-.500 ball!!! Post All-Star break that is. The Toronto Raptors grabbed a W in New Orleans over the Hornets tonight, 95 to 84, and tied last year's road win total of six. The teams traded leads back and forth through most of the game, until the Dinos' bench pushed Toronto through to the finish line and eventual win.
-Yes the bench. On the night, Leandro Barbosa and Linas Kleiza combined for 36 off the pine, and adding in Ed Davis and Jerryd Bayless got you a plus 54 for Toronto on the evening. In contrast, New Orleans' bench mob was minus 30, with nary a player posting a positive mark.
-That was the bulk of the story in terms of why Toronto won, but not the whole story. In addition, DeMar DeRozan dropped in 21, and while he allowed plenty back by way of Marco Belinelli, who had 20 himself, it was a nice bounce-back from how things ended against Houston.
-Also, the three-ball was a big plus for TO. Toronto hit 9 of their 15 long-range bombs, while the Hornets hit on only three of 16. Considering the Hornets outrebounded the Raps 49 to 36 and got to the free-throw line slightly more often, this helped keep NO at bay. At times neither team could buy a bucket and the 44 and 38 per cent shooting percentages for Toronto and New Orleans respectively illustrate this pretty well. It got so bad that at one point, a Jose Calderon desperation heave wedged between the backboard and rim.
-Awwwwwwwwwwwwkward.
-But a win is a win (unless you had your #TANK hat on), and the Raps move to Friday's match back home against Memphis with two solid performances overall on the road.