Andrea Bargnani was solid but was invisible late

Andrea Bargnani put up 34 in the game but the Raptors lost 90-89 to the Pistons as he did not get a touch in the second last passion for the Raptors in the game as Kyle Lowery took a jumper with less than 17 seconds left in the game. With the Raps up 1 89-88 with the clock running down Brandon Knight slipped through the Raps D for a lay up with 8 seconds left and Kyle Lowery went down and missed another jumper without getting the ball into the Bargnani hot hand and the Raps go 0 and 3 on a winnable road trip and are now 3 and 10 on the season and it looks like the season may already be over. Andrea Bargnani had 17 of the Raptors 20 first quarter points and they trailed by 1 21-20 and had 9 fourth quarters for a pretty good offensive game and did get a couple of defensive stops as well and had 5 boards and 4 assists. Kyle Lowery had 4 points at half and then came out in the third quarter and wiped away a 13-point Pistons lead 63-50 with 12 of his 19 points in the quarter and helped the Raps with a 14-3 run to cut the lead to 4 at the end of three 72-68. Jonas Valanciunas got kicked by Terence Ross in the third quarter and twisted his ankle and was slowed down by the injury afnd after being taken off the court for a few minutes but still was hurt. DeMar DeRozan has begun to not go to the basket and struggled shooting as he shot 2 of 9 and had only 5 points in the game in 34 minutes. Their shooting was down to almost 41% because they had only 20 assists on their 32 made field goals but did do very well from the line as they went 20 of 25 with the exception being Lowery missing the two of three free throws early the fourth quarter. The Pistons got double-doubles from Greg Monroe with 19 points and 11 boards and Andre Drummond came off the bench and got 13 boards to lead the Pistons who had a 47--37 on the boards and added 13 points in half a game. Tayshaun Prince had an efficient night shooting 8 of 11 from the floor and had 16 points and helped the Pistons shot 46% in the game while they got a lot of points in the paint as in the third quarter they had a 40-20 lead in the category. Raptors face Spurs on Grey Cup Sunday and I do not know how low this season is going to get Tom Mehegan

Raptors come up short against the Bobcats

The Raptors had 28 seconds down one to the one to the Bobcats and they got three different chances to get to the line or make a basket with DeMar DeRozan having a layup which missed it and did not get the call and then got the rebound and went back up with it and it was blocked out of bounds by Bismack Biyombo. The second chance was with just under 10 seconds and it got messy on the floor and it ended up in Jose Calderon's hand and he put up a 3-ball and he got his own rebound and got it and the Raps called a timeout with 3.6 seconds. Their last chance was with a Lowery jumper that was blocked and it got into Andrea Bargnani's hands and he took a long jumper and his shot was changed as he shot it and it came up short as he may have been hit on his arm with no foul and the Bobcats pulled out a 98-97 victory. The difference in the game was DeMar DeRozan who missed his third of the game which all came in the fourth quarter and with the Raps up 1 97-96 and Ramon Sessions made a jumper to put the Cats by one. The fourth quarter started with the Cats going on a 11-2 run to open the game up wisde open 86-76 and the Raptors fought back with a 17-4 run to go open 3 with 3:23 left in the game. The Raptors got a huge push by Jonas Valanciunas put up another double-double in back-to-back games with 16 points and 10 boards in 35 minutes and he was hustling down the floor. DeMar was a fourth quarter player as he 6 of his 14 points in the quarter and only had his three free throws in the quarter which gowa away from the positive game he has been playing most of the season. Andrea Bargnani had 25 points in the game and was 9 of 17 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the line and Kyle Lowery had 21 points but as the starter only had 8 assists in the game and the Raps were only able to have an assist on 23 of 37 made field goals and shot 46.2% from the floor. The bench was hugely soft as Terrence Ross had 11 of the bench's 20 points while Jose Calderon had 7 points and 4 assists. The Bobcats got Kemba Walker had 19 points while Kidd-Gilchrist had 14 points and Byron Mullens lead the team with 8 boards and 10 points and Bismack Biyombo had 11 points with 8 points and Ramon Sessions had 14 points off the bench. Detroit up next Tom Mehegan

