Raptors get gonged by the Hawks and Joe Johnson

The Raptors stuck around with the Hawks as they were down 5 points 23-18 after the first quarter and then @ the half way point of the second quarter the Raptors were down 2 as Hawks lead 33-31 and then the Hawks outscored the Raptors 23-6 in the last half of the second quarter which ended with Joe Johnson hitting two 3-balls and a lay-up in the last 50.1 seconds and a 48-37 arm length lead into a 56-37 say goodnight folks lead. Joe Johnson had 24 of his 30 points in the first half with 12 in the first quarter and 12 in the second quarter and ended with 4 assists and two boards and was a very very very productive shooting game as he was 13 of 18 from the floor and 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. The Raptors had cut it to 12 62-50 with 6:42 left in the third quarter with Arron Grey had 4 boards in 5 and a half minutes to start the quarter and James Johnson had 3 boards and the Raptors went on a 13-6 run and the Hawks finished the quarter outscoring the Raps 15-10 and they lead 77-60. The Hawks outscored the Raptors 16-8 to start the quarter and they ended up with a 100-77 win where they shot 55.6% from the floor in the first three quarters and ended the game shooting 51.2% and were 7 of 18 from beyond the arc.

The Hawks got 10 points from Jeff Teague (5 assists, 3 boards), Marvin Williams (4 boards, 3 assists), and Zaza Pachulia (6 boards) while former Raptor Tracy McGrady had 15 points in the game and 4 boards.

The Raptors defense was not really good and the Hawks just tore them limb from limb but it was Ed Davis who fought hard for every inch of the court and took down 11 boards with the toughest one was one that he jumped in and got his hands on a ball with the Hawks' Ivan Johnson and it ended up a jump ball that Davis tipped to Barbosa. He was second in Raptors scoring behind Jerryd Bayless' 14 points and he had 2 assists and the Raps just ran into a much better team and just did not leave it all on the floor and make the Hawks work for their points and that is likely to happen with less than average skill set.

Celtics tomorrow @ the TD Garden

Tom Mehegan

DeMar DeRozan was the star of the game while the Raps showed up for the first quarter

For the first time in 9 games the Raps did not lose the first quarter as they tied the Nets after one quarter @ 24 and took a 5 point lead into half 44-39 and took control of the game in the third quarter by taking down the Nets 26-14 in the quarter and won the game handily 94-73 as the Raps won 3 of the 5 in their 5 game road trip and it is the first win by the Raps without Andrea Bargnani and are now 1 and 7 without him.

It was the DeRozan show as he really took advantage of Dwayne Casey's choice to put Jerryd Bayless in the starting lineup instead of a guy like Kleiza or Davis and DeRozan was in as the wing forward and went 8 of 12 from the floor and got to the line 16 times and made 11 for 27 points in 41 minutes. The rest of the team did not play than 34 and a half minutes as Bayless and Calderon played exactly the same minutes and Calderon had 10 points, 9 assists, and 5 boards while Bayless had 17 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists. Then nobody else had more than 27 and a half minutes with Kleiza (15 points and 3 boards) and Ed Davis (6 points and 9 boards) were the strongest of the bench.

The Nets struggled 36.5% from the floor and only two players scored who were Deron Williams had 24 points and 6 assists and 4 boards and Anthony Morrow had 14 points for half the Nets points with 37 of the 73 points of the game. The Nets had two players Kris Humphries (8) and Shelden Williams (9) getting the boards as they had 17 of the Nets 39 boards.

Great road trip Raps

Tom Mehegan

Al Harrington talk trash to Kleiza late as the Nuggets held on to beat the Raps

So the Raptors have not learned anything from Bargnani's injury as they for the eighth game in a row the Raps were down big after the first quarter 28-12 and were down 16 points and were down 22 points @ half 54-32 and were down as much as 23 points. In the third quarter behind James Johnson's 12 third quarter points as the Raptors outscored the Nuggets 32-24 and started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 6 points @ 80-74 which happened @ 9:37 point and they only scored 7 points the rest of the fourth quarter and got outscored 16-7 during this time and the Nuggets won 96-81.

While the game was whining down Kleiza missed a three and Al Harrington talked junk to him all the way back down the court and Harrington pushed his teammate Rudy Fernandez into Kleiza and then Harrington had his teammates hold him back while he tried to get @ Kleiza and after the Refs went to the watch a replay of the incident and decided to give technical fouls to Kleiza of the Raps and to Al Harrington and NeNe both of the Nuggets.

The Raps got 16 points from James Johnson (7 of 10 from the floor) but fouled out 6 minutes into the fourth quarter while the rest of the starting 5 were 7 of 34 from the floor which is under 21% from the floor with DeRozan going 1 of 12 from the floor until he got two late buckets and Jose Calderon went 3 of 10 with only 2 assists and Kleiza lead the Raps with 4 of the Raptors 21 assists and second on the Raps with 8 boards behind Arron Grey's 11 boards who only played 15 minutes. The bench outscored the starters 46-35 with Jerryd Bayless scoring 18 points (7-10 from the floor and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc) in 16 and a half minutes and Barbosa had 19 points (7 of 13 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line).

Danilo Gallinari had 21 points and 7 boards while NeNe had 20 points and 10 boards and Andre Miller had 13 points and 12 assists and Rudy Fernandez had 23 points (9 of 11 from the floor and 5 of 7 from beyond the arc).

Raps to face the almost Brooklyn Nets in Newark, New Jersey on Sunday

Tom Mehegan

Andrea Bargnani is sacrificial lamb for Raps poor starters

Andrea Bargnani who left the game on Thursday's game against the Utah Jazz that they won 111-106 in double overtime during the first overtime with a left calif strain and now will be out indefinitely starting with tonight's game in the Mile High city against the Nuggets. Bargnani should of not been injured as he should of played at most 36:19 as the Raptors started the game 4 of 12 and 6 of 17 from the floor and were down 18 (30-12) with just less than 4 minutes left in the first quarter and then last their shooting legs and missed 7 straight shots late in the game. It was the seventh game in a roll where they were down big in the first quarter and now the Raptors who are 0 and 6 without Bargnani and scored an average 81 points a game will now be without their go to guy for who knows how long with nobody looking like they are ready to take the ball and run with it as DeMar DeRozan has not found his way in Dwayne Casey's system and Barbosa does not know how to pass the rock so if he on its a good thing and if he is not than the Raps could like 30%.

The Raps head into Denver where the Nuggets they laid a beating to Sam Mitchell in his last game as a Raptors head coach 131-92 in '08 and then 130-112 in '09 and finished with last March 21st gave where the Raptors 72-44 @ half and ended 123-90 so the over under of tonight game is 30 point loss and I would go over.

Get well soon Bargnani

Tom Mehegan

Bargnani hurts himself as the Raps win double overtime

The Raptors played a very hard fought game against the Jazz tonight and won 111-106 in double overtime to beat the 10-6 Jazz for the first time in 12 games and won two road games in two very tough environments for them but they lost Andrea Bargnani who started having a tough night as he was 6 of 19 and then went 4 of 7 the rest of the way and left the game @ 1:12 left in the first overtime.

