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What a bizzare game.
By the 3:44 mark in the third quarter, the Raptors were down by 17 points, and the game had turned into a complete blowout.
At that point many Raptors fans likely turned off their television, or at least changed the channel, due to the Dinos terrible display of basketball.
Well, those fans missed out on one hell of an ending.
Throughout the fourth quarter the Raptors slowly chipped away at the Nuggets lead, and a Terrence Ross three pointer eventually cut the lead to 3 with two minutes left.
After trading three pointers, the lead remained at 3, until Andre Iguodala hit two clutch free throws with 12 seconds remaining. The Raptors came back with an Amir Johnson DEEP 3-pointer, that had me pumping my chest in excitement. After the Manimal missed one of his two free-throws, the Raptors had a chance to tie the game with a three pointer in the dying seconds.
In true Raptors fashion, DeMar DeRozan's three-point attempt rimmed out, and the Raptors comeback fell short.
This game had many positives/negatives for the Dinos::
Positives:
- The Raptors offence was flowing all second half, as they scored 65 second half points, and a team-high 110 points in the game.
- The Dinos showed their resilience tonight, as they were able to cut a 17 point deficit to just 1.
- Terrence Ross. As soon as the rook entered the game for Pietrus he proved he deserves more playing time, as he was the spark plug the Raptors needed to begin a comeback.
- Bargnani shot the ball well tonight. He may not have rebounded or defended (at all), but hey, at least he scored the ball.
- In the first 3 quarters the Raptors played with very little effort and/or grit.
- Andrea Bargnani may have shot the ball well, but his rebounding was terrible. Until late in the third quarter, I had as many rebounds as Bargnani in this game. Yes, that would be zero.
- Once again, the Dinos came out on the losing end of a close game. Add this to the list of games we'll look back on in dismay come April.
- Mickael Pietrus. He's being played serious minutes, minutes that would normally be occupied by Terrence Ross. Ross needs minutes to develop his game, and deserves to be the one getting that playing time.