Yes, it's true. Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors had his best night ever, scoring 41 points last night at Madison Square Garden in New York against the Knicks. However, it still wasn't enough to prevent a 3rd straight Raptors defeat at the hands of a mighty star by the name of Amare Stoudamire. Amare and Bargnani were both dominant in the 4th quarter, with Amare scoring 18 of his 34 points in that frame. Andrea meanwhile, scored 15 points of his own in the 4th, trying valiantly to keep up with the imposing power forward. In the end, however, it was a lucky Raymond Felton 3-pointer that sealed the deal for the Knicks, 113-110. That shot happened after Linus Kleiza was whistled for a pathetic 5-second inbounding violation! Yeah, that's right...even the pros make childish and rookie mistakes sometimes! I guess the Raptors were either well-defended by the Knicks or they were simply out of timeouts. Either way, that mistake proved fatal. Before that Felton three happened, Andrea Bargnani also hit a big three which tied the game at 110. He did get one last try for a 3-pointer after Raymond Felton's miracle shot, but it was much too deep for him to get a great shot off with 2.7 left to play. Andrea also picked up 7 rebounds and a surprising 6 assists along the way. As for Amare Stoudamire, he also picked up 14 rebounds in the 6th straight victory for the Knicks. Toronto has now lost all 3 times to the Knicks so far this season and are in danger of being the 1st Raptors roster since the Kevn O'Neil-coached 2003-2004 roster did it. To avoid that, they will have to defeat the Knicks in New York on April 5th. Other numbers from the game include:
- a 25-8 edge in terms of bench scoring for the Raptors
- Raptors giving up only 11 turnovers in the game
- a 60-48 edge in terms of points in the paint for the Raptors
Here is the recap for the heartbreaking loss in which Toronto played SO WELL: Andrea Bargnani Falls JUST Short of Winning it for Raps
Next up for the Raptors is a game against the Denver Nuggets on Friday back home at the Air Canada Centre. Denver has always been tough against the Raptors, especially since they feature players such as star forward Carmelo Anthony, Chris Anderson, Chauncey Billups (who won a championship with the Detroit Pistons back in 2004 vs the Los Angeles Lakers), J.R. Smith, Marcus Camby (who played for Toronto back in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, when the Raps were still an expansion club), Kenyon Martin, etc. Yep, it's going to be tough for Toronto but they must win if they want to break free of this 3-game slide which has knocked them down to being 10th in the Eastern Conference and again out of a playoff spot for the moment. The game starts at 7 PM on TSN.
Also in the news, the Miami Heat have won their 6th straight game. I'm not surprised now. Here's the recap: HORRIBLE Game from Jazz Helps Traitor King Win 6th Straight The good thing is, LeBron got booed by the Utah crowd, even if he did almost get a triple-double in the game.
On a much happier note, Orlando Magic guard Vince Carter has apparently returned from an earlier injury and is now playing well for Orlando. They play tonight vs the Portland Trailblazers. Here's the game night info from the Magic's website: Magic vs Blazers Preview
Next blog entry...Raptors and Knights updates. The London Knights play tonight at home in the John Labatt Centre vs the Guelph Storm. Puck drop time is at 7 PM. I'm Nick White. See you next time!
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