Andrea left limping and he has hurt the calf muscle that kept him off the court for 6 games and will be flown to Denver tomorrow for X-rays as the team heads to Denver to face the Nuggets. The sad part of this situation is that he did not have to play overtime because the Raptors D tried their best in the late fourth quarter to give the offense a chance to win the game in regulation as the Raptors @ the 4:50 mark of the fourth quarter with DeRozan hitting a jumper to cut the lead to one point @ 84-83. The Raps only made two free throws til the the 37 second mark where Bargnani hit a jumper to cut it to one again as they missed 7 straight shots and most long distance and if the Raps go to the back one time and hit a shot or get two more free throws they win in regulation and then Calderon hits a big three with 13 seconds left and sends it to overtime after he allow his player Devin Harris to get behind him to put the Jazz up 90-87 after Bargnani had played amazing low post D to prevent the Jazz from getting easy points. Devin Harris who did have 24 points in the game and 6 assists did miss 3 of 4 free throws in the last minute of double overtime which if he had all of them the game would of been tied @ 109 and it wold be tougher for the Raps to get a basket like Barbosa's dunk with 11.9 seconds left to make the final two points of the Raptors' 111 points and just for good measure the Raps allowed the Jazz to get a early 18 point lead 30-12 with less than 4 minutes left in the first quarter but tied it up @ 50 @ half.

With that all said Demar after playing a season low 22 and a half minutes Tuesday night in Phoenix played 44 minutes and played D and went to the basket and got hammered and still went for it and had 17 points with 8 boards while Amir Johnson played 23 and a half minutes but got the wake up call when Bargnani went out as he was as tough as nails in the second overtime. James Johnson must love being in the starting lineup as he had 6 of the Raptors 10 block shots and had 5 boards to go with 2 points while Rasual Butler only saw 27 seconds of court time while Barbosa had 10 points the Raptors big first quarter into the second quarter comeback. While the Jazz got performance out of Paul Millsap with 31 points as their leader Al Jefferson did not suit up for the Jazz tonight.

Will see about Bargnani tomorrow

Tom Mehegan

Bargnani is back as the Raptors beat Steve Nash and the Suns

So the Raptors did something they had not done in their past 8 and that is to simply win a game and on their way to that victory they also did something no Raptors team has done in almost 8 years and more to the point February 2Nd, 2004 which was beat the Suns as they had lost to the Suns 14 straight games. Also until tonight they had not beaten Captain Canada since Hakeem Olajuwon was a Raptor and Tim Hardway was a Dallas Maverick which was November 2Nd, 2001.

Andrea Bargnani was back tonight and he did not start well as he was 2 of 8 from the floor in the first half and ended up with 9 points in the first half but in the third quarter he took over the game with 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and ended up with 18 of the Raps 31 third quarter points and ended up with 36 points, 6 boards, 2 steals, and a block shot in the game.

The Raps just like have been doing time and time again forgot to show up for the first quarter as they allowed the Suns to shoot 55.6% from the floor and only scored 17 points in the first quarter and allowed 27 but again in the second quarter the Raps went on a run and closed the half only down 52-48. The turning point of the game came @ the 5:02 mark of the third quarter when they tied the game up @ 69 when they were still shooting 57% from the floor and then the Suns came up empty their next 11 of 12 offensive possessions and the Raptors went on a 14-2 to open a 83-71 lead where Warrick got a dunk with 9 seconds left in the quarter and it took them til the 8:34 mark of the fourth to score their basket in the quarter. The Suns pushed back thanks to Nash with the assists and the key shots but the Raptors even though they did not get a bucket in 5:25 during the fourth quarter still got to the line with Bargnani going 2 of 2 as he went 12 of 12 from the line in the game and James Johnson went 2 of 2 from the line as well. The Raptors held onto a 99-96 victory as Bargnani put up 7 of his points in the last 4:07 of the game.

Dwayne Casey had no passions tonight for players not working their asses off as he used 12 players in the first half and Barbosa had 19 points in 31 minutes while DeRozan played 22 and a half and had 2 of 8 from the floor and no free throws while Amir played 13 minutes off the bench and Ed Davis played 3 and a half minutes in the game. While James Johnson had 18 points and 10 boards from the three position while Calderon had 11 assists and Arron Grey as the starter instead of Amir played 15 minutes and got 5 boards. The Raps were 23 of 25 from the line and 8 of 15 from beyond the arc and it was nice to have Andrea Bargnani back but he did play 42 minutes so someone needs to be able to put up points while he is on the bench.

The Suns got 17 points and 14 assists from Nash while Marcin Gortat had 21 points and 12 boards while Hakim Warrick who was torching the Raps in the first half ended up with 17 points as the Suns shot 47.6% from the floor in the game.

Raptors win yeah

Tom Mehegan

The Raptors bench was way better than the starters as Griffin and Jordan took the game over

The Raptors starters continue the fade of not coming out prepared for the game and it is looking very bad on Bryan Colangelo and Dwayne Casey as the last two first round picks before this year's draft are having a great deal of difficulty adjusting to the NBA. The Raps first round pick in '09 DeMar DeRozan even though he is the go to guy he is still have major problems finding his shot and is settling for jumpers instead of challenging the defense and going to the basket to get the opportunity to shot from the free throw line. Then the first round pick in'10 Ed Davis can work really hard on the glass from time to time but needs to get more consistent and he has no 5 to 10 foot jumper while pickups like Amir and James Johnson are inconsistent especially Amir because he can be strong on the boards and get easy baskets one game and the next be invisible while James has not found his shot just like his Bulls teammate Rasual Butler who can not hit a three to save his life.

So today against the Clippers the Raptors shot 25% from the floor in the first quarter and were outscored 27-11 with no chance at getting to the rim against the Clippers D and the Raps were changed with 12 fouls and the Clippers 1 as the Raps did not go to the line in the quarter and the Clippers went 14 times. In the second quarter the Raptors cut the lead by pushing the ball with the bench and getting it to 29-22 as the Raps went on a 11-2 run to open the quarter and ended up trailing 49-37 going into the second half. The Clippers starters lead by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan opened the half on a 13-3 run to open a 22 point lead that the Raptors tried to claw back from but could not as the Clippers left their starters on the bench for the fourth and the Raps closed the lead to 12 @ the buzzer 103-91.

The Raptors bench outscored the Raptors starters 58-33 with DeMar being the only Raptor starter in double figures with 15 (4 of 19 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the line) while Kleiza (16 P and 4 R along with 3 A in 29 M) and Gray (6 P and 8 R along with 2 S in 15 M) in the front court out played Amar (1 P and 1 R in 7 m) and James Johnson (7 P and 2 R along 2 A and 2 S in 19 M). @ the point Calderon had only 4 assists to go with his 1 of 8 from the floor but only played 23 minutes as Jerryd Bayless was back and he played 18 and a half minutes had 5 assists to go with his 2 of 9 from the floor and got 3 of 4 from the line for 7 points while Barbosa had 19 to lead the Raps.