Raptors hurt by smaller 3-point shooting Sixers

The Raptors were able to get a hot start going up 11-1 but the Sixers inched back by using a late second quarter rally of 13-2 and ended up going to recess tied @ 51. In the second half behind DeMar DeRozan who had 8 points in the third quarter after having only 6 all the first half and with the Sixers up 1 65-64 with 5 and a half minutes to go in the third quarter the Raps came back with 11 straight points to take a 75-65 lead and took a 80-73 lead after three. Kyle Lowery who made his long waited return put up 8 points in the third quarter and ended the game with 13 points and 7 assists in 30 minutes. The Raptors had the Sixers in the penalty with 9 minutes left in the game and were up 87-80 but went to the line 7 times rest of the way and only made 2 of them and the Sixers went on a 26-11 to end the game ans pulled away with a 106-98 victory. The Sixers used the 3-ball as they hit 3 of 8 the rest of the way including back-to-back threes by Nick Young erasing a 6 point lead with 5 and a half left in the game and Nick Young had 10 of his 23 points and 10 of the Sixers 33 points in the fourth quarter while Thaddeus Young had 10 points as well and finished with 18. Jrue Holiday had 21 points and Jason Richardson had 19 in the game and they lived behind the 3-point arc going 9 of 24 from 3 while only taken 19 free throws but did make 17 of them compared to 20 of 29 for the Raps and just under 67% from the line. Andrea Bargnani had 22 points and he did not drop off in the second half 10 in the first and 12 in the second half while Jose Calderon had all of his 13 points in the first half and had 12 assists in the game for a double-double. DeMar DeRozan had 18 second half points and ended with 24 including 7 of 8 from the line and Jonas Valanciunas had a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards but Kyle Lowery struggled from the line going 3 of 8 and finished with 13 points. Raptors get Lowery back and soon his legs will come back Tom Mehegan

Raptors open and shut the game well against the Magic

behind a fourth quarter performances of Amar Johnson (14 points) and Kleiza (10) who had 24 of the Raptors 30 point Raps fourth quarter to close out the Magic 97-86 to pick their third victory of the season all on the second half of the back-to-back. The Raps took control of the game in the first quarter with a 13-point lead with a minute left in the quarter on 11 points of DeMar DeRozan who was back to the driven DeRozan as he picked up 3 of his 9 points the rest of the game from the line as he finished with 20 points and fell a board short (9) of a double-double. While Andrea Bargnani had 9 of his 17 points in the first quarter and the Raps took a 32-22 lead into the second quarter. The Raps took it easy in the second and the third quarter as they only scored 35 points and when they went into the fourth quarter they were looking up at the magic 69-67 and then went on a run of 23-9 which cemented by a 5-on-1 run out by the Raps that was finished off by ally oop jam and after a Magic timeout Kleiza finished the run with a 3-ball to put the Raps up 92-78 and cruised to a 97-86 victory. The Raps were lead by Amar with 15 points and Kleiza with 12 points and had 27 of the Raps 34 bench points and only 10 before the final quarter while Jose Calderon put up 18 of the Raps 22 assists on 38 field goals and he had 9 points. Jonas Valanciunas had a 23 and a half minute performance and had 6 points and 7 boards in the game. The Raps free throwing this continued to struggled this weekend as they went 14 of 24 from the line as they shot just over 60% and if it was not the Magic and their 40% shooting the Raps would of been destroyed by most of the rest of the league. Canadian Andrew Nicholson had a 8 point and 3 boards in 15 minutes and he struggled on the floor shooting 2 of 7 from the floor. Then they were lead by Glenn Big Baby Davis had a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards and really helped the Magic getting back into the game and off the bench E'Twaun Moore had 16 points and Arron Afflalo helped Baby in the starting lineup with 15 points. Raptors are on the road to Charlotte and Detroit which could be a winnable road trip Tom Mehegan

