Raptors out classed by Heat in the fourth

The first three quarters were a lot of up and down scoring a lot with the game tied @ 83 and the Raptors were shooting 59% and the Heat were shooting 57% and the Raptors really came out and played in the third quarter as they outscored the Heat 32-24. In the fourth quarter the Heat brought the D so did the raptors early in the quarter and the Raptors stood with the Heat with a James Johnson 3-ball and a Bargnani 3-ball and @ the 8:33 point the game was tied @ 89. This is where the wheels came off for the Raptors as Calderon decided to take a charge against D-Wade so it started with Wade trying to post him up and Calderon shuffled the feet getting ready before the Wade move or more like a shoulder block to Calderon chest and Wade heads to the line as Calderon is charged with the shooting foul and then because Calderon has never fouled anyone in his pro career he complains to the Refs and gets a tech so the Heat and Wade are on the line for 3 shots and make them all and never look back. The Heat started a 8-0 run and a 16-4 run to put the game away which including an offensive charge by Amir Johnson who went one-on-one with D-Wade and Wade did the same things as Calderon and then Wade got right into Johnson space and Johnson got his arms up to drive or pass and Wade took a forearm to the face and a Raptors turnover which they had 16 in the game. This situations really rattled the Raptors and the offensive never recovered and the Heat D was air tight and they took advantage of the Raptors putting their heads down and the Heats went into the heart of the paint and slammed home slams. The Heat won the game 113-101 with D-Wade (6 assists/boards) and Bosh (8 boards) both 30 points in the game and LBJ had 26 points and 9 assists in the game as they had 86 points and the rest of the team had 27 points and this is after all three were held under 20 points against the defending champs @ home in a 21 point win for the Heat 106-85. The Raptors got another great game from Bargnani who had 27 points and DeRozan had 28 points and was 10 of 10 from the line while Calderon had 16 assists to go with 9 points and then the Raptors were lead in boards by Amir Johnson with 12 as each team had 30 boards in the game. So in the end the Raptors were unable to recover from the Heat maybe getting calls but the reality is that the Heat are a very good team and gets the calls and if the Raptors can win more of their games and make teams pay at the the ACC they will start getting the calls that the elite teams receive. Tom Mehegan

DeRozan returns as the Raptors end a long losing streak to the Nuggets

Just as much as the Raps did not come out in the Orlando Magic to start the game tonight they did the opposite and came out and played as they were up 9 (15-6) early in the first quarter and even though they took a lot from the Denver Nuggets who coming into the game were riding a personal 9 game win streak and with some of those games in the mile high state it was very personal for the Raptors and they would fight back every time the Nuggets made a run. The Raptors went into the second half up 2 points (55-53) and in most cases an opponent run of 21-11 and have the opponents up 5 with 4 and a half minutes left in the third quarter would of berried the Raptors and sent the game into garbage time but instead the Raptors fought back and getting a steal by Ed Davis and a layup from newest Raptor Ben Uzoh who tied up the game @ 85. Then in the fourth quarter when the Raptors go into the dumps and lose close games especially at the ACC tonight brought their "D"fence in the fourth quarter held the Nuggets to 3 of 19 from the floor in the final quarter as the Nuggets missed their last 14 shots in the game and the Raptors put up 20 points in the final quarter to win a game at home 105-96. Andrea Bargnani liked his primo pasta as he shot 50% from the floor (7 of 14) and almost had as many free throws as shots attempted with 12 and making 10 of them and had two of the Raps 12 threes in the game and ended with 26 points to go along with his 5 boards. DeMar DeRozan returned after missing his first two games since the end of the 2009-10 season and put up 17 points and 5 boards, and 5 assists in the game while Kleiza had his best game since the trade day deal sending Barbosa to the Pacers as he had 3 threes and 15 points and made 3 threes as well as he had a double-double with 10 points/assists while Gary Forbes lead the team with 10 boards as he also had 3 threes and 11 points while Davis along with Amir Johnson both had 8 boards. The Nuggets in their first lose to the Raptors in 10 games or five seasons where lead by Ty Lawson with 26 points and 9 assists while Wilson Chandler had 8 boards to lead the team to go with his 13 points in the game. Bosh is returning as the Heat is up next for the Raptors Tom Mehegan

The Raptors need to make a commitment to Dwayne Casey to pick his third year option

Dwayne Casey should be the franchise coach of the Raptors with players coming and going but Casey and his defense system staying long term just like Utah had Jerry Solon, the Spars have Gregg Popovich, and the Houston Rockets had Rudy Tomjanovich. So if the Raptors pickup his option for the third season then in the off-season when the Raptors have the most money to spend on free agents than they can say that Casey will be around longer than one season and he can attract the right players and continue to turn around the Raptors and create the team work that brings winning environment and allows to the team to keep their better players in the fold longer because players are happier when their winning than when they are losing.