The Clippers got 18 points and 9 boards in 31 minutes from Blake Griffin and 16 points and 16 boards from DeAndre Jordan in 26 minutes and these two with the help of Caron Butler with 15 points built the lead and made it very hard for the Raptors to do anything offensively and really could not be stopped defensively. While Mo Williams off the bench went 8 of 15 from the floor, 3 of 6 beyond the Arc, and 7 of 7 from the line for 26 points in 27 minutes and Chauncey Billups even with a a 1 of 9 from the floor and 5 points still had 14 assists which is 2/3 of the Raptors whole team with 21.

Now the Raps head to face the Suns on Tuesday and maybe Bargnani who knows

Tom Mehegan

Andrea Bargnani and maybe Jerryd Bayless to return in lob city

Andrea Bargnani has been out 4 games and it has felt like 4 weeks so the Raptors have been sorely missing as nobody has stepped up and took over his 20 plus points a game and the defense has been way worse without Andrea is the lineup as they have been smoked in the paint over the four games. He will likely play 25-30 minutes in today's game and with DeMar DeRozan going back to Cally he will likely have coming out party in front of family and friends and after having a couple of underwhelming games Amir Johnson may have a good game as he is in his backyard.

Lets hope that Bargnani comes back healthy and that he plays closer 35 minutes a game than 40 plus so that he is able to stay in the lineup and lets hope for the Raptors sake that they are able to get some fast breaks opportunities so that Demar can get easy points.

Jerryd Bayless may also return today and even though Gary Forbes has helped Jose at the point over the last few games and allowed him to play less minutes and stay healthy but with Jerryd Bayless if he is ready to comeback and can play almost 20 minutes than it will be better for the Raptors for the rest of the season.

Lob City could be a disaster for the Raptors

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors show up late and LaMarcus Aldridge stole the show

So Dwayne Casey is having a huge problem without Andrea Bargnani in the lineup and the rest of the team just do not show up at the beginning of the game as the Raptors showed up against the Portland Trailblazers with 2:47 left in the first half in the 94-84 loss when it was 47-27 Blazers. Then the Raptors outscored the Blazers 5-0 in the last 2:47 of the half and the Trailblazers were lead by LaMarcus Aldridge who had 23 points and 11 boards and Marcus Camby had 10 boards and they combined for 21 of the Blazers 30 first half boards. The Raptors got killed in the paint as they had 24 points in the first half and DeMar DeRozan went 2 of 10 from the floor with 5 points in the half and in the second half the Raptors outscored the Blazers 14-4 in the first 3:45 of the half and DeMar had 11 points in this run to cut the lead to 5 points @ 51-46. Then the Blazers took a timeout and Raymond Felton had 8 points in the rest of the third quarter and the Blazers back up to 15 point lead and the Raptors cut it to 9 by the end of the quarter and the final quarter came down to the 3:24 point when it was 86-77 Blazers and then they had 2:42 to cut down the lead but instead it was scoreless and it stayed @ 86-77.

DeMar went 5 of 11 from the floor and went 7 of 9 from the line in the second half and had 17 second half points while James Johnson had a good game after the Raptors started playing and had 12 of his 16 points in the last 26:47 of the game. Barbosa had a tough night going 5 of 16 from the floor but did get to the line 8 times and made 6 of them while Ed Davis had 10 boards of the raptors 40 in the game.

In the end one player did play the whole game and was unbeatable and that was LaMarcus Aldridge who had 33 points and a career high 23 boards and was the reason that the Trailblazers were a plus 15 on the boards (55-40) along with 10 boards from both Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace.

Now the Raptors head to loop city with a 7 game losing streak and start a 5 game road trip

Tom Mehegan

Celtics get healthy against the Raptors

Boston Celtics came out and took control of the game @ the beginning of the game with 29 points in the first quarter and then came out @ halftime and put up another 29 points in the third quarter while the Raptors scored 30 points total in the two opening quarters (14 in the first, 16 in third) and that was the game.

In the first quarter Rondo put up 13 points and Garnett put up 8 points to set the pace for the Celtic while Pierce had 4 assists and 4 boards and then in the third quarter Brandon Bass had 8 points in the quarter while Allen made two threes. While Rondo had 6 points in the quarter before he left the game after a very hard foul from Kleiza when Rondo was off the ground going for a slam and Kleiza gave him an elbow and hit the court hard and left the game and could of come back into the game but the Celtics were up 73-55 after three quarters. Rondo had 21 points, Garnett had 15 points and 7 boards, and Brandon Bass had 13 points and 9 boards as the starters played three quarters and after three quarters Celtics shot 49 %.

The Raptors did have a fight back quarter in the second the Raptors outscored the Celtics 24-15 and were down only six @ halftime 44-38 lead by DeMar DeRozan had 7 points and Gary Forbes had 6 points in the quarter. The Raptors in the fourth quarter throw the ball away 6 times while they throw away the ball 10 times in the first three quarters and the Raptors lost by 23 points 96-73 and the Raps leading scorer was Gary Forbes who had 17 points (7 of 8 from the line) while DeMar went 4 of 16 from the floor and ended up with 11 points and Barbosa was 3 of 7 from the floor with 6 points. Ed Davis had 9 boards in the game and had 9 points and the Celtics out rebounded the Raptors 45-38 in the game.

It was sad to not have Andrea Bargnani in the lineup as nobody else can put up numbers

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors fourth quarter woes continued against the Hawks

The Raptors shot 50% (27/54) through the first three quarters and were only down two @ 73-71 to the Hawks and then in the fourth quarter the Raptors went 0 for 10 and did not score a single point til the 6:45 point of the quarter and then went 6 for 14 from the floor the rest of the quarter and did not get a single free throw attempt in the quarter after going 15 of 22 from the line in the first three quarters.

This time the Raptors only gave up 20 points in the quarter which is the best points against in a while as they kept playing tight defense which made it tougher for the Hawks with a block from both Jamaal Magloire and Ed Davis along with a steal and the Hawks had some bad passes as well. The Raptors also had 12 boards in the quarter which gave the Raps the chances to win the game but could not find their shot in the fourth quarter and really missed not having Andrea Bargnani especially with DeMar DeRozan being 5 of 17 from the floor and did not go to the line all night. The Hawks got 7 fourth quarter from Joe Johnson who ended with 27 points and 8 fourth quarter points from Josh Smith who also had 4 of his 15 boards in the quarter after he has been averaging 8.5 boards a game and the duo had 55 of the Hawks 93 points and 15 of the Hawks 20 fourth quarter points.

The Raptors got another hot shooting night going 8 of 15 from the floor, 2 from 3 from three, and 4 of 5 from the free throw line and had 22 points while Ed Davis filled in for Bargnani with the effort with 11 boards but went 3 of 8 from the floor and fell short with 9 points. Amir Johnson had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards and Jose Calderon also had a double-double with 13 points and 11 assists but it would be better if Jerryd Bayless back in the lineup even though Gerry Forbes has had a couple of good games and played 14 minutes and had 3 assists.