Raptors dry up late against the Celtics

Raptors fell behind a huge boulder going into the second quarter as the Celtics lead 30-17 into the second quarter as the D was locker in the locker room as the Celtics went 14 of 19 from the floor in the quarter (73.6%). The Raptors got their jack hammers out and chipped the C's lead to down to 4 and went down 8 going into the third quarter and behind 11 of Andrea Bargnani's 15 points in the third quarter the Raptors had chipped that boulder down to a two-point thin smooth rock at 63-61 with 3 and a half minutes that they were ready to throw a cross a calm river but then in the last 3 and a half minutes of the third quarter the C's torched the Raptors to the tune of 16-3 as the Raptors only made three free throws to end the quarter and when Terrence Ross hit a 3 ball with 9 minutes left to cut the lead to 85-67 the Raps first round draft pick in this past draft ended a 6 and half minute drought and stopped a 24-4 run over that span. The C's cruised to a 107-89 victory behind 20 assists from Rajon Rondo which was 2 less than the Raptors had as a team and the C's ended up with 37 on 43 made field goals and shot 56.6% (43 for 76) from the floor. The C's rested their players late as Kevin Garnett only played 17 minutes while 7 players played 24 and 32 minutes and were lead by Jason Terry who had 20 points while Garnett had an efficient game going 6 of 7 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line and had 15 points and 5 boards. Paul Pierce had 19 points and 6 boards and Jared Sullinger had a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards. The Raps hurt themselves at the line as they came in with the third best free throw% with a over 80% in their first 8 games and then went out and shot 21 of 31 today from the line (67.7%) with DeMar DeRozan a top 10 free throw attempt guy not getting to the line oncefor the first time since the first game of the season.Andrea Bargnani had 15 points to lead the team with John Lucas III and DeRozan went 5 of 10 from the floor and had only 10 points in the game. Heading into tomorrow's against the Orlando Magic the Raptors will be well rested as nobody movre than Andrea who played 26 minutes and are looking for their third win in the second game of a back-to-back as they have only won a game when they had played the night before. Valanciunas had a tough day as he fouled in only 19 minutes against Garnett and had only had 3 points and 2 boards while Ed Davis had 9 boards in the game in 20 and half to go with 7 points Tom Mehegan

Jose Calderon gets triple-double and Raps win ugly

Jose Calderon put it all together tonight as he was the strong shooting the ball going 5 of 10 (50) when the team as a whole went 26 for 72 (36%) in the game while leading the team in defensive boards with 9 of their 37 defensive boards and 10 in the game to lead the team who had 45. He had 10 assists and did have of Raps 12 turnovers as they did protect the ball but so did the Pacers and Jose Calderon became the 11 Raptor to pick up a triple-double. The Raptors won their second game of the season as they went into Indiana and sneaked out with a 74-72 victory which is the first road victory and they won the first three quarters but it was not easy. This is because Dwayne Casey had to a timeout 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the game and the Raptors were down 9-2 but the Raptors went on a 27-12 run in the last 9:45 of the first quarter to take a 29-21 and a 8 point lead. The Raptors added a two-pointer in the second quarter and had a 46-36 lead at half and added a free throw in the third quarter to make it 69-58 going into the fourth quarter and they tried to just milk the clock down and take a late shot in the final quarter and it did not work as they went 1 for 15 from the floor with the only field goal was at the 9:26 point of the quarter. Kleiza got the only basket of the quarter and in the last 9:26 of the game the Raptors only scored 3 free throws and if it was not for the defensive rebounds the Raps would of been killed again in the quarter and the Pacers only scored 14 points in the quarter and shot only 32% from the floor (24 of 72). The Raptors only shot 16 of 19 from the free throw line but was 3 of 4 in the fourth quarter and they could of done much better down the stretch from the line as they should of been driving to the basket. DeRozan continued going to the basket and getting to the line as he had 5 of 6 from the line and 5 of 13 from the floor after playing a hour the night before and still lead the Raps with 15 points. Kleiza went 2 of 9 from the floor but went 6 of 6 from the line and had 10 points and Jonas Valanciunas played 22 minutes which is the highest amount in a long time and pulled down 7 defensive boards (8) and was 4 of 8 from the floor and was 1 of 2 from the line. In the end for the Raptors who played 6 players over 20 minutes it end up being Andrea Bargnani who was falling flat in huge minutes as he played 30 minutes and went 3 of 13 from the floor and instead of getting closer to the basket to shot as he was struggling (no free throws) he moved further out (2 of 6 from beyond the arc). The Pacers big guy of Paul George (3 of 14 and 4 of 4 from the line and David West (3 of 12 and 5 of 8 from the line) were a combined of 6 of 26 from the floor but 9 of 12 from the line. George Hill went 8 of 20 from the floor and 2 of 2 from the line and 18 points and the Pacers had 49 boards and had 4 boards more than the Raps and Paul George and Roy Hibbert both had 9 boards and 3 offensive boards each of the 14 offensive boards in the game. DeMar DeRozan will be sleeping a lot over the next few days until Saturday afternoon when they play the Celtics Tom Mehegan