So it begins and ends with Casey who can mold the right players into much better team players than they would be as individual players and they will in the end make more money with more success so it is a win-win scenario for both the team and the player. Casey is the right guy for the job now and for a very very long time and the team can not fool around with Casey because he could get up and walk away after not season and the Raptors would be at the bottom again with the likes of the Wizards/Bullets, Warriors, Kings, and until recently the Clippers.

Dewayne Casey is the future of the Raptors

Tom Mehegan

Dewayne Casey was not impressed with the Raptors" D "

Dewayne Casey in the halftime interview with TSN was not impressed with the Raptors effort on "D" fence in the first half as he said that "they needed to come out ready to play" and that "they needed Defense toughness". This was after the Raptors were down 10-0 to start the game and allowed a staggering 61 points in the first half to the Orlando Magic and shooting of 53.5% including almost 50% from beyond the arc (9 of 19). In the third quarter he did not see what he wanted to see as the Magic came out in the beginning of the second half and quickly had the lead up to 20 and by the end of the third quarter the Raptors had given up 93 points for a team that usually gives up an average of just less than 95 points in a full game and the Magic went 4 of 7 from beyond the arc and shot over 57% in the quarter from the floor and were shooting over 55% in the game after three quarters. The Magic after fourth quarter garbage time were still shooting 54.3% from the floor and ended the game 15 of 34 from beyond the arc in a 117-101 wipe washing of the Raptors where Ryan Anderson took 13 of his 15 shots from beyond the arc and 8 of 9 baskets from there too and ended up with 28 points and 6 boards in 35 minutes while Dwight Howard and a strange game as he shot better from the line (7 of 10) than from the floor (8 of 14) and sit came down with 10 boards in 36 and a half minutes to go with his 23 points. Jameer Nelson added 18 points and 7 assists which was on behind team leader Hedo Turkoglu with 8 assists and the Magic had 36 boards and 18 assists which was one better than the Raptors in each aspects of the game.

The Raptors were lead by Gary Forbes with 21 points and Kleiza with 18 points and Jose Calderon had 11 assists but it was Jamaal Magloire who was the most impressive in just less than 11 minutes he lead the team with 7 boards and was an amazing plus 28 on the court which means that the Raptors were outscored by 44 points when he was not on the court. Jerryd Bayless had 6 points, 4 assists, and 2 boards in his return to action and because it was a lose cause in the second half he only played 11 and a half minutes.

It was a bad game after some great efforts in the past few weeks

Tom Mehegan

The short-handed Raptors take the Bulls to overtime for the first time all season

The short-handed Raptors gave the Bulls everything they could handle and more as they came out and took a 10-point lead into the second quarter and then the Bulls started to chip away at it but with the Bulls 3 of 23 from beyond the arc the Raptors were able to take the Bulls to overtime which was the first time the Bulls were taken to extra time this season. The Bulls were without Derek Rose and Joakim Noah being tossed from the game after commiting a shooting foul and then got two techs ans hit the showers with 88 seconds left in the first half while Raptors who are still without Jerryd Bayless played the game without DeMar DeRozan who sat out his first game since the end of the 2009-10 season. Gary Forbes started in his place and was a beast on the boards with 13 to go with his 12 points as he was one of the three Raptors players who played 45 or more minutes and lead the team playing 47:05 but he also was able to almost salt the game away 6.4 seconds left on the clock in overtime as he was on the line shooting two with the Raptors up 101-100 but he missed both. This after James Johnson had a key block of a Luoi Deng shot that ended up in Forbes hands so it came down to a C.J. Watson shot that was redirected by Johnson again but fell into the hand of Luoi Deng who with his game sense immediately went up with the ball and received just in time to put up the winning basket in a 102-101 Bulls win from a foot away from the basket and the Bulls win their 40th game of the season and are 14-4 without Rose in the lineup.

James Johnson play 47:04 and lead the Raps with 20 points along with Jose Calderon to go with 4 blocks in the game and was one of the four Raptors with 8 or more boards with his 8 along with Arron Gray and Amir Johnson who shared time and both had 8 of the Raptors 58 boards to out rebound the Bulls by 14 and 36 on the defensive end where the Bulls had only 23 on the defensive end. Jose Calderon played 45 minutes and added 6 boards and 10 of the Raptors 19 assists in the game while Andrea still struggled with his shoot as he was 4 of 18 from the floor but is making it count from the line 8 of 10 and added 7 boards in 36 minutes so he still being a very big factor in the change in the Raptors style of playing and keeping it close.