Celtics on Wednesday will be tough

Tom Mehegan

The Raptors ran with the Bulls for three quarters

In a game where the Raptors trailed 21-8 in the first quarter and fought back to tie the game @ halftime 37-37 with help from a 7 straight points to open the second quarter as they went on a 9-0 run to cut it to 23-21 Bulls. The Raptors kept fighting in the third quarter and headed to the fourth quarter down 4 (56-52) the Bulls just were too much for the Raptors in the final quarter especially when the Bulls went on a 7-0 run to open the quarter as they were outscored 21-12 and lost 77-64.

The Raptors stood tall against the Bulls from the 3:25 mark of the first quarter and ended up being able to match them on the boards as each team had 26 at half and the Bulls end up getting two more boards (52-50) thanks to the fourth quarter where they out rebounded the Raptors 15-12 and 16-12 in the third quarter. The big thing before the fourth quarter for the Raptors other then that Bargnani was not on the floor was that the Raptors when they went to the hoop they would not go up strong so guaranteed points turned into another fail offensive possession as they had the ball rolling off the rim or off the backboard and fall out instead of in. The Raptors got much needed help from Gerry Forbes who came off the bench and played 16 minutes and spelled Jose Calderon who played 35 minutes tonight and a tough night with Derek Rose as he went 1 of 6 from the floor and had 8 assists while Forbes went 2 of 6 and had 5 assists but also had 8 boards in the game. Another nice surprise was James Johnson who hit shots as he went 6 of 10 from the floor for 12 points and had 3 boards and a steal before he had to leave after three quarters with a sprained ankle while Amir Johnson was great on the boards with 13 but had a bad shooting night going 3 of 11 from the floor. DeMar DeRozan and Barbosa lead the Raptors with 15 points and DeRozan had 4 boards and Barbosa had 6 and the Raptors ended up going to the line 7 times and hit only one.

The Bulls with the Eastern Conference record of 12 and 2 showed how even on a not so good shooting night they still have the starting bulls to get the job done shooting 40.2% from the floor and only taken 12 from the line but Rose still had 18 points (7 of 20 with 2 3's and 2 from the line) and 11 assists and Luol Deng had 14 points while Carlos Boozer had 13 boards to lead the team while pitching in with 17 points and both Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson had 12 boards. The Raptors bench outscored the Bulls bench 40-21 as only John Lucas III with 10 points and Taj Gibson with 11 points got on the score sheet.

Only wish the Raptors had played the Wiz, Nets, and Kings like they played the Pacers and Bulls

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors lose the game at the line while the Pacers lost Granger for the second half

DeMar DeRozan came out on fire as he had 14 points in the first quarter as the Raptors had a 12 point lead with help Jose Calderon who had 7 in the quarter to be up 27-15 after one quarter and the Raptors continued their strong effort in the second quarter opening the quarter on a 13-9 run to open their biggest lead of the game @ 40-24 lead by 7 points off the bench from Barbosa. This is when the Pacers take a timeout @ 6:22 and then they went on a monster run of 14-2 to make it 42-38 with Danny Granger capping it off with jumper followed by two free throws but then his night was over with 30.8 seconds left in the half as he blocked an Ed Davis dunk then stared at him on the ground and that was enough for the officials to give him his second tech of the game and he was finished and the Raptors took a 5 point lead into the second half 45-40.

In the third quarter the Pacers D stiffened and the Raptors were having difficulty finding open shots and the Raptors had 7 turnovers in the quarter after having only 8 in the first half and the Pacers on offense lived at the line as scored 9 of their 25 third quarter points lead by George Hill with 6 points and Roy Hibbert who had 5 quick points to start the quarter. The Raptors had a lot of fight in them all night as whenever the Pacers got it within 2 points the Raptors would respond with a basket of their own until Tyler Hansbrough went to finish off a three-point play and cut to one and then Paul George hit a basket with 40 seconds left to tie it @ 65 it was the first tie since 2-2 and that is how it went to the fourth.

The fourth quarter was much more a defensive battle then against the Kings on Wednesday as there were double digit lead changes in the quarter but it did not start well for the Raptors as they fouled the Pacers four times in the first two minutes. The Raptors battled hard and both teams were in the bonus quickly and then the defenses became even tighter and they traded baskets and the game came down to 91-90 Pacers and David West on the line shooting his second free throw after given the Pacers the lead with the first missed but tyler Hansbrough came down with the rebound and went to the line and made both to give them a three-point lead. Then the Raptors on the in-bounds pass send it to Jamaal Magloire and he is immediately fouled and misses both and the Pacers advance to 8-3 with a 95-90 victory while the Raptors fall to 4 and 8 on the season.

The Pacers were lead by George Hill with 22 points and was the guy after Granger left and Roy Hibbert helped with 15 while Tyler Hansbrough and David West both had 13 each. The Raptors were lead by their guards as DeRozan had 23 points, Jose Calderon with 14 points, and Barbosa with 20 ended up with 57 of the team's 90 points while Ed Davis in the starting lineup had 10 boards replacing Andrea Bargnani. The game in the end was won on the free throw line by the Pacers 32-38 (84%) and lost by the Raptors 20 of 32 (62.5%).

Running with the Bulls tomorrow night

Tom Mehegan

Andrea is out of tonight's game against the Pacers

Andrea Bargnani is unlikely to play tonight's game against the Pacers @ the ACC and it is looking like it will be a tough night for the Raptors tonight as the Pacers are 7 and 3 and are 3 and 3 on the road and they will be going into paint and crashing the boards with Roy Hibbert taken down 10 boards a game and 3 of them on the offensive board. So that with Bargnani out it is sounding like Jamaal Magloire will be put into the lineup and he will be able to put a body on Hibbert and keep the Pacers off the glass but if it was me then it would be Ed Davis because he had his better games in the starting lineup and probably be motivated to get on the boards and put back jams for points.

This whole situation will be a good situation for DeMar DeRozan because he has been scoring 13 points against the Kings, 11 against the Wizards, 9 points against the TimberWolves, 8 points against the Sixers, and 3 points against Nets and in the 5 games he has shoot 17 of 55 from the floor with 0 for 7 from three and 10 of 12 from the line. So with the ball in his hands a lot he will have a great opportunity to get hot and put up points and it will take away from the defense as DeRozan is not a great defensive player so other players will have to pick it up on defense to keep the score down.

Andrea Bargnani leaves the game in the third quarter with an injury

Andrea Bargnani was 2 of 13 from the floor and 6 of 6 from the line and had 10 boards but left the game 3:12 left in the third quarter and will not return in the game because of a stained calf muscle. Bargnani will be day to day but with the number of minutes he is playing it is time for a guy like DeMar taken the reigns and running with them by going to the hoop and if he does not make the shot then he will get fouled and go to the line for easy points and if Barbosa can find his shot without hogging the ball than he will be positive.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Bargnani going forward

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors blow it against the Kings in the fourth quarter

The Raptors were tied going into the fourth quarter against the SACRAMENTO KINGS (who came into the game 0 and 4 on the road) with the score being 63-63 and the Raptors had a huge problems going into the fourth quarter which were who was going to step up as Bargnani had been sat for the fourth quarter and the other was who was going to put a body on DeMarcus Cousins and it turned out no one was able to do either tasks. DeMarcus Cousins who had 13 points and 14 boards going into the final quarter had 8 points and 5 boards and ended up with a career high in boards with 19 and added 21 points to go with that and Jamaal Magloire who found the floor for the first time in three games did tie him up and sent him to the line but it was call a fragrant foul in the second quarter and he did little to nothing in his 5 minutes with a single board. Even though Barbosa was on fire in the first half and had 12 of his 16 first half points in the second quarter ended up with 24 points but more importantly no free throws so he was not hurting the Kings with fouls if he drove the line and DeMar tried in the fourth quarter to heat it up with 7 of his 13 in the quarter but it was not enough as the Kings outscored the Raptors 35-28 in the final quarter to take the game 98-91 for their first road win of the season.

