Oh yeah. Good energy from the Raps tonight. Jamario Moon and Jake Voskuhl wore their “rally” headbands and I think Jose Calderon got a haircut. The Spurs are my team and have been for the longest time, long before the Raps were even born, so either way I was going to be pleased. But I really wanted the Raps to get out of their funk, and they did, kind of.
First quarter, the Raps looked a lot different tonight and it was for the better. They were moving the ball up the floor faster getting some easy baskets. The Raps led 25-20 after 1.
In the second quarter, there was a Jake Voskul sighting!!! San Antonio outscored the Raps 36-21 in the second and led 56-48 at the half. Raps shot well, shooting 46% from the field.
The second half was all about runs. Raps would pull within 7 but then the Spurs went on a run to go back up by ten, then the Raps would go on a run to get within 4, Spurs run and then Spurs were up by 10. The Raptors made smarter decisions with the ball (well, in comparison to the last few games). Tonight, just when Bosh would normally take a three, this time he passed it down low to J.O. for the easy basket to pull within 9. That was it though, Jason Kapono hit a three to pull within 5, Joey Graham had a chance to get it closer but the layup didn’t fall during the closing minutes. Tim Duncan iced it with consecutive baskets and the Spurs capped off the Raps, final score 107-97. The Raptors played better tonight and just got beat by the three ball and on the boards. If the Raps played with this energy this whole season, I really think their record would be more like 13-14 as opposed to their 10-17 record right about now.
Key Notes:
Raps were outrebounded 48-38 for the millionth time
The Spurs went 16 for 35 from three
J.O. had 24 pts & 10 reb
Chris Bosh had 17 pts & 10 reb
Former Raptors, Roger Mason and Matt Bonner went a combined 8-13 from three
Tony Parker flirted with a triple double with 24 pts, 8 rebounds & 10 assists
Jake Voskuhl with 4 pts in his Raptors debut
For a Spurs perspective, check out PoundingTheRock.com, they’ve coined a new nickname for Andrea, Andrea “Darko Two” Bargnani. Ouch.
Clippers are up on Monday. This game will be a big challenge as the Raps will have to do everything they can vs the Clips to show the world that they are playing the WORST basketball right now. The Clips lost by 34 tonight, so it’ll be a big challenge.
Photo credit: (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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