DeMar DeRozan works a lot of overtime but same result

DeMar DeRozan played a hour of basketball and he played the tough kind of basketball he has been playing since game two of the season but the Raps still fell 140-133 in triple overtime to the Utah Jazz who won their first road game of the season. So DeMar put together a game of 37 points (a career high) along with 8 boards and 6 assists and he was driving towards the basket and put his body on the line but not getting benefit of the whistle and the best part of his game was not arguing about the non calls. He shot a pretty good 16 of 33 from the floor and did get to the line 7 times where his fatigue showed only hitting 4 of them. Also for the Raps they got some other very good performance as Dwayne Casey used a rotation of 6 players lead by Jose Calderon who was a passing machine as he had 17 assists which is two of his career high and put up 20 points and off the bench he used Amar Johnson and Kleiza who both played 30 plus minutes and were the two players in the game to foul out for the Raps and Kleiza came in in the second quarter and put up 17 of his 20 points in the quarter and added 7 boards in the game while Amar Johnson had 13 boards and 11 points in the game. While Andrea had 10 of his 19 points in the first half of the first quarter while Dominic McGuire played 5 points and 3 boards in 32 minutes and then there was Jonas Valanciunas had 8 of 10 points in the first quarter and played 16 minutes. The Raptors had control of the game until the last minute of the game when Al Jefferson hit a late three-pointer and he had hit only hit one of his last 25 three attempts to tie the game at 104-194 and sent the game to overtime as the Jazz outscored the Raps 18-7 in the last 7 minutes of the fourth quarter. It was the down fall to the Raps as they were not able to put together enough defensive stops to close out the game and in overtime there was no D as the Raps allowed the Jazz to score at will as they scored 36 points in 15 minutes of overtime. The Jazz were lead by Paul Millsap who came up with huge shots in overtime and put 34 points and hit 3 of the Jazz 14 threes in 26 attempts and 9 of 10 from the line as the Jazz got 43 free throws and made 34 of them. Al Jefferson put up 24 points and 17 boards while Mo Williams had 17 points and 14 assists and it was the free throws in the third quarter as they went 15 of 17 after going 6 of 8 from the line in the first half and it was half of their 30 points in the quarter and the Raptors had 30 points in the quarter as well. The Raps had 13 less attempts and were fouled as much in the game and now the Raps head to Indiana for the second half of a back-to-back Tom Mehegan