The Raptors got a double-double from Bargnani in just over 28 minutes even though he went 2 of 13 from the floor and was 6 of 6 from the line and picked up 10 boards but the rest could not support him especially in the fourth quarter as the defense could not get the job done in front of one of the smallest Raptors crowds I have seen on TV as sections were empty. Amir had no points and 5 boards along with 4 assists as Cousins made him work hard on both ends of the floor while Linas Kleiza made his return with 10 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes while Jose had 13 points and 10 assists with 6 boards.

The Kings got great efforts from Tyreke Evans who went 14 of 14 from the line as he had 29 points with 14 points in the fourth quarter and had 7 boards with 3 assists and Isaiah Thomas (his name was because his father lost a beat) had 12 points in the fourth quarter and ended up with 20 points and 6 assists along with 3 boards. The Kings lived @ the free throw line as the had 34 attempts and they hit 31 of them and they hit 90% of their free throws and they hit 35% from the floor in the first three quarters.

The Raptors have the Pacers on Friday @ ACC which maybe a train wreck if the Raptors do not play up to the Pacers level

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors starters play three quarters as the Wiz put a beat down on them

The Raptors went up against a wounded animal in the Washington Wizards who came in with a 0 and 8 record to start the season and the Raptors were in the middle of a 3 in 3 days so it looked like it might be a sandwich game.

The Raptors came out and took a first quarter lead of 20-17 and then in the second quarter the Raptors throw away 9 balls and lead to a 29-14 second quarter and a halftime lead @ 46-34 and in the third quarter it got worse as the Wizards outscored the Raptors 25-18 with 5 minutes left in the quarter it was Wizards 58-50 and then it went crazy as the Wizards outscored the Raptors 13-2 to give them a 71-52. Going into the fourth quarter the Wizards had 48 points in the paint and took carry of the ball (only 8 turnovers) and took care of the Raptors ball (17 turnovers) so heading into the fourth quarter Dwayne Casey throw in the towel and said bench show me what U got as Andrea sat the fourth and ended up with 22 points and 2 boards and played 29 minutes while Jose in the same 29 minutes had 8 points, 8 assists, and 5 boards. Amir did not take a lot of shots (3) and made (1) with two free throws he ended up with 4 points and 10 boards in 28 minutes and DeRozan was 4 of 16 from the floor and went 3 of 4 from the line for 11 points to go with four boards and three steals but really still needs to bring it and bring it hard as if Andrea needs a rest it will be up to him to put up or shut up. Ed ended up with 9 boards and 1 of 2 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line and needs to find himself while the three spot on the team still can not find a shot as James Johnson and Butler combined for 2 of 11 and 10 boards in the game and were 0 for 5 from beyond the arc.

The Wizards found the perfect storm for win number one and were very full of themselves as they got a lot of easy baskets of the Raptors 22 turnovers in the game but as the Raptors could not catch a pass t least the Wizards showed up and took advantage of the situation. The Wizards who are driving for the No.1 pick in this years entry draft did very little to hurt themselves even though they got 15 points from both Nick Young and Rashard Lewis while they got 9 boards and 9 points from Chris Singleton, 9 points and 8 boards from Andray Blatche, 8 points and 7 boards from Trevor Booker, and 10 points and 6 boards from JaVale McGee so it was a group effort. Really the only guy still having problems with grasping the game is John Wall who did have 9 assists but in return he had 3 turnovers and a 3 for 12 night from the floor and with two from the line gave him 8 points in the game.

The biggest surprise for the Raptors other then getting beat so badly was that Jamaal Majoire is so far into Casey' dog house that he was the only healthy body not to play for the Raptors after being able to put together meaningful minutes in the fist bunch of games when not in foul trouble automatically.

Down with the Kings tomorrow @ the ACC 7:00

Tom Mehegan

Amir Johnson was a beast against Love as the Raptors beat the Wolves

The Raptors took everything that the TimberWolves throw at them and came out on top 97-87 as in the first quarter the Wolves shoot well from distance 5 of 8 and the Raptors took a two point lead 27-25 into the second quarter where the Wolves lived at the line as they went 16 of 20 from the line and with a 16-2 run to end the half the Raptors lead 55-49. In the third quarter it was a game of runs as after the Raptors built the lead to 8 @ 59-51 the Wolves went on a 8-2 run to cut it to 61-59 and the Raptors fought back with a 12-2 run to open a 73-61 lead but the Wolves the last 8 points of the third quarter and the first 4 of the fourth quarter as the Raptors went 0 for 8 and it was tied. So the fourth quarter was about defense as defenses were strong and offenses were weak and at the 7:58 of the quarter the Wolves went up 80-77 and would not score another point til the 1:42 mark of the fourth quarter but the Raptors were no different after tying the game up at 80 with 6:35 left in the game they too did not score until 3:14 left in the game which is 201 seconds of basketball time where a single point was not scored.

The game was turned on its ear when Amir Johnson @ 3:39 of the final quarter held Kevin Love in check and he had to throw up a ball from like 20 foot jump shot and Amir got the rebound and after Bargnani missed a jumper and Amir jammed home the rebound and then went down the floor and blocked a Tolliver layup shot and Bargnani got the board and Calderon went down and hit a jumper which lead to a 11-2 run to close out the game.

Amir Johnson did offensively with 19 points and defensively with 11 boards and more importantly held love to 14 boards which is one less than his season average and to 3 of 16 from the floor and he had to work hard for his points too as he went 5 of 10 from the line and ended up with 13 points in the game which is almost half of his 25.4 p/g average in the Wolves first 8 games. Andrea had 31 points and 9 boards and Jose had 14 points and 6 assists in the game while DeRozan went 3 for 11 and 3 for 3 from the line for 9 points but did help in other ways with 6 boards and 3 assists. Barbosa had 13 points with 2 of 7 from the floor and 9 of 9 from the line which is huge for a guy that shoots just over 60% from the line but the reality is he is much better with Calderon control the rock as Barbosa can not do extremely stupid things with the rock when Calderon is around. The Wolves were lead by Jose Barea who had 16 of the 50 Wolves bench points which was more than double the Raptors 22 points of the bench and with Andrea playing 45 minutes and Jose playing 40 minutes @ the start of three games in three nights the Raptors will need more from their bench along with more production out of DeRozan and Butler of are the starting two and three for the Raps and even through DeRozan played 38 minutes he has been sat for long stretches in the past few games and he needs to bring a lot more.

