Last night, the Toronto Raptors hosted the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the best overall record this season so far. San Antonio is 44-8, as a result of their 111-100 victory over Toronto. Toronto actually led after 3 quarters, 84-81. However, the Spurs used a 15-4 run to turn the game into their favour. They outscored T.O. 30-16 in the quarter and forced the Raptors to shoot only 33% in the quarter. Add to that, the monster game of Dejuan Blair who grabbed 28 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks - and you have a fine recipe for a Raptor loss. 16 of Blair's points came in the disastrous 4th, by the way. As far as Raptor heroes, Leandro Barbosa scored the ONLY bench points in the game - 20. He has come back from a lengthy and nasty injury, but showed last night that he is well on his way to regaining the excellent game he had before the injury occurred. Other Raptors of note were Andrea Bargnani who scored 26 points to lead the team in scoring, and Amir Johnson who grabbed 10 or more rebounds for the 4th time this season. He suffered a leg injury late in the 2nd quarter, but he would remain in the game to help the team. Jose Calderon also earned 10 or more assists for the 17th time this season. In the game, Toronto gave up only 8 turnovers, but were outscored 70-40 in the paint. Lastly, Tim Duncan scored only 16 points for San Antonio, but his teammate Dejuan Blair made up for it. So, that's my short recap. Here's the professional one. Toronto now sits at 14-39, the 2nd-worst record in the Eastern Conference, while the Spurs remain the best in both the West and the league. As for the schedule, Toronto now plays on Friday at home vs the Portland Trailblazers who are 8th in the West at 28-24. The game starts at 7 PM on TSN. As for me, I'm out. See you later.
Lastly...can someone explain to me why Miami and Boston are allowed to have all of their star players participate in the All-Star game while the San Antonio Spurs DON'T? If the best of the East can play, why can't the best in the West? This is unfair and makes no sense whatsoever, considering that the Spurs have THE BEST record in the league! They should have Tony Parker right there alongside Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli, in my opinion. The same could be said for the Phoenix Suns. Steve Nash should be in the game as well. He's that kind of player and is averaging 16.7 points per game and 16.1 assists per game which is the MOST assists per game mark for any player this season! Steve has also picked up 522 total assists, which is one of the best numbers in the league. This is all another indication of how shallow-minded many NBA fans are: they want the dunks, the offence, the flash, and the show rather than the things that matter most in sports: defence and unselfishness which is exactly what San Antonio and Phoenix do on a nightly basis. Anyways, just thought I'd rant about that. I'm out now! Goodbye.
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