a great 22-1 run for the raptors, then Dirk and the bench destroyed, and DeMar needs to keep his mouth shut

The Raptors played without Andrei Bargnani this game and the Mavs had a chip on their shoulder after the Raptors went into Dallas and beat them playing with only bench players while it is surprising to see Peja in Dallas's starting lineup (not really) and Ed Davis was in the starting lineup and did not give as much effort as he usually has in his rookie season.

Big Dirk comes out and gets the first basket of the game and then the Raptors went on an unbelievable run of 22-1 to take a 22-3 lead and Amir Johnson had 10 points and Calderon had 6 points while the Mavs missed 12 straight shots and James Johnson stayed on the court in the quarter and was very good on the defensive end and was 1 for 5 from the floor but no big deal. The Mavs finally got their wake-up call and closed the lead by the end of the quarter to 30-24 and got the first 4 points of the second quarter to get it to 30-28 which was a 25-8 lead by the bench who had 27 points in the half while the Big Dirk had 16 of the Mavs 26 second quarter points while having 7 boards in the half and is the only start scoring as the other starts have 5 points including are good friend Peja Stojakovic. Jose Calderon on his way to a triple double with 6 boards and 5 assists along with 11 points while Amir Johnson leads with 12 points while also having 4 boards and James Johnson has 5 assists and 5 boards with 6 points as the Raptors got 17 assists on their first 23 baskets in the first half with 26 boards while Mavs got 11 assists and 21 boards in the first half and Mark Cuban could not believe what he saw in the first half. The Raptors played no defense as the Mavs peeked in the quarter at 74-65 as they started the quarter on a 24-8 run and then the Raptors decided to fight a little as they scored 7 of the last 8 points to close out the quarter to make it 75-72 and the Mavs had 30 field goals in the first three quarters. The Mavs had 15 field goals in the fourth quarter and scored 39 points in the quarter and had a 23 point lead in the quarter which means that the Mavs out scored the Raptors by 20 points and ended up winning going away as they won 114-96 as the Mavs got 13 points in the second half while the Mavs bench got 37 points in the second half as the Mavs other starters went really cold tonight as they went 7 for 24 from the floor. The Raptors really let the refs get to them as of course Dirk got the star calls and especially DeMar DeRozan just needs to check his ego at the door because he is still upset about the slam dunk contest along with not getting the calls since the all-star game. He needs to stop yapping at the refs because unlike most times when a player gets a friendly whistle when talking to the refs as the refs are keying on DeMar DeRozan and is not only not getting the call he is also getting whistled for more fouls and he still had 19 points in the game and went 5 for 5 from the line in the game. While Calderon lead the team with 8 boards while the Johnsons had 7 each and Amir Johnson lead with 20 points until he fouled out and Jose Calderon had 15 points. The Raptors had 13 boards in the second half and 11 assists on their 18 second field goal while the Mavs had 19 boards and 17 assists in the second half and it looked like the Raptors were the team playing back to back instead of the Mavs as they fell apart on both ends of the court as they gave up 39 points and 8 points in the first half of the final quarter and can not get anywhere with no fourth quarter defensive effort while their was a huge drop off late in the first quarter and did not get really back to it the rest of the game.

One more game until they go overseas

Tom Mehegan

Raptors fans cheer Nash, Boo Carter, and Booooooooooooooo the Raptors right off the court

