| Raptors Pounce On Slumping Sixers Authored by Barak Falkovitz - January 16, 2007 - 11:02 am
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
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After squandering a 16 point lead, and suffering an extremely deflating loss yesterday against the Dallas Mavericks, the Toronto Raptors waltzed into the Wachovia Center and ran away with a 104-86 blowout victory.
They responded from the heartbreaker, with one of their most convincing efforts of the season, and like most days, Chris Bosh led the way. Bosh scored 27 points, while shooting an exceptional 76% from the floor. He scored in every which way, including knocking down his sixth three pointer of the season.
“I always try to stay aggressive throughout the course of a game,” said Bosh. “I try not to force any shots. If I’m open, I’ll let it go. If I have a one-on-one opportunity, I’ll try to take my man to the hole. Nothing too complicated.”
But in an issue that’s becoming all too familiar, Toronto was flat for most of the first half, but like last week against Milwaukee and Boston, they broke the game wide open during the second half. During the third quarter, the Raptors outscored the 76ers 32-14, highlighted by a 19-2 run.
“In the beginning of the second half, we knew that we were up, and we had the advantage, so we just tried to put them to the ground - just try to bury them,” said Joey Graham.
Graham, who has only scored 12 points in his last 4 games, played a great game, and scored 18 points and did it with only four made field goals on six attempts. He was ferocious around the basket and was able to draw contact numerous times, and as a result, made a career-high 10 free throws.
However, Graham continues to be a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in an enigma. Getting to the basket, and playing aggressively is his paradigm for success, but Graham still hasn’t been able to put it all together on a consistent basis.
Aside from the terrific play of Chris Bosh and Joey Graham, Toronto also received 13 points and 11 assists from TJ Ford, as well as 17 points from Anthony Parker.
Sixers’ head coach, Maurice Cheeks, wasn’t too happy with his team’s performance. “It’s kind of like going back to the basics of teaching guys how to guard a screen and roll, how to guard a post,” noted Cheeks. “For the most part, they outplayed us.” Philadelphia took poor care of the ball, and capitulated 21 turnovers to the Raptors, which led to 30 Toronto points.
The Raptors now head back to Toronto for five games, their longest home-stand of the season. They now have an opportunity to gain ground on the Nets for top spot in the division, with all five games deemed “winnable”.
“The easy thing to do, is think about yesterday all day today and not try to redeem ourselves,” said Bosh. “Sometimes when you have a loss like that, it can tend to put you in a slump, but we’ve bounced back pretty well, and now we can go on our home-stand with our heads up.” |
