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Rockets-Raptors Preview

Posted on 07 March 2012. Tags: close-out-teams, game, goran-dragic, houston, houston-rockets, points-or-fewer, raptors, road, rockets, season, since-the-very, toronto, toronto-raptors, worst

The Houston Rockets haven’t struggled this much since the very beginning of
2012, but another date with the Toronto Raptors may be just what they need to
get back on track.

Houston seeks to avoid a season-high fifth straight defeat Wednesday night
when it visits sputtering Toronto.

The Rockets (21-18) are coming off consecutive overtime losses, falling
105-103 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and 97-92 at Boston on Tuesday.

Those defeats are part of a four-game skid that matches their worst this
season. They also dropped four straight Jan. 3-7.

Tuesday’s loss was also Houston’s fourth straight on the road, and it came
despite having six players score in double figures, led by 18 points each from
Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry.

“We started doing the worst thing you can do on the road: Just start playing
the score as opposed to playing the game,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We lost our
rhythm a little bit and then we just got too conservative trying to run the
clock, trying to play perfect basketball.”

Goran Dragic hit a jumper in the final seconds of regulation to send the
game to overtime, but Scola said it just delayed the inevitable.

“The fact that we played the overtime was a bonus, was a present. We lost
the game before that,” Scola said.

Now the Rockets hope to end their skid against the last team they beat.

Houston shot only 38.7 percent but came away with an 88-85 win over Toronto
on Feb. 28, as Lowry scored a game-high 26 points.

That contest marked the first of three times in the last five games the
Raptors (12-26) have scored fewer than 90 points, and they’re averaging 89.3 for
the season after falling 92-88 to Orlando on Monday.

DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points for Toronto, which has lost 10 of 14. Each of
those defeats has come by seven points or fewer.

“It’s definitely frustrating, especially knowing how many games we had like
that this season that we definitely could’ve won,” DeRozan said. “We just got to
close out teams.”

Coach Dwane Casey lauded his team for another good performance despite
falling short.

“I feel for our guys because they are putting themselves in a position to
win,” Casey said.

The major reason for that is how well Toronto has played defensively of
late. Beginning with the matchup against Houston, the Raptors have held their
last five opponents to 88.2 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting.

DeRozan has done his part offensively as Andrea Bargnani remains sidelined
with a strained calf, averaging 20.8 points and shooting 49.2 percent over his
last eight games.

He had a career-high 37 points at Houston on Dec. 31, 2010, but the Rockets
won 114-105 and will now seek to win three in a row in the series for the first
time since March 5, 2002-March 5, 2003.

They’ll hope for another solid performance from Lowry, who is averaging 19.6
points over his last eight games. However, prior to last month’s meeting with
Toronto, Lowry had shot 36.2 percent and averaged 9.7 points in seven games
versus the Raptors.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

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Howard, Magic outlast Raptors

Posted on 06 March 2012. Tags: after-the-magic, close-out-teams, magic, night, raptors, season, series-on-march, state-on-sunday, toronto

Orlando big man Dwight Howard had the ball early and often Monday night, but it was teammate J.J. Redick who sealed Toronto’s fate in the game’s final seconds.

Redick’s three-point dagger with less than 10 seconds helped the Magic to a 92-88 win over the Toronto Raptors.

“[Jason Richardson] made a great play to get the ball quickly to me,” said Redick. “I knew we didn’t have a lot of time on the clock, so I just caught it and let it go.”

Howard had 36 points and 13 rebounds and two blocks for his 31st double-double.

Howard had the highlight of the night when he finished off a perfectly-timed alley-oop pass from Redick with a monster two-handed jam in the third quarter.

Redick finished 3-for-4 from three-point range picking up 13 points and six assists.

“Our perimeter guys all shot the ball very poorly tonight,” said Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. “Trying to decide who you’re going to have down there as the last man wasn’t an easy call, but [Redick] knocked in a big one right then.”

DeMar DeRozan had 23 points for the Raptors (12-26), who were coming off a victory over Golden State on Sunday.

“It’s definitely frustrating, especially knowing how many games we had like that this season that we definitely could’ve won,” said DeRozan. “We just got to close out teams especially against tough teams like the Orlando Magic.”

The loss dropped the Raptors to 0-9 at home this season when trailing after three quarters.

Aaron Gray added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto, picking up his second double-double of the season.

Ryan Anderson had 19 points and 13 boards for the Magic (25-14).

Jose Calderon drained a three from the top of the arc with just over six seconds remaining to cut Orlando’s lead to two, but Redick made two free throws on the next procession to put the Magic back up by four.

