For three quarters it was a back and forth affair at the Air Canada Center today between the Toronto Raptors and the visiting Sacramento Kings. For every fast break and jump shot the Raptors made, the Kings were able to respond, led by Kevin Martin who poured in 24 points for the visitors. The one factor that the Kings couldn’t seem to have an answer for -like many other Raptors opponents this year -was the interior dominance of Toronto’s all-star Chris Bosh. For CB4 it was just another day at the office putting up an incredible 36 points, while pulling down 11 boards -another double-double for the man who seems to put them up naturally.
Credit-Lucas Oleniuk, thestar.com
After three days off, the Raptors received some re-enforcements for today’s game as Hedo Turkoglu, Jose Calderon, and rookie Demar DeRozan all returned to game action and made their contributions felt. Sporting a ‘Robin-esque’ protective face mask, Turk didn’t seem to miss a beat putting up 16 points, all while making an adjustment to the mask on what seemed to be every trip up the floor. With this win the Raptors improve to 28-23, increasing their strangle-hold on 5th in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. The Kings on the other hand fall to 16-34, well out of playoff contention in the always impressive West. The teams meet again on the 10th of March, when the Raptors will pay a visit to ARCO Arena as part of a 4-game road trip.
The Raptors next game is Wednesday, when former-Raptor Jason Kapono and the Philadelphia 76ers come into town for the first time this season. In their one previous meeting the Raptors squeezed out a 108-106 victory, due in large part to an instrumental 3-point play put up by Bosh. As mentioned in my previous post, there is a chance -although at this stage it’s still only speculation -that gritty forward Reggie Evans will make his Raptors regular season debut against his former club in that game. A preview for the game will be posted on Wednesday.
Raptors Player of the Game
Chris Bosh – 36 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists
Fans Perspective
Despite getting beaten off the bounce and up the floor on various occasions by the quicks of Tyreke Evans and the rest of the Sacramento Kings, I felt that the Raptors played a relatively efficient game on both ends of the floor. Turk and Bargnani managed to put up some big shots, while Bosh dominated the interior throughout, which is expected since the Kings don’t really have anyone on their roster who can possibly challenge him. Even though we let them hang around for a great majority of the game, the Raptors once again showed that they are establishing quite an ability to outplay opponents in the 4th quarter -which is ultimately when it matters most. Go Raps Go!
FanSided
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