Raptors instead of pounding the Rock get pounded

The Raptors focused on the first quarter defense and it worked for the first quarter as they took a 6 point lead on the Sixers 26-20 after a quarter as the Sixers who beat Celtics in B town last night shot under 30% from the floor. That is where the D ends and on top of that the Raps forget to move the ball and pound the rock is like a foreign language that nobody other than DeMar DeRozan does not understand at all. In the second quarter the Raps looked like the team that was playing a back-to-back and they settled for jumpers and were smoked by the Sixers and 72.2% (13 of 18)shooting from the floor as they outscored the Raptors 32-7 and the Raptors were booed off the floor at halftime 52-33 as shot 10% from the floor in the second quarter (2 of 20). In the quarter the Sixers were lead by Nick Young who came off the bench and put up 11 very quick points in just over 5 minutes and lead the Sixers on a 16-3 run and by the end of the quarter Spencer Hawes had 5 points and the two of them off the bench help the bench out scored the Raptors bench 38-12 with 28 points (Young - 16 & Hawes 12). In the second half the Raptors out out and tried to climb back from 20 point deficit in the third quarter after Dorell Wright hit a three ball and they did very well as DeMar DeRozan hit a free throw to cut the lead to 6 for the Sixers @ 69-63 behind an eight point quarter by Andrea Bargnani. The Raptors passed the ball and found open threes which are the only threes I accept and assists on 9 of 11 shots they made from the floor in the quarter and the quarter on a huge high as Amar Johnson had a monster jam at the buzzer that blow the roof of the place but it could of been much closer as DeMar and Alan Anderson both had a turnover after getting into no man land lost the ball instead of calling a timeout. The Sixers took the game with a 17-6 after DeMar free throw on their way to salting the game away with a 98-88 victory behind a balanced offence of 5 players in double figures lead by starters Thaddeus Young and Jrue Holiday who both had 16 to with Nick Young 16 and Spencer Hawes 12 points along with Dorell Wright who had 15 points. Evan Turner had 12 boards and Spencer Hawes had 11 as they helped the Sixers out rebound the Raps 46-35. Raptors had 20 assists on 30 field goals and they shot 38% and really looked like the team that was playing back-to-back not the Sixers and the Raps were lead by DeMAr DeRozan who had half the Raptors 16 free throws and was 6 of 8 and continued to drive the basket and did lose his cool late got T'd when he felt he fouled and ended up with 19 points and 6 boards. While Andrea Bargnani lead the team with 23 points and Jose Calderon was the only player with a double-double for the Raps with 14 points and 11 assists but they were also responsible for half of the Raps 26 threes attempted which can stop anytime now please. Jonas had 8 points and 8 boards which lead the team and he played 20 good minutes for a rookie still finding his feet in the league. Bryan Colangelo should watch his back as he is responsible for this garbage on the court Tom Mehegan

Raptors heartless in Dallas

I do no not know who this Raptors team and I do not like it at all as the Raptors shelled in the first half as they got their lunched handed to them as Dallas had 31 boards and the Raptors had the backwards 31 which is 13 and trailed by 11 61-50 going into halftime. It was the first quarter that put the Raps climbing up the mountain of a deficit of 12 as they trailed 36-24 after a quarter and then they started to make their climb as they won the second quarter 26-25, the third quarter 34-21, and the fourth quarter 30-27 but lost 109-104 where the Mavs kept them at 11 or higher most of the rest of the game. The Raps would get it down to 8 or 9 and then forget a defensive assignment and it would be 11 and then 13 before the Raps would make another run and they only got to a two score game with 81 seconds left at 105-99 so the Raptors were never in the game as Darren Collison would mysteriously sneak behind the Raps D for a slam or someone would have an open three shot and drain or even Andrea Bargnani would forget to block out his defender and the Mavs would get the rebound. Raps did out board the Mavs in the second half 25-16 and made it a lot closer 47-38 Mavs at the end of the game but Andrea Bargnani 25 (points) and 9 (rebounds) night was a complete fraud as the game was a real ball yard game with lots of three attempted as the Raps shot 22 and made 5 while the Mavs attempted 21 and hit 8. The did one thing right and that was getting to the line as they had 31 free throw attempts and hit 27 of them as Andrea went 7 for 7 and DeMar DeRozan went 8 of 19 from the line to help the Raptors with 24 points and 6 boards while getting 7 of the Raptors 21 assists. Jonas Valanciunas had a very short night of 10 minutes because he picked up 5 quick fouls and Amar Johnson had a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards and took full advantage of his 29 minutes on the floor. For the Mavs Vince Carter was the original Vince with the dunks and the threes and ended up with 17 points and it was just like old times for him while Chris Kaman and O.J. Mayo lead them with 22 a piece while Darren Collison put up 15 points as he made 5 field goals and got 5 from the line as the Mavs went 23 for 35 from the line. I really want the 2011-12 Raptors back not this jump happy who cares about the D team Tom Mehegan

