Raptors Vs Bulls

To start I would like to mention that Andrea Bargnani and Jerryd Bayless are back and Jose Calderon is not playing tonight.

First Half

The Raptors start the game well opening up a 11-5 lead before a Bulls time-out with lots of help from Andrea who had 10 points in the first quarter and the first 5 Raptors points of the game and then the Bulls outscored the Raptors 24-16 (Raptors 5 turnovers and Bulls none) to take a 29-27 lead into the second quarter. They are lead by Luoi Deng with 12 points and Derrick Rose had 11 points along with a board and 2 assists while Taj Gibson is controlling the glass (4 boards in the quarter). While the Raptors have balanced scoring and helping Andrea (3 boards) are Kleiza (6 points and 2 boards), Amir Johnson (5 points and 3 boards), and DeMar DeRozan (4 points with an assist and a board) which is directed by Jerryd Bayless (6 assists in the quarter). The Second quarter just like the first the Bulls scored at will (30 points) but the Bulls played some defense (Raptors ownly had 14 points in the quarter) and lead going into half 59-41 and were lead by Taj Gibson (8 boards with 5 offensive) and Ronnie Brewer (1 board) with 6 each of the bench while Boozer was another monster on the glass (7 boards) and Luoi Deng had 16 to lead the team at half. The Raptors were lead by Andrea (2 blocks and 2 boards) who had 6 of the Raptors 14 second quarter points and the Bulls out rebounded the Raptors (18-10) and lead Raptors by 18 points going into half-time.

Second Half

The Bulls score the first 6 points of the quarter and then the Raptors woke-up and outscored the Bulls 28-16 the rest of the quarter to make it a 12 point lead (81-69) and this charge came from DeMar DeRozan 8 points (2 boards) and Jerryd Bayless 9 points during this run but that was the closest the Raptors would get tonight. The Bulls were lead by Carlos Boozer with 8 points and 3 boards along with Derick Rose 6 points and an assist in the quarter and in the fourth quarter the Bulls outscore the Raptors 30-22 to end any chance of a close game. They were lead by Omer Asik (7 points, 4 boards, 4 blocks, and an assist), C.J. Wilson (5 points and 3 assists), and Ronnie Brewer (6 points, 4 boards, and an assist). The Raptors were lead by Barbosa with 7 points and Bargnani with 5 points in the quarter where Bargnani and Bayless were taken out midway through the quarter to hopefully save some of their energy for the Cavilers tomorrow night.

Final thoughts

Raptors were distroyed again in the second quarter and tried to make a comeback in the third quarter and just did not have enough in the fourth quarter and this sounds like most of the Raptors cames this season and tomorrow against the Cavilers is a winnable game and the Raptors will need to come out with the kind of ball movement that they had in the first. Then fight back in the second if the Cavilers try to break open the game and play with the kind of energy they usually have in the mid to late-third quarter and just close out the game in the fourth while having an effort of defense that is not shown enough. Andrea played well coming back from being off especially in the first half (16 points) but 23 points and 6 rebounds are good for like 3 and a half quarters while Barbosa was better than he has been with 15 points and 5 assists along with Bayless first quarter (6 assists) was good but 11 points and 2 assists in the second half not as strong for a point guard. DeMar had a better second half with 10 of his 18 points with most in the third quarter but in the end the Raptors got crushed on the glass (44-33) by Taj Gibson (14 boards) and Carlos Boozer (13 boards) and just did not have the fight and energy as they had when Dorsey (3 boards) and Ed Davis (2 boards) were getting better minutes.

See U Tomorrow

Tom Mehegan