The Raptors started the game well as they had only 2 turnovers in the first quarter and got a big 8 points of the Bucks 5 first quarter turnovers and it gave the Raptors a 28-22 lead after 1 quarter while shooting over 60 % from the floor and the Bucks shoot 52 % from the floor. Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, and DeMar DeRozan all had 6 points while Jose Calderon started well with 6 points and 3 assists. For the Bucks they got 6 points from Andrew Bogut and 5 points and 4 assists from Jennings and it was a good start for the Raptors sharing the scoring and taken advantage of their extra opportunities.
In the second quarter if the 2 turnovers in the first quarter was great then the 8 turnovers in the second quarter was a complete slap in the face and giving up 30 points in the quarter is just like being kicked when your down. The Bucks had 7 points and 5 assists in a short rest for Brandon Jennings and Jennings came back in and scored 8 points in the quarter as well to give him 13 @ halftime while Gooden had a quick 6 points in the quarter while the Raptors were led by Jose Calderon with 6 points and 2 assists but the scariest thing of the second quarter was the fagilant foul on Brockman as he hit his head hard on the court and immediately after missing both free throws he was taken out to evaluated by the team doctor. The Bucks outscored the Raptors 30-21 in the quarter and took a 52-49 lead into halftime with the most damaging fact of the first half was the Bucks had 7-3 offensive rebound advantage and took advantage of this by scoring second chance points.
In the Third quarter the Raptors had better defense as they outscored the Bucks 27-24 and with 12 minutes left it was tied at 76 as the big dogs at least the dogs that needed to score scored in this quarter as Bargnani had 12 points and DeMar had 8 points which means they had 20 of the 27 third quarter but it was about it for the night for Calderon as his haimy flare up again and Barbosa was supposedly the back-up point guard yicks. Brandon continued his one-on-one domination of the Raptors point guards as he had another 8 points while Bogut had 8 points as well.
Qith the Bucks up 80-78 with 9:23 left in the game Carlos Delfino (yes another former Raptor who wanted out of Toronto because we are different) entered the game and almost right away stole the ball from Jose Calderon and if Delfino was not completely focused he was after James Johnson blocked his lay-up attempt. As Carlos Delfino hit a 3-ball than hit a ball off Barbosa's leg and as they dive for the ball and then while he is on his back he passes the ball to Brandon Jennings for a dunk and then also hit another 3-ball and this all happened in 5 minutes and helped the Bucks stretched the lead to 85-80 and then after a Raptors 8-2 run but his second 3-ball gave the Bucks a 90-88 lead. The Raptors took to many long shots especially early in fourth quarter and once again when they needed a defensive stop it was once again it was like praying for the whole world as it is likely never happening and did not happen again tonight as the Bucks won 104-98.
The Stars of the game for the Bucks
1. Brandon Jennings who had 25 points and 7 assists
2. Drew Gooden who had 22 points and 11 boards
3. Andrew Bogut who had 17 points and 10 boards
special mention to Carlos Delfino with 4 steals to go with his 14 points
The Stars of the game for the Raptors
1. Andrea Bargnani who had 22 points
2. DeMar DeRozan who had 20 points
3. James Johnson who had 10 boards
3 non-Raptors stories
1. John Wall punched Zydrunas Ilgauskas as they jostled for position and then the refs and coaches had to step in and keep every thing come.
2. The Cavilers did everything to mess with Lebron James as him and his entourage were not allowed to park in the under ground parking at the Q and then he got supposedly in the washroom when they did the intros.
3. can who thinks the Bucks are anywhere close to 10 games better than the Raptors and how was there over 15,000 fans at the game.
One more closer to the end of the season
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
D'Antoni is likely joining the Raptors if let go by the Knicks and Andrea Bargnani future in T.O. is up in the air
Mike D'Antoni was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns when Bryan Colangelo was an executive with the Suns and it has been rumored that Mike D'Antoni would be brought in to coach Colangelo's team almost since day one and it was expected that after Jay Traino finished the last 65 games of 2008-09 season Mike D'Antoni would take over the team. Now Mike D'Antoni is the head coach of the New York Knicks but it looks like Donnie Walsh is on his way out of New York especially after Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas were responsible for the trade for Carmelo Anthony and Walsh had nothing to do with it and actually did not want to gut the team for Carmelo. Mike D'Antoni is having trouble with fitting Carmelo Anthony into the offense and the Knicks have just won one game in the last 10 games.
If this happens once again it looks like Mike D'Antoni will be replacing Jay Triano as head coach in the off-season and this is a scary idea because as any Raptor fan knows the biggest problem with the Team has always been the defensive side of the game and D'Antoni is not exactly a defensive mind as during his time in Phoenix it was a run and gun style and it was always about the offensive end of the game and no defense which usually turned into a Suns win 120-116. The style with the Knicks is the same kind of game and the biggest thing about this is that both the Knicks and Suns are very talented offensive teams which the Raptors right now do not have anywhere near the talent and neither of the teams have gotten into NBA final.
The other option looks like Jay Triano will be staying as the head coach which is also not a good idea as there is no way Triano has not lost the room and in the end it is almost a given that Bryan Colangelo is getting his extension and staying as the Raptors GM.
Also it looks like the Raptors are looking into releaving themselves of Andrea Bargnani as they may have figured out that Andrea may not be the go to guy they expected as a 7-footer putting up points much closer to the basket when they drafted him first overall in the 2007 entry draft. It is not likely to get much for Andrea because he is a streaky scorer who is not likely to benefit the team when he does not have his shot for a game as he plays too far away from the basket to collect a large amount of rebounds in a game.
Finally it looks like the Raptors are now focused on building around DeMar DeRozan, who has been getting better shots and scoring the basket at a better %, and Ed Davis, who has been scoring the basket at a close range to basket and getting better at putting back offensive rebounds for points and heading to the line where he is shooting a much better free throw shooting %. I have higher expectation for Ed Davis than DeMar DeRozan as he has more untapped upside and maybe a future all-star as rebounding monster.
The Season is almost over
Tom Mehegan
If this happens once again it looks like Mike D'Antoni will be replacing Jay Triano as head coach in the off-season and this is a scary idea because as any Raptor fan knows the biggest problem with the Team has always been the defensive side of the game and D'Antoni is not exactly a defensive mind as during his time in Phoenix it was a run and gun style and it was always about the offensive end of the game and no defense which usually turned into a Suns win 120-116. The style with the Knicks is the same kind of game and the biggest thing about this is that both the Knicks and Suns are very talented offensive teams which the Raptors right now do not have anywhere near the talent and neither of the teams have gotten into NBA final.
The other option looks like Jay Triano will be staying as the head coach which is also not a good idea as there is no way Triano has not lost the room and in the end it is almost a given that Bryan Colangelo is getting his extension and staying as the Raptors GM.
Also it looks like the Raptors are looking into releaving themselves of Andrea Bargnani as they may have figured out that Andrea may not be the go to guy they expected as a 7-footer putting up points much closer to the basket when they drafted him first overall in the 2007 entry draft. It is not likely to get much for Andrea because he is a streaky scorer who is not likely to benefit the team when he does not have his shot for a game as he plays too far away from the basket to collect a large amount of rebounds in a game.
Finally it looks like the Raptors are now focused on building around DeMar DeRozan, who has been getting better shots and scoring the basket at a better %, and Ed Davis, who has been scoring the basket at a close range to basket and getting better at putting back offensive rebounds for points and heading to the line where he is shooting a much better free throw shooting %. I have higher expectation for Ed Davis than DeMar DeRozan as he has more untapped upside and maybe a future all-star as rebounding monster.
The Season is almost over
Tom Mehegan
Monday, March 28, 2011
Julian Wright sits himself during the horrific game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday Night with Comments from Bryan Colangelo
Julian Wright was asked by Jay Triano to get into the game and he decided he was not want to be embarrassed during the 138-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors which was after he was put into the Denver Nuggets 123-90 loss and played 10 minutes but did not collect any stats and the only other game he played in the last 15 Raptor games was a 3 minute stint during a 96-94 loss with 2 free throw makes and a board. He has not played more than 10 minutes in the last 20 games and then before that he had 12 of 13 games of more than 10 minutes where he filled the score sheet especially with steals as he had a # of 2 steal games including 2 (4 steal games) and also had 6 games of at least 4 boards and 6 games of 2 assists at least with a game of 4 assists and 3 assists. He also was the 13Th overall in the 2007 which means he was drafted 12 spots after Andrea Bargnani and I believe he should be having given a bigger rub on the court to see what he can do and maybe even changed the lack of defensive effort and set the tone for the Raptors and he has been able to do it more often than not.
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
Julian Wright sits himself during the horrific game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday Night with Comments from Bryan Colangelo
Julian Wright was asked by Jay Triano to get into the game and he decided he was not want to be embarrassed during the 138-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors which was after he was put into the Denver Nuggets 123-90 loss and played 10 minutes but did not collect any stats and the only other game he played in the last 15 Raptor games was a 3 minute stint during a 96-94 loss with 2 free throw makes and a board. He has not played more than 10 minutes in the last 20 games and then before that he had 12 of 13 games of more than 10 minutes where he filled the score sheet especially with steals as he had a # of 2 steal games including 2 (4 steal games) and also had 6 games of at least 4 boards and 6 games of 2 assists at least with a game of 4 assists and 3 assists. He also was the 13Th overall in the 2007 which means he was drafted 12 spots after Andrea Bargnani and I believe he should be having given a bigger rub on the court to see what he can do and maybe even changed the lack of defensive effort and set the tone for the Raptors and he has been able to do it more often than not.