The Bulls who shot 39% from the floor still got all around games from Luoi Deng who had 23 points and Carlos Boozer who had 24 points while both collected 10 boards along 4 assists and then C.J. Wilson added another 23 points for good measure.

Late in the game Dwayne Casey was not a happy camper as James Johnson had a fast break and Casey felt he was fouled as he moved to the basket without a call in the dying seconds of regulation and felt that Jose Calderon with pushed out of boards before Taj Gibson had a stick back jam. Then in overtime Andrea Bargnani was called for a double dribble with 3 minutes left and gave Courtney Kirkland a piece of his mind and the Raptors assistants had to escort Kirkland away from the Raps huddle and at the end of the game Casey and Kirkland got into before the Raptors headed to the locker room.

Casey is making the Raps into the best team in toronto

Tom Mehegan

Demar DeRozan hurt as the Raptors hands Woodson his first lose as Knicks Jead Coach

DeMar DeRozan had 30 points as he was 11 of 17 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line but his 131 consecutive starts which is a game off of the Raptors record of 132 which has been held by Alvin Williams just before he destroyed his legs and never to play again on a regular bases he been put in jeopardy when he flied and landed on Jose Calderon and got up and hopped to the lock room with 3 minutes left in a 96-79 Raptors victory. DeRozan will at best will be a game time decision tomorrow night against the Bulls in the windy city and that is best case scenario and the Raptors also got a great performance from Andrea Bargnani wgo had 21 points and 7 boards while Jose Calderon did not make any of his 10 shot attempts from the floor and still did have 10 assists in the game.

It was very hard game as the Refs let a lot of contact in the game without a lot of fouls as the Raps had 21 fouls and the Knicks had 20 of them and the Raptors had a 5 minute slump in the second quarter as they had a 31-19 and the Knicks as they went on a 10-2 run but the Raptors took control in the third quarter and outscored the Knicks 17-2 after the Knicks cut the lead to one @ 43-42. They ended up outscoring the Knicks 31-17 in the quarter and put the game away in the fourth with the help of Gary Forbes who was 7 of 7 from the floor in the fourth and had 14 of his 19 points in the final quarter. The Raptors out bodied the Knicks as they were a plus 7 on the boards (46-39) which is a lot better than they did on Tuesday Night at MSG.

The Knicks lost their first game under Mike Woodson who was 5-0 before tonight and is in position for a playoff spot but Carmelo was 6 of 15 from the floor and 12 points and 9 boards while Amar'e Stoudemire was 6 of 12 from the floor and 5 of 11 from the line and ended up with 17 points but only had 6 boards which is like half of his boards he had on Tuesday. Steve Novak hit 5 3-balls in the game and ended up with 15 points and Baron Davis lead the Knicks with 8 assists while Jeremy Lin who added a new Raptors broadcast team that did the game in Mandarin for the first time in Raptors history and he ended the game with 6 points, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers in the game.

The Rajai Butler Raptors days have ended as he was waived today

Tom Mehegan

Raptors could not hit a shot as the Bulls had 20 unanswered points to clinch win

After the Chicago Bulls lead 27-23 after the first quarter and then the Raptors outscored the Bulls 49-37 to take a 72-64 8 point lead 90 seconds into the fourth quarter but then the Bulls scored 20 straight points to flex their muscle and take a 84-72 lead as the Raptors did not score a point in 7 minutes and did not make a basket from the floor in 7 and a half on their way to a 94-82 win. Kyle Korver scored half (10) of the unanswered points (20) after not having a point in the first three quarter and John Lucas had all of his 13 points in the fourth quarter while Taj Gibson scored 5 of his 8 points in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors were lead by DeMar DeRozan who had 23 points while former Bull James Johnson had 16 points and 7 boards while Andrea Bargnani in a back-to-back game situation did not shot the ball well as he was 2 of 10 from the floor and was 4 of 4 from the line but he did help out in different ways as he had 5 boards and 6 assists. The Raptors were perfect from the line but they only had 11 attempts but at least they only put up 8 threes and it was the jump shot that killed them in the fourth quarter as they went away from going to the basket and settling for jumpers that did not drop and they went away from passing the ball as they had 15 assists in the first half and shot 48% and in the second half they had 8 assists and shot like less than 35% in the half and ended up shooting 41% in the game. Kleiza and Arron Grey both had 8 boards but the Raptors were minus 8 on the boards (49-41).

The Bulls who were without Derek Rose were lead by Luol Deng who had 17 points and 8 boards while C.J. Watson had 15 points Gibson had 6 boards as the Bulls are now 39-10 this season.