In DC tomorrow night to face the Wall and hopefully Jamaal Magloire gets a hammer and breaks the Wall down as he did not play tonight I guess coaches decision

Tom Mehegan

The Toronto Raptors put up the second fewest points of an opponent at the Wells Fargo Center

The Raptors only put up 62 points tonight the Sixers and it was the second lowest point output at the Wells Fargo Center by an opponent as they lost handily 97-62 in a back-to-back situation were the Raptors were not breaking down the Sixers and instead settling for jumpers and they just did not the legs to hit and ended up shooting 31.8% from the floor and only got to the line 12 times and even worse only hit 7 of them. The Sixers took a page out of the Nets playbook and broke the Raptors down and ended up with easy baskets at the hoop and when they took jumpers they were clean with nobody with a hand in their face and they went to the line 27 times and making 20 and they were lead by Thaddeus Young with 12 points and Louis Williams with 13 points both of the bench had 45 points and the Raptors bench had 14 points. The Sixers starters were lead by Andre Iguodala who had 14 points and 11 in the first half and Jrue Holiday had 14 as well in the game and the Sixers out rebounded the Raptors in the second half 38-18 and had 20 assists in the game compared to the 15 the Raptors had.

The thing other than the Sixers bench that killed the Raptors was the turnovers with 17 and 10 @ half when they were down 41-34 thanks to second chance points off of offensive rebounds 10-2 and started well with the first 4 points of the quarter but after the Sixers called a timeout they just lite the Raptors up outscoring them 30-8 over a span of 8:15 and 32-11 after the timeout til the end of the quarter.

The Raptors were lead by Andrea who had 10 points and 8 boards in the first half ended with 21 points and 11 boards for his first double-double of the season and Amir Johnson had 8 points and 9 boards in the first half and end up with 12 points and 14 boards and Jose Calderon had 7 points and 7 of the 15 Raptors assists. Then there are the players that did not show up for the game as DeMar DeRozan had 6 points @ half and only 2 after half and it was another tough night at the office for Ed Davis who was 1 of 7 from the floor and 1 for 1 from the line to give him 3 points which also is his and DeRozan turnovers 3 each to go with Amir's 3. Butler and James Johnson continue to not produce at the three spot as Butler with 0 for 4 with 2 boards in 19 minutes and James was 3 for 11 from the floor and 1 of 3 from the line for 7 points to go with 7 boards in 30 and a half minutes.

So tomorrow the Raptors will be doing a lot of film study at the ACC before the Timberwolves come to town on Monday where someone is definitely going to have to put a body on Kevin Love who is a real glass cleaner and the Raptors have three games in three night as they head to DC Tuesday to face the Wizards and Wednesday back home to get down with the Kings.

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors lay an egg against the New Jersey Nets

The Raptors for the first time this season they were completely out work for all four quarters of the game as the three loss the Raps had coming into tonight was all about the fourth quarter but tonight the Nets just destroyed them on the offensive glass especially Kris Humphries who had 16 boards with 9 offensive boards that lead to a 25-6 second chance points going into the fourth quarter. The Nets who came in with 44 threes and shooting 28% and tonight they shoot 48% and made 15 in the game lead by Anthony Morrow who was 6 of 10 on his way to 24 points and DeShawn Stevenson who was 5 of 10 from beyond the arc and it was the Deron Williams show especially in the third quarter where he had 12 of his 24 points in the Nets 97-85 victory for their second victory of the season along with the Nets having 13 offensive boards.

The Raptors were a step slow and did not come into the game and take the Nets seriously as the Nets who averaged 83 points a game scored 97 and they had given up 96 points a game and was able to hold the Raptors to 85. The Raptors got the usual game from Andrea who had 17 points in 36 minutes a couple less than his average but only had 4 boards and Jose had 19 points but only 8 assists while Ed had 11 points and 8 boards and Amir had 8 points and 10 boards. The most disappointing part of the game were DeMar who just did not bring it with a 1of 6 from the floor and 1 of 2 from the line for 3 points in 27 minutes and Jamaal got two fouls in the first minute on the floor and did not get into the flow of the game and it hurt the team as he should of been the guy putting a body on Hump in the game.

Laid down a egg tonight and the sixers tomorrow are going to feel the Raptors pain

Tom Mehegan

The Toronto Raptors Vs the injury riddled New Jersey Nets

The injury riddled Nets are in town to face the Toronto Raptors @ the ACC @ 7:00 tonight with Deron Williams who missed a game with sore ribs and will be back to take all the Nets shots tonight as he takes 93 shots of 476 shots the Nets have shoot in the 6 game (19.5%) and 15.5 shots a game scoring 17.3 points a game with 6 assists compared to 4.3 turnovers a game and is shooting 33.3% from the floor but is getting to the line with 32 shots and making 27 of them. Former Raptors and former Kim Kardashian Kris Humphries (12.4p/g) and is the main big guy has been out two games with shoulder injury and is day-to-day and Brock Lopez who killed the Raptors in London, England last season is out indefinitely with a foot injury.

The New Jersey Nets are 1 - 6 this season and is scoring very little 83.1 (38.7%) points a game and give up a lot of points to opponents given up 97.7 (47%) and once again it is an another 3-ball team with 28.5% of their shots from beyond the arc and is shooting 28% and over 22 shots a game. The Nets second top scorer is rookie guard MarShon Brooks who has basically come out of nowhere to put up 14.1 points and is shooting 45.8% from the floor but will not play tonight which means that the Nets all about the guard play as even Sundiata Gaines who played 6 games with the Raptors and has spent a lot of time in the D-league and is putting up 9.1 p/g and the three guards are taken 42.7% of the Nets shoots this season. If the Nets do not have Ex-Mr. Karashian who has 10 boards a game and the next closest is Damion James who has been taken down 4.7 boards a game will have trouble protecting the glass.

The Raptors will need to continue to play their game and not play down to their opponents and if the Raptors can get a big lead playing their game it will be up to Dwayne Casey to give the big guys like Andrea, DeMar, and Jose extra when possible as they are now going to be playing 7 games in 9 nights so there will be chances to rest players and it will be up to guys like Ed Davis and James Johnson need to pick up their game and support the main cast. I am scary to think of Barbosa playing point or shooting guard for long stretches of time because the ball stops moving when he gets on the floor as puts up a ton of shots in the 21.5 minutes a game he plays and he takes 9 shots from the floor and 3 shots from the line and 1.5 assists compared to 2 turnovers is not the greatest. If Anthony Carter can play more than 10 minutes a game and be solid as a rock at the point will be very important and if Gary Forbes can play 5-10 minutes a game will be a good sign. The Raptors who have the best defensively with in the paint shooting and are second behind Superman and his friends in Walt Disney World needs to continue in the next 9 days.

