a win (116-112) who are lead in the quarter by Barbosa (13 points and a board) and Bargnani (8 points and 3 boards). The Kings are lead by DeMarcus Cousins (9 points, 3 boards, and a block) and Omari Casspi ( 7 points, 3 boards, and a stel) along with Carl Landry (6 points with a board and an assist). The Raptors had 1 more board (11-10) and both teams had 6 assists in the quarter but really the Raptors need the shutdown defense so they will be able to be more competitive.

Final Thought

The Raptors and Kings had a field day on offensive all day as both teams put up high 20 in every quarter except the second quarter which was the only strong defensive quarter (23-19) and the Raptors will need to play strong defense even when you are up against a weak defensive like the Kings as winning big and resting players sometimes is not a bad thing. DeMar (28 points, 3 boards, and 4 assists) and Bargnani (30 points, 8 boards, and 3 assists) were strong all game and will have teams to beat up on this week (Wizards and Pistons) and a battle on hands (Hawks). Calderon had 9 assists in the game which is strong but the better part is that the rest of the team got involved with Bayless having 3 and Amir, Davis, and Dorsey having 2 each and Dorsey was active on the glass with 6 boards but also had 5 fouls in 19 minutes. To finish Barbosa had 18 points (13 in the fourth) in 29 minutes and had no assists and even had a charge for running over a King Player on a fast break with team-mates close by so he may need to be taken to a passing clinic.

See U next week

Tom Mehegan