Vince Carter last day as a Raptor

Today I learned some very interesting program on Sportsnet Radio 590 the Fan in Toronto as on the Tim and Sid show. The whole shooting match began very innocently enough with former head coach of the Raptors being booked on the show to basically to tell him that VC who last night show agreed that Jalen Rose is lying for his teeth about a story Jalen told in the past that Vince basically attacked his head coach Sam in the trainers room on a road trip and both Vince and Sam have now stated that it was all a joke and Vince simply put his arms around him and leaned on him. In the end when Sam came on to talk he listened to the part of VC agreeing with him and then laid a bombshell on everybody listening as he said that Vince the night before he was traded for a bunch of garbage said to Sam that he did not want to be traded and that he wanted to stay because he had seen what was happen out there and did not like it. Sam then went to GM Rob Babcock and told him that Vince did not want to be traded and Sam who was in his first season as head coach left it at that and now wished he had spoken to owner Larry Tanenbaum instead and things would maybe worked out better for the Raps and they would of been a playoff team with Bosh joining them that season. Then at the final segment of Tim and Sid's three hour show they were able toget Babcock now assistant GM in Minnesota on the phone to see his side of the story and he agreed that Sam did tell him but that the trade to the Nets for the Williams boyz had been verbally agreed to and he could not go back on his word and he really did not know in the long term if he could trust Vince. So he knew at the time he was not getting full value for Vince but still would not change a thing he did. I believe that Vince is a No. 2 and he was no good for the team with his rolling on the floor so often that is act was up in Toronto and would become another superstar in T.O. that was not so Super when they left and Babcock was in a no win situation and if he kept Vince he might of been screwed and he was screwed the Nets in the trade but to not take a day or two and feel the situation and where everything was at would of been the best decision. If U want the interviews Sportsnet radio 590 and look under podcasts for Tim and Sid and November 6 and the second (2) hour for Vince it is the final segment 27-28 minutes into the hour podcast. For Sam Mitchell it is November 7 and the beginning of the second hour and Babcock is at the end of the third hour of November 7. Tom Mehegan

Kyle Lowery left injured in horrible first half

Very late in a 57-38 first half as the Thunders took the Raptors to the cleaners as the Raptors went into OKC to face an embarrassing 1 and 2 record and then Kyle Lowery got his feet tied up with Valanciunas and in the end he went down with right ankle sprain. Lowery left the game and will not return in the second half of a complete blowout and it will be interesting to see if he will be able to play in the second half of a back-to-back in Dallas tomorrow. The Raptors came into the game and decided to go from beyond the arc as they took 16 threes and only made 4 of them and Andrea Bargnani had 11 points in the half and 5 boards which does not do well for his image of only shown up in lost games to pad his stats. DeMar DeRozan had 6 points and Calderon who will be playing a lot in the second half had 5 points but in the end the Raps need to stop the jumper game and get to the basket and the line as it is easier to score the closer to the basket they are. Brain Westbrook had 13 points, Ibaka had 8 points, Kevin Durant had 10 points, and K-Mart also had 8 points as they were very well balanced scoring for the Thunder who are extremely good. Kyle Lowery injury will be scary if it last a long time or is lingering but at least DeRozan is still getting to the basket Tom Mehegan

