Raptors sill playing .500 ball

With only 11 games under their belt the Raptors are holding onto their second place standings with only 4.5 games between them and Boston, but Toronto’s win a game lose a game playing this season might not be the year Raptor fans had in mind. After letting a 20 plus point lead against Dallas turn into a 105-99 loss on Tuesday with the help of Dirk Nowitzki’s 32 points, most of those coming in the form of 3 pointers in the final moments of the third quarter, it would seem the Raps’ coaches still have to work on their line-ups. With CB4 posting 31 points and Bargnani getting 20 points the team still only managed a 45% shooting average versus the 49% average of  the Mavericks. After the game Bosh said “I’m going to start knocking down shots and playing better for my teammates” and felt he has ‘turned a corner” in his game play but the rest of the team needs to get around that corner as well, especially if they are going to have to face Boston at the end of the year and bring home the championship.

Injuries seem to be creeping up on the Raptors this year as they have had to bench Garbajosa, Graham, Ford, and Nesterovic already. Garbajosa will be out a little while longer while team doctors go over the latest MIR on his ankle. Nesterovic will also be out for two weeks due to a sprained right ankle and has been replaced by Maceo Baston.  If last season was any indication of the effects injuries have on the team it might not all be gloomy for the Raptors.  During last season when Bosh was taken out of the line-up it couldn’t have come at a better time, no longer could the team depend on CB4 which really did help bring the team together and made for some great games during the last part of the season.  Could the injuries this year do the same for the new players this season? 

So with the Raptors’ top players out and Bosh feeling good about his game what kind of effort was given Wednesday when they entered Grizzlies territory? The Raptors came out with a 6 point win.  Bosh came out and landed 22 points got 19 rebounds as well as his sixth double-double of the season, proving he is not one of those “We’ll get better next game” excuse makers like other Toronto teams have. Though the Grizzlies shot for 40.5% on the night compaired to 39.1% for the Raps, they were able to get the win. 
Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni admitted that Toronto’s “52% on threes” is “what really hurt us”. “When you’re third in the league, you have to make your threes. They’re second in the league, they made their threes.”

Up next for Toronto is at Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday with a 1 pm start. The last time they faced off Toronto won 111-78 in the pre season.

Toronto Raptors

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