Jerryd Bayless tried to play but was unable to stay on the court as he played 89 seconds and left

Tom Mehegan

Jose Calderon returns and meets a very different Knicks club

Jose Calderon returned to the lineup and played 35 minutes and was 5 of 9 from the floor and made his only free throw and ended the game with 11 points and 9 boards while the Raptors got a nit of a scare when Jerryd Bayless came down with a rebound at the end of the third quarter and Amar'e Stoudemire fouled him hard and he fell on his hip and was in and out of the lineup in the fourth quarter and will likely be a game time decision against the Bulls tomorrow night.

So the Knicks under Mike D'Antoni they shot 20 plus threes and take lots of jumpers but under Mike Woodson the Knicks won their fourth game under his reign and are going hard to the basket as they 48 of their 106 points from lay-ups and dunks in a 106-87 victory and took twice as many free throws (33) to three-balls (16) and U put their points from free throws (23) and that gives them 71 points and two-thirds of their points the easy way. They shot 48.1% from the floor but when they missed they came down with 16 of the 42 boards on their offensive end (38%) which helped them with second chance points mostly put back jams and they out rebounded the Raptors 46-30. It was the Amar'e Stoudemire with 22 points and 12 boards but the rest of the Knicks shared the points equally as Carmelo (8 broads) and Tyson Chandler had 17 points while Jeremy Lin had 18 points and 10 of the Knicks 23 assists on 39 made baskets.

The Raptors were lead by DeMar (17) and Andrea (15) and Ed Davis had 9 points and 9 boards while Arron Grey played very little in the game (7:30) as had very early foul trouble in the first quarter and in the third quarter he was trying to protect his turf with Tyson Chandler and was charged with his third foul as both players had each others arms tied up and he went off and kicked the ball and was T'd up and then was tossed from the game for saying something and was gone @ the 7:47 point of the third quarter.

So the Raptors come home for Military night tomorrow night against Derek Rose and the Chicago Bulls

Tom Mehegan

Raptors finally get out of Memphis this afternoon just in time to get to the Arena in Charlotte

So the Raptors after finishing the game @ 11 PM east and a hour later they were on a tar mat to get to Charlotte but instead the plane did not cooperate with them so they checked into a Memphis hotel for the night and were back at the airport @ 3 PM eastern to finally get a plane that got them out of Memphis. The problems did not end there as when they finally get to Charlotte and headed straight to the Arena and at just after 5:30 (a hour and a half before tip) a fire alarm was pulled and instead of being able to have their shoot around they had to evacuate the arena.

After all this the Raptors did have a great first half shooting 59% and leading at half by 10 53-43 with the Raptors having three players in double figures @ half including Bayless (11 points), Kleiza (11 points), and Derozan (10 points) but the Raptors really had a hard time keeping the ball as they had 11 turnovers in the half and the Bobcats shot 42%.

Then in the second half their heavy legs caught up to them as they were not strong enough to fight through the mental fatigue as the Cats shot well in the half especially the third quarter where they outscored the Raptors 38 (only 43 in the first half) - 14 as they took a 14 point lead 81-67 going into the fourth quarter as the Raptors had 10 turnover in the quarter. They were lead by D.J. Augustin had 11 points after having 9 in the first half while Corey Maggette had 10 points in the quarter after have 7 in the first half while had 7 points in the quarter.

The Raptors were able to get into reach of the lead in the fourth as the Bobcats had 15 point lead with less than 3 and a half minutes left in the game and the Raptors went on a 18-5 run late to get it to two points as Bayless had 6 of his 29 points in the last 3:30 before fouling out again while DeRozan had 4 of his 20 points during this run too. The Bobcats put their 6 straight victory in a row against the Raptors away with two free throws from D.J. Augustin who finished with 23 points.

The Raptors were given fouls like they were pieces of candy as they were given 36 fouls (bobcats 21) in the game as the Cats were hitting the floor every chance they got and it was more than the Raps rebounds which were 35 (+7) and ended up with 24 turnovers in the game.

The Raptors got a good performance from Jerryd Bayless who had 6 assists an 4 turnovers/steals (only one at half) while Andrea in 28 minutes had 11 points (9 in the first half) and 7 turnovers so he is still getting his game senses back and Ed Davis had 12 rebounds. The Bobcats who now have two of their 7 victories against the Raps got 14 of 14 from Corey Maggette from the line (20 points in the game) while Augestin had 11 assists and Gerald Henderson had 24 points in the game.