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
Julian Wright sits himself during the horrific game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday Night with Comments from Bryan Colangelo
Julian Wright was asked by Jay Triano to get into the game and he decided he was not want to be embarrassed during the 138-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors which was after he was put into the Denver Nuggets 123-90 loss and played 10 minutes but did not collect any stats and the only other game he played in the last 15 Raptor games was a 3 minute stint during a 96-94 loss with 2 free throw makes and a board. He has not played more than 10 minutes in the last 20 games and then before that he had 12 of 13 games of more than 10 minutes where he filled the score sheet especially with steals as he had a # of 2 steal games including 2 (4 steal games) and also had 6 games of at least 4 boards and 6 games of 2 assists at least with a game of 4 assists and 3 assists. He also was the 13Th overall in the 2007 which means he was drafted 12 spots after Andrea Bargnani and I believe he should be having given a bigger rub on the court to see what he can do and maybe even changed the lack of defensive effort and set the tone for the Raptors and he has been able to do it more often than not.
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
So I believe that he was simply frustrated that he does not get a lot of minutes on the floor especially when he got only 10 minutes during the Nuggets game where they were destroyed early and often and was one of the fresh legs going into the game as he had not played during the win against the Thunder the night before. He was not ready to just get in for a few minutes and then to be forgotten once again as it looks like Jay Triano has something against Julian Wright. This is because Julian Wright would have a good game and then forgotten for a couple of games and then recently he is only getting a small amount of minutes to prove himself and it is tough to go from 0 to 120 immediately or he is put back on the bench. It is obvious that Jay Triano has lost the room for month and nobody listening to him and nobody wants to play solid defense so I believe Julian Wright is not at fault for this situation as I have not heard of why Jay has so much trouble finding him minutes during the games where the Raptors are not usually in a winning position and Julian strangely enough is the Raptors union rep.
Bryan Colangelo phoned into the Jeff Blair show on the Fan 590 this morning as like a caller just to set the record straight and he said that it was done internally it means it was taken care of and that one of the things that Julian Wright needed to do is to apologized to his teammates and that it was out of character for Julian. He also talked about how it was a single AP writer hearing Julian refusing to enter the game and then told one person, they told one person, and they told one person and that if they had suspended Julian for the rest of the season they my have had the players union getting involved and it becoming messy along with hurting Julian chances in upcoming free agency period. He also talked about Robert Horry thrown a towel in the face of then Sun head coach Danny Angle while Brain was with the Suns and he traded Horry within 24 hours because there had been a lead up to the towel throwing incident.
Also why is Julian Wright getting so ripped in this situation after a couple of weeks ago Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani got into Jay Triano face when they were taken out of a close game on defense to try to get a defense stop. Then obviously would be put into the game on offense as they are more offensive minded players and set up a basket to get the win but that situation has just been pushed under the rug.
Jay please let Julian have a chance to prove to everyone that he is a good defensive players
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Blake show act I - IV - The Blake Show dominates the final act
Blake show act I - Defensive battle
Blake Griffen started by setting up Eric Gorden for a reverse jam and then a flying dunk going right down the baseline and dunking a rebound over a Raptor and finished with an one-hand slam but did miss a two handed jam in the quarter too. The defenses came out to play the first act and held the Clippers to 18 points and led by 3 points going into the second act as Amir Johnson is back on the court and back in LA and had 6 points and 4 boards while Ed Davis also had 4 boards too and Barbosa had 5 points. The Clippers got 5 from Chris Kaman along with 4 from Blake Griffen and Randy Foye and both teams are shooting 34% and going to the basket and dunking the ball.
Blake Show act II - Ed Davis steals the act
Blake Griffen had a two handed power slam but in the second act he will be remembered for the dunk that he missed it was spectacular it was a flying tommahawk jam which went off the rim and out because Amir Johnson fouled Griffen enough to miss it. The Raptors are 3 points ahead of the Warriors 46 point first quarter and lead the Clippers by 1 @ 44-43 going into act III and the Raptors were quite impressive to start act II as they started on 9-4 run to open a 8 point lead @ 30-22 and then the defense let down a bit which is OK especially if they can get it back on track for the final 2 acts. The Raptors got a huge act II from Ed Davis with 9 points and 2 boards along with 5 more points and an unnecessary from Barbosa while DeMar is 0 for 6 going into act III while Blake Griffen had 8 points and 2 boards and 3 assists while Chris Kaman had 6 more points and Craig Smith had 5 points for the Clippers who are shooting 40.9 % from the floor while the Raptors are shooting 39 % from the floor.
Blake Show act III - Calderon doing it himself
Blake Giffen was more a shooter with a long jumpers in the act but did bring down 4 boards and it was Barbosa and James Johnson with the reverse one hand jams but it was Barbosa going up for a jam and being rejected that will be the most memorable moment in this act. Jose Calderon hasd not been setting up this game but did have 8 points in act III while Barbosa is the one passing he has 6 assists in the game with the Raptors shooting 39 % from the floor and the Clippers have gone from 34 in the first act to 45 % in the third act which is scary.
Blake Show act IV - Blake Show is on all act
Blske Griffen was slamming the ball left, right, and center in this act IV and back-to-back slams lead the Clippers who were down by their biggest deficit of 10 @ 80-70 and go on a 17-3 run to take control of the game. The thing is with a half of the final act left and the Raptors up 8 Mo Williams was fouled and is allowed to take like 4 or 5 more steps to the basket for a slam and an one which was just silly and then a ref calls DeMar DeRozan who is going under the basket for stepping out of bounds when he was a foot and a half away from the baseline and the Ref was right there so it was not judgement call it simply was a bad call. While the Raptors still throw the game away as they did not move the ball towards the basket and instead stalled for long jumpers and 3-balls late in the clock that were not hitting at all but DeMar did finally make it to the game as he did hit all 3 field goals in the final act (maybe he was out having dinner with his parents or something). Back to Blake Griffen who had 8 points in this act and 8 boards so he doubled his boards each act while Eric Gordon had 5 points while Ed Davis had 6 of the Raptors 17 act IV points which was the Raptors lowest scoring act of the game.
In the end ...
The Raptors got a great game from Ed Davis who played 40 minutes and had 21 points, 11 boards, and 3 assists while we had Jose Calderon and Barbosa trading places with Calderon being the one with a 4 for 10 night with 16 points (7 for 7 from the line) with 4 boards, a steal, and 2 assists and Barbosa was 5 of 13 for 14 points (3 of 4 from the line) but 6 assisrs and 2 steals. Amir toughed it out and struggled after the first act while James Johnson filled up the box score with 14 points (5 of 13 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line), 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block while the Blake Show was finishing strong with 22 points and 16 of the Clippers 51 boards which was 11 better than the Raptors 40 in the game. The Raptors had great active defense and were rewarded with 13 steals but were unable to stay away from the 11 Clippers blocks and they also out assisted the Raptors 22-19 and it just was the poor Raptor shooting that did them in during the final act as the Raptors went 4 for 15 from 3 in the game and a lot more came in the final act than any other act.
Could we have the final 8 games in the next two weeks so MLSE can on vacation together
Tom Mehegan
Blake Griffen started by setting up Eric Gorden for a reverse jam and then a flying dunk going right down the baseline and dunking a rebound over a Raptor and finished with an one-hand slam but did miss a two handed jam in the quarter too. The defenses came out to play the first act and held the Clippers to 18 points and led by 3 points going into the second act as Amir Johnson is back on the court and back in LA and had 6 points and 4 boards while Ed Davis also had 4 boards too and Barbosa had 5 points. The Clippers got 5 from Chris Kaman along with 4 from Blake Griffen and Randy Foye and both teams are shooting 34% and going to the basket and dunking the ball.
Blake Show act II - Ed Davis steals the act
Blake Griffen had a two handed power slam but in the second act he will be remembered for the dunk that he missed it was spectacular it was a flying tommahawk jam which went off the rim and out because Amir Johnson fouled Griffen enough to miss it. The Raptors are 3 points ahead of the Warriors 46 point first quarter and lead the Clippers by 1 @ 44-43 going into act III and the Raptors were quite impressive to start act II as they started on 9-4 run to open a 8 point lead @ 30-22 and then the defense let down a bit which is OK especially if they can get it back on track for the final 2 acts. The Raptors got a huge act II from Ed Davis with 9 points and 2 boards along with 5 more points and an unnecessary from Barbosa while DeMar is 0 for 6 going into act III while Blake Griffen had 8 points and 2 boards and 3 assists while Chris Kaman had 6 more points and Craig Smith had 5 points for the Clippers who are shooting 40.9 % from the floor while the Raptors are shooting 39 % from the floor.
Blake Show act III - Calderon doing it himself
Blake Giffen was more a shooter with a long jumpers in the act but did bring down 4 boards and it was Barbosa and James Johnson with the reverse one hand jams but it was Barbosa going up for a jam and being rejected that will be the most memorable moment in this act. Jose Calderon hasd not been setting up this game but did have 8 points in act III while Barbosa is the one passing he has 6 assists in the game with the Raptors shooting 39 % from the floor and the Clippers have gone from 34 in the first act to 45 % in the third act which is scary.
Blake Show act IV - Blake Show is on all act
Blske Griffen was slamming the ball left, right, and center in this act IV and back-to-back slams lead the Clippers who were down by their biggest deficit of 10 @ 80-70 and go on a 17-3 run to take control of the game. The thing is with a half of the final act left and the Raptors up 8 Mo Williams was fouled and is allowed to take like 4 or 5 more steps to the basket for a slam and an one which was just silly and then a ref calls DeMar DeRozan who is going under the basket for stepping out of bounds when he was a foot and a half away from the baseline and the Ref was right there so it was not judgement call it simply was a bad call. While the Raptors still throw the game away as they did not move the ball towards the basket and instead stalled for long jumpers and 3-balls late in the clock that were not hitting at all but DeMar did finally make it to the game as he did hit all 3 field goals in the final act (maybe he was out having dinner with his parents or something). Back to Blake Griffen who had 8 points in this act and 8 boards so he doubled his boards each act while Eric Gordon had 5 points while Ed Davis had 6 of the Raptors 17 act IV points which was the Raptors lowest scoring act of the game.
In the end ...