Going to be a tough road

Tom Mehegan

Raptors beat up the Cavilers 92-77 as the Raptors got great performance by most and the Cavs could not shoot

It was not the prettiest basketball game but the Raptors found their shot late in the first quarter behind great performances by Andrea Bargnani (31 points and 7 boards), DeMar DeRozan (25 points and 5 boards), Jose Calderon (13 points, 11 assists, and 6 boards), and even James Johnson (8 boards and 4 points) was able to put a body on the Cavilers who started by going to the hoop early scoring 8 of their 18 first quarter in the paint and most of them before the Raptors tightened up their defense. The Cavilers went 1 for 14 in the last 7:20 of the first quarter as the Cavilers only got a jumper from Gibson in that time as the Raptors as the Raptors went on a 10-4 run and kept the defense as the Cavilers only had running bank shot off glass from Gibson til 6:09 mark of the quarter when Antawn Jamieson found his shot and scored 9 of his 17 first half points in the second half of the second quarter. The Raptors needed a end of half 3-ball from DeMar DeRozan who had 15 points in the first half to give the Raptors a 46-39 lead @ recess.

The third quarter for the Cavilers was even worse than the first as they only made 4 of 17 from the floor in the quarter and they ended up with only 12 points in the quarter while Andrea had 11 by himself in the quarter. In the fourth quarter it got silly Barbosa took like a 35 foot jumper at the end a shot clock and made it as the Raptors got up to a 20-point lead (90-70 with just over a minute and a half left) and the strangest part of the game was that Dwayne Casey did not sit the starters until they had a 20-point lead as Andrea played 34 minutes, DeRozan played 37 minutes, and most surprising of all almost 37 minutes as he is the only truly good point guard on the team with Bayless out.

The Cavilers who were lead by Antawn Jamieson who had 19 points as he took 19 of the Cavilers 81 shots and the rest of the team went 16 of 62 (25.8%) while Jamieson went 8 for 19 (42.1) and the Cavilers shoot 29.6% from the floor and if it was not for the free throw line where they went 22 of 26 it would of been much worse. Anderson Varejao took down 13 boards in the game as the Cavilers out rebound the Raptors 45-43 but in the end it was the rookies that struggled especially who was 0 for 5 from the floor and got his only point in his return to the T dot from the line after having 16 last night and Kyre Irving had only 12 points going 3 for 13 from the floor after having 19 last night.

So the Raps had a comfortable game and won it going away with Ed Davis pulling down 7 boards that was awesome

Tom Mehegan

Tristan Thompson coming home to the ACC

Tristan Thompson has been playing 20 minutes a game and putting up 9.8 points and 5.2 boards with 1.8 blocks a game with his weakness is at the free throw line where he is 7 for 18 (38.9%) and last night in a Cavs 115-101 victory he had 16 points (7 of 16 from the floor) and 9 boards and there will be a lot of attention played to him before and after the game while he may have friends and family in the crowd and it maybe an important game for the Brampton native.

Also the Cavs have Kyrie Irving who is averaging 25.8 minutes and is scoring 14.8 points and pulling down 3.8 boards a game and is shooting and 3-ball (6 of 13) and shooting jumpers (22 of 48) and going to the basket (11 of 14 from the line) and last night he had a very smart game last night with a 8 for 10 from the floor along with 2 of 2 from the line and 2 of 2 from beyond the arc for 20 points with 2 blocks and 2 boards in 22 minutes. Antawn Jamison is the veteran leader of of this 3-2 team who has taken 13 more shots than Irving who is second on the team who is shooting 60% from the line (12 of 20) and is scoring 16.8 a game and is not sharing the ball a lot as he only has 5 assists and plays outside with only 24 boards and 6 steals to 7 turnovers. Former Raptor Anthony Parker is shooting 3's with 21 of his 34 shoots from beyond the arc and Anderson Varejao is by far the leading rebounder with 9.2 a game and the next closest is Thompson with 5.2 a game. The Cavs are jacking up 3's with 20.8 3's attempted asnd making 8.8 a game while bring down 40.6 boards and opponents are getting 41.8 a game and is shooting 46.7% and opponents are shooting 43.6 from the floor.

The Raptors will need another great first half from DeMar who had 16 of his 21 points and Andrea had another great game with 21 points and 5 boards and Rasual Butler had his first positive game putting up very important points as all his 13 points where timely and he hit the glass hard with 10 boards and will need to come up with the important points. Then there is Canadian Jamaal Magloire who has been going after the opponents big body and for the Cavs that will put him face to face and body to body with Anderson Varejao which will be almost as hard as it was keeping Chandler off the boards on Monday, Howard off the boards on Sunday in Orlando, and Brendan Haywood last Friday night in Dallas.

The Raptors if they play like they did on the road for the first three quarters in the road games they will be able to pull of a victory by putting a bunch of points in the fourth quarters but if they play down to their opponents they will have some very upset fans leaving the ACC because their opponents on the road trip are much better than the Cavs.

Lets see what happens

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors beat Knicks as Knicks were fascinated by their three-ball shot

The Raptors had huge leads most of the game including a 51-34 lead at half thanks to a 29-11 second quarter and 56-40 lead in third quarter and the Knicks fought back with a 16-3 run to cut it to 3 points but the Raptors went into the fourth quarter on a 8-2 to take a 67-58 lead. In the fourth quarter the Knicks went on a 7-2 run to make it 69-65 and it went back and forth including the Knicks getting within 3 with just over half a quarter left and Butler came up with a clutch 3-ball shot to make it 77-71 in a game where he hit clutch shots with all 13 of his points being clutch and it was nice to see what he was brought in for.

The game down to the Raptors with the ball up 86-85 with 17.7 seconds left and Andrea Bargnani missed a jumper but was fouled by Landary Fields and Andrea hit 20th and 21st point in the game as he went two for two from the line. So with 17.7 seconds left the Knicks came out of a timeout and the ball was in Carmelo's hands as he had 13 points in the fourth quarter and because Tony Douglas did not know where he was supposed to be Carmelo threw up another three-ball with 13.2 seconds which was the 34 three-ball of the game for the Knicks and he missed it and Anthony Carter got the board and went 2 for 2 from the line and the Raptors won 90-85 but not before Landary Douglas hoisted the Knicks three-pointer of the game. So the Knicks who took 78 shots from the floor and 35.9% took 35 from three and hit 10 (28.6%) and they were lead by Carmelo Anthony who had 35 of the Knicks' 85 points but the Knicks who were averaging 32 free throws a game ended up going 19-25 and the Raptors took more free throws 29 and made 23.

The Raptors shoot better (44.1) and took half the threes that the knicks did and made 7 and shoot better from three (41.2%) along with on the glass (44-39) lead by Butler and Jamaal Magloire who had 10 boards each in the game and moved the ball more (21-14 in assists) with Jose Calderon of had 12 assists to go with his 9 points in the game. DeMar DeRozan had 16 points in the first half and got into same foul trouble in the third quarter and ended up with 21 points at the end while Bargnani had 12 of his 21 in the first half.

The Raptors ended their three game road trip in four nights 1 and 2 playing hard all three games and are headed home to play the Cavs on Wednesday and the Nets on Friday before going back on the road where they have now won two road games already this season while only winning 6 on the road all last season.