DeRozan got to the line 12 times and made 8 which is a good sign

Tom Mehegan

Raptors win a crazy one in Memphis against the Grizzles

Point guards ruled the game for the Raptors as they scored 48 points and 11 assists and 10 boards in an overtime win 114-110 win in overtime against the Memphis Grizzles in which overtime took over 30 minutes to play 5 overtime. This was the first win against the Grizzles in 7 games. Jarryd Bayless had a monster game with Calderon still injured and Barbosa now a Indiana Pacer as he went off for 28 points, 6 boards, and 9 assists before fouling out in overtime and Gary Forbes finished off the game with 20 points, 5 boards, and 2 assists. The Grizzles had three players with at least 20 points who were Rudy Gay who had 26 points and 11 boards who fouled out in overtime and he had only 3 before 3:17 left in regulation and had 5 before overtime while Zach Randolph had 25 points and 9 boards in only 24 and a half minutes in his first game back from injury and Marc Gasol had 28 points and 8 boards.

This game was actually a low scoring game going into the fourth quarter 72-69 and then everything went haywire in the fourth with the Grizzles outscoring the Raptors 34-31 with the Raptors took 13 free throws in the quarter while the Grizzles were 12 of 19 and James Johnson had three fouls before the 1:30 minute point and fouled out with 14 points and 7 boards with 5.7 seconds left in regulation. It looked like with 13.7 seconds left and the Raptors up 100-96 it looked like it was over but Rudy Gay hit two 3's in the last 7.4 seconds and when with .9 seconds left to tie it up @ 103 it looked like it was heading to overtime but Andrea Bargnani almost ended with a buzzer beater 30 footer that almost hit and he would end up with 18 points and in overtime the Raptors salted away the game with 112-109 Raptors up and Mike Conley at the line for three throws to tie up the game but after hitting the first he then missed the second and missed the third hoping that a Grizzle would get it and put it back to tie the game but instead it went out of bounds off the Grizzles. Then the Raptors tried to get the ball in but called a timeout when they could not get it in and then DeMar was fouled with the ball coming in and he hit both free throws to give him 18 points and the Raps the four point victory.

Andrea Bargnani played 39 minutes and may be given the night off against the Bobcats tomorrow which is four game and five nights for Andrea

Tom Mehegan

Nets work harder than the Raptors in the second half especially Humphries

Going into the second half the Raptors were iin good control of the game with the Nets shooting the ball well @ 47% from the floor but had turned the ball over 11 leading to 20 Raptors points and the Raptors had made 5 more free throws and even though the Raptors were shooting 41% they were leading 46-41.

The second half was a different story as the Nets came out and wanted the game way more than the Raptors and it started in the third quarter were the Nets shot well over 50% from the floor while the Raptors turned into a jump shooting team and shot under 25% and they outscored the Raptors 27-15. The Raptors tried to get back into the game but the Nets kept them at arms length but the Nets pulled away in the late fourth quarter as they outscored the Raptors 30-23 and they walked away with a 98-84 victory and beat the Raptors by 19 points in the second half. The Nets had another amazing game from Kris Humphries who had 16 points (8 in the second half) and 21 rebounds (11 in the the second half) of the Nets 48 rebounds in the game and then Gerald Green helped the Nets in the fourth quarter as he had 16 of the Nets 30 points in the third quarter and ended up with 26 points in the game. The Nets only had 6 turnovers in the second half and the Raptors had double their first half turnovers as they had 4 in the first half and 8 in the second half.

The Raptors were lead by Bayless who had 16 points and 10 assists but he had 8 of his assists in the first half and James Johnson also put up 16 points in the game while Andrea Bargnani had 10 points and 2 rebounds in 33 minutes shot 4 of 13 from the floor and just was not as strong as he was last night against the Cavilers. Then there is DeMar DeRozan who was 5 of 15 from the floor and was 2 of 4 from the line and had 12 points and 5 rebounds in the game while Amir had 9 of the 37 Raptors board and were minus 11 of the boards in the second of back-to-back game.

The Raptors are in the middle of 4 in 5 nights

Tom Mehegan

Raptors hurt the Cavs playoff chances with their third win against them this season

The Raptors played active basketball with their hands on almost every live ball in the game they went after rebounds and if they were unable to catch it they would tip the ball so that another Raptor player had a chance to get to it and more often than not the Raptors got to the rebound as they out rebounded the Cavs 45-34 in the game. it was simply about heart and effort and the Raptors brought while the Cavs who were in one of their biggest games post LBJ as they are in the thick of the playoff hunt and yes the lower seeds in the east will go into the playoffs with more losses than wins and tonight after the Raptors tightened up the D midway through the second quarter they were not putting out the effort in the game as they had 22 of their first 33 points in the paint and then 16 of their last 55 points were in the paint. The Cavs who came into the game shooting top 10 from beyond the arc were 3 of 15 from beyond the arc while the Raptors who shot 50% from the floor shot 8 of 19 from beyond the arc but this was helped by their passing (25 assist) as most threes were wide open shot with maybe Cav jumping towards them as they let their shot go. The Raptors were made it hard for the Cavs to get easy points as they contested every shot and were more willing to make them earn their points at the line with hard fouls than get a dunk and after the first quarter having 6 turnovers and two offensive charging fouls against them they ended up with only 14 turnovers in the game.