In the intro of the starting line-up for the Pheonix Suns Vince Carter got booed followed by Steve Nash getting cheered and the Suns lead after 1 quarter 35-14 and the Raptors got booed off the court but that is not the worst part which was that they physically got back on the court (should of done all their fans a favor and just head for their automobiles and left) for the second quarter and trailed 60-42 at half with yeah Nash 1 for 8 from the floor with 6 boards to lead everybody and 9 assists including assist # 9,000. Boo Carter was 5 for 8 with 11 points along with 4 boards and 4 steals and Channing Frye had 12 points and Marcin Gortat had 10 points along with 4 boards so that the Suns played a very balanced game beating the Raptors in assists (14-8) and boards (24-17). While the Raptors had Anderi Bargnani (12 points) in the first quarter and nothing else and DeMar DeRozan had 12 points in the first half of course practically all in the second quarter while Bargnani had 4 more points in the second quarter to give him 16 in the half. In the third quarter the Raptors showed a little bit of life getting it down to 12 with 6 straight points but the Suns went on 26-14 run to end the quarter which was helped by the common theme of no defensive stops by the Raptors who look like their allergic to playing defense tonight which is compounded by the lack of good shots (easy baskets) in the game as they are down 86-62 after 3 quarters. After 12 minutes of garbage time the Suns without breaking a sweat beat the low energy no defense Raptors 110-92 while the only thing the standing room only crowd could do was cheer Steve Nash because the Raptors did not give them anything to cheer about. Nash schooled Calderon 11-7 in assists even though he went 2 for 12 from the floor with 7 points while Calderon was 0 for 3 no points and The Suns beat down the Raptors 42-31 on the glass lead by Marcin Gortat with 11 boards while Jerryd Bayless and Ed Davis lead the Raptors with 5 each. The Suns where lead in scoring by Marcin Gortat and Boo Carter with 17 points each and the Raptors were lead by Andrei Bargnani with 26 points with 12 for 15 from the floor and the Raptors after going 6 for 20 in the first quarter went 32 for 55 from the floor but the Raptors had no defense of any substance in this game and it really looks bad on Triano the coach who no one is listening to and the Raptors GM who put this horrible defensive team together. After this same guy built the Suns into a contender back in the day and may end up back there sooner than later as things are going to hit the fan this off-season with a new GM who brings in his own head coach and hopefully teaches defense because it would be nice to see a Raptors team know how to play defense maybe a guys like Ed Davis and James Johnson are a good start in that direction especially if James does not get into the kind of foul trouble he got into tonight.

Better D against the Mavs Sunday night

Tom Mehegan

Derrick Rose went off for 18 in the fourth quarter and James Johnson taught the Raptors how to play defense

The Raptors came into the game against the Chicago Bulls who had been averaging opponents to 43% shooting and the Raptors shoot 58% in the game while the Bulls had kept their opponents to 93 points a game and the Raptors put up 118 points (118-113) against the Bulls tonight and the Bulls had only given up 19 assists a game and the Raptors had 29 assists in the game. The Raptors had good defensive stops in the game as the Bulls started 2-8 from the floor and in the second quarter the Raptors were down 8 points and then the Raptors got 9 defensive stops in 11 Bulls possessions and the Raptors took a 1 point lead but the Raptors defensive stops were in spurts as the Bulls had huge stretches of baskets in a row and put up lots of their 113 points in a few small sections of the game which made a good defensive game into a very high scoring victory. James Johnson the guy that the Raptors got from the Bulls yesterday for the Heats first round pick in the 2011 and he came in and like Joey Dorsey and Jullian Wright before him and had a very aggressive game especially on defense that set the tune for the Raptors defense in the game and lets hopr he does not get into Triano's dog house like the other 2 seemingly have found themselves. Even Andrea Bargnani had great defensive stops in the game too as the Raptors held the Bulls to just under 44% shooting from the floor in the game while the Raptors went 32 of 34 from the free throw line in the game. The Raptors were lead by both Andrea Bargnani (8 boards and 4 assists) and DeMar DeRozan (3 boards and 4 assists) while Amir Johnson had 17 points (8 for 8 from the floor and 1 for 1 from the line) and had 4 boards, 2 steals, and 3 blocks in the game. James Johnson had 9 points, 5 boards, and 3 blocks so he was all over the place and Jose Calderon had 17 of the team's 29 assists and had 3 steals along with 6 points. The Bulls were lead by Derrick Rose who had 14 points in the first three quarters and then had 18 points in the fourth quarter along with 10 assists of the Bulls's 19 in the gamewhile Joakim Noah had 10 of the Bulls 11 boards in the game and finished with 16 boards in the game of the Bulls's 36 with 9 on the offensive glass of their 16 offensive boards. The Bulls also got help from Carlos Boozer (24 points and 6 boards) and Luol Deng (19 points) and for the first time in the last little bit it is the Raptors opponents that can not get defensive as the Raptors take down their first over 500 team since beating the Mavs in Dallas with basically no one playing for the Raptors.