The Raptors got a great game from Ed Davis who played 40 minutes and had 21 points, 11 boards, and 3 assists while we had Jose Calderon and Barbosa trading places with Calderon being the one with a 4 for 10 night with 16 points (7 for 7 from the line) with 4 boards, a steal, and 2 assists and Barbosa was 5 of 13 for 14 points (3 of 4 from the line) but 6 assisrs and 2 steals. Amir toughed it out and struggled after the first act while James Johnson filled up the box score with 14 points (5 of 13 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line), 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block while the Blake Show was finishing strong with 22 points and 16 of the Clippers 51 boards which was 11 better than the Raptors 40 in the game. The Raptors had great active defense and were rewarded with 13 steals but were unable to stay away from the 11 Clippers blocks and they also out assisted the Raptors 22-19 and it just was the poor Raptor shooting that did them in during the final act as the Raptors went 4 for 15 from 3 in the game and a lot more came in the final act than any other act.
Could we have the final 8 games in the next two weeks so MLSE can on vacation together
Tom Mehegan
Ed Davis - Player profile
Ed Davis of the Toronto Raptors
Ht 6'9 weight 225 Place Of Birth: Richmond, VA College: North Carolina Blue Devils
Drafted: 13th overall pick in the 2010 by the Toronto Raptors
In his first season in the NBA he started with 2 games in the D-league as he had been recovering from a broken wrist that had his stock dropping at the draft he came in to spell a rest for an Amir Johnson or Andrea Bargnani and he was a spark plug picking up a number of rebounds right of the bat and will be dominate force for the Raptors going forward when he gets used to the minutes and length of the NBA schedule. He has 10 career starts for the Raptors in which he has picked up average of 2.4 offensive boards and 4.3 defensive boards in his first 54 games as a Raptor and has scored 6.6 points a game and is just above 51% from the line and 57% from the floor but with practice he will get to the line more as he will use his body to collect offensive boards and also will become a better free throw shooter.
He is better than the 13 best player coming out of the 2010 draft class and when he becomes the every game starting forward he will be putting up consent double-double and will be a valuable player in the NBA for years to come making the players around him better.
The one thing he will still need to work hard on game in and game out will be playing defense especially with the Raptors who have a number of their players only concerned about the offensive side of the game. In the end with the floor time he will be getting over the next few years with the Raptors every aspect of his game will get much better as he is not as bad as Reggie Evans or a Shaq attack at the line while not being afraid of getting dirty like a Chris Bosh or Andrea Bargnani.
Maybe the first Raptors own glass cleaner
Tom Mehegan
Ht 6'9 weight 225 Place Of Birth: Richmond, VA College: North Carolina Blue Devils
Drafted: 13th overall pick in the 2010 by the Toronto Raptors
In his first season in the NBA he started with 2 games in the D-league as he had been recovering from a broken wrist that had his stock dropping at the draft he came in to spell a rest for an Amir Johnson or Andrea Bargnani and he was a spark plug picking up a number of rebounds right of the bat and will be dominate force for the Raptors going forward when he gets used to the minutes and length of the NBA schedule. He has 10 career starts for the Raptors in which he has picked up average of 2.4 offensive boards and 4.3 defensive boards in his first 54 games as a Raptor and has scored 6.6 points a game and is just above 51% from the line and 57% from the floor but with practice he will get to the line more as he will use his body to collect offensive boards and also will become a better free throw shooter.
He is better than the 13 best player coming out of the 2010 draft class and when he becomes the every game starting forward he will be putting up consent double-double and will be a valuable player in the NBA for years to come making the players around him better.
The one thing he will still need to work hard on game in and game out will be playing defense especially with the Raptors who have a number of their players only concerned about the offensive side of the game. In the end with the floor time he will be getting over the next few years with the Raptors every aspect of his game will get much better as he is not as bad as Reggie Evans or a Shaq attack at the line while not being afraid of getting dirty like a Chris Bosh or Andrea Bargnani.
Maybe the first Raptors own glass cleaner
Tom Mehegan
Friday, March 25, 2011
Raptors set another team record in a horrible showing (i.e. not showing up at all)
So the most points by a Raptor team in a half was December 2Nd, 2008 which was Sam Mitchell's last game as they gave up 79 points in a half but that all changed tonight as the Raptors gave up a disgusting 86 first half points as the Raptors made a great game plan which was to not play an ouch of defense and they kept it up in the second half as the Raptors gave up 101 points in 29 game minutes and only gave up 30 points in the third quarter to be down 116-74. So the Raptors got out to a quick 7-4 lead but with Ellis having 15 first quarter points and Wright having 13 points in the quarter the Warriors took a 45-36 first quarter lead into the second quarter while the Warriors did not miss a shot from the 10:54 mark until 39 seconds left in the quarter. Where Stefan Curry had 12 of the warriors 41 second quarter and he had 19 points @ half while Ellis had 20 points in the half and the Warriors were hitting everything so they had a great inside game and because the Raptors could not get out on shooters they nailed a number of 3-balls and had 20 rebounds and assists all in the first half shooting just under 69% from the floor and 15 of 18 from the line in the half. The Raptors were lead by James Johnson who had 10 of the Raptors 36 first quarter points and DeMar had 7 of the Raptors 22 second quarter points and 15 in the half while Ed Davis had 5 first half boards and Calderon had 5 assists and would not play in the second half.
The Warriors kept it going in the third quarter with Wright having 9 points and Lee having 7 points as they led by 42 points @ 116-74 while in the fourth quarter the Warriors were led by Williams who had 10 points in the quarter as it was the only quarter the Raptors won 26-22 as the Warriors won 138-100 and this would be the perfect time to fire Triano but it sadly will not happen until the off-season.
So lets see the Warriors had 4 of their 5 starters with at least 20 points with Monta Ellis with 27 points with 10 assists to go with 4 boards and steals, Stephen Curry with 23 points and 8 assists, Dorell Wright had 26 points and 9 of 11 from the floor, David Lee had 21 points with 8 of 9 from the floor and 7 boards. They shoot 61.4 from the floor while going 10 of 17 from 3 and picking up 40 rebounds, 33 assists, and 12 steals what a way to stop a 5 game losing streak.
The had Ed Davis who had 18 points and 11 boards (Amir and Reggie both out) but he also went to the line 12 of the Raptors 26 trips and made 8 of them while DeMar (8 of 12) and Barbosa (7 of 11) both had 19 points to lead the Raptors but the surprising stat tonight is that Andrea had no rebounds and 5 assists. He was also one of the Raptors who could not hit a shot in this game of non-defensive basketball as he was 2 of 10 from the floor and only went to the line 4 times (hitting 3 of them) and Sonny Weems was 2 of 9 from the floor and in the end James Johnson was 6 for 11 from the floor with 14 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks but if he so scary why did he not give his teammates a rude awakening
Blake show tomorrow
Tom Mehegan
The Warriors kept it going in the third quarter with Wright having 9 points and Lee having 7 points as they led by 42 points @ 116-74 while in the fourth quarter the Warriors were led by Williams who had 10 points in the quarter as it was the only quarter the Raptors won 26-22 as the Warriors won 138-100 and this would be the perfect time to fire Triano but it sadly will not happen until the off-season.
So lets see the Warriors had 4 of their 5 starters with at least 20 points with Monta Ellis with 27 points with 10 assists to go with 4 boards and steals, Stephen Curry with 23 points and 8 assists, Dorell Wright had 26 points and 9 of 11 from the floor, David Lee had 21 points with 8 of 9 from the floor and 7 boards. They shoot 61.4 from the floor while going 10 of 17 from 3 and picking up 40 rebounds, 33 assists, and 12 steals what a way to stop a 5 game losing streak.
The had Ed Davis who had 18 points and 11 boards (Amir and Reggie both out) but he also went to the line 12 of the Raptors 26 trips and made 8 of them while DeMar (8 of 12) and Barbosa (7 of 11) both had 19 points to lead the Raptors but the surprising stat tonight is that Andrea had no rebounds and 5 assists. He was also one of the Raptors who could not hit a shot in this game of non-defensive basketball as he was 2 of 10 from the floor and only went to the line 4 times (hitting 3 of them) and Sonny Weems was 2 of 9 from the floor and in the end James Johnson was 6 for 11 from the floor with 14 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks but if he so scary why did he not give his teammates a rude awakening
Blake show tomorrow
Tom Mehegan
Charles Oakley to be the next head coach for the Raptors
Charles Oakley is a very good choice to be the next head coach of the Toronto Raptors especially as the Raptors have never had a solid defensive team in their 16 years in the NBA and Charles Oakley has been brought in to be an assistant with Charlotte Bobcats and helped them from being a horrible team to a playoff stretch being 3 game back of Indiana Pacers and the 8Th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Charles Oakley could get a team playing hard defense as he is the most awesome defensive player when he was an all-star NBA player and would have 2 amazing players that would be his model players and they are Reggie Evans and James Johnson and just like with Charles Oakley nobody would mess with either Reggie Evans and James Johnson as they are scary and intimidating figures. They would be able to show the other Raptor players how to play the tough defense from minute one to minute 48 and the Raptors promotional team should change the free pizza from the Raptors scoring a hundred points to the Raptors keeping the opponents under a hundred and with the tough defense they would hopefully average opponent under 95 points a game and be like the top teams in the NBA who keep opponents under 95 points a game and have 50 win season instead of what it usually is for the Raptors 50 loss seasons. The best part about Charles Oakley becoming head coach of the Toronto Raptors would be the fans chanting "defense" throughout the game will have a point in the chant as the Raptors will actually play defense throughout the game as the chant is stupid because the Raptors usually play about 5 minutes of tough defense a game.
It would be a good idea for MLSE to bring in Charles Oakley as the head coach as great defense brings wins and wins bring fans to the game and it would take the 14,000 fans to most likely 18,000 to 19,000 fans a game because the people of Toronto want to be contenders instead of wannabes. The fans would make the Air Canada Centre one of the loudest arenas in the NBA and would help the Raptors to win at least 30 home wins in a season which would be a solid start for the Raptors while the Raptors with their solid defense under Oakley would help the Raptors be a 500 road team of 20 or 21 road wins. This would be a complete change from the Raptors record right now with their 14 and 22 home record and their 6 and 27 road record which is mostly a defensive problem as they are given up too many points a game.
