TOO CLOSE FOR THE RAPTORS

This wasn’t the most thrilling game, or Raptors style of basketball that was played. In the end, the Raptors did win 93-86 over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Lately, the way the Raptors have been playing, they shouldn’t take any opponent lightly, and it looked as if the Raptors were about to.

Coming into the game, the Bobcats were ranked dead last in league scoring, averaging just about 90 points a game. In the game, the Raptors offense was there, but the defence wasn’t. The Raptors got caught playing into the Bobcats’ style of play, and in their pace.

Even though the Raptors won by seven points, they just edged out this victory.

Up eight points early in the first quarter, the Raptors gave up the lead and lost the first quarter 25-24.

There were some bright spots, as Andrea Bargnani had six points and five rebounds. Chris Bosh had eleven points and was perfect from the field.

The Raptors did show some bite in the second d quarter, as Roko Ukic provide a spark off the bench, as well as the invisible Joey Graham. Toronto headed into the break up 51-46.

There were plenty of problems with that score.

Charlotte scored 46 points, which put them on pace for a 92 point night, which wasn’t what the Raptors needed.

Chris Bosh was the only one scoring for the Raptors, as he had 24 points at the break.

The interior defence shown by the Raptors was very slow on rotations and was just bad. Gerald Wallace led the Bobcats in driving to the bucket, and also made smart passes when double teamed, and was just a huge problem all night for the Raptors.

And he himself showed he couldn’t shoot from the field, but the Raptors couldn’t handle him and keep him on the outside. Wallace ended the night with a team high 23 points.

The second half was focused mainly on defence, and both teams showed that, and the Raptors won the battle holding Charlotte to only 40 second half points.

The Raptors offence picked up to, and instead of Bosh doing all the scoring, he got some help, but still carried the team on his back, with his 39 point, 11 rebound performance.

Andrea Bargnani didn’t have the most explosive night offensively, but still managed 11 points. Defensively, that was his story and played big with his 9 rebounds and three blocked shots. Now only if he could do this on a consistent level.

Bargnani has taken major strides, and has shown he is a different player and didn’t sulk if he wasn’t scoring, something he did plenty of last year.

After a good first half, Joey Graham ended the game strongly with a season high 17 points, and at times was a tad to aggressive, and his five fouls were evidence of that. Those 17 points were huge and went a long way, because of the knee and ankle injury to Jermaine O’Neal, which forced him to miss his second straight game.

The play of Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon over the last six to seven games has been sub par, and I’m being generous there.

Kapono hasn’t scored a three pointer in his last three games, and scored just four points tonight.

Parker scored just five points, and Moon had three, which came in the first half on a three pointer. Their defensive game has slowed down as well, and they both did a bad job trying to guard Gerald Wallace, and he was able to blow by them at any time.

The guard play from both of these teams was won by the Raptors’ Jose Calderon, even though he hasn’t been playing like his usual self since pulling his hamstring. Once again, he quietly scored 10 points and added 9 assists.

While the two starting point guards of DJ Agustin and Raymond Felton combined to score just 17 points and 11 assists. But, DJ Agustin did give the Raptors trouble as well; he put his quickness to work and had 13 points.

Overall, this game was to close for the Raptors liking, and should look at their defence first. Especially their interior defence, as they allowed Charlotte to score 42 points in the paint, and the Raptors only scored 22. The Bobcats also pulled down 15 offensive rebounds, compared to the Raptors’ 7. Those two stats played a huge factor for the Bobcats to stay alive, because even they proved why the are the league’s lowest scoring team.

This game was the first win in three games for Toronto, and only their third home win in seven games at the ACC. Toronto is now 7-7 on the season, and faces the Atlanta Hawks this November Friday 28th, and the last time these two teams played, the Raptors were blown out 110-92.


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