For the first time this century the Raptors did not hit a 3-ball which was a streak that the Raptors began February 26 1999 and it had lasted 986 games with at least one 3-ball made and it even came down to the last shot of the game when Sundiata Gaines tried a desperation 3-ball shoot on an in-bounds pass with .8 seconds as the Raptors were down 100-98 but Gaines shot was blocked and the Memphis Grizzlies won. The Grizzlies winning shot was taken by Rudy Gay who was one-on-one with Julian Wright as the clock wound down and he drove towards the paint and Wright could not keep up and Gay took a jumper that left only .8 second left in the game. The Raptors had stretches of good defense especially in the first quarter were the Grizzlies went 1 for 7 from the floor and the Raptors went 4 for 5 and took a 8-2 lead and Jerryd Bayless had an assist on the first 4 baskets of the game and would have a hand in 10 of the first 12 points as he had 4 points and 4 assists. Then the Grizzlies went cold later in the quarter as they went 0 for 6 from the floor and the Raptors took a 9 point 20-11 which was the biggest lead of the game for the Raptors as the Grizzlies went on a 21-6 run which got them a 25-24 lead going into the second quarter and would not end until the Grizzlies were up 32-26 but the Raptors would fight back to tie it at 49-all where the Grizzlies Zach Randolph hit a jumper to give the grizzlies a 51-49 lead go into the third quarter. The Grizzlies started 1 for 5 and the Raptors started 3 for 4 to take a 55-53 lead but the Grizzlies went on a 11-3 run to take a 64-58 lead and took a 80-74 lead into the fourth quarter and started on a 6-2 run to open open up a 10 point lead at 86-76 but the Raptors came back with a 11-2 run to cut it to 88-87 and then they went back and forth the rest of the game until Rudy Guy ended it. The Raptors were lead by Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan in the first half with 13 - points each while Bayless had 9 points and 5 assists and Julian Wright had 8 points and 5 assists and Bargnani had 29 points, 5 boards, 3 assists while DeRozan had 25 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. While Jerryd Bayless was 2 boards away from a triple-double with 15 points, 11 assists, and 8 boards while Julian Wright had 11 points and 9 boards and Amir Johnson had 10 points and 6 boards to give all starters double figures in points but the bench had only 6 points. The Grizzlies were lead by Rudy Gay with 21 points, 7 boards, and 4 assists while Zach Randolph had the most boards in the game with 12 along with 17 points along with Marc Gasol who had 8 boards while O.J. Mayo had 15 points, 5 boards, and 2 assists off the bench to help the Grizzlies have way more bench points than the Raptors (32-8) in the game. The Grizzlies had the lead in boards (46-42) and the Raptors lead in assists (20-17) while also making more free throws (18-14) along with shooting better (47% - 44%) but still have lost 9 in a roll first time since the 2005-2006 the season they got Andrea Bargnani with the first overall pick. To finish I can only hope the end of the streak will help them somewhat think more defensive heres to hoping and the sooner the season over the better really.
Thanks
Tom Mehegan
No comments:
Post a Comment