-For those who were concerned about this match being a "trap game"...you were right. The New Jersey Nets came into Toronto tonight and shredded the Dinos 97 to 85 thanks to some uber-efficient three-point shooting, and some nasty work on the boards. The loss ended Toronto's two game winning streak, and sunk them back down below .500.
-The Raptors actually led this one for chunks of the first half, and were only down eight as the teams began the second quarter. But Deron Williams took over after that and New Jersey never looked back. Williams finished with 24 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds. He didn't shoot very well (6 of 18), but he got to the free-throw line 13 times, hitting 11 of those attempts. The Dinos had no answer for Deron and tried everyone from Jose Calderon to Rasual Butler, to James Johnson on him, in effort to get him in check. No such luck, and his penetration opened things up for dead-eye shooters like Anthony Morrow.
-Morrow had 24 points as well on the night, and was six of 10 from downtown. His three-point shooting, along with another nine 3's by teammates, broke Toronto's back as Dwane Casey's troops simply couldn't close out in time. Considering TO hit on only six of their 17 attempts from long range, this was a big factor in the loss.
-Also for New Jersey, Kris Humphries was an absolute terror. He was 2 of 8 from the field, but had 16 rebounds, nine of which were on the offensive end! This resulted in a bucket-load of second-chance opportunities and explains why even though the Nets shot under 40 per cent from the field (38.8%), they ended up coming away with the W.
-Those weren't the only factors though in this disappointing loss. DeMar DeRozan after a couple big games, returned to his inconsistent ways, hitting only one of six shots and eventually was benched for most of the fourth quarter. Andrea Bargnani was a bit better, he had 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting, but had only four rebounds and played porous defence on a night when the club really needed his presence down low. He, like DeRozan, also disappeared for big stretches and looked much more like the Andrea we've come to know and...well...maybe not love.
-Toronto has to put this loss behind them though as they travel to Philly to take on the 76ers tomorrow night. Fans have to hope that this was simply "one of those games," and that the club can rebound and perhaps Dwane Casey switches the rotation up a bit. Gary Forbes and Ed Davis had solid games for Toronto and probably warrant a bigger look through this next stretch of six games in eight nights.