Raptors take care of wounded Wolves

Behind another performance by the back court of Kyle Lowery (22) and DeMar DeRozan (22) who had 44 of the Raptors 105 points and they took apart the wounded Wolves piece by piece by taken advantage of 24 Wolves turnovers. The Wolves had 16 of their turnovers in the first half and the Raptors got 27 of their 56 points off the turnovers and lead 56-47 at halftime while Wolves lost J.J. Barea in the first half to a concussion after being hit in the head by a teammate's knee as he lay on the floor and this was after they went into the game without teo of their top players Kevin Love or Ricky Rubio in the lineup. In the second half the Wolves got the raptors in foul trouble and chipped away at the lead as they outscored the Raptors 26-23 in the quarter as the Wolves went 11 of 12 from the line in the third quarter but were down 79-73 going into the final quarter. In the fourth quarter the Raptors finished the game by outscoring the Wolves 26-13 behind the scoring of Alan Anderson off the bench with 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the bench put up 18 of their 40 points in the last quarter. The bench was needed in a big way in a back-to-back as Landry Fields is still finding himself in the system as he went 2 for 4 from the floor and 1 for 1 from the line for 5 points while the starting front court of Andrea Bargnani (4 of 16, 10 points) and Jonas Valanciunas (2 for 8 and 4 points) had 14 points on 6 of 24 from the floor. The Wolves had over 53% shooting from the floor in the first half and in the second half the Raptors clamped down on them as they shot around 40% and ended the game shooting 45.3% for the game. They were lead by Andrei Kirilenko (17 points) and Nikola Pekovic (15 points) and Derrick Williams lead everyone with 8 boards. The Raptors out boarded the Wolves 39-36 as Kyle Lowery, DeMar DeRozan, Ed Davis all had 7 boards and Lowery added 5 assisrs as both teams had 18 assists in the game. Kyle Lowrie and DeMAr DeRozan are on fire for the Raps with 97 combined points over the last two games Tom Mehegan

Raptors back court comes up huge but unable to erase huge deficit

The Raptors starting back court of Kyle Lowery (27 points) and DeMar DeRosen (25 points) came up with 52 of the Raptors 100 points but they still fell to the Brooklyn Nets 107-100 in the first major sport game since 1957. The Raptors came out with a very good game plan and it worked extremely well for hem in the first quarter and it was the Nets who were looking up the mountain at a 10 point deficit (35-25) before cutting the lead to 8 on a Deron Williams field goal with 33 left in the quarter. They had a ratio of 12 assists and 1 turnover and in the second quarter it was the complete opposite as they had 8 turnovers and only 1 assist in the quarter and were doubled up by the Nets 33-17 as they took the 8-point lead to halftime at 60-52 with a C.J. Watson three at the buzzer at the half to push the lead to 8. In the second half the Nets continued their domination of the Raptors as they came out of the looker room in the second half on a 13-6 run to open the half and take a 73-69 point lead. Then the Raptors went on a huge run to end the third quarter 19-11 and scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter all by Ed Davis to cut the Nets lead to 1 (84-83) with 8:46 left in the game. Brook Lopez had 7 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and Deron Williams had 5 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Nets outscored the Raptors 23-17 down the stretch to win their first game as the Brooklyn Nets. Lowery had 8 of the Raptors 37 boards and had 8 of the Raptors 23 assists in the game as they lost that aspect of the game as they had 12 in the first quarter and 11 the rest of the game. Once again the bench has failed them as they got only 2 points from the bench not named Amar Johnson before the fourth quarter who had 11 points and four boards and in the fourth quarter Ed Davis had 11 of the Raptors 17 fourth quarter points and narrowed the bench advantage for the Nets 32-30. The Nets got 15 off the bench from C.J. Watson and former Raptors Reggie Evans did what he has done best by collecting 13 boards in the game for the Nets. Jonas Valanciunas had a rookie game and only play 12 minutes as he got 3 fouls very quickly and had two points and four boards while Landry Fields still has not found himself in the starting rotation as he is starting but is a non-factor with two points, 5 boards, and four assists in 22 minutes of action. The bench will need to come through huge tomorrow against the TimberWovles in a back-to-back Tom Mehegan