“I feel for our guys because they’re putting themselves in a position to win,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “The experience factor, you can’t rush it, you can’t teach it, you can’t give it to them.

“I see fight every night.”

Ex-Raptor Hedo Turkoglu, who came in averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 rebounds, was booed all night by the 15,392 in attendance at Air Canada Centre. Turkoglu finished with no points and nine assists.

After the Magic opened an eight point lead in the second quarter, DeRozan picked up six points to cut the lead to just two. However, Redick drained a 25-foot three-pointer giving Orlando a five-point lead at the break.

Howard had four dunks, many of the highlight variety, leading the way for the Magic in the first quarter with 10 points, giving Orlando the early three-point lead.

Orlando won the only other meeting between the two teams — 102-96 thanks to a late 16-0 run on New Year’s Day.

The two teams wrap-up the season series on March 26 in Toronto.

That’s all for today.

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Stout second-half defence helps Raptors down…

Posted on 05 March 2012. Tags: california, fourth, game, leandro-barbosa, nba, night, raptors, sunday, toronto, warriors

TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors were an irritated bunch at halftime Sunday night, frustrated about being down nine points to the Golden State Warriors — a team that had embarrassed them in their previous meeting nearly one year earlier.

Two sensational quarters later, the Raptors and their fans went home satisfied.

DeMar DeRozan poured in a game-high 25 points and the Raptors limited high-scoring Golden State to a season-low 28 second-half points on the way to an 83-75 victory. The win was just the fifth in 16 games for Toronto, and provided a small measure of revenge for a club that surrendered 84 first-half points in a 138-100 thrashing at the hands of the Warriors in California last March 25.

Thanks to a tenacious stretch of defence from a hungry Raptors team Sunday, Golden State didn’t even reach its first-half total from that blowout.

“I thought our guys did a good job,” said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. “That first half, we can cancel it out. But the second half, our guys came in and really gave us energy.”

Toronto’s second-half defensive effort may have been its best of the season. The Warriors, who came into the day averaging 97.6 points per game, shot an abysmal 11 for 40 after the break — including a 5-for-22 performance in an 11-point third quarter that allowed Toronto to seize the lead for good.

Casey praised his team for coming out in the second half and making a commitment to shutting down the Warriors — especially after his club had failed to do so two nights earlier, falling apart in the third quarter of a narrow loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“I told them (at halftime) to have a nice day, it’s a beautiful Sunday,” he joked. “I challenged them. I told them, ‘The game’s about frustration. It’s how we fight through this … feeling sorry for ourselves, fatigue, whatever it is, that’s not important. What’s important is how we approach our job as NBA players.’

“I challenged them at halftime and they stepped up and that’s what this league is all about … when someone challenges your manhood, you have to step up.”

Limiting three-pointers, second-chance and fast-break points were Casey’s goals coming into the game — and the Raptors accomplished all three. Golden State shot just 4-for-19 from beyond the arc, had only eight second-chance points and scored exactly one fast-break point — 39 fewer than it had in the lopsided win over Toronto last season.

“We have a lot of those little things that you don’t think you should waste time working on that we’ve been working,” said Raptors forward James Johnson, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds. “That’s been a benefit to us.”

David Lee had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Warriors, who fell to 2-3 on a six-game road trip.

“It hurts really bad,” said rookie Warriors guard Klay Thompson. “This was a very winnable game, a team that we thought we were better than. We can’t let it carry over until (Monday) in Washington … (but) this one hurts, it’s going to sting for a while.”

Notes: Toronto overcame a pair of late injury scares. Leandro Barbosa — who scored 18 points in a solid effort off the bench — went down in a heap midway through the fourth quarter but was quickly helped off. Amir Johnson suffered an apparent knee injury but left on his own power. … The Warriors came into Sunday averaging 120.2 points in their previous five games against the Raptors. … A vocal contingent of fans celebrating Lithuanian Heritage Night cheered when Raptors F Linas Kleiza entered the game late in the fourth quarter. Kleiza is the only active Lithuanian-born player in the NBA.

What do you guys think about this.

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DeRozan leads as Raptors defence shuts down…

Posted on 05 March 2012. Tags: california, final, fourth, game, golden-state, leandro-barbosa, nba, night, raptors, state, time, toronto, warriors

TORONTO – DeMar DeRozan had 25 points and the Toronto Raptors blanketed high-scoring Golden State en route to an 83-75 win over the Warriors on Sunday night.