In the end the Raptors rallied around James Johnson's energy especially on the defensive end and put together a very good game but now what the Raptors need to hope for is that Johnson continue this kind of play against a team that had not just been spurned by and that the Raptors continue to rally around his energy and I know it is hard to beleive but the Raptors defense before the All-Star break had becoming better. Even though I do not know if the defense is much better or that the Raptors defense most of this season has been like the worst in the league but leats hope the D continues to get better because D wins games more than the O wins games.

What a game tonight

Tom Mehegan

Jerryd Bayless set the tune to the Raptors game and was not very good

Jerryd Bayless set the tune for the Raptors and it created a bad defensive effort until the beginning of the fourth quarter as he had 4 turnovers in his 21 minutes and most of them in his time in the first quarter. Before Bayless got in the game the Raptors had 1 turnover and by the end of the quarter they had 6 turnovers as the Raptors were up 18-14 and then the Bobcats went on a 19-9 run to end the quarter and lead 33-27 going into the second quarter where the Raptors did not have any defensive stops in the quarter as they outscored Raptors 28-17 and lead 61-44 @ half time which gave the Bobcats 2/3Rd of their game average 93 points. The Bobcats continued making fools of the Raptors defense in the third quarter again as they outscored the Raptors 28-25 as they lead the Raptors by 20 points going into the fourth quarter where they decided to grow a pair when it was already out of hand as they finally got combined defensive stops and put up point on offensive. With just over 7 minutes left in the game they had back to back opportunities get it back into single digits but did not do a good job on the offense again and then followed up with soft defense to let the Bobcats put the game to bed by getting it back up to 14-15 point lead again on their way to scoring 114 points and this is a team that averages 93 points a game really the Raptors did this kind of awful performance against this guys. The Bobcats on their way to a 13 point win 114-101 went to the free throw line 42 times (making 34 of them) while the Raptors went to the line 26 times (making 21 of them) which is incredible that you foul guys 32 times in the game even though the Bobcats looked to get a favorable whistle but the Raptors need to be tougher all around. The Bobcats were lead by Gerald Wallace who made 14 of 15 free throws and had 20 points and 6 boards while D.J. Augustin had 23 points and 8 assists while Boris Diaw had 16 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals and Nazr Mohammed had 14 boards and the Bobcats had 41 boards and 10 assists. While the Raptors were lead by Andrea Bargnani in rebounds (8) and also had 18 points while Sonny Weems lead in points (19) and co-lead with Bayless in turnovers (4) and that Jose Calderon lead in assists with 11 and it was 1 more than Bayless's 10 in the game as the Raptors had 25 boards and Ed Davis has 7 boards of the Raptors 41 boards. This was the worst all around game for the Raptors in the last few weeks with 15 turnovers and 17 points for the Bobcats but at least they supposedly went out with the Miami Heat draft picked up a tough small forward named James Johnson

That's hope they have a better D against the Bulls together

Tom Mehegan

Bosh and the heat try to give the Raptors a win but can't

The Heat tried to give the Raptors a win before the All-Star Game as the Heat started 1 for 4 from the floor and the Raptors started 4 for 5 and the Raptors lead 8-2 and the Heat lead 30-28 @ the quarter and lead @ half 50-46 but the Heat had 10 turnovers and the Raptors got 10 points from Andrea Bargnani and 8 from DeMar DeRozan in the first quarter and both had 14 @ half while Bosh lead the Heat with 14 points. In the third quarter the Heat were able to get the lead up to 14 points but the Raptors were able to fight it back to like 6 and 8 points with the Heat making turnovers and the Raptors made some timely shots to get it down to 8 80-72 after 3 quarters. While the Heat started 1 for 10 at least and the Raptors only cut the lead to 5 points and in the first 4 and a half minutes of the fourth quarter the Raptors outscored 7-4 to make it 84-79 but the Raptors could have done a lot more with their possessions and get points and the Heat kept the Raptors @ arm length through the quarter and won 103-95.

