-Well...the Toronto Raptors DID hold the seventh of their eight opponents so far this season to under 100 points. That's key because beside this statistic, there's not much else that's positive to discuss in the wake of a 35 point thrashing at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers. After a disappointing performance last night against the New Jersey Nets, the Raptors laid another egg, losing to Philadelphia, 97 to 62.
-Things started off ok, in fact the Raps were only down three after the first quarter, and trailed by seven at the half. But a 30 to 8, yes, 30 to 8 run, starting in the third quarter, blew this one wide open. The 76ers had five players score in double digits, led by Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday with 14 apiece. Evan Turner had nine, so as you can see Philly certainly spread the scoring around.
-And that was the story of this one. Toronto was simply out-talented at nearly every position. The Raps had no answer for anything Philly did offensively and while the 76ers shot only 43 per cent, a good chunk of that was due to some terrible shooting early in the game. The 76ers hit only about 36 per cent of their shots in the first half, but Toronto turned the ball over 10 times, helping Philly keep its lead.
-In the second half the 76ers began to impose their will on the game, and Toronto's defense caved. As well, outside of Andrea Bargnani, the Raptors offense was simply awful. Bargs didn't have his most efficient game, he was 8 of 19 from the floor, but he hustled as best he could on the glass and on D, pulling down 11 rebounds, and got to the line six times, most on the squad. Amir Johnson turned in his most energetic performance of the year, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds, but some fumbles in the paint meant he could have easily gotten to the 20 point plateau.
-Not that it would have mattered. When DeMar DeRozan (4 of 13), Leandro Barbosa (1 of 7), James Johnson (3 of 11), and Rasual Butler (0 of 4), combine to score 18 points, it's pretty hard to win games. Add on that Jose Calderon wasn't quite up to par (3 of 9, no three-point makes) and well, there wasn't much going on in the way of offense tonight.
-Dwane Casey post-game said his team gave effort but simply didn't have the legs thanks to schedule fatigue. But it's hard to say that was the only thing at play in this blowout loss. The team's offense has been simply horrid of late, especially from the bench, which is averaging only 20.2 points in the last five games. And the defense, well, it needs some shoring up as well...especially with the club's back-to-back-to-back beginning on Monday.