The game came down to the Raptors up 6 with 65 seconds left in the game and Jared Bayless who had 20 in the game missed a jumper and the ball goes off the front of the rim am and is bouncing on the court and Barbosa who had 17 points in the game jumps on the floor first and graps his only rebound of the game and calls timeout at the same time. Then coming out of the timeout the Raptors put the ball into the hands of Andrea Bargnani who misses a long jumper but because there are no Cavs in position to get the rebound Bargnani goes in and gets his 7th and final rebound and slams it home for his last 2 of his 19 points in the game as the Raptors win 96-88 and are 3 and 0 so far against the Cavs this season.

Kyle Irving had a tough night shooting 5 of 17 and had 5 points going into the second half and ended with 14 for the Cavs who were lead Antawn Jamison who had 20 (8 of 18 from the floor) while Ramon Sessions (6 of 9 from the floor) and Alonzo Gee (7 of 7 from the line) both had 16 points and lived in the paint and had a lot of the Cavs 38 points in the paint.

So the Raptors are a game better than last season through 42 games with 14 wins and more wins on the road

Tom Mehegan

Ersan Ilyasova torched the Raptors as the Bucks come on strong in the second and win it in the second half

The Bucks were down big with 1:51 left in the first half and they ended the half on a 7-0 run to cut a 12 point lead into a 5 point Raps lead and up to that point the Raps were playing sound team ball as they were sharing the ball as they had 10 assists in the first quarter on 13 made shots from the floor and 7 of 11 in the second quarter but only lead 56-51 going into the second half thanks to Ersan Ilyasova who had 13 in the half on his way to 31 points and Drew Gooden who had 13 as well of his 21 points. The Raptors were lead by Andrea Bargnani who played 14 minutes in the half and had 9 points along with Barbosa who had 12 in the game but the Bucks and most importantly Ersan Ilyasova took control of the game in the third quarter by taking their first lead at 2:06 left in the quarter on two made free throws made by Ersan Ilyasova and it went back and forth the rest of the quarter with the Raps ahead 79-78 going into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter the Bucks who played only 9 players and none of them were named Andre Bogut put the Petal to the metal as Mike Dunleavy had 11 of his 19 points in the second half and 5 in the final quarter and outscored the Raps 27-20 and taken their sixth in a row from the Raps 105-99 as the Raps are 13-28 through 41 games and the Bucks are 17-24.

The Raps really only played 9 players on a back-to-back as Arron Grey only played 2 and a half minutes off the bench as Amir Johnson started 12 points and 6 boards while Bargnani had his minutes monitored closely with 30 but he used the extra rest to focus on the glass as he took down 8 boards and still is looking for his shooting legs as he was 4 of 10 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line for 11 points. DeRozan had 8 of his team leading 21 points in the fourth quarter while Ed Davis had 10 boards in 21 and half minutes which was best on the Raptors and only trailed Ersan Ilyasova who had 12 to go with his 31 points for the Bucks.

The Raptors only had 6 assists on 16 made shots from the floor as they ended the game shooting 46.5% and the Bucks had 47.9% and the Bucks ended up with 4 more assists (26-22) and went to the line almost twice as much (35-19) and making two times more (29-15) than the Raptors but the Raptors had 7 more boards (43-36).

So more Lottery balls but I do not know if that helps

Tom Mehegan

Andrea Bargnani is back but Calderon is lost in a flat game against the Pistons

The Raptors welcomed back Andrea Bargnani on the court and did not have his shooting legs back as he had a 2 of 8 from the floor and ended up with 8 going 4 of 4 from free throw line but in the late second quarter the Raptors lost Jose Calderon to an ankle injury and will be out for a few games. This means that Jerryd Bayless will need to step it up while Calderon is sitting in a suit on the bench and will need to push the ball around and get the ball into the scorers hands so they get the points for the team and Bayless gets the assists. Then there is Gary Forbes who will need to give the Raptors good minutes so Bayless can get a breather and stay strong and Forbes will need to get the ball into the play makers hands as well.