The Heat were made up of Dwyane Wade (28 points with 7 of the first 8 points in the fourth quarter), Chris Bosh (25 points with 11 for 12 from the line), LeBron James (23 points with 13 boards and 8 assists), and the rest of the team (27 points with Erick Dampier with 10 boards). The Raptors got 62 points, 8 boards, 2 assists from Andrea Bargnani (38 points and 4 boards) and DeMar DeRozan (24 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists) while no other Raptor was in double figures in points but the combo of Amir Johnson (11 boards) and Ed Davis (13 boards) did have 24 of the Raptors 41 boards in the game even though the Heat had 8 more boards (49) than the Raptors but also had 7 more turnovers then the Raptors (17-10). The Raptors did pass the ball more than the Heat (26 to 22 lead by Jose Calderon with 14) but the Heat are did yourself experts as they are @ the bottom of the league in assists and points in the paint but you would not know that just watching tonights game because the Raptors in the paint D is extremely soft as the Heat had 20 points in the paint before half and came in averaging 37 a game.

The Raptors got a huge crowd and even got standing room only as they had over 20 thousand when their is only 19.8 seats in the ACC and the reaction to Bosh was lite compared to even LeBron tonight but that may be because Bosh was announced first and it caught the crowd off guard as they expected him later in the intro. It was nice it was not a complete boo fest even though their were some boos when he had the ball but not a lot and basically Bosh did nothing wrong before leaving he fulfilled his contract and made a decision to look elsewhere which is his right in free agency like the decision or not it was his decision and the answers were all around us for years. He did show his age after he left with his silly twits but what mid-20 male not make silly decision or just anyone @ any age he just had a live mic (ok a twitter account that a lot of people have followed) to air his mistakes so in the end I do not know if Bosh will have better lucky than the ones that had left before him along with not knowing if at anytime an athlete (other than a hockey player) will want to really stay long term in the big smock of T.O.

Good Night

Tom Mehegan

What hppened between Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors

The story begins during the 2004 Olympics when Lebron, Wade, and Bosh became good friends and decided to get the same agent and after 2004-05 season they all decided to take the contract extension for 4 years so they would become free agent after 6 seasons. They had decided to work together to play for the same team many many seasons ago and the rumor was they would be going to the big apple but during last season they decided that the Knicks would be to much of a rebuilding process so Lebron and Bosh came to the conclusion to join Wade on the beaches of Miami. Bosh played hard and did not get hurt until just before his contract was over and down the stretch he play uncomfortable but he played hard and never gave up and he was not the only reason that the Raptors have never been able to stop anyone on D. Then the problems started with the Raptors GM decided to not trade Bosh because he felt he could resign him and then he was not able to communicate with Bosh's people and then Bosh just showed up in Miami and the Raptors did not get anything for him and Bosh started to rip on Toronto and the organization through his twitter account. The Raptors GM came back with the statement "He quit on the team down the stretch to the end of the season and then Raptors coach Jay Triano said that Bosh was not a team leader.

The situation has been bad for the Raptors as they have been struggling without Bosh and have not had a go to guy this season but really it is not all Bosh's fault as the GM of the Raptors handled the situation badly as he did not read the situation correctly. He had felt that he was a straight shooter and that he would be able to sit down with Bosh's people and work out a deal even if he was deciding to leave they would be able to get him more money in a sign and trade deal that would help both the player and the team.