MLSE please do the right thing and get us Charles Oakley pretty please
Tom Mehegan
Charles Oakley could get a team playing hard defense as he is the most awesome defensive player when he was an all-star NBA player and would have 2 amazing players that would be his model players and they are Reggie Evans and James Johnson and just like with Charles Oakley nobody would mess with either Reggie Evans and James Johnson as they are scary and intimidating figures. They would be able to show the other Raptor players how to play the tough defense from minute one to minute 48 and the Raptors promotional team should change the free pizza from the Raptors scoring a hundred points to the Raptors keeping the opponents under a hundred and with the tough defense they would hopefully average opponent under 95 points a game and be like the top teams in the NBA who keep opponents under 95 points a game and have 50 win season instead of what it usually is for the Raptors 50 loss seasons. The best part about Charles Oakley becoming head coach of the Toronto Raptors would be the fans chanting "defense" throughout the game will have a point in the chant as the Raptors will actually play defense throughout the game as the chant is stupid because the Raptors usually play about 5 minutes of tough defense a game.
It would be a good idea for MLSE to bring in Charles Oakley as the head coach as great defense brings wins and wins bring fans to the game and it would take the 14,000 fans to most likely 18,000 to 19,000 fans a game because the people of Toronto want to be contenders instead of wannabes. The fans would make the Air Canada Centre one of the loudest arenas in the NBA and would help the Raptors to win at least 30 home wins in a season which would be a solid start for the Raptors while the Raptors with their solid defense under Oakley would help the Raptors be a 500 road team of 20 or 21 road wins. This would be a complete change from the Raptors record right now with their 14 and 22 home record and their 6 and 27 road record which is mostly a defensive problem as they are given up too many points a game.
MLSE please do the right thing and get us Charles Oakley pretty please
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Raptors VS Suns - good first half for Andrea but the Suns rest in the first half and destroyed the Raptors down the stretch
The first half of the game was good offensively for the Raptors with 61 points with 16 points from Andrea Bargnani with DeMar and Barbosa both with 9 and Weems with 8 points in the half. The Suns are staying in the game with long distance as they are 6 for 15 from 3 with Boo Carter was 3 for 6 from 3 and had 11 points while Aaron Brooks was 2 for 3 from 3 as he has 11 points too but the Suns are really hurting as Grant Hill is injured and is likely done for the game while Mickael Pietrus is questionable with an injury and Robin Lopez is sick and is done for the game while Captain Canada sat most of the first half with only 6 minutes on the court but he is likely to play more in the second half. The Raptors had a run of 15-5 to take a 19-11 8 point lead while a 11-3 run gave the Raptors their biggest lead at 10 in the first half but then held strong with a 6 point halftime lead @ 61-55 but will need to get up on 3-balls and play tougher in the second half even though they led in boards 26-23 and assists they are tied at 13.
The Raptors came out and scored the first 6 points in the second half and took a 12 point lead @ 67-55 and then they went back and forth with the Suns and the top of the mountain for the Raptors tonight was 84-71 with 3:21 left in the third quarter and the Suns went on a 15-2 run with Steve Nash on the bench for the last 2 minutes of the quarter and the game was the same as it was @ tipoff tonight tied and this time it was 86-86. So the fourth quarter begins and just like to open the half the Raptors scored the first 6 points of the quartero and then the Suns come back with 9 straight points as Channing Frye had 7 of these 9 points and after Barbosa hits a 3-ball to tie it up @ 95 with 6 minutes left it was anyone's ball game. With the Raptors getting 6 more points while the Suns got only 2 to have a 9-2 run to open up a 6 point lead again and they were feeling really good about themselves but then the Suns turn over the Raptors bus and the Raptors were not heard from again as the Suns close the game with a 17-3 run to win the game 114-106 and these are the guys who played not 1, not 2, but 3 overtimes against Kobe and the Lakers last night.
The Raptors got on them early and often in the game as they tried to end the 14 game losing streak the Raptors are on against the Suns where the last time the Raptors beat them Mo Pete and Vince Carter were lead the charge for the Raptors and now Vince was on the other sidelines as a Sun and Mo Pete may not be in the league if he is he is out the end of someone's bench not seeing the court as a high price stiff. The Suns did a very good job of using their bench because Channing Frye was the only starter playing huge minutes in the game as Boo Carter played 20 and Nash played 22 and Robin Lopez played 15 and the 3 ball was huge for them as they hit 12 of 28 of them and like usually the Raptors were a step slow in recovering so they had very good looks most of the night. Aaron Brooks had 25 points and Steve Nash had 16 points in his 22 minutes on the court as he only played the second half as they had 8 assists in the game while Marcin Gortat had 8 boards to led the Suns to go with his 15 points. The Raptors were led by Andrea Bargnani with 27 points (10 of 22 from the floor with 6 free throws made) to go with 4 boards and 3 assists and DeMar DeRozan had 19 (9 of 20 from the floor and 1 free throw) to go along 8 boards (very good) and 4 assists but these 2 put up 42 of the Raptors 97 shots and hit 19 of the Raptors 47 buckets so the rest of the team had a lot higher shooting % than these 2. Ed Davis had 9 boards to led the team as the Raptors out rebounded the Suns 49-42 and Jose Calderon had 13 assists but the Suns got an extra assist while the Suns also had 10 more free throws 22-12 which is extremely low on the Raptors part. The surprising stat of the night is that Barbosa took 11 shots in 22 minutes which is 1 every 2 minutes on the court and it is usually 1 every minute and Reggie played 15 minutes and had 6 boards as he had foul trouble in the first half.
Warriors Friday lets see what happens
Tom Mehegan
The Raptors came out and scored the first 6 points in the second half and took a 12 point lead @ 67-55 and then they went back and forth with the Suns and the top of the mountain for the Raptors tonight was 84-71 with 3:21 left in the third quarter and the Suns went on a 15-2 run with Steve Nash on the bench for the last 2 minutes of the quarter and the game was the same as it was @ tipoff tonight tied and this time it was 86-86. So the fourth quarter begins and just like to open the half the Raptors scored the first 6 points of the quartero and then the Suns come back with 9 straight points as Channing Frye had 7 of these 9 points and after Barbosa hits a 3-ball to tie it up @ 95 with 6 minutes left it was anyone's ball game. With the Raptors getting 6 more points while the Suns got only 2 to have a 9-2 run to open up a 6 point lead again and they were feeling really good about themselves but then the Suns turn over the Raptors bus and the Raptors were not heard from again as the Suns close the game with a 17-3 run to win the game 114-106 and these are the guys who played not 1, not 2, but 3 overtimes against Kobe and the Lakers last night.
The Raptors got on them early and often in the game as they tried to end the 14 game losing streak the Raptors are on against the Suns where the last time the Raptors beat them Mo Pete and Vince Carter were lead the charge for the Raptors and now Vince was on the other sidelines as a Sun and Mo Pete may not be in the league if he is he is out the end of someone's bench not seeing the court as a high price stiff. The Suns did a very good job of using their bench because Channing Frye was the only starter playing huge minutes in the game as Boo Carter played 20 and Nash played 22 and Robin Lopez played 15 and the 3 ball was huge for them as they hit 12 of 28 of them and like usually the Raptors were a step slow in recovering so they had very good looks most of the night. Aaron Brooks had 25 points and Steve Nash had 16 points in his 22 minutes on the court as he only played the second half as they had 8 assists in the game while Marcin Gortat had 8 boards to led the Suns to go with his 15 points. The Raptors were led by Andrea Bargnani with 27 points (10 of 22 from the floor with 6 free throws made) to go with 4 boards and 3 assists and DeMar DeRozan had 19 (9 of 20 from the floor and 1 free throw) to go along 8 boards (very good) and 4 assists but these 2 put up 42 of the Raptors 97 shots and hit 19 of the Raptors 47 buckets so the rest of the team had a lot higher shooting % than these 2. Ed Davis had 9 boards to led the team as the Raptors out rebounded the Suns 49-42 and Jose Calderon had 13 assists but the Suns got an extra assist while the Suns also had 10 more free throws 22-12 which is extremely low on the Raptors part. The surprising stat of the night is that Barbosa took 11 shots in 22 minutes which is 1 every 2 minutes on the court and it is usually 1 every minute and Reggie played 15 minutes and had 6 boards as he had foul trouble in the first half.
Warriors Friday lets see what happens
Tom Mehegan
Monday, March 21, 2011
Raptors are all punched out after they beat the Thunder and then could not catch their breath
So the Raptors are in Denver, Colorado where your a mile above sea level at least that is what the sigh outside the Pepsi Center says so before I get into the game I am going to look back at what happened @ the Pepsi Center on December 2Nd, 2008 when the Raptors lost 132-93 to the Denver Nuggets and it was the certain falling down on Sam Mitchell's coaching career as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors.
So the game begins and the Raptors could not give a dam about playing up on the Nugget's players in the first half where the Nuggets scored 36 points in the first quarter and 46 points in the second quarter and had 11 turnovers in the half which is the same as they had in all of last night's game and the Raptors only gave up 66 points through the first three quarter last night. So it is a completely different team and with the nuggets hitting 53% of their shoots from the floor and going to the line 16 times and making 13 of them but they are wide open for 3-balls and they are draining them at will hitting 7 of the 15 3 ball attempts in the first half. Ty Lawson was unconscious shooting the ball in the half as he was 5 of 6 from the floor as he also went 2 for 2 from 3 along with hitting all 5 of his free throw attempts and had 17 points in the half. The Nuggets also got 30 rebounds in the first half which is just outstanding as 30 rebounds could be a team's total for a game not a half while the Raptors had 17 rebounds in the half which is close to the average for a half while the Nuggets also have 16 assists compared to the Raptors 9 which means they are sharing the ball big time. The scariest rebound was the one where Danilo Gallinari got an offensive rebound with 3 raptors just standing there and he just powered up and slammed it down with no contest from any of the 3 Raptors standing under the basket as the clock went triple zero to thankfully end the first half.