The Raptors in the game did not come out to play and it showed as they shot very badly from the floor as they shot 39.7% (29-73) and even with no shooting touch they decided to shot from further from away as they put up 21 from beyond the arc and only made 5 of them. DeMar DeRozan had a tough night going 3 of 10 from the floor with Andrea back and at least there is a bright spot to his game tonight which was going 9 of 10 from the line and Arron Gray made 4 baskets from the floor which was tied for most on the team with Barbosa and Bayless along with Forbes.

The Pistons even though they played last night completely out worked the Raptors as they out boarded (39-33), out assisted (22-16), and because of weak Raptor D the Pistons hit 6 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter and shot 61.5% in the first half and put up 61 points in the half lead by Brandon Knight who had 19 points which was all his points in the game while Rodney Stuckey had 16 of his 20 points in the half. The Pistons in the 105-86 victory outscored the Raptors in all of the first three quarters and had all their starters of Tayshaun Prince (10), Jason Maxiell (12 points), and Greg Monroe (11 points) joined Knight and Stuckey in double figures in points and even Jonas Jerebko had double digit in points with 13 points.

This Piston team is a team that Casey wants the Raps to become as they are now 11 and 6 since starting the season 4 and 20

Tom Mehegan

The Raptors are taken Dwayne Casey massage to heart as they beat the Rockets

The Toronto Raptors really showed that they could play as a team as they had 31 assists on their 45 made shots (68.88% of the time) from the floor and after the first quarter were the score was tied @ 28 with the Raps shooting over 68% while the Rockets shoot 50% the Raps kept shooting well and they found their D and the Rockets shooting went down to 41.4% by the end of the game which meant they shot around 35% the rest of the game. The Raptors shot still over 64% from the floor at half still and by the end of the game they still were shooting 59.2% at the end of the game. The Rockets had one big run in the game that happened when the Raptors were up 17 with the score being 71-54 @ the 7:20 point of the third quarter and the Rockets went on a 22-11 run the rest of the quarter. The Raptors with the score 91-87 Raptors and they went on a 25-7 run to put the game in complete garbage time and the Raps won the game by 18 (116-98) so the Raptors have bought into Dwayne Casey system and tonight the Raptors beat down a struggling Rockets team that have lost five in a roll with their last win @ home to the Raptors a week or so ago.

DeMar DeRozan had 23 points and shot 4 of 8 in both halves of the game was 6of 7 from the line in the first half and only 1 of 1 in the second half while Jose Calderon had 17 points and 12 assists as he was 7 of 11 from the floor and 2 of 2 from the line so that the starting back court had 39 points. Barbosa had 15 points while Kleiza had 19 points and Amir Johnson returned from missing a game and had 14 points and 8 boards while Arron Grey had 6 boards in the first half and only one in the second half.

The Rockets took advantage of the Raptors multiple fouls as they had 32 in the game and it lead to the Rockets went to the line 44 times and made 37 of them and this what kept the score close for a parts of the game but their D was not very good tonight. They were lead by Chandler Parsons who had 19 points and Samuel Dalembert had 14 points and 6 boards while Kyle Lowry 15 points and was 7 of 7 from the line.

Raptors went 2 & 2 on the homestand

Tom Mehegan

Raptors worked hard but Dwight Howard worked harder

The game came down to a Raptors stop as the Magic with 30 seconds left in the game ran the clock down and Quentin Richardson sent the ball out to J.J. Redick who hit a three with 9.8 seconds left and ballooned the Magic two point lead to a five point 90-85 lead that the Raps could not comeback from as they lost 92-88.

It was the Dwight Howard show for the Magic as he put up 36 points and 13 boards in the game but after the Raptors allowed him 7 boards in the first quarter they then held him to three in total during the second and third quarters until he got three more in the fourth. He was scoring in all quarters starting with 10 to open the game in the first and then he put up his fewest points in the second with 6 and then his most in the third with 13 and finished the game with 7 in the final quarter. He got help from Ryan Anderson who had 7 of his 19 points and more importantly 11 of his 13 boards in the first half as the Raptors stood tall on the boards with Magic getting a single rebound more then the Raps. Anderson got 6 points in both the third and fourth while J.J. Redick had 5 of his 13 points in the 10 seconds as he scored the Magics last 5 points but Hedo Turkoglu was 0 for 6 from the floor and had 1 board to go with his no points and finished the game with 9 of the Magics 25 as they had three more then the Raptors.

DeRozan lead the Raps again with 23 points with 14 in the first half and finished with a 9 of 22 night with 4 of 4 from the line while Bayless lead the charge in the fourth quarter with 12 of his 15 points in the quarter while Calderon had 6 of his 8 points in the quarter. James Johnson had a solid game with 13 points, 7 boards, and 7 assists (Calderon had 7 as well) while on the boards Arron Gray had 11 and Ed Davis who started for an injured Amar Johnson had 7 to go with 6 points and Bayless had 6 boards to go with his 5 assists. Jaamaal Magliore had 5 boards but more importantly made it hard for Howard to get boards in his 15 minutes on the court.