Thanks for reading

Tom Mehegan

Blake Show without the razzle dazzle while Ed Davis has another manly game

Blake Griffen came and went from Canada with no razzle dazzle with a first half dunk and then a break away dunk in the second half where he just laid it into the basket and the fans booed his decision as they wanted a memorable dunk and were disappointed. While Ed Davis had 9 points and 5 boards in the first half on his way to his 5 double-double of the season with 13 s and 14 boards (7 offensive) while Amir Johnson could not stay out of foul trouble with 5 fouls in 14 minutes with 6 points, 2 boards, and 2 steals. Andrea Bargnani had the ball in his hands a lot and took lots of shots 9 for 21 but also went to the line a lot and was very successful too going 7 for 9 and ended up scoring 27 points while DeMar DeRozan had been more productive in the past few games as he went 7 for 18 in the game after going 7 of 8 against the Bucks earlier this week but did get to the line 5 times and made 3 of them which is more times than this past week. Blake Griffen had 9 points in the first half but did have 3 fouls at the 5:31 point of the second quarter with the Clippers up 35-34 but the Raptors did not take advantage of this as it was 48-48 going into half and then he had 12 points in the second half and scored late with 7 points in the second half of the fourth quarter and had 15 boards and went 7 for 10 from the line. While Baron Davis had 16 points in the first half and was very quiet at least shotting as he had 4 points in the second half but he was very vocal with his thoughts to the Referees and got a tech foul and kept talking and surprisingly was not kicked out of the game. The third quarter was about defensive stops and finishing on the offensive end for the Raptors as they outscored the Clippers 30-23 in the quarter and had a 10 point lead near the end of the quarter but the Raptors had a 78-71 lead into the fourth quarter. Then came winning time again and for the third game in a row they had the chance to take the game and run away with it with some big D but the Clippers fought back but this time when they got too close to tying the game the Raptors came back with a basket and a defensive stop to build the lead again and won the game with timely shots 98-93. It diffidently was nice to see the team being able to close out a game but of course I would of hoped that they would have learned this lesson earlier in the season but it also shows how bad the Clippers are on the road because it is quite a task to lose back to back games to the Cavliers and the Raptors which probably has not happened to another team this season.

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday it finally happens Wednesday as Bosh is back in T.O.

Tom Mehegan

Rudy Fernandez has 23 in the first half, LaMarcus Aldridge has a great second half, and the Raptors have trouble closing the deal

Rudy Fernandez came off the bench and scored 23 in the first half while have no points in the second half while LaMarcus Aldridge had the majority of his 37 points in the second half as the Portland Trail Blazers with the help of a 32 point second quarter took a 55-47 lead into the second half and a 13-2 run to end the first quarter and a 15-4 run in the second quarter. The Raptors got 12 points from Andrea Bargnani in the first half and then in the third quarter after the Blazers took a big 70-59 lead the Raptors defense really showed up as they went on a 11-2 run to end the quarter down 2 (72-70) and started the fourth on a 15-6 run to give themselves a 85-78 lead on the back of Jerryd Bayless and the 3-ball as he went 4 for 4 from 3 (all of his 18 points were scored in the fourth) with the only other point being a Bargnani free throw off a tech on the Trail Blazers head coach. The Trail Blazers came back with a 10-0 run of their own to tell the Raptors that they were taken the game as they got a couple more stops while the Raptors could not stop them in this huge part of the game with them taken a 98-92 lead and the Raptors got a couple late stops and had to hope the Trail Blazers would miss free throws but they did not as they won 102-96. The Raptors gave up 32 in the second quarter to put them behind the 8-ball into the half and 30 in the fourth as they did not get very defensive stops when they had to get down and dirty in the point of the game where the winning time happens which is usually late in the fourth quarter but the Raptors got good efforts from Andrea Bargnani (27 points), DeMar DeRozan (17 points), and Ed Davis (13 boards and 7 of them on the offensive board while he had 6 points). Rudy Fernandez and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 60 of their 102 points and the Trail Blazers lead in assists (23-21) and the Raptors lead in boards (35-33) but they were at least in the game which I have a hard saying about a lot of other games is season.

Only 28 left and Bosh is in on Wednesday

Tom Mehegan

The Rodeo is in town and shootout in the first half and the Spurs reigned in the Raptors in the fourth