Leandro Barbosa added 18 points in a reserve role for the Raptors (12-25), who limited Golden State to 36.3 per cent shooting for just their fifth win in the last 16 games. It was the first meeting between the teams since the Warriors pulverized Toronto, scoring 84 first-half points in a 138-100 laugher in California last March.

Golden State wasn’t laughing this time; the run-and-gun Warriors (14-20) were held to one fast-break point and turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 18 Toronto points.

David Lee had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Warriors, who fell to 2-3 on a six-game road trip which wraps up Monday night in Washington.

Golden State broke out to a nine-point halftime lead but hit just two of its first 12 shots to open the third quarter, allowing the Raptors to climb to within six. A Lee jumper ended the drought but Toronto continued to chip away at the deficit, a DeRozan layup making it a 56-54 game with three minutes left.

Barbosa’s floating jumper in the lane evened the score in the final minute, and a turnover on the Warriors’ next possession led to a 2-on-1 that DeRozan finished off with an alley-oop dunk of a Jerryd Bayless feed as Toronto led 60-58 entering the fourth.

A Barbosa three-pointer stretched the advantage to five early in the final quarter, and he found Amir Johnson with a nifty pass for an uncontested dunk near the halfway point of the frame to give Toronto a 73-66 edge. Golden State closed to within four on an Ellis layup, but Barbosa followed with a three from the left corner and the Raptors held on from there.

Both teams were frigid to start, combining to miss 17 of their first 23 shots in the opening half of the first quarter. A Dorell Wright three-pointer put the Warriors up 14-10, and Lee added a driving two-handed dunk in the closing moments of the period as Golden State enjoyed a 20-18 advantage after one.

Klay Thompson connected from long range near the three minute mark of the quarter to extend the Warriors’ lead to six, and a Lee 17-foot jumper with 30 seconds left completed a 6-of-7 first-half shooting performance for the star forward as the Warriors went into the break ahead 47-38.

Notes: Toronto overcame a pair of late injury scares. Barbosa went down in a heap midway through the fourth quarter but was quickly helped off, while Amir Johnson appeared to slip on the court and injure his knee but left on his own power. … The Warriors came into Sunday averaging 120.2 points in their previous five games against the Raptors. … A vocal contingent of fans celebrating Lithuanian Heritage Night cheered when Raptors F Linas Kleiza entered the game late in the fourth quarter. Kleiza is the only active Lithuanian-born player in the NBA.

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Warriors-Raptors Preview

Posted on 03 March 2012. Tags: boston, game, golden-state, jerryd-bayless, nba, philadelphia, raptors, stephen-curry, time, toronto, toronto-raptors

Although facing the Toronto Raptors usually brings out the best in Golden
State, it might not be enough to get the Warriors’ struggling offense on track
in the season’s first meeting.

Golden State, which could again be without Stephen Curry, hopes to break out
of its funk Sunday night against a Toronto team playing much better defense
under first-year coach Dwane Casey.

After averaging 104.3 points in winning two of three games prior to the
All-Star break, the Warriors (14-19) have since averaged 82.0 points on 38.4
percent shooting in dropping two of three.

Against Philadelphia on Friday, Golden State trailed by three points at
halftime but scored just 36 in the second half of a 105-83 loss.

“We have to be on all the time,” coach Mark Jackson said. “We have to be
aggressive. We have to play with force.”

Part of the reason for Golden State’s sluggish offense stems from Curry’s
injured right foot.

Curry, third on the team with 15.7 points per game, has played all of three
seconds in the last three contests and could be sidelined again. Sitting out
Sunday could be trouble for Golden State because Curry’s career average of 30.3
points in four games versus the Raptors is easily his best against any team.

Led by Curry’s scoring exploits, the Warriors have averaged 120.2 points in
winning the last five meetings with the Raptors. It’s their longest active
winning streak over any opponent.

Monta Ellis also has played a big part in Golden State’s success in this
series, having scored 55 points on 55.9 percent shooting in two meetings last
season. His 24.1 career scoring average versus the Raptors is his second-highest
against any opponent.

While Golden State has regularly frustrated Toronto, winning 10 of 12
meetings since 2005-06, its offense – with or without Curry – could have
problems this time.

The Raptors (11-25) are yielding an average of 94.1 points – 11.3 less than
last season – and are 7-4 when holding an opponent to 92 or fewer. They had
allowed an average of 88.3 points on 39.3 percent shooting over a three-game
stretch before Friday’s 102-99 loss to Memphis, their ninth defeat in 12 games.

