Last night the Raptors ended what was their longest active losing streak against a certain team, tonight they look to end their next longest streak against the Jazz. (This just in: The Raptors don’t do to well against the Western Conference) The Raptors have lost twelve straight games against the Jazz and will be in tough against the hot Utah squad that has won nine of its last eleven games.
If the Raptors are going to win tonight they will need another solid performance from Andrea Bargnani, who scored 36 points in his return last night against the Suns and has emerged as the number one option on offense that the Raptors hoped he would be when they selected him with the first overall pick a few years ago. Averaging 26.3 during his last six road games is a good sign that Bargnani will bring his A game and give the Raptors the offensive boost they need to stay in the game.
On the other side of the post battle, the Jazz bring Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson to test Andrea and the rest of the Raptors post rotation. Millsap and Jefferson have been playing great as of late and their physical presence is sure to give Toronto’s young bigs a touch challenge tonight.
Beyond the Jefferson/Millsap combo the Jazz have the high flying fan favorite Jeremy Evans, straight out of Western Kentucky, Evans has had some of the season’s most impressive dunks so far and has the ability to fire up the always loud Salt Lake City crowd at Energy Solutions Arena.
The Raptors had less than twenty turnovers last night in the win against the Suns, ball control will once again be a key as the Raptors have had a tendency to give games away with sloppy passing. Bargnani being back helps the offensive cohesiveness, but the Raptors need to continue to focus on protecting the ball if they want to improve their stagnant offense.
Notes
Josh Howard and Devin Harris remain day-to-day for the Jazz. Tip-off is at 9:00 PM Eastern and will be on Root Sports in the United States and TSN2 in Canada.
The secret to the Raptors ending their eight game losing streak tonight: Pasta.
Primo Pasta that is, as Andrea Bargnani came back from his calf injury to drop 36 points, 27 being in the second half to end what was a frustrating eight game losing streak. Bargnani showed his All-Star pedigree and it is apparent that the Raptors need Bargnani to even be remotely competitive this season.
Bargnani also had the help of Leandro Barbosa and James Johnson on offense, with the two of them providing 19 and 18 points respectively. If JJ starts scoring in that range consistently he is sure to be the starting small forward the Raptors desperately need.
Rasual Butler once again drew the ire of Raptors fans, throwing away a inbounds pass at the end of the game to cut the Raptors lead to two with under a minute left, luckily Bargnani drained clutch free throws to ice the game, but you have to wonder when Butler is finally going to see his minutes get drastically cut due to his boneheaded play this season.
Suns center Robin Lopez was ejected for bumping into referee Randy Mott (fun fact) after a disagreement over a foul call. Expect a fine or perhaps a suspension to come Lopez’ way in the coming days.
The Suns were coming off a five game road trip that ended with a loss to the Mavs Monday night.
Steve Nash scored 17 points and dished out 13 dimes in the loss, it is always special getting to see Nash play the Raptors even with the Suns being out of playoff contention.
Grant Hill left the game after accidentally being bloodied by a Andrea Bargnani elbow while fouling him in the closing moments of the fourth quarter.
The Raptors travel to Utah to continue their Western Conference road trip Wednesday
Jason Richardson deserves the Defensive Player of the Year Award just for noticing the Magic only had four players on the court and hopping off the bench to play some clutch D.
FanSided
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