Getting Back to Normal

Now that the dust from the World Junior Hockey Championships has cleared, it's back to normal for this blog: Raptors and Knights updates. To start off, I'll take you back to the Raptors game vs the Sacramento Kings that occurred on Sunday afternoon. Toronto started off by hitting their FIRST TEN shots!!! I couldn't believe it as I was watching it. As the shots were being made, I kept saying to myself, "They STILL haven't missed any yet!" Eventually their shooting percentage slid down to normal and I could focus on the actual game. There wasn't a whole lot of defense however, so it was a close game all the way to the end. The turning point of the game was when Kings' DeMarcus Cousins scored 6 points for Sacramento during a 7-2 run that pulled the Kings to within 110-109 with a minute left to play. Andrea Bargnani however, scored a big 3-pointer that sealed the win for the Raptors. The final score was 118-112 for Toronto. The game stars were starting shooting guard DeMar DeRozan and starting centre Andrea Bargnani. The two combined for 58 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists and shot 25-39 from the floor. They were especially huge in the 4th quarter for the Raptors when DeMar came up with big shots as well as Andrea, not to mention Andrea's huge game-sealing three-pointer. The Raptors' bench star was shooting guard Leandro Barbosa. He scored 18 crucial points for Toronto, shooting 7-11 and making 3 3-pointers. In the 4th quarter, the "Brazilian Blur" shined the brightest, scoring 11 points and grabbing a big rebound with the Raps holding a 4-point lead with only 43 seconds left in the game. For the whole game, Barbosa collected 5 rebounds. Finally, some stats from the game before I close it all out:
- Toronto scored 64 points in the paint, which is a season-high.
- The win vs Sacramento marks the 3rd straight game that the Raptors have shot 50% or better from the floor, which is also a season-high.
- This game is the 4th game this season where Andrea Bargnani has scored at least 30 points.
- The Kings in the game had a 30-19 advantage on fast break points.
- The Kings scored 20 points off of 16 Raptors turnovers.
Here's the game recap.

Well, that wraps up another blog post! Join me next time as I recap the Raptors next game which will take place on Wednesday vs the Atlanta Hawks. The game starts at 7 PM on TSN2. Until then, you all take care and peace be with you!