The Raptors was able to keep it close in the second half but still lost all 4 quarters and the Raptors played all their players solid minutes while the Nuggets played their starters a little bit more and 7 Nuggets were in double digits led by Ty Lawson was 7 for 10 from the floor and ended up with 23 points along with 8 assists and Nene Hilario went 7 for 9 from the floor with 18 points. J.R. Smith was 2 assists away from a triple double as he had 13 points and 10 boards while the Raptors were led by Andrea Bargnani who had 20 points and DeMar DeRozan who had 14 points but the most interesting stat was Jerryd Bayless had 9 assists which 3 more than the shoots he took which is good for a point even though he did not make a basket along with Alexis Ajinca had 9 boards in his most rub on the court which equaled Reggie's rebounds.
The thing that the Raptors struggled on the defensive end again and they questioned about 2 maybe goaltending non-calls against the Nuggets and like always the Raptors questioned any close foul and like away the Raptors just got more fouls which is because it looks like the Raptors are showing up the refs as they do not play hard enough to earn the close calls.
Thanks for reading
Tom Mehegan
So the game begins and the Raptors could not give a dam about playing up on the Nugget's players in the first half where the Nuggets scored 36 points in the first quarter and 46 points in the second quarter and had 11 turnovers in the half which is the same as they had in all of last night's game and the Raptors only gave up 66 points through the first three quarter last night. So it is a completely different team and with the nuggets hitting 53% of their shoots from the floor and going to the line 16 times and making 13 of them but they are wide open for 3-balls and they are draining them at will hitting 7 of the 15 3 ball attempts in the first half. Ty Lawson was unconscious shooting the ball in the half as he was 5 of 6 from the floor as he also went 2 for 2 from 3 along with hitting all 5 of his free throw attempts and had 17 points in the half. The Nuggets also got 30 rebounds in the first half which is just outstanding as 30 rebounds could be a team's total for a game not a half while the Raptors had 17 rebounds in the half which is close to the average for a half while the Nuggets also have 16 assists compared to the Raptors 9 which means they are sharing the ball big time. The scariest rebound was the one where Danilo Gallinari got an offensive rebound with 3 raptors just standing there and he just powered up and slammed it down with no contest from any of the 3 Raptors standing under the basket as the clock went triple zero to thankfully end the first half.
The Raptors was able to keep it close in the second half but still lost all 4 quarters and the Raptors played all their players solid minutes while the Nuggets played their starters a little bit more and 7 Nuggets were in double digits led by Ty Lawson was 7 for 10 from the floor and ended up with 23 points along with 8 assists and Nene Hilario went 7 for 9 from the floor with 18 points. J.R. Smith was 2 assists away from a triple double as he had 13 points and 10 boards while the Raptors were led by Andrea Bargnani who had 20 points and DeMar DeRozan who had 14 points but the most interesting stat was Jerryd Bayless had 9 assists which 3 more than the shoots he took which is good for a point even though he did not make a basket along with Alexis Ajinca had 9 boards in his most rub on the court which equaled Reggie's rebounds.
The thing that the Raptors struggled on the defensive end again and they questioned about 2 maybe goaltending non-calls against the Nuggets and like always the Raptors questioned any close foul and like away the Raptors just got more fouls which is because it looks like the Raptors are showing up the refs as they do not play hard enough to earn the close calls.
Thanks for reading
Tom Mehegan
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Raptors played role of Rocky Balboa as they faced the thunder who had 19 fourth quarter free throw
Raptors played role of Rocky Balboa as they faced the thunder who had 19 fourth quarter free throw
The Thunder started out leading 18-10 but then the Raptors went on a 15-4 run to end the quarter and basically showed us that they will be serious about the game as they lead 25-22 and then went back and forth with the Raptors leading at half time 48-44. The Raptors started the second half on a 10-4 run to take a 10 point lead @ 58-48 and went back and forth the rest of the quarter and the Raptors still have a 10 point lead 76-66 and the Raptors had a solid defense of performance especially Kevin Durant who was 4 for 6 in the first quarter but then went 2 for 15 from the floor the rest of the game. So in the fourth quarter the Raptors bent but did not break as the Thunder would chip into the lead with mostly free throws as they had 19 free throws in the quarter and they made 15 of them but instead of letting the refs get into their head and lose control of the game they would come back with a basket of their own to stretch the lead again. With 5 minutes left in the game the Raptors were up 2 points and they went back and forth until the 91 second mark of the fourth quarter when Kevin Durant hit 2 free throws to make it 93-90 Thunder and then when Barbosa hit a 3-ball to tie it up with 38 seconds left and it is like the Raptors only need a single defensive stop and they would get a chance to win the game so Russell Westbrook misses a short jumper and DeMar gets the rebound. The Raptors set-up for last shot with 23 seconds left with Barbosa setting up to go one-on-one towards the basket but wait the screen happens and Barbosa pass the ball (it true, it true Barbosa actually passed) to Amir Johnson who hit a short jumper for the lead and then it came down to Kevin Durant who missed the mid-range jumper and a Raptor had to be pulled of the court floor at the end of the game like at the end of prize fight.
It is quite silly to have players acting up at the end of the game but they did show tonight that they can play through their issues for the first time in quite a while. O' wait a second talking waiting a long while it was the first win on the road in 15 games and it is the first time since December 1St and December 3Rd when they last won back-to-back games.
The Stars of the game for the Raptors were was Reggie Evens with his shooting 4 for 6 from the floor (if Raptors ever decide to try to set him up for a bucket that is way silly) and more impressive stat was 5 for 6 from the line (someone must of hypnotized him) which gave him 13 points and 9 boards in 23 minutes while Leandro Barbosa did take 10 shoots and made 7 in his 14 minutes on the court but it is that one assist that was awesome. Andrea Bargnani lived at the line with 10 free throws and making 7 and his shooting from the floor was a little off as he was 7 for 18 but he still had 23 points with 5 boards while DeMar DeRozan was second behind Reggie with 8 boards and probably the most important one of the game to go with his 16 points. While the thunder were led by Russell Westbrook who had 22 points with 6 boards and 4 assists along with Kevin Durant had 20 points (7 for 8 from the line) and 5 boards but these two went 13 for 40 from the floor and the rest of the team was 17 for 35 from the floor but Kendrick Perkins was really solid with 12 boards.
Two in a row and heading for Denver and it is all about the air
Tom Mehegan
The Thunder started out leading 18-10 but then the Raptors went on a 15-4 run to end the quarter and basically showed us that they will be serious about the game as they lead 25-22 and then went back and forth with the Raptors leading at half time 48-44. The Raptors started the second half on a 10-4 run to take a 10 point lead @ 58-48 and went back and forth the rest of the quarter and the Raptors still have a 10 point lead 76-66 and the Raptors had a solid defense of performance especially Kevin Durant who was 4 for 6 in the first quarter but then went 2 for 15 from the floor the rest of the game. So in the fourth quarter the Raptors bent but did not break as the Thunder would chip into the lead with mostly free throws as they had 19 free throws in the quarter and they made 15 of them but instead of letting the refs get into their head and lose control of the game they would come back with a basket of their own to stretch the lead again. With 5 minutes left in the game the Raptors were up 2 points and they went back and forth until the 91 second mark of the fourth quarter when Kevin Durant hit 2 free throws to make it 93-90 Thunder and then when Barbosa hit a 3-ball to tie it up with 38 seconds left and it is like the Raptors only need a single defensive stop and they would get a chance to win the game so Russell Westbrook misses a short jumper and DeMar gets the rebound. The Raptors set-up for last shot with 23 seconds left with Barbosa setting up to go one-on-one towards the basket but wait the screen happens and Barbosa pass the ball (it true, it true Barbosa actually passed) to Amir Johnson who hit a short jumper for the lead and then it came down to Kevin Durant who missed the mid-range jumper and a Raptor had to be pulled of the court floor at the end of the game like at the end of prize fight.
It is quite silly to have players acting up at the end of the game but they did show tonight that they can play through their issues for the first time in quite a while. O' wait a second talking waiting a long while it was the first win on the road in 15 games and it is the first time since December 1St and December 3Rd when they last won back-to-back games.
The Stars of the game for the Raptors were was Reggie Evens with his shooting 4 for 6 from the floor (if Raptors ever decide to try to set him up for a bucket that is way silly) and more impressive stat was 5 for 6 from the line (someone must of hypnotized him) which gave him 13 points and 9 boards in 23 minutes while Leandro Barbosa did take 10 shoots and made 7 in his 14 minutes on the court but it is that one assist that was awesome. Andrea Bargnani lived at the line with 10 free throws and making 7 and his shooting from the floor was a little off as he was 7 for 18 but he still had 23 points with 5 boards while DeMar DeRozan was second behind Reggie with 8 boards and probably the most important one of the game to go with his 16 points. While the thunder were led by Russell Westbrook who had 22 points with 6 boards and 4 assists along with Kevin Durant had 20 points (7 for 8 from the line) and 5 boards but these two went 13 for 40 from the floor and the rest of the team was 17 for 35 from the floor but Kendrick Perkins was really solid with 12 boards.
Two in a row and heading for Denver and it is all about the air
Tom Mehegan
Friday, March 18, 2011
Raptors faced an one win road team in the Wizards and had a productive night
To start thinking about if the Raptors lost this game against the Wizards would of been embarrassing and the Wizards run of 15-5 to make it 98-94 when it had been 93-79 was a little scary as it looked like the Raptors were going to melt and lose the game at the end but the Raptors found some offensive to close out the game after staring the fourth quarter 3 for 14 from the floor. The way they also came out and played in the second quarter as the Wizards went on a massive 16-4 run to take a 33-27 first quarter lead and let the Wizards take a 43-37 lead but were able to get back the lead and go into the second half with a 62-53 lead.
