Raptors Rapid Recap: Toronto 94 - Detroit 64

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Dec 23, 2009 10:12 PM EST in Game Day Comment 16 comments

- The Raptors were never really challenged by the Pistons in this one, racking up another victory against a sub-.500 opponent. Toronto won every quarter, and notched their first win at The Palace of Auburn Hills since April 2, 2003.

- Player of the Game goes to Il Mago, Andrea Bargnani, with 21 points on 9-15 shooting, two blocks and +20 in just over 33 minutes. He was aggressive from the get-go and really took advantage of the mismatches in the front court.

- The other half of the Italian Connection, Marco Belinelli, FINALLY found his shooting touch, hitting on 4-8 shots for nine points. He even had a ridiculous half-court heave waved off.

- Hedo Turkoglu had a double-double and combined with point guard Jarrett Jack to dish out 18 of Toronto’s 26 assists.

- The injury-ravaged Pistons – missing top scorers Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Tayshaun Prince – shot just under 28 per cent from the field. They did manage to grab a lot of those missed shots to boast a 23-5 advantage on the offensive glass. If not for their work on the boards, they might’ve lost by 50.

- Happy Holidays from all of us here at the HQ! We'll do this again on Sunday during the second half of this home-and-home series against Detroit.

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sad sad stats for the pistons

Charlie V: 0-for-7
Team Assists: 10 (1 less than Hedo by himself)
FG%: 28%
3FG%: 11%

I expect a tougher game in Toronto.

by B.C. on Dec 23, 2009 10:18 PM EST reply actions

At the risk of being called negative...

It seemed to me this win had just as much to do with the Pistons hoggin’ up all the suck as it did the Raps having a good game. Detroit must have coated their hands with Crisco because I saw a half dozen passes slip through their mitts. I was embarrassed for them.

We got out rebounded (badly on the off. glass) which is a bad sign. We need to tighten that up.

It was nice to see Il Mago regain his form again. Lets hope it continues. Four rebounds is still not enough for the big man though. Also, I would have liked to see Derozan get a little more PT in the forth with Amir and/or Weems.

by Posterized on Dec 24, 2009 8:24 AM EST up reply actions

we're number 6!

amazingly with milwakee’s L we’re now 6th in the East – the best of the worst.

by benjibopper on Dec 23, 2009 10:41 PM EST reply actions

Johnson Another Personal Season High

3rd game in a row he has had personal season high and led the Raptors in that category in each of the 3 games.

vs Nets 18 points
vs Hornets 12 rebounds
tonight vs Pistons 4 blocks

by Buddahfan on Dec 23, 2009 10:54 PM EST reply actions

I said it during the game thread, and I’ll say it again — I don’t know how you give Reggie Evans any of Amir Johnson’s minutes when Evans gets healthy. Johnson is way too young with way too much upside.

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Dec 24, 2009 12:17 AM EST up reply actions

should we trade him for Jason Kapono?

by benjibopper on Dec 24, 2009 12:23 AM EST up reply actions

Haha. Awesome comment.

I do think Johnson is the better solution in the front court, both short term and long term. He looks great alongside Bosh and Bargnani.

by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Dec 24, 2009 12:51 AM EST up reply actions

I agree, love AJ and what a great pickup for the Raps. But it does raise an interesting question about Evans. While his toughness is needed I wonder how/where he’ll fit, and I do wonder what we might get for him.

by benjibopper on Dec 24, 2009 8:10 AM EST up reply actions

Amir Johnson for MVP

A great win for Rap’s, even though they took the 2nd half off, just to play it out, and still win by 30 pts over a Pistons team of 2nd stringers. It’s not who, or how, but how many wins at the end of the day.

by Johnn19 on Dec 23, 2009 11:59 PM EST reply actions

Interesting Sports Guy column today

Suggests possible trades for both CB4 (to dump Banks and Evans contracts) and Jose. Also suggests that BC won’t trade CB4 because it would be admitting that everything he’s done has been a mistake. He takes the position that Bosh is as good as gone come June.

The trades he suggests are:
Bosh, Banks and Evans for Dampier (team option for 2010-11, great trade value in off-season) and Howard (expiring contract). Basically, cap space galore for the Raps.
and
Jose for Farmar, Adam Morrison (expiring) and $3MM.

His trades he suggests for other teams make much more sense. These are silly I think.

by Aaron Craig on Dec 24, 2009 1:51 AM EST reply actions

those trades suck are kidding bosh banks and evans for dampier tht would be the worst trade ever even bosh for dampier would be a horrendous trade if colangelo ever did tht trade he should commit suicide

by raptors_run_the_show on Dec 24, 2009 3:12 AM EST reply actions

???

The sports writer that came up with that trade idea should be fired on the spot..that’s a horrible trade that would be vince Carter number #2. I wouldn’t even trade banks and evans for dampier let alone add bosh in there..what a sick joke lol

by sherwin316 on Dec 24, 2009 3:53 AM EST via mobile reply actions

DUmpier is an ex player

just nobody told him yet. I believe one between Amir and Reggie will be traded next off season if BC manages to make a ST for Bosh, getting in return a player like Chandler or Lopez . If Chris stays I can see Andrea being shopped, independently on whether he catches fire in Jan like he has been consistently doing.. I personally see more Andrea playing alongside a big man than Chris (just as a matter of style of play) and I believe it will happen next year, whether in TO or elsewhere.

by renato on Dec 24, 2009 5:38 AM EST reply actions

Johnson Will Be an Unrestricted Free Agent Next July

Johnson has said, though not too loudly, that he will want to play for team where he can have the opportunity to start in a year or two. If Bosh stays with Raptors I think Johnson will sign some place else. He may sign someplace else anyway depending.

I don’t see the Raptors moving Evans at this point unless they can get another banger underneath who can rebound. However I agree that if Bosh and Johnson both stay then Evans may not return next year.

by Buddahfan on Dec 24, 2009 10:55 AM EST up reply actions

I’m sure Simmons knows that. The dude did write a 700 page book about basketball after all. The point of that trade was to say that Bosh isn’t resigning, you can’t get talent value back for him, so the best move it just to go for a complete salary dump and tank for the next couple of years and see if you can hit a home run in the lottery. The players coming back for Bosh in that scenario are irrelevant; only the cap space matters.

Note: I don’t agree with his analysis that Bosh is gone for sure, so I think he’s way off, but that’s his logic.

by Jdbar93 on Dec 24, 2009 1:50 PM EST up reply actions

Not sure it’s a salary dump-and-tank trade in Simmons’ mind so much as a “let’s get more cap space” trade. And Dampier is a very valuable asset, because the Raps can pick up his option and then he can be traded to a team that wants to waive him. (What a weird sentence — what a weird league). In return for Dampier, the Raps would hopefully get a much more valuable player. Simmons thinks that Banks and Evans are liabilities — part of the benefit to the Raptors of trading Bosh would be freeing themselves of the obligations to those players for 2010-11. Again, not saying I agree with him, just trying to explain his logic.

If those are our worst long term contracts that need to be dumped, then compared to most teams we’re in great shape. Read the rest of Simmons’ column for details.

by Aaron Craig on Dec 24, 2009 2:13 PM EST up reply actions