Raps Rally But Fall

Could the Toronto Raptors give a same type of effort that they did the night before in L.A? That is the thing Raptor fans would hope for from them in Oakland. The run and gun Warriors are a tough test for any team coming of a game the night before. Warriors started the season 0-6 but when Stephen Jackson returned in a win against the Raptors they have not looked back. Hanging on to the 8th spot in the western conference fighting off the Denver Nuggets who were winners earlier in the night. Golden State would do what they do by getting off to a big run 18-4 to start the game. Raptors were shooting blanks and Warriors were taking advantage. Raptors were in danger of getting run right out of the gym. Raptors were taking on water and sinking fast down 25-11 with 4:00 minutes to play in the first and were making things far to easy for the home side. Turnovers and bad shooting were not helping matters.

T.J Ford would enter the game hoping to spark the Raptors back to life. He was coming off a great night in L.A and with the team far behind he would need to get everyone on track and find away to get some points for himself along the way.However Ford was not able to help matters in fact he just added to the troubles as the Warriors lead 35-17 after one quarter. Warriors had got the track meet style of game that they love to play. The Raptors were running the track meet with cement shoes just shooting 34%.

The only thing going right for the Raptors was the play of Antony Parker who would have 13 on the half. However no one was playing defense as the Golden State team exposed the Raptors in transition. Monte Ellis was outstanding for the Warriors and he just was tearing it up . He has become a key player for the Warriors and is one of the rising stars in the NBA and Raptors and their fans were seeing just why. He would end up with 33 points on the evening. But as good as the Warriors can be on Offense they can be just as bad on defense. At one point the Warriors lead by 20 points Raps were chipping away and got back to with in 11. Against any other NBA team that would not be worth mention. But against Golden State that 11 does not hold the same value. They give themselves and the team they play much more chances to score.If a pizza place in Oakland ran the same promotion they do at the ACC than they would go out of business fast. Speaking of fast that is what was happening to the Warrior lead it was shrinking fast. After struggling in the start T.J Ford had 10 points and 7 assists leading the Raptor comeback. Kris Humphries had 10 points as well off the bench. The Raps would end the half down 10 but looking much better than they had in quarter number one.

The Raptors seem to have developed a new duo to combat the loss of Bosh. Ford and Parker were good in L.A and good through 1 half in Oakland. Could they lead the Raps back to a improbable victory. We would have to wait and see as Jose Calderon would return to start the second half along with Parker. He would start to take a page from T.J Ford's book taking and making his shoot with some regularity. A Parker three point shot and Raps got to within 6 points. But the Warriors would sense the game slipping away and extend the lead back to 11 with in about 20 seconds. The track meet was back on and the Raps now had on some track shoes as well. Defense in this game was a myth or some kind of urban legend cause you were not seeing it. It looked more like a video game at times than a NBA contest. In an attempt to continue the mad pace Sam Mitchell would add Ford and Calderon would remain on the floor. When the smoke from the burning nets would clear the Raptors were still behind by 9 points 88-79. Both teams were shooting above 50% and were having no trouble finding the basket.

Andrea Bargnani would break the ice with a three in the fourth quarter. Both teams had misfired on their first few times with the ball in the quarter. It sparked the Raps to rally getting within 4 points the closest they had been since the early moments of this ball game. The rally would continue and the Raps had got all the way back with seven plus minutes to play tied at 90. T.J Ford would hit a runner and the Raptors were in the lead after being down 20 points. Golden State pushed back encouraged by the crowd and jumped back ahead by 5 points. Raptors had used a lot of energy to climb back would they have enough to make one last push? They would look to use both point guards on the floor to try and do just that. It just was not in the cards as Golden State road the energy in the arena to close out the Raptors. Baron Davis was a big reason why with 23 points and 15 assists a lot of which he racked up coming down the stretch. He single handedly closed it out for his team. Raptors just had run out of gas and fell 117-106.

Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280312009

Podcast: http://dinoblogger.podbean.com/2008/03/13/golden-state-vs-toronto-post/