The Raps had a team effort all game and was never out of it til the end but took jumpers in the final quarter instead of going into the paint

Tom Mehegan

The Raptors wake just in time to beat the Warriors for the first time in 6 games

The Warriors scored the first 7 points of the game and the Raptors then went on a 10-2 run to take the lead that it would take almost til the end of the third quarter as the Warriors went inside almost constantly as they shoot 60% in the second quarter after both teams shoot about 35% in the first quarter while the Raptors shoot less than 33% in the second quarter. Dave Lee was playing out of his mind in the the half going 6 of 7 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the line and had 16 points while Barbosa had 8 points and DeRozan had 11 points for the Raps in the half as the Warriors lead at half 47-38.

In the second half the Raptors shot over 40% and the Warriors shoot around 30% from the floor including shooting 23% in the third quarter while the Raps shot 42% but until DeRozan hit a floating jump shot @ 4:33 of the quarter the Raptors were still down by 8 as the Warriors lead 56-48 but then the Raptors realized that losing another to the Warriors would not be good and they outscored them to end the quarter on a 12-2 run to take a two point lead at 60-58. In the fourth quarter the Raps kept it going outscoring the Warriors 23-17 as the Raptors broke their personal 5 game losing streak to the Golden State Warriors with the final being 83-75.

The Raptors were able to dominate the boards 51-41 behind a hungry Ed Davis who back to cleaning the boards with 12 along with the Johnsons who had 25 boards with Amar having 13 and James 12 while the rest of the team had 14. The Raptors for once was to the line more than their opponents 24 to 19 and they actually shot the ball well from the line as they hit 21 of them for 87.5% and it was lead by DeRozan who was 6 of 6 from the line as he had 25 points while Jerryd was 5 of 6 from the line but was 0 for 6 from the floor with 4 boards and 4 assists. Barbosa had 17 points, Amar with 12 points, and James was 11 points to help DeRozan cut down the Warriors as the Raps also had 11 assists in the second half compared to 8 in the first half.

David Lee ended up by basically by the Warriors team as he had 22 of their 75 points and 12 of their 41 boards Monty Ellis was the only Warrior in double digits with 12 points and had 7 of the Warriors 17 assists.

It was simply another game that they were not ready to get dirty and then they decided they wanted to put an effort out there and they won the game

Tom Mehegan

Raptors had a letdown in the third quarter and it cost them a victory

The Raptors played hard for three of the four quarters and were playing well going into the half and were leading 52-45 and when the Grizzles took a run the Raptors fought hard and shot over 50% in the first quarter and so did the Griz but in the second quarter the Raptors got 26 points from their bench including Bayless with 10 points and Ed Davis had 7 points as the Raps put up 31 points and shot 12 of 19 from the floor in the quarter.

Then the Raps came out in the third quarter and the Grizzles took them to the woodshed and outscored the Raps 32-23 and they took it to the paint and outscored them inside 14-4 at a point in the quarter and scored the first 11 points of the quarter to take a 56-52 lead and they took a 7 point lead @ 70-63 which was a 25-11 run to open the quarter but the Raps cut it to two points by the end of the quarter 77-75.

The Raps fought hard again but it was them falling in love with the jumpers that killed them in the end especially when they hit them early in the quarter and then just kept shooting them and the game came down to a Kleiza jumper with just less than 14 seconds with the score 100-99 Griz and he missed which was his fourth jumper in a row and O.J. Mayo got the board and throw a touchdown pass to Tony Allen who got a layup and it was a three point lead. Jose Calderon throw up a three with 4 seconds left and it did not hit and the Raps lost 102-99 in a tough fought game but the third was very hard for the Raps.

The Raptors got a great effort with the bench had 54 of the raptors 99 points lead by Jerryd Bayless who had 18 points with 7 of 7 from the line and four assists, Kleiza had 12 points and 7 boards (tied with Grey for the team lead), Barbosa had 13 points but did have two assists which was same as his two turnovers. The best starter was James Johnson who had 14 points and 5 boards while Jose Calderon had 10 points and 9 boards to go with 4 of the Raptors 16 turnovers

Marc Gasol had 21 points and 5 boards while Rudy Gay had 23 points and 12 of the 35 boards to go with his four assists, and Mike Conley had 21 points and 5 boards as the Grizzles are now 10-1 against teams under 500.

some more ping pong balls for the Raps

Tom Mehegan