The Raptors got lots of rebounds from Reggie Evans with 15 of the Raptors 36 boards in the game and was the solidest player off the bench as Barbosa still shoot a tone with 11 shots in 18 minutes and he made 4 of them and had 15 points with one assist and Ed Davis had 4 boards in 13 minutes. The real positives were DeMar DeRozan's shot selection going 11 for 15 from the floor and was 8 of 9 free throws and he had 30 points and Andrea Bargnani was 15 for 18 from the line which means he went hard and his 8 for 15 was solid with his 33 points but the surprising part of his game was his 5 assists in the game which was one less than Calderon's 6 to go with his 17 points. James Johnson had 5 assists and 5 boards along with 3 blocks in his 29 minutes on the floor which was the most rub he has had since the Bulls game which was his first game as a raptor while they had 41 free throws which is amazing and that they made 33 of them which could been a bit better.
For the Wizards Trevor Booker had 26 points and 13 boards along with Jordan Crawford had 25 points while this past No.1 draft pick John Wall had 21 points and 7 assists while JaVale McGee had 12 boards as the Wizards had 46 boards.
The Raptors were lucky this time that it was the Wizards because they had horrible stretches of the game defensively and it would of been a lose against most other teams and the Raptors need a coach that can get through to these guys as it would of and would of been a 20 plus point victory with a different coach as it is obvious he has no control of this team and will be gone with or without Brain as GM.
Another one down lots of games to come so lets get it over with
Tom Mehegan
The Raptors got lots of rebounds from Reggie Evans with 15 of the Raptors 36 boards in the game and was the solidest player off the bench as Barbosa still shoot a tone with 11 shots in 18 minutes and he made 4 of them and had 15 points with one assist and Ed Davis had 4 boards in 13 minutes. The real positives were DeMar DeRozan's shot selection going 11 for 15 from the floor and was 8 of 9 free throws and he had 30 points and Andrea Bargnani was 15 for 18 from the line which means he went hard and his 8 for 15 was solid with his 33 points but the surprising part of his game was his 5 assists in the game which was one less than Calderon's 6 to go with his 17 points. James Johnson had 5 assists and 5 boards along with 3 blocks in his 29 minutes on the floor which was the most rub he has had since the Bulls game which was his first game as a raptor while they had 41 free throws which is amazing and that they made 33 of them which could been a bit better.
For the Wizards Trevor Booker had 26 points and 13 boards along with Jordan Crawford had 25 points while this past No.1 draft pick John Wall had 21 points and 7 assists while JaVale McGee had 12 boards as the Wizards had 46 boards.
The Raptors were lucky this time that it was the Wizards because they had horrible stretches of the game defensively and it would of been a lose against most other teams and the Raptors need a coach that can get through to these guys as it would of and would of been a 20 plus point victory with a different coach as it is obvious he has no control of this team and will be gone with or without Brain as GM.
Another one down lots of games to come so lets get it over with
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Raptors do not respect the Pistons and show up the Refs and except respect from the Refs
So the Raptors go back to the palace where they came back from 24 points down to win on December 11Th,2010 so how do the Raptors begin the game by allowing the Pistons to shoot a whisker under 61% from the floor led by Richard Hamilton with 10 points and they are getting a lot of dunks on back door plays as the Pistons led going into the second quarter 38-23. With Jose Calderon had 8 points and DeMar DeRozan had 6 points for the Raptors but the real killer is that the pistons hit 10 of their last 14 shoots from the floor. So in the second quarter Bayless went to the basket and lost his footing and was called for a travel and he and Triano start yelling and screaming about the call and I'm like you would think these guys thought they were the Chicago Bulls (48-18) than the Raptors (18-48) as they felt they deserve every call even when they do not play defense as they were down by 20 (51-31) in the quarter. Near the end of the quarter the Raptors put together some one and one's (defensive stops followed by an offensive basket) and the Pistons lead at half with a 63-52 lead and it was led by Tayshaun Prince with 6 points while the Raptors were led by Barbosa (still have not seen him pass) with 10 points and Reggie Evans with 6 points.
The Second half
The third quarter the Raptors tried to fight back and got it down to 6 points but the pistons fought back and kept 11 point lead @ 87-76 and they were led by Greg Monroe and Richard Hamilton both had 8 points and Tayshaun Prince had 6 points. While Andrea Bargnani woke up late in the second quarter and continued it into the third quarter with 9 points which was the same for James Johnson who could had more but the baby Raptors got another call against them and he had a soar face and Traino was yelling at the refs. O' that's right the Pistons were still shooting 60% can anybody teach these guys to work on keeping the basketball out of their basket and the gripping on the court and showing up the refs comes back to one guy whose name is Jay Triano and shows he has no control of the team (Pacers and Bobcats are fighting for 8th in the East and guess what they both changed their coach and got back in the race). The fourth quarter was a quarter that the Raptors got a couple of early spots but took bad shots on the other end and that was followed by the Pistons pulling away down the stretch and won the game 107-93 with Richard Hamilton with 24, prince 22 points, and Greg Monroe had 21 points (led with 10 boards) while Rodney Stuckey had 14 assists in the game. While the Raptors led Andrea Bargnani who had 20 points, Barbosa had 18 points with 3 assists, DeMar DeRozan had 16 points, Reggie Evans had 8 boards, and Jose Calderon had 6 assists (1 second half assist)
In the End .......
The Raptors have not taken the Pistons seriously all season with the 24 point comeback being the only win this season against the Pistons and under no circumstance should the Raptors take anybody lightly and to get mad at every call and feel that they deserve every call when they do not play hard at all is just disgusting. Lets see now the Pistons are they not the team that just had their players boycott a game basically because they did not like something and were these the Pistons that were a couple of games behind the Raptors and are now 5 1/2 games better than the Raptors who have now lost 14 straight road games.
The Second half
The third quarter the Raptors tried to fight back and got it down to 6 points but the pistons fought back and kept 11 point lead @ 87-76 and they were led by Greg Monroe and Richard Hamilton both had 8 points and Tayshaun Prince had 6 points. While Andrea Bargnani woke up late in the second quarter and continued it into the third quarter with 9 points which was the same for James Johnson who could had more but the baby Raptors got another call against them and he had a soar face and Traino was yelling at the refs. O' that's right the Pistons were still shooting 60% can anybody teach these guys to work on keeping the basketball out of their basket and the gripping on the court and showing up the refs comes back to one guy whose name is Jay Triano and shows he has no control of the team (Pacers and Bobcats are fighting for 8th in the East and guess what they both changed their coach and got back in the race). The fourth quarter was a quarter that the Raptors got a couple of early spots but took bad shots on the other end and that was followed by the Pistons pulling away down the stretch and won the game 107-93 with Richard Hamilton with 24, prince 22 points, and Greg Monroe had 21 points (led with 10 boards) while Rodney Stuckey had 14 assists in the game. While the Raptors led Andrea Bargnani who had 20 points, Barbosa had 18 points with 3 assists, DeMar DeRozan had 16 points, Reggie Evans had 8 boards, and Jose Calderon had 6 assists (1 second half assist)
In the End .......
The Raptors have not taken the Pistons seriously all season with the 24 point comeback being the only win this season against the Pistons and under no circumstance should the Raptors take anybody lightly and to get mad at every call and feel that they deserve every call when they do not play hard at all is just disgusting. Lets see now the Pistons are they not the team that just had their players boycott a game basically because they did not like something and were these the Pistons that were a couple of games behind the Raptors and are now 5 1/2 games better than the Raptors who have now lost 14 straight road games.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Reggie Hustle wakes up the Raptors a bit in the first half and nobody helped him in second half
To start there is a report out there that one of the school board members who represent the group apart of owning the Raptors is the only one that is holden back the extension for Brain which is scary if your someone like me who feels that he has changed a lot of the pieces but a lot of them have not stuck and the Raptors may be better off letting him go somewhere else.
To the game the Raptors came out sluggish (maybe they still had their hang over from partying last night) with James Johnson leading the way with the first 2 turnovers of the game and took a 17-10 lead with no defense pressure at all until Reggie Evans entered the game. The Raptors responded with Reggie on the floor with a 16-5 run including a huge 13-2 run to take their first lead of the game 26-24 but then the Bobcats went on a quick 8-0 run to take a 32-26 lead and they traded buckets until the Raptors got their own quick run of 10-0 to take the lead at 44-42. The Bobcats got the last bucket of the half with Gerald Henderson jumper to give the Bobcats a 50-47 lead and lead the Bobcats with 10 points but the scary part of the second quarter was the Bobcats shooting which was 12 for 16 from the floor with some quick thats 75%. The Raptors were lead by Reggie Evans with his 9 boards in his 12 minutes in the first half but nobody really taken charge of scoring the baskets but there are 2 scary things about the first half which are that the Raptors are given the ball to Reggie and that they have missed 8 first half free throws which cost them badly.
The Bobcats took control of the game in the third quarter with a 7-0 run that they were not able to fight back until the end of the third quarter with a 6-0 run to get it to 5 as the Bobcats lead going into the fourth quarter 76-71 and then in the fourth quarter were it came down to the last 90 seconds of the game where the Raptors could not chip away at the lead with their chances. The Raptors needed to get someone to carry the team down the stretch and nobody step it up with Andrea Bargnani only having 17 points and DeMar DeRozan (4 for 13 from the floor) with his 11 points and these are suppose to be your go to guys while Barbosa put it up the most again with 18 attempts in 23 minutes but this time he went 6 for 18 which slowed the offense with his 15 points. Reggie Evans had 17 boards and helped lead to a major advantage of second chance points of 20-7 with a 39-33 board advantage especially a 16-8 offensive boards but the point guards were off with Calderon and his 13 points but his 7 assists to 3 turnovers was a little off and Jerryd Bayless was better with 5 assists to only 1 turnover.
There were so many subplots in the game starting with Haywoode Workman a former NBA player decided to try to get himself into the spotlight as he was making bad calls from out of position and he was doing it against both teams so he had both furious at him. Reggie Evans and Charles Oakley had a running dialog throughout the game while Andrea and Jose both gave Jay a ear full when they were taking out of the game late for offense for defense and then defense for offense which is an interesting development when Jay trying to win getting lesser defensive players for better defensive players and then switch on offensive again.
