Redemption Found in Philly for Raptors

Last night, the Raptors received a chance to find redemption after being smacked with a 15-point loss in Washington the night before. Well, they found it, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 94-86 to improve to 3-9 on the season. Huge performances were turned in by starting centre Andrea Bargnani and reserve shooting guard Sonny Weems. For much of the game (particularly the 4th quarter) the game remained close between the two bottom teams of the NBA's Eastern Conference. T.O. finally pulled away late from Philly when starting shooting guard DeMar DeRozan scrambled after a loose rebound and fired a long pass to the aforementioned Weems down the floor for a layup. This made the score 89-85 with a minute 24 seconds left to play. Sonny added a free throw before reserve point guard Jose Calderon added 4 more tosses to secure the victory. During the final 3 minutes 34 seconds of the game Toronto held the Sixers to only 1 point and zero shot attempts: pretty impressive for a team that is 2nd-worst in the East! Getting back to the star players, I'll start with Sonny Weems. His hot play of late has seemingly sparked some life into the Raptors. In this game, Sonny scored a career-high 25 points on 10-18 shooting. This included going 4-6 at the free throw line and hitting another huge 3-point shot. Weems is now 5-11 on the season from long range. Now onto Bargnani...he scored a game-high and season-high 30 points, relentlessly going to the hoop whenever his jump shot wasn't falling setting himself and the team for a great night. The underrated Raptor of the game was Jose Calderon. He hit a solid 3-6 from the floor in field goal attempts, and collected 8 assists as well as 5 rebounds. At the end of the game, it was he who played a key role in securing the win for Toronto. All right, time for some numbers before we close: there were 25 lead changes in the game, Toronto edged Philly in offensive rebounds 16-6, there were only 15 4th-quarter Sixer points allowed by the Raptors, Philly won favorably on the fast break 23-8 and also in the paint 56-38. This game wasn't a solid one by either team but Toronto did what it had to in order to win and that is all that matters. Now, the Raptors return home tomorrow night to play star centre Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets. The game starts at 7 PM on TSN. The London Knights also play tomorrow night at home vs the Windsor Spitfires. That game starts at 7:30 PM.

Here is the recap for the Raptors victory in Philadelphia: Raptors get Big Win vs the Sixers  Have a good one!