The Spurs are in the middle of their 9 game and 17 day rodeo trip as the rodeo is in San Antonio for the next few weeks and the game started with a huge shootout with the Spurs having a 60-56 lead going into the second half and George Hill along with Tony Parker both had 14 points (6 assists) in the first half of the game. The Raptors were lead by Andrea Bargnani had 18 points and DeMar DeRozan had 16 points in the first half and the Spurs had a 72-66 lead and then the Raptors went on a huge run 14-3 to take a 80-75 lead and had a 84-81 lead going into the fourth quarter when the Spurs took control of the game with a massive run to start the quarter as they went on a 15-4 run to make it 96-88 and the game was basically over then as the Raptors could not stop anything that the Spurs sent their way. The Spurs were lead by DeJuan Blair (and I do not know who this guy is either) as he scored 28 points while Parker and Duncan had 16 each while George Hill had 18 points and the Raptors were lead by Bargnani with 29, DeRozan with 25, and Barbosa had 20 points. The Raptors were lead in boards by Amir Johnson who had 13 boards and the Spurs were lead in boards by Blaire with 11 in the games and the Spurs lead in boards 17-11 in the first half while the Raptors lead in boards in the third quarter 15-8 and the Spurs lead in the fourth 16-6.

The Raptors put up a good fight in the first 3 quarters but it really should in the last quarter that the Spurs showed they knew how to finish games in a winning way and that the Raptors have not been in very many close games and have not learned how to close out games in winning time and it really showed as the Spurs outscored the Raptors 30-16 in the final quarter. Really if the Raptors played more of their games with the kind of effort they put in tonight they would be a better team and would have more respect from the other teams in the NBA and be in the playoff picture and like always the Raptors do not need the talent but need the heart to especially to play D.

Bosh is back in town in 7 days and hopefully its not like Lebron back in Cleveland

Tom Mehegan

Things the Raptors should have been practicing but certainly did not in the last 3 games as they faced the Bucks

The first thing that the Raptors should of been practices in the 3 full days off would of been shooting and getting to the basket to have a good shooting % not the 35.6% they shot in the first half and the second half was not much better. The second if you are not able to make a basket try hard to get the ball into the hands of a guy who is making the shots Andrea Bargnani 4 for 14 to start the game while Amir Johnson was 1 for 6 (during this time he did have 8 boards) and Jose Calderon was 1 for 10 from the floor to start the game. While DeMar DeRozan was 6 for 7 in the first half but only got a slam dunk in the last minute of the third quarter which was his only attempt in the quarter and if you can not put up points aways try hard on the defensive end which they did in the first half with help from the Bucks as the Raptors got 10 points off turnover and were down 2, 40-38 at half yes the Bucks only scored 40 in the first half. The second half was a completely different story as the Bucks put up 52 points in the second half as they got little to no defensive stops in the second half as besides the 2 top dogs the rest of the starters were 5 for 32 from the floor which was lead by Jose Calderon who was 2 for 15 from the floor and had 7 assists and 6 turnovers and that's right your distributor had +1 assist to turnover number. Sonny Weems went 2 for 10 and Amir had 1 for 7 from the floor while Andrea Bargnani went 9 for 21 and that's right Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan was 9 for 13 from the floor yes DeMar did make the same amount of baskets with a third less of the shots. The Bucks were the Bucks they can keep the other team from scoring but had a hard time scoring themselves especially in the first half as the only bright spot in half was Andrew Bogut who had 5 for 6 from the floor with 3 blocks and in the second half with very weak Raptors defense Corey Maggette had a good third quarter with 8 points and John Salmons lead them in points mostly in the second half. Amir Johnson had 11 boards and it dropped all the way to DeRozan who had 7 while the Bucks were lead by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute who helped the Bucks lead the boards 50-44 and the Raptors had 2 more assists than the Bucks (19-17) and one less turnover (13-12). The Raptors are a mess and if they can not come up with a better game plan over 3 full days to take on the Bucks meanings Triano is just a waste of time and the GM is keeping him around only as a bargaining chip to get his own contract to be renewed.