In the end Reggie was boss and I do not know if he wants to stay in Toronto or if he wants to go and if he does leave I think that the Bobcats would be the place he would go as Oakley would really appreciate his effort and Michael would listen to Oakley. If he does want to stay then at what cost do you keep an often injured rebounding machine that even though he does not need to have a shot it does not help him that he has to alway pass out the ball to be effective and having the team going 20 for 31 from the line is dishearting to see as you can always work on free throws during practice and of course no defensive should be fixed in practice too.
Practice practice yes I am talking about practice
Tom Mehegan
To the game the Raptors came out sluggish (maybe they still had their hang over from partying last night) with James Johnson leading the way with the first 2 turnovers of the game and took a 17-10 lead with no defense pressure at all until Reggie Evans entered the game. The Raptors responded with Reggie on the floor with a 16-5 run including a huge 13-2 run to take their first lead of the game 26-24 but then the Bobcats went on a quick 8-0 run to take a 32-26 lead and they traded buckets until the Raptors got their own quick run of 10-0 to take the lead at 44-42. The Bobcats got the last bucket of the half with Gerald Henderson jumper to give the Bobcats a 50-47 lead and lead the Bobcats with 10 points but the scary part of the second quarter was the Bobcats shooting which was 12 for 16 from the floor with some quick thats 75%. The Raptors were lead by Reggie Evans with his 9 boards in his 12 minutes in the first half but nobody really taken charge of scoring the baskets but there are 2 scary things about the first half which are that the Raptors are given the ball to Reggie and that they have missed 8 first half free throws which cost them badly.
The Bobcats took control of the game in the third quarter with a 7-0 run that they were not able to fight back until the end of the third quarter with a 6-0 run to get it to 5 as the Bobcats lead going into the fourth quarter 76-71 and then in the fourth quarter were it came down to the last 90 seconds of the game where the Raptors could not chip away at the lead with their chances. The Raptors needed to get someone to carry the team down the stretch and nobody step it up with Andrea Bargnani only having 17 points and DeMar DeRozan (4 for 13 from the floor) with his 11 points and these are suppose to be your go to guys while Barbosa put it up the most again with 18 attempts in 23 minutes but this time he went 6 for 18 which slowed the offense with his 15 points. Reggie Evans had 17 boards and helped lead to a major advantage of second chance points of 20-7 with a 39-33 board advantage especially a 16-8 offensive boards but the point guards were off with Calderon and his 13 points but his 7 assists to 3 turnovers was a little off and Jerryd Bayless was better with 5 assists to only 1 turnover.
There were so many subplots in the game starting with Haywoode Workman a former NBA player decided to try to get himself into the spotlight as he was making bad calls from out of position and he was doing it against both teams so he had both furious at him. Reggie Evans and Charles Oakley had a running dialog throughout the game while Andrea and Jose both gave Jay a ear full when they were taking out of the game late for offense for defense and then defense for offense which is an interesting development when Jay trying to win getting lesser defensive players for better defensive players and then switch on offensive again.
In the end Reggie was boss and I do not know if he wants to stay in Toronto or if he wants to go and if he does leave I think that the Bobcats would be the place he would go as Oakley would really appreciate his effort and Michael would listen to Oakley. If he does want to stay then at what cost do you keep an often injured rebounding machine that even though he does not need to have a shot it does not help him that he has to alway pass out the ball to be effective and having the team going 20 for 31 from the line is dishearting to see as you can always work on free throws during practice and of course no defensive should be fixed in practice too.
Practice practice yes I am talking about practice
Tom Mehegan
Friday, March 11, 2011
James Johnson gets the Raptors on the right foot, Barbosa shoots @ will, and Reggie means defense in Raptor language
James Johnson scored the first 6 points of the game and 9 in his 9:35 in the first quarter and had a board and then sits for almost 11 game minutes while Barbosa took a lot of shoots with 13 second quarter points and was looking for his shoot every time the ball was in his hands and it diffidently did not hurt as he was making way more than he missed. Also Reggie Evans attacked the boards hard with 7 second quarter boards and 8 first half boards that helped the Raptors have extra offensive possessions and helped the Raptors take a 62-48 lead into half time while Ed Davis had 4 first quarter boards and 6 first half boards which helped the defense as well. In the Third Darren Collins scored 9 points while Tyler Hansbrough had 6 points, and Danny Granger 4 points to cut the 14 point half time lead to 7 @ 74-67 with 4:13 left in the quarter where the Raptors found some resolve and fought back by stretching the lead back to 10 points by the end of the quarter with 5 boards and the return of Barbosa who shoot it up again and scored more often than not with 4 points and he did pass at times and did find the open Raptor which is positive and should do more of it. With a 83-73 lead going into the fourth quarter the Raptors tried to match the Pacers score for score and did a good job of this and took the game home 108-98 with Weems (7 points) and Barbosa (7 points) to ease the pressure and keep it near the 10 point lead going into the quarter and the Pacers only got as close as 6 points as the Raptors were able to get the defensive stops they were lacking in Wednesday's game against the Jazz.
The Raptors were lead to their 18th win of the season by Barbosa with 29 points (12 for 21 from the floor) with 3 boards and 2 assists in 26 minutes along with Reggie Evans who had 16 boards in 26 minutes and Ed Davis with 13 boards (12 points) and they combined for 29 of the Raptors 46 boards in the game. DeRozan had 16 points (7 for 13 from the floor) but the sore thumb for the Raptors was Andrea Bargnani who was 1 for 13 from the floor even though he went to the line 8 times and made 6 of his 8 points from there but only had 5 boards in 31 minutes while James Johnson filled up the sheet with his 13 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal in his 25 minutes on the court.
The Pacers were lead by Tyler Hansbrough (20) and Danny Granger (25) who had 45 of the Pacers 98 points in the game while they both 7 boards and 2 steals as well while Darren Collison was a distance third with 13 points and 7 assists which was an assist less than Jose Calderon's 13 points and 8 assists in the game and this game really hurts the Pacers who are hanging on to the final playoff stop by the tips of their finger nails.
Reggie, Reggie
Tom Mehegan
The Raptors were lead to their 18th win of the season by Barbosa with 29 points (12 for 21 from the floor) with 3 boards and 2 assists in 26 minutes along with Reggie Evans who had 16 boards in 26 minutes and Ed Davis with 13 boards (12 points) and they combined for 29 of the Raptors 46 boards in the game. DeRozan had 16 points (7 for 13 from the floor) but the sore thumb for the Raptors was Andrea Bargnani who was 1 for 13 from the floor even though he went to the line 8 times and made 6 of his 8 points from there but only had 5 boards in 31 minutes while James Johnson filled up the sheet with his 13 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal in his 25 minutes on the court.
The Pacers were lead by Tyler Hansbrough (20) and Danny Granger (25) who had 45 of the Pacers 98 points in the game while they both 7 boards and 2 steals as well while Darren Collison was a distance third with 13 points and 7 assists which was an assist less than Jose Calderon's 13 points and 8 assists in the game and this game really hurts the Pacers who are hanging on to the final playoff stop by the tips of their finger nails.
Reggie, Reggie
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The return of a couple of Raptors are spoiled by a 5 for 20 fourth quarter go figure
The Raptors welcomed back a come of players to the court tonight as Joey Dorsey crawled out from under what ever rock he was under or maybe Reggie Evans sat on him and maybe Triano found him when Reggie Evans got off his chair and actually got on the court and played for the first time in month. To start the game Ed Davis was on fire in the first quarter and had 10 pointa while C.J. Miles had 11 in the quarter too as the Jazz pulled away late in the quarter taken a 31-26 lead into the second quarter while in the second quarter Al Jefferson had 10 of his 34 points in the game while Sonny Weems kept James Johnson on the bench with 7 second quarter points (I do not get why Triano goes with an offensive guy over a defensive guy or why Johnson gets like the first and third quarters and Weems gets quarters 2 and 4 no matter what). The Jazz got 3 free throws at the end of the half and made one to give them a 52-50 lead into half time just after cry baby DeMar DeRozan hit a jumper to make it a 1 point game and he has been yapping so much that he is getting offensive fouls going to the basket ( really needs to keep his mouth shut and play the game and that goes double for Triano and his coaching staff because the Raptors are getting more fouls called against them so it is not working).
In the second half the Jazz come out and go on a 8-2 run to open a 8 point lead but with a run of 16-4 in the last 5:45 to finish the third quarter leading 78-70 and with a 8-4 run to open the first 3:39 of the fourth quarter and the climb max came with a 88-76 lead with 6:46 left in the fourth quarter as the Jazz outscored the Raptors 20-6 the rest of the game lead by the 3-ball making 4 straight to make it 90-88. It came down to a tie ball game @ 94 with 42 seconds left and with Reggie having inside position of Al Jefferson when a Jazz missed shot with 18 seconds left Reggie is called for a foul and the Jazz are able to take last shot so Devin Harris decides he's going to one-on-one with Jerryd Bayless and he drives it to the hoop but misses and that's great except the Raptors forget Al Jefferson on the rebound and he tips it in as the buzzer goes off and the Jazz win 96-94.
The Jazz got on Al Jefferson's back and rode him as he had 34 points and 8 boards while C.J. Miles had a couple of nice book ends with 11 in the first and 10 in the fourth of his 23 points in the game to go along with 7 boards while Devin Harris also had 23 points to go with his 5 assists in the game. DeMar DeRozan had a tough night at the office 4 of 16 from the floor but was 9 for 11 from the line as he lead the Raptors with 17 points while Sonny Weems was 6 for 10 from the floor and had 16 points with 5 boards in the game. Jose Calderon forgot to pass the ball this game (it seems to happen every once in a while) as he had double the shoot attempt 12 (made 7) than assists (6) in the game as he had 14 points while Reggie Evans was on the glass more than anyone else with 11 boards and got a lot more playing time than expected as Amir Johnson looked to have twisted an ankle and was in a really bad way. Ed Davis filled in for Andrea who was under the weather or something and put up points (12) but was less active on the boards with only 3 of the Raptors 41 boards as they controlled the boards thanks to Reggie 41-33 but the Jazz passed the ball around a little bit more 21-18 and the Raptors stunk the joint out in the second half of the fourth quarter and gave the Jazz the W when it was diffidently their for the taken but more loses means more ping pong balls as scouting starts soon (March Madness).