Toronto had a chance to tie the game, but Jose Calderon’s 3-point attempt
bounced off the rim with four seconds left and saddled the Raptors with another
painful loss.

Five of Toronto’s past eight defeats have been by three points or fewer. The
Raptors haven’t lost by more than seven points since a 100-64 blowout at Boston
on Feb. 1.

“Somewhere the basketball gods are waiting for us to make those plays, to be
good to us,” Casey said. “Right now, and I’ve seen a lot of NBA games, we’re
doing everything to win the games except winning games.”

Jerryd Bayless led six Raptors in double figures Friday with 18 points to
equal his point total from his previous four games. DeMar DeRozan was held to
four points after averaging 22.8 in his final five games of February.

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Rudy Gay scores go-ahead jumper as Grizzlies rally…

Posted on 03 March 2012. Tags: calderon-as-one, final, grizzlies, league, memphis, raptors, toronto, toronto-raptors, until-the-final

TORONTO – Prior to Friday’s game against Memphis, Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey identified Jose Calderon as one of his “closers” — a player he trusts to take clutch shots late in games.

To that end, the Raptors had the ball in the hands of the right guy against the Grizzlies — they just didn’t get the result they wanted.

Calderon missed the potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds Friday night as the Raptors dropped a 102-99 decision to Memphis.

Toronto’s 11th loss in the past 15 games may have been one of the most difficult to digest, given that the Raptors outplayed Memphis for long stretches while prevailing in several statistical categories.

Calderon acknowledged that he had a good look on the shot, which clanked off the left edge of the rim to propel Memphis to its seventh win in the last eight games.

“It felt good when it came out of my hand,” said Calderon, who finished with 10 points and nine assists. “If they want me to take it again, I’ll take it. It happens.”

It wasn’t the only key miss down the stretch for the Raptors, who watched Linas Kleiza bounce a wide-open 17-footer off the back of the rim with 13.9 seconds left and the Raptors trailing 100-99. That shot came moments after Rudy Gay, who led the Grizzlies with 23 points, put his team ahead for good with a long jumper that was accompanied by a mocking finger to his lips as he ran back down court.

Calderon also misfired on a free throw with 1:07 remaining that would have given Toronto a two-point lead.

“Linas was probably too open,” Casey lamented. “Any how many times is Jose going to miss a free throw? (It’s) just a lot of little things (related to) closing out games and game-winning plays.”

The game wasn’t decided until the final minute, but the turning point may have come at the beginning of the second half. Toronto shot 56.8 per cent in the opening 24 minutes but missed its first four shots of the third quarter, during which the Grizzlies exploded for 11 unanswered points to turn a seven-point deficit into a four-point lead.

“We had trouble scoring, turned the ball over and couldn’t make buckets,” Casey said. “We kind of came out in second gear out of the locker-room so we had to call a timeout and address that.

“We knew it was coming. A team as tough as Memphis, at some point is going to turn up the heat and they did at the beginning of the third.”

Toronto also struggled to deal with a swarming Grizzlies defence that ranks near the top of the league in steals, forced turnovers and points off opposing giveaways. At the top of the whiteboard in the Raptors’ locker room, under the heading “KEYS,” was a simple message: Keep turnovers down.

That didn’t happen.

Despite besting the Grizzlies in shooting percentage, rebounds and assists, Toronto was ultimately done in by 16 turnovers which led to 24 Memphis points.

“This Memphis team is one of the most mentally tough teams in the league,” Casey said. “We had a lead and didn’t protect it. We won every category we wanted to except turnovers.

“They are a lot like Miami, and when you turn it over they convert on it. That was our bugaboo.”

Toronto did get a major boost from its bench, which outscored the Grizzlies’ reserves 54-29 and shot 62.5 percent from the floor.

“We played hard, we played well, but we struggled with their bench,” said Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins.

Notes: Two nights after shooting a season-best nine for 15 from three-point range in New Orleans, Toronto connected on just 6-of-16 attempts from beyond the arc. … Memphis improved to 10-1 this season against teams below .500. … Eight different Raptors had at least one assist in the first half. … The Raptors equalled a season low with just four offensive rebounds.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

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Grizzlies rally to beat Raptors 102-99

Posted on 03 March 2012. Tags: calderon-as-one, final, from-the-floor, grizzlies, league, memphis, raptors, toronto, toronto-raptors, until-the-final

Date: Friday Mar. 2, 2012 11:02 PM ET

Prior to Friday’s game against Memphis, Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey identified Jose Calderon as one of his “closers” — a player he trusts to take clutch shots late in games.