| Boozer Rolls Over Raptors Authored by Barak Falkovitz - January 20, 2007 - 12:47 am
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It’s unfortunate when someone other than the players dictate the outcome of a game. While the referees didn’t dictate the outcome per se, they did help facilitate the flow and direction for Utah, which led to the disappointing result for the Raptors.
A game filled with phantom calls and a large amount of non-calls, was one of the most exasperating of the year for Toronto, who lost the game 102-94, to the Northwest division-leading Jazz. With Dwyane Wade out of sight, the often and sometimes late whistles from the officials, was somewhat of a surprise.
Mehmet Okur was superb for Utah with 27 points, which included a dagger three point field goal, late in the third quarter to give the Jazz a nine point lead. Okur has averaged 29 points over his last three contests, about 13 points above his season average.
The Raptors made numerous errors on both ends of the floor, and as much as they pushed, Utah had an answer. Morris Peterson and Anthony Parker surrendered two key turnovers within the closing minute of the game, to put the Raptors out of reach.
“For whatever reason, it was just one of those nights, we just couldn’t get things right,” said head coach Sam Mitchell. “I feel good, I hate that we lost, but we did a lot of good things. And even on a bad night, we had an opportunity to win the game.”
The Raptors made a valiant push late in the game, and sliced Utah’s lead to three, but were unable to get the stops that they needed down the stretch. Carlos Boozer was one of the main reasons why. Boozer destroyed Toronto on the glass, as he grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds, to go along with his 23 points.
“We tried to come back, but sometimes against this kind of team it’s very difficult,” said Jose Calderon, who was a vital component in Toronto’s late surge. “When you’re asleep for one second they make a good pass and good backdoors, and we have to be ready,” added Calderon. Calderon finished with 16 points on 7-11 from the field, and doled out 5 assists.
Calderon was forced to step in once again during the fourth quarter for TJ Ford, who hasn’t quite been himself since he sprained his ankle, about three weeks ago. However, Ford refuses to put the blame for his poor play on his bum ankle. “I don’t use that as an excuse,” said Ford after his lackluster performance (3-13 shooting in 26 minutes). “I’ve been playing through it, and when I have a good game it’s not mentioned and when I have a bad game I don’t want it to be mentioned. It’s just like it has been before.”
Now back to three games below .500, and one back of the division leading Nets, the Raptors have a chance to redeem themselves, and get their record even for the first time since starting the season 2-2. Their next three are all against teams below the .500 mark (Charlotte, New Orleans/Oklahoma City, Boston), and all games at the Air Canada Centre.
Raptors’ Chris Bosh understands that this loss is just one game in a long schedule for a team that is thinking “playoffs”. “We took a step back today, and it happens,” said Bosh who scored 29 points, and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“We need to look at the film, learn from our mistakes, continue to play our style of defense because we didn’t do such a good job today. We just have to take this one and try to get the rest of the three games we have on this home-stand.” |
