Friday January 2 2009 - 10:45pm Eastern
Rockets @ Raptors
Final Score:
94-73, Raptors
“Alice Fazoolis” Player of the Game:
- ANDREA BARGNANI
19 points
6 rebounds
8/12 FG
“Smith and Jones” Player of the Game:
- CHRIS BOSH
19 points
5 rebounds
2 assists
8/18 FG
Shout-out to the Rockets:
- RON ARTEST
12 points
5 rebounds
4 steals
4/7 from 3-point land
Stats that stood out:
- Points in the paint: 40-32 Raptors
- Raptors hold Houston to only 11 points in the 3rd quarter (35 total 2nd half points)
- Will Solomon logging heavier minutes after Jose Calderon went down. Solomon had 8 points, 7 assists, 4 boards, 3 steals
- Houston: 22 turnovers leading to 27 points for the Raptors
- Tracy McGrady was just 2 for 9 … finishing with 4 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists
Thumbs Up:
- Back to back big-time efforts from Andrea Bargnani (Wednesday’s loss to Denver and tonight in the win against Houston)
Thumbs Down:
- Losing Calderon early in the 2nd quarter with the hamstring injury. Injuries happen, but Toronto could be in for TOUGH times if Jose is sidelined for any extended amount of time.
Smith says:
- “Undefeated in 2009! No, seriously, this may have been the best all-around effort of the season. Can they duplicate against the Magic though?”
Jones says:
“This was the best sustained effort of the year. You never know when a win starts to turn a season around; was this the one?”
“V-Tech” 3-In-To-Win Give-Away:
The Raptors were 4 of 9 from 3PT range
Next game:
- Magic @ Raptors
– Sunday January 4 2009 - Tune in just after 12:00pm Eastern for the pre-game show and right around 12:30pm for the “Pizza Pizza” starting line ups
E. Smith
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The wins have been few and between for the Raptors this season, especially these type of games where they were actually strong from the beginning to the end. It’s also hard to believe they accomplished this without Jermaine O’Neal’s presence. How about trying to keep this 1-game winning streak going and put O’ Neal’s return to the lineup on hold…
- valHope Jose is out, maybe this can help build the confidence of Solmon and Ukic. Its a start!! Good game guys!!
- Lanny @RBC from WhitbyLove the way you ended the show tonight, i.e. commenting on Norm interviewing individuals who didn’t graduate from Syracuse (i found it funny)…I don’t think its right I comment on how well they’ve played considering all the trash we’ve been talking the past month, so I’ll wait ’till sunday and hopefully we can pull a three game winning streak here…
- Mr. Tyou hope Ocho is out? you DO realize that Solomon had ONE good game…that is hardly enough to count Calderon out on. Let’ see what ahppens if he is out for a few games.
- AndreaOn the same note…Jose, ¡recupérese rápidamente!necesite!
A few quick points:
-This was truly a TEAM win; Bosh and Bargnani high scorers and only 19 apiece and a win by this margin was unimaginable. Throw in no minutes from JO and Calderone and this was a minor miracle. We were very fortunate that McGrady was basically a no show and won’t play every other game due to knee issues. Did anyone know that he was outscored (avg) by Rafer Alston in their Raptor’s careers?
-Gotta love the way Voskuel (sp) plays. He will me an immediate fan favourite a la Junk Yard Dog if he contnues to simply battle under the rim and take good fouls.
Related to that, Eric refresh me as to Hump’s collegiate career. Wasn’t he a flat out scoring machine? What’s his long term future in the NBA- just an energy guy off the bench?
-Great character win but a tough one coming again tomorrow and you can’t count on too many without Bosh, JO and Calderone all producing.
-Does anyone do the baby hook better than Yao Ming these days. Does anyone even DO the baby hook any more?
- GaryHE does get intimidated/frustrated for a big (huge) man though, the way Shaq used to do to him.
Maybe we can out-quick some teams with O’Neal out ? . Another win on Sunday could turn around the season maybe?
- Chas CalzA win against Magic could start a decent winning streak but let’s take one game at a time.
Eric, If the Celtics and the Cavaliers were to play a best of 7 starting from today, who’d win? I really think Boston’s bench as of today is mediocre at best and if they don’t make changes, we might see a Cleveland - LA final.
- Beburgwe win one game without oneal and people jump on the andrea band wagon. Four games ago oneal had 36 and 11 and was on a tear. andrea plays well for two games. He had 10 bad ones before that. If jose play aggressive like will and roko, we would be a far better team. Jose is this teams downfall. People love him but he is way overrated. No one on one skills, no defense. He is amazing on the pass, and makes open jumpers
that is it, trade him please
- Jeff Carteri hope jose is out for a long period of time. love it lanny
- jose haterRaps play the best ball of the season last night after jose goes down.
- jose haterI took so little joy from this win it was not even funny. I almost feel like we lost. I mean how bad was Houston. Raptors played well don’t get me wrong but Houston looked God awful. You add in the fact Jose gets injured and it just turns into a mess. It is hard to think this team stands a snowballs chance in July of beating Orlando.
- James Borbath