DOUBLE DOUBLE TROUBLE TROUBLE: Four of the Raptors starters finish with double doubles

Well, they weren’t down 20 after the first quarter. Good sign.

The Raptors got revenge on the Knicks yesterday afternoon beating them 111-100 as all of the Raptors’ starters played a factor in the win. If you had facial hair, you had a double double, if you were Anthony Parker you had 24 points.

The nice thing about the addition of Shawn Marion is that it’s just like watching the regular Toronto Raptors play but then out of nowhere comes Shawn Marion with an offensive rebound and a putback every few plays. Marion got it going early with the nice fly-in layup to get up eight on the Knicks early. Although it wasn’t as cool as Nate Robinson’s block on Chris Bosh, Chris Bosh got his payback block on Nate Robinson. Raps shot a beautiful 52% in the first quarter as the game was knotted at 27 after one.

Toronto built up a ten point lead in the second quarter but the Knicks got back into the game with the three ball. Q-Rich hit one, then Chris Duhon hit another one to get within three and then Al Harrington nailed a three to tie it at 46. Al Harrington was hot hitting one of his four threes later in the quarter to take the lead. Andrea Bargnani and his beard showed up today as he hit the layup to put the Raptors up 4 at the half.

At the start of the third quarter, Nate Robinson flew out of nowhere on the alley oop from Chris Duhon to get ahead of the Raptors 68-67.

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Shawn Marion was getting it done offensively grabbing offensive boards as he got the score down low to put the Raps up 74-69. Anthony Parker who had a donut at the last game in New York had 22 points after knocking down the shot clock buzzer beater before the end of the third quarter. The big quarter from Anthony Parker helped the Raps get the lead 82-74 after three quarters. The Raptors rebounded the ball well, outrebounding the Knick 42-31.

The hot hand for the Knicks on Friday was Wilson Chandler but yesterday in Toronto, Chandler had only finished with 2 points. Marion continued to be a factor for the Raps with a behind the back assist to Kapono for the three. Then Marion got his own basket to get the Raps up 98-90. Knicks went on a mini run but the Raptors continued to play good D, running out to the shooters as the Knicks tried to get an open shot. The Knicks got it within six but Andrea Bargnani nailed a big three with just over a minute left to get the nine point lead. Chris Bosh looked a little rusty missing open dunks and open layups but he managed to get the steal at the end of the game to close out the Knicks.

Raptors outrebounded the Knicks 50-43

For the first time in 8 years, 4 of the Raptors starters had double doubles

Andrea Bargnani had 28 pts & 10 rebounds

Shawn Marion had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists

Al Harrington led the Knicks with 31