There are those times when you are doing nothing except losing, and you need a big break to push you out of your slump. Then when you finally do succeed, a huge sigh of relief exhales from your lungs. For the Toronto Raptors, Monday night's game was one of those times. After losing the BIGGEST game of the year Sunday vs Chicago at their own court, the Raptors revved up their engines and cut down the Detroit Pistons 111-97. This was a much-needed victory for them, as it cut the Bulls lead to half a game for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The game-changing moment came after Piston guard Rodney Stuckey completed a pair of free throw attempts sliced the Raptor lead to 31-30 two minutes into the second quarter. Over approximately the next 5 minutes however, Toronto went on an 18-4 run and weren't really challenged the rest of the game. One of the contributers to the Raptors success on Monday was starting centre Andrea Bargnani who had a remarkable night. He finished with 33 points on 13-22 shooting and also picked up seven rebounds. Andrea made 5 3-point field goals on the night and scrambled the poor Piston defense. This enabled starting power forward Amir Johnson to have a career game and finish with 26 points. Helping out and feeling like Santa Claus and his elves were Raptor point guards Jose Calderon and Jarret Jack. They combined for 23 of the team's season-high 37 assists. Jack was more generous than Calderon however, getting 12 assists and even turned it over 4 times to the Pistons. He also scored 15 points for a solid night. Calderon meanwhile, had 11 assists and 0 turnovers. The two guards also combined for a 6-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. All in all, a superb team effort was shown by Toronto at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Other important game notes are: a 60% shooting performance, and a 9-15 shooting night from the 3-point line.
Here is the recap for the Raptors victory: Raptors vs Pistons
*Update: The Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics last night, so they now lead the Raptors by a game for 8th place in the East. This means that Toronto MUST win tonight at the Air Canada Centre versus the New York Knicks and the Bulls MUST lose against the Charlotte Bobcats for the team to have ANY chance at all of making the playoffs. I'll come back and post the results later. Start time for the game is 8 PM on The Score.*
Now we turn our attention to the sad and awful news: there won't be any more Knights game this year. Why? Kitchener defeated them 8-3 in Monday's Game 7 of their Western Conference OHL semi-final series. This puts London out of further playoff action and guarantees an off-season that is much too early for their liking. It started out great for the Knights who led 1-0 after the 1st period on a goal by Chris DeSouza. Kitchener however, turned it up another notch in the second, scoring 5 times in that period, most of them coming via the power play or on short-handed situations when London had the power play. After that, Kitchener was pretty much unchallenged for the rest of the game: a most disappointing end to a wild series that produced 75 goals combined between the two teams. This averages out to roughly 10-12 goals per game! Another disappointing thing about the game was that London captain Justin Taylor was ejected in the second period after what was called "a slew foot" penalty on Kitchener player Kelly. The Knights payed dearly for their undisciplined play in that period, giving up 2 Kitchener power play goals. As I said, a most disappointing game. Some important stats are: a 47-23 shots on goal edge by Kitchener. Goal scoring for London was as follows: Chris DeSouza, Scott Griffith and Daniel Erlich. Kitchener goals were scored by: Cimadamore, Morin (who scored three times), Landeskog, Akeson, Moore, and Kelly. For London Knights fans: I'll see you next year as the Knights will seek to avenge this painful and pitiful loss. Here is the recap: Knights vs Rangers: Game 7
That about wraps it up. Remember, the Raptors play against the Knicks tonight. Until after the game, you all be good.
No comments:
Post a Comment