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
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