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Raptors hold off the Knicks |
National Post Staff Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey has told his new team among all the things they will learn under his tutelage the most important is to know how to deal with run, because the opponent will, at some point in a game, start burying shots, and stopping that momentum could determine everything. The Raptors could not not stop the run Sunday, when Orlando went on a 16-0 run in the final period to erase a double-digit deficit and bury Toronto. And it almost got the best of them Monday in New York, when the Knicks found their groove in the third quarter and cut a 17-point lead down to three. But the Raptors turned some strong defensive rebounds and some key points off the bench into an 88-85 win. The Knicks, powered by Carmelo Anthony’s game-high 35 points, trimmed the Raptors’ lead to just a single point inside the game’s final seconds, but two key three throws from Andrea Bargnani, who had 21 points, sealed Toronto’s second win of the season. Although Toronto shot nearly 53% from the floor in the first quarter, the Knicks took a 23-22 lead thanks to five three-pointers — three from Anthony. Bargnani gave the Raptors early energy, however, making his first four shots. The Knicks appeared happy to continue to launch the ball from beyond the arc in the second period, but went scoreless for more than four minutes as the Raptors went on an 8-0 run. With Bargnani and Calderon on the bench, Anthony Carter fired quick, crisp passes to DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson as the Knicks were negligent to screen Toronto around the rim. Not even Anthony, who had 18 points before halftime, could stir New York’s offence. The Knicks were passive all over the floor and the team’s field-goal shooting dipped as low as 27.8% in the second quarter, while Calerdon spread the ball around and helped Toronto build a 17-point lead. Defensively,the Raptors tried to devour every shot that bounced off the rim and had 22 defensive rebounds compared to three offensive boards for the Knicks, who found it hard igniting their transition offence even after they abandoned a perimeter game and started driving to the basket. New York was far more aggressive after the interval, double-teaming high up the court and forcing Toronto to take quick, off-balance shots. As the Raptors began to struggle, Anthony and Tony Douglas started clawing the score line back. Douglas hit three three-pointers as New York outscored Toronto 24-16 in the third, but timely three-point plays off the bench from Rasual Butler, James Johnson and Leandro Barbosa helped maintain Toronto’s advantage, setting up an 8-2 for the Raptors to close out the third quarter. Bulter, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, was key in the final frame, blocking out Anthony and hitting timely threes. Barbosa offered 10 points off the bench, while DeRozan started slow once again but also finished with 21 points. National Post Comment Below!. Posted in raptors, Uncategorized | Comments Off
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Raptors visit Central Florida to face Magic |
Written byThe Sports Network
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Mavs beat Raptors 99-86 for first win |
DALLAS (AP)—The Dallas Mavericks expect offense from top scorer Dirk Mahinmi scored a career-high 19 points, Nowitzki contributed 18, and the Jason Terry added 10 of his 17 points in the final quarter for the Mavericks The last defending NBA champs to open a season at 0-4 were the 1969-70 The Mavs didn’t have long to dwell on the disappointment of Thursday night’s “We knew it would happen, it was just a matter of time,” Terry said. “We Dallas has five new faces on the roster after losing five key players from a Mahinmi hit all six field goal attempts, went 7 for 11 from the free throw “I know this was a career high in points for him, but the last two nights Andrea Bargnani scored 30 points and Leandro Barbosa had 20 for the Raptors, Toronto used a 17-2 run in the third quarter, completed by Amir Johnson’s But Dallas finished the quarter with a 16-2 spurt, capped by Vince Carter’s “We’ve got to understand how to win to beat a championship team,” Casey Toronto never got closer than five points the rest of the way. “The key part of the game was that 16-2 run,” Carlisle said. “That gave The Mavericks carried a 29-23 lead into the second quarter, riding a 17-6 Dallas got off to a better defensive start, a point of emphasis by Carlisle. The Mavericks went on to lead by as many as 12 in the second quarter. But Bargnani scored 13 of his 18 first-half points in the period, and After opening the season with blowout home losses to Miami and Denver, the “We’re playing better basketball,” Carlisle said. “The first couple of NOTES: Mahinmi’s previous career high was 17 points at Memphis on Jan. 15, Subscribe to our feed!. |
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Raptors host Pacers north of the border |
Written byTSN The Sports Network
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Raptors home opener may stir up old animosities |
There were plenty of smiles to go around after the Indiana Pacers and the Toronto Raptors both posted season-opening victories Monday. There will likely be a more serious tone Wednesday night in Toronto following a controversial end to the 2010-11 series between these clubs. Playing their first game since the interim tag was removed from coach Frank Vogel, the Pacers defeated Detroit 91-79 on Monday. Indiana shot just 36.8 percent from the field, but scored 14 second-chance points and held a 53-40 rebounding edge. Roy Hibbert (16 points and 14 rebounds), Tyler Hansbrough (15 and 13) and newcomer David West (11 and 12) controlled the paint. “We have the ability to crash the boards,” Danny Granger said after scoring 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting. “I think our big guys did an excellent job of dominating the glass, on the offensive end also. We didn’t give up too many offensive rebounds (nine). When they can dominate the glass like that, it’s going to be hard to beat us.” The Pacers grabbed 20 more rebounds than the Raptors in two home wins last season, including a 56-38 edge in a 104-93 victory Jan. 31 in Vogel’s first game after replacing the fired Jim O’Brien. However, they were outrebounded 46-34 in a 108-98 loss at Toronto on March 11 in the final meeting. Losing a sixth consecutive game overall probably added to its frustration, but Indiana was angered that Raptors guard Leandro Barbosa tried to add to his season-high 29-point effort with a drive to the basket, instead of dribbling out the clock, with six seconds left. Toronto argued that it was payback for Pacers point guard Darren Collison hitting a long three-pointer as time expired in the Jan. 31 matchup. “If I was on him, I would have took [Barbosa's] head off and I would have been suspended for a game for a flagrant foul,” said Granger, who led with Pacers with 19.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in the season series. “Stuff like that will sit in the back of your head the next time we play Toronto. We don’t play them again but if I was on him, I would have taken his neck off.” The Pacers, though, have far more to be concerned about than Barbosa after the Raptors shot 53.2 percent and had seven players score in double figures in Monday’s 104-96 win at Cleveland. “It’s one game,” coach Dwane Casey said following his Toronto debut. “I don’t want to get too excited on wins and I don’t want to get too upset on losses. There are 65 more games.” Still, Casey has to be excited about the play of his talented backcourt. DeMar DeRozan scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, while point guard Jose Calderon added 15 with 11 assists. Barbosa added 14 points off the bench. The Raptors, who open a three-game trip Friday against Dallas, went 16-25 at home last season. The Pacers finished 13-28 away from home in 2010-11 and have lost five straight in Toronto. The home team has won the last 11 times these teams have met. Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news. |
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