Yes, that's correct. A team that started the season 2-9, in 14th (2nd-last) place in the Eastern Conference, has now reeled off 4 straight wins to place them at 6-9 - an astounding 9th in that conference! The Toronto Raptors have moved a seemingly impossible 5 seeds in just a week! This team is now right where I have predicted them to finish. This happened after a 106-90 defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers last night at their home court, the Air Canada Centre. What was most impressive in this game was the stellar play of starting power forward Reggie Evans, who snagged a career-high 22 rebounds! He had 10 of those in the 1st quarter alone and finished the 1st half with a team-record 15 boards. This marks Reggie as having the 2nd-most rebounds for any Raptors player in a single game: the record was set by former Raptor Donyell Marshall in the 2003-2004 season in Chicago when he pulled down 24 rebounds. Add in Reggie's 12 points, overall aggressive play, and a high degree of desire and tenacity and you have a night that most players can only envy or dream of! His night was so impressive that the near-capacity crowd started to chant his name by the end of the game after he pulled down his final rebound! So as you can see, Reggie Evans was the game-changer in this contest. There were, however, other interesting numbers as well. Toronto shot a blistering 57% in the 1st half and had 62 points when that half ended - a season-high mark for the team. "Wait," you might be thinking. "What about the new players?" Oh, that's right. I forgot to mention those two acquisitions: reserve point guard Jerryd Bayless and reserve forward/centre Peja Stojakovic. Bayless scored an impressive 13 points on 4-7 shooting while Stojakovic scored an equally solid 7 points in 6 minutes of play. I was especially struck by the sheer veteran poise of Peja and the lightning speed of Jerryd, not to mention the guard's solid shooting. Bayless helped Toronto to hit a solid 9 3-point field goals in the game. A more underrated player in the game was starting point guard Jose Calderon. In his first start this year, he led the way for Toronto in this one scoring 16 points on 7-10 shooting, 9 assists, and only 1 turnover. He, like Stojakovic, showed plenty of veteran confidence and poise during his playing time and kept the Raptors lead from becoming a single-digit one down the stretch as Philly desperately tried to mount a comeback win. I will now end off with some other numbers from the game:
- Jerryd Bayless and Peja Stojakovic combined for a 4-5 (80%) shooting clip from the 3-point line in the game.
- This game was Reggie Evans' 26th career double-double.
- Toronto collected 24 assists on 38 made shots.
- This game marked the 4th straight 20+ points game for starting centre Andrea Bargnani. (He scored 22 in the game overall.)
- Toronto ended the 1st half with their largest-ever 1st-half lead of the season: 62-43, a 19-point advantage.
Here is the game recap: A Monster Night for Reggie, a Crucial Win for Raptors
Next up for Toronto is a match in Boston against the Celtics on Friday. The game starts at 7:30 PM on TSN2. The London Knights also play on Friday night as well. Until then...game on people!
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