Defense wins games and the Raptors play great defense the first three quarters of games and will win games with their defense

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Raptors are in for a big battle at the hoop and at the arc against the knicks tonight

The Raptors are going to face the New York Knicks @ 7:30 @ MSG and the Knicks and Raptors are the same on defense given up the same 96.75 points against in their first two games but the Knicks have scored 2 more points a game. The Raptors after falling apart in Dallas given the Mavs their own win in their first 5 games including getting destroyed by the Timberwolves by double digits last night and the Raptors let the Magic have a 20-2 run in the fourth quarter and they went onto shoot over 70% from the floor in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks (2-2) are shooting 41.3 from the floor but allowing opponents to shoot 45.5% while opponents are getting the better of them on the glass 44.8 to 34.3 and the knicks have everything going through Carmelo Anthony who is putting up 25 points a game and he is living at the line going 40 of 47 which means he has had 12 opportunities in each of their first 4 games and so is Tyson Chandler who has scored 26 of his 44 points from the line as well. Amar'e Stoudemire is also averaging 17.3 points a game with 15-20 from the line as the knicks are averaging 31.75 free throws a game this season and are getting 25.75 points a game from the line. While a couple of Knicks are living beyond the arc as Anthony has put up 18 3's and hitting 6 and Toney Douglas has put up 21 3's and hit 3 as the Knicks are 29 of 91 from three.

So the Raptors will need to protect the 3-point arc and not send the knicks constantly to the line and the Raptors need to put ED Davis in the starting lineup instead of Rasual Butler who has not been very good in the starting lineup so switching them around maybe better for both. The Raptors need to play the kind of defense in the fourth quarter that they play in the first three quarters and they will need to get support for Andrea who is averaging 23 points a game and it should be DeMar DeRozan who is getting a lot of his points in the fourth quarter and need to put a better effort in the first three quarters of the game. Jamaal Magloire should put a body on Amar'e Stoudemire as he will be the big body under the basket as well as Tyson Chandler and if he can keep himself out of foul trouble he will be an important part of the Raptors defense especially with him look like a brand new player after not playing a lot the best two seasons with the Heat and Jose Calderon will need to keep the ball moving to help find the open shots and get to the basket to get the Knicks in foul trouble.

Toronto Raptors lost to Magic thanks to a 20-2 fourth quarter run by the Magic

The Raptors got another great performance from Andrea Bargnani with 28 points and 7 boards and Jose Calderon who had a double-double of 18 points and 13 assists including his 3,000 career assist in the first half. They also got 7 fourth quarter points from DeMar DeRozan who ended up with 17 in the game and in the third quarter the Raptors started on a 17-6 run to open a 69-53 lead in the third quarter and even went to the line 16 times and made them all in the quarter and headed into the fourth quarter up 81-70 and they gave both Bargnani and Calderon big time rest going into the fourth quarter with Bargnani getting 5 floor minutes rest but when he came back the wheels came off as the Magic went on a 20-2 run in 6 and a half floor minutes to give the Magic a 94-89 lead that they would not give up.

Orlando was lead by Hedu Turkoglu who had 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter along with Dwight Howard who had 8 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and 4 of his 15 boards in the fourth quarter along with Ryan Anderson had 2 of his 5 3-balls in the fourth quarter. The Magic after going 5 of 15 in the first half from beyond the arc ended up going 7 of 12 in the second half to help the comeback.

Jamaal Magloire work his butt off for the 17 and half minutes he was on the floor and his 7 points and 5 boards do not tell the story he put a body on Howard as much as possible and made Howard work for his points tonight while Rasual Butler who is in the starting lineup is really not getting the hang of the Raptors system and is taken as many fouls as he gets points and Casey may want to look at Ed Davis starting because that is when Davis was at his best last season.

The Raptors had a saw off on the glass with 33 each and until the fourth quarter the Magic were shooting 44% from the floor and for the first time all season the Raptors went to the line more than their opponent going 29 compared to 24 for the magic and made 27 compared to 16 for the Magic. The Raptors really held onto the ball very well until the fourth quarter where Barbosa 3 of his 4 turnovers and he had 4 of the Raptors total 11 turnovers in the game.

If the Raptors with this kind of effort against middle of the road teams they can pick victories up

Tom Mehegan

Raptors face the Magic and Superman @ 6 O'clock

This game would be more interesting if it was a 12:30 or one o'clock game because then there would be a Mo Pete award winner (Mo Pete as a Raptor was known to go out Saturday night and hit the clubs hard and then would be hung over for the 12:30-one o'clock game) but sadly it will be a 6 O'clock game.

They are playing the Orlando Magic and Superman who have allowed opponents only to shot 41.1% and holding them to only 87.25 points a game which is fourth best in the league while Raptors give up 95 points and 41.6 shooting to opponents which is 12 in the league. The Magic are 1 and 0 @ home and the Raptors are 1 and 1 on the road coming off a very hard fought loss to the Mavs on Friday Night.

For the Magic it is clear that Dwight "superman" Howard will get his as he is averaging 17 points a game which is low for him but is still a monster on the boards with 17.5 boards a game with 52 of his 70 boards on the defensive glass but is still not very good at the line going 14 of 36 from the line so the Raptors need to not give him easy baskets and send him to the line to earn his points. After Superman it is all about bombs from three as the Magic hoisted almost 25 attempts from behind the arc with 99 in 4 games and have made 38 of them which is 9.5 a game which means that they get 28.5 of their 96.8 points a game. Three attack is lead strongly by Ryan Anderson who has shoot 37 of the 3's which is just more than 37% of their attempts but also had made 16 of 38 made 3's and it accounts for 12 of his 19.5 points a game so someone will need to have hand in his face so he does not have a clear shot at the basket. Former Raptor Hedo Turkoglu is enjoying life at Walt Disney World as he is shooting 47% from the floor and is 9 for 19 from beyond the arc and has averaged 14.3 points a game and J.J. Redick has averaged 13.5 points a game but it all comes down to the boards as the Magic bringing down 43.8 boards a game and opponents are bringing down 41.8 boards and Howard himself has 17.5 of the 43.8 Magic boards.

So Jerryd Bayless is out for the game and there is no timeline for his sprained ankle that he suffered in Dallas on Friday and it is worse than the one he suffered on the same court just over a year before in Dallas. For tonight game Dwane Casey is saying that he will have four man rotation at the point with Anthony Carter, Leandro Barbosa, and Gary Forbes joining Jose Calderon as the Raptors are now going to play 5 games in the next 6 nights with Tuesday being the only day off for the Raptors in that stretch as they will have a three in a row beginning Wednesday at home to the Cavs and then head back on the road as they play 17 of their first 26 games on the season on the road. So the Raptors tonight will need Amir, James, Ed, Jamaal, Rasual Butler, and Andrea to hit the boards hard while the guards protect the 3-point arc and have a hand in the face of the shooter so they do not give up easy points. Also DeMar Derozan need to find his shot early in the game as it is unlikely that the Raptors can bank on another 30 plus game from Andrea so DeMar needs to get to the hoop so that the worst case is that he is going to the free throw line a place they did a great good trying to get to the line on Friday but before that the Raptors were nowhere near getting to the line in the first two games and if they attack Superman they can kill two birds with one stone having Superman sitting.