Nice to Reggie again I did not think we would see him in Raptor's colors again
Tom Mehegan
In the second half the Jazz come out and go on a 8-2 run to open a 8 point lead but with a run of 16-4 in the last 5:45 to finish the third quarter leading 78-70 and with a 8-4 run to open the first 3:39 of the fourth quarter and the climb max came with a 88-76 lead with 6:46 left in the fourth quarter as the Jazz outscored the Raptors 20-6 the rest of the game lead by the 3-ball making 4 straight to make it 90-88. It came down to a tie ball game @ 94 with 42 seconds left and with Reggie having inside position of Al Jefferson when a Jazz missed shot with 18 seconds left Reggie is called for a foul and the Jazz are able to take last shot so Devin Harris decides he's going to one-on-one with Jerryd Bayless and he drives it to the hoop but misses and that's great except the Raptors forget Al Jefferson on the rebound and he tips it in as the buzzer goes off and the Jazz win 96-94.
The Jazz got on Al Jefferson's back and rode him as he had 34 points and 8 boards while C.J. Miles had a couple of nice book ends with 11 in the first and 10 in the fourth of his 23 points in the game to go along with 7 boards while Devin Harris also had 23 points to go with his 5 assists in the game. DeMar DeRozan had a tough night at the office 4 of 16 from the floor but was 9 for 11 from the line as he lead the Raptors with 17 points while Sonny Weems was 6 for 10 from the floor and had 16 points with 5 boards in the game. Jose Calderon forgot to pass the ball this game (it seems to happen every once in a while) as he had double the shoot attempt 12 (made 7) than assists (6) in the game as he had 14 points while Reggie Evans was on the glass more than anyone else with 11 boards and got a lot more playing time than expected as Amir Johnson looked to have twisted an ankle and was in a really bad way. Ed Davis filled in for Andrea who was under the weather or something and put up points (12) but was less active on the boards with only 3 of the Raptors 41 boards as they controlled the boards thanks to Reggie 41-33 but the Jazz passed the ball around a little bit more 21-18 and the Raptors stunk the joint out in the second half of the fourth quarter and gave the Jazz the W when it was diffidently their for the taken but more loses means more ping pong balls as scouting starts soon (March Madness).
Nice to Reggie again I did not think we would see him in Raptor's colors again
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, March 5, 2011
after one of the longest game in Raptors history are coming home
The New Jersey Nets swept the Raptors in London England as they won 137-136 in triple overtime as Brook Lopez lead the Nets with 34 points to go with 14 boards and 8 block shots and when he fouled out early in the second overtime when Andrea took a charge it looked like they had a chance to win the game. They ended up having to get a big stop and win the game in all the overtime period and they tied it up with a Sasha Vujacic in the first overtime and Bargnani missed a 22 footer that could of wom them the game and DeMar was not happy about the shoot selection. In the second overtime in a broken play Deron Williams hits a 13 foot jumper to tie it up but then DeMar had a chance to win it but misses a 22 foot jumper and then in the third overtime the Nets scored the first 7 points and the Raptors then outscored the Nets 7-2 to make it 135-133 and then Barbosa hit a 3 ball to take a 136-135 and then Travis Outlaw knocked down 2 free throws to take a 137-136 and then Andrea missed another 22 foot jumper. This means that the Raptors had chances to win the game on both on defense and offense and could not get the key defensive stop or on offense just having stall offensive possession where they tried to go for one on one and settled for a jumper. The Raptors had some defensive stops early in the fourth quarter and built up a 6 point lead but the Nets came back and forced overtime while taken a 2 point lead until DeMar made a lay up to send it to overtime. The Nets lead at half by a 65-62 score so that both teams tightened up their defense and once again the Raptors just could not close the deal and win the game.
The Nets were after Lopez where lead by Sasha Vujacic who made some key shots in the overtime while Deron Williams lead with 18 assists to go with 21 points and Kris Humphries had another 17 boards to go with 20 points too. The Leafs were lead by Andrea Bargnani who had 35 points to go with 12 boards for his second double-double of the season while DeMar DeRozan had 30 points with 5 assists and boards and Ed Davis was quite noisy in regulation with 15 boards to go with 12 points to have his own double-double in the game. Barbosa came up with 22 points off the bench but did not share the ball well with only 2 assists in 29 minutes of playing time and James Johnson played 19 minutes and had 4 boards and 2 blocks and his defense could of been used for key defensive down the stretch of the 4 quarter and more of the 3 overtimes.
The Nets out boarded the Raptors 62 - 54 especially down the stretch of the fourth quarter and into the overtimes while they out assisted the Raptors 34 - 27 and the Raptors were very good from the line going to 32 of 36 and after going 13 for 22 to start the game the Nets finished 16-17 to finish the game.
The Raptors are happy to get out of England
Tom Mehegan
The Nets were after Lopez where lead by Sasha Vujacic who made some key shots in the overtime while Deron Williams lead with 18 assists to go with 21 points and Kris Humphries had another 17 boards to go with 20 points too. The Leafs were lead by Andrea Bargnani who had 35 points to go with 12 boards for his second double-double of the season while DeMar DeRozan had 30 points with 5 assists and boards and Ed Davis was quite noisy in regulation with 15 boards to go with 12 points to have his own double-double in the game. Barbosa came up with 22 points off the bench but did not share the ball well with only 2 assists in 29 minutes of playing time and James Johnson played 19 minutes and had 4 boards and 2 blocks and his defense could of been used for key defensive down the stretch of the 4 quarter and more of the 3 overtimes.
The Nets out boarded the Raptors 62 - 54 especially down the stretch of the fourth quarter and into the overtimes while they out assisted the Raptors 34 - 27 and the Raptors were very good from the line going to 32 of 36 and after going 13 for 22 to start the game the Nets finished 16-17 to finish the game.
The Raptors are happy to get out of England
Tom Mehegan
Friday, March 4, 2011
Kim Kardashian's boy toy puts up 18 points against his former team @ the O2 Arena
Kim Kardashian's boyfriend, Kris Humphries had 18 points and 17 boards against his former team the Toronto Raptors as they won 116-103 but the Raptors were leading going into the fourth quarter by 3 points and gave up 38 points in the fourth and got outscored by 16 points in the quarter. The Nets scored 69 points in the second half and only scored 47 points in the first half and the Raptors scored 51 points in the first half and took a 4 point lead into the second half. The Nets were lead in points by Brook Lopez with 25 points and Deron Williams had 11 assists to go with his 16 points in the game while the Raptors were lead by DeMar DeRozan with 30 points and Andrea Bargnani had 23 points as well while Ed Davis had 8 boards to lead the team and was the only other player in double digits with 12 points while Jose Calderon had 11 assists in the game to lead the Raptors. The most positive thing about the game for the Raptors was that they had 6 turnovers in the game which was almost half of the Nets 11 turnovers while the Raptors had 2 more assists (26-24) and the Nets had 5 more boards (41-36). The Raptors could not play the clutch defense in the fourth quarter even though they had the advantage going into the fourth quarter and the bad news for all the basketball players is that they will still have to play another game in London England which none of the players are that keen of but they do get to go home after tomorrow's game so lets hope the Raptors can close out the game better tomorrow.
Really Kim Kardashian's boy really
Tom Mehegan
Really Kim Kardashian's boy really
Tom Mehegan
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Raptors bend but do not break in their win before going to London England
The Raptors come out played hard and held the Hornets to only 20 points and took a 7 point lead into the second quarter where the Hornets outscored the Raptors 11-4 to tie it @ 31 which was one of many bend but not break moments of the game as the Raptors outscored the hornets 26-11 to take a 57-42 lead into the second half. The Raptors kept the Hornets to 20 points in the third quarter but still lost the quarter 20-15 and took a 72-62 lead into the fourth quarter where things got very interesting as the Hornets went on another 11-4 run to cut the lead to 3 @ 76-73 but then went up and down for the majority of the rest of quarter as the Hornets got to 2 @ 84-82 but finally got the key boards to stretch the lead as they won 96-90. The only bad thing that happened is that James Johnson found the pine at different times like in the second and fourth quarter even though he put up 9 points in the low Raptors quarter of 15 points in the third and I know he had turnover trouble in the game but to see him being sat like Julian Wright or Joey Dorsey is a scary thought because I know I do not want him to see the same fate as the others. Jose Calderon turned a little bit into a shotting guard with 7 for 10 from the floor (3 of 4 from 3) for 22 points and yes he still was the point guard as he also got 16 assists in the game and got 7 boards too while Amir Johnson struggled badly from the floor with a 3 of 10 for 8 points but did no great in other ways with 10 boards and more impressively got 7 of the 11 raptors block shots while DeMar had 17 points (8 for 17 from the floor) and Bargnani had 14 points (with a struggling 6 for 16 from the floor). Ed Davis did have 8 boards in the game to go along with his 6 points while James Johnson had 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 13 points. The Raptors out assisted the Hornets 29-17 while the Hornets out rebounded 36-30 lead by David West with 10 boards and he also lead with 19 points while Carl Landry (4 boards and an assist) and former Raptor Jarrett Jack (2 boards and 2 assists) both had 17 points. It looks like the Raptors players are hating the London England idea as Jay came out and said that the team needs to be embracing the trip as it is an experience and then Amir Johnson sounded disinterested in going basically because he has never been there before and not know what to expect from the trip which os like what the players quietly say about being in a new country (i.e. Canada)
Lets see how the last quarter of the season goes down
Tom Mehegan
Lets see how the last quarter of the season goes down
Tom Mehegan
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