Sorry the best team in the NBA in town tomorrow as the Spurs visit

Tom Mehegan

Love going to all-star game but gets no love in Toronto

The Raptors started the game the right way as they had 17 assists on their first 18 baskets and for first time in a very very very long time the Raptors actually won all 4 quarters of the game and had a lot of defensive stops in the second and fourth quarters on their way to a 11 point win 111-100. This was noticeable especially in the second quarter after the TimberWolves finished off a first quarter run that started when the Raptors were up 27-19 and when it was over in the second quarter the Wolves were up 39-35 which was a big 20-8 run and the Raptors ended the half on a 24-16 which gave the Raptors a 59-55 half time lead. In the first quarter DeMar was 5 for 5 from the floor with 10 points while Andrea Bargnani was 4 for 6 from the floor and had 9 points in the quarter and 13 in the half while Calderon had 6 assists after quarter 1 and 10 at half with 4 turnovers by half too and Kevin Love had 7 points and 6 boards in the first quarter and Milicic had 7 points too and Love had 7 points in the second quarter too to give him 14 in the half. Amir Johnson had 8 points and 5 boards in the first half and 11 points and 7 boards in the second half to give him 19 points and 12 boards in the game while Jose Calderon had 9 assists in the second half to give him a franchise tying 19 assists in the game while Bargnani over the second and third quarter he went 4 of 14 from the floor but had 24 points (6 for 6 from the line). DeMar DeRozan had 20 points in the game and 5 boards while Bargnani 30 points and 5 boards while Love had 6 points and 9 boards in the second half to give him 20 and 15 in the game while Carlos Brewer and Darko Milicic chipped in with 15 points and Sebastian Telfair had 16 points for the TimberWolves. Sonny Weems also had 16 points so that all starters had decent games and the Raptors out boarded (40-39) with help from Ed Davis with 8 the TimberWolves and Calderon out assisted (19 (35) - 18) them too as the Raptors took their first win in 14 games even though it was against a team with less wins than the Raptors (11-14) and had only 2 wins on the road this season and now the Raptors have until Tuesday to saver the victory and work on their game (hopefully) for when they head to face the Bucks.

Raptors actually win a game amazing

Tom Mehegan

after trying and trying again to get out of Indiana Raptors did get to ATL to face the Hawks

The Raptors like a lot of other people in US and Canada had problems with the winter storm system over the last few days as they tried to get out on Monday Night which did not work and they tried throughout Tuesday to get into the air but like their 12 games losing streak they had no success but then finally the Raptors were able to get up in the air Wednesday and got into Atlanta just in time for shoot around. When the game started both teams had tough time handling the rock early in the first quarter but the Hawks got the better of the Raptors 28-24 after 1 quarter and 54-45 at half time as the Raptors were lead by Amir Johnson with 12 points and 6 boards while Sonny Weems and Jose Calderon both had 8 points in the half and the Hawks were lead by no ordinary Joe's as Johnson had 19 points and 6 assists while Smith had 12 points and 3 boards. The Second half started well for the Raptors as they 4 straight defensive spots and scored 5 baskets in a roll to take a 1 point lead 55-54 but then the Hawks stopped playing around as they went on a 19-6 run to open a 12 lead that they would not give it up even though the Raptors got it down to 6 points 75-69 going into the fourth quarter. The Hawks made a lot of shoots in the fourth quarter and the Raptors went for jumpers and went cold and lost their 13Th in a roll 100-87 and the Hawks had a game plan and executed from the start which was pass the ball as they had 11 assists on their 13 first quarter baskets and had 17 assists at half and the passing of the ball opened up the 3 ball shot as they opened 4 for 9 from 3 and went 10 for 24 from 3 in the game and had 30 assists in the game while the Raptors had 22 assists. Andrea Bargnani had another tough night 4 for 12 from the floor and 12 points but had some success going to the baskets in the first half but got scared off by the Hawks shot blocking and spent a lot of time on the bench while playing 30 minutes in the game and DeMar DeRozan went 8 for 17 from the floor and had 16 points but did not go to the line and he made most of his baskets in the second half. Amir had 20 points (8 for 11 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the line) and 14 boards in the game but the boards dropped off huge with Weems next with 6 in the game and the Hawks were a Joe Johnson show with 37 points (5 for 8 from 3) in the game and then a big drop to Joe Smith who had 18 points to go with 11 boards which was second to Al Horford with 14 boards in the game. The Raptors had a lot of defensive stops in the third quarter and went to sleep for a couple of minutes and the Hawks scored 21 points in the quarter and the Raptors are not going to win games with 10 minutes of strong D a game so more strong D can get them out of this funk their in and then they will win a couple in a roll but first they need to concentrate more on the Defensive side of the ball.

Another game off the schedule and the Cavilers lost too

Tom Mehegan