Game Notes- Andrea's Revenge

Raptors 95, Knicks 83

The Toronto Raptors kicked off their back-to-back series with the New York Knicks with another come from behind victory. Make no mistake about it, however, this was the Andrea Bargnani Show. 

-I'd seriously forgotten what a ridiculous basketball player Andrea Bargnani is. That's not meant in a negative way, but everything he does is just a little bit different. Seemingly pumped up to be facing his former team, Andrea came out and dropped 10 points in the first quarter, to go with his 5 rebounds. He hustled hard for offensive rebounds, and played some nice defense which helped deliver the Knicks their early advantage. Unfortunately for Andrea, this game was yet another tease from the Italian, as he would finish the game with 18 points (6/17FGs), miss a key defensive rotation leading to a John Salmons triple, and throw a hilarious late turnover, which was met with loud boos from the crowd. Keep being you, Andrea.

-One run from Toronto was always going to win the game, yet you never really got the feeling it was coming. Like a quality team, however, the Raptors played a near-perfect final quarter to run away with the victory. After 15 turnovers in the first three quarters, the Raptors only committed 1 in the final stand, and together with intense defense, were able to win the quarter 29-12. Essentially, poor fundamentals (15 turnovers and 10 missed free throws) allowed the Knicks to lead all game long, until the Raptors switched it on late.

-Jonas Valanciunas made a big statement against the Knicks. He made a couple of early blunders, but continued to compete extremely hard, and was rewarded. Even against Tyson Chandler, seen as defensive beast, Jonas took the ball to the rim with confidence, and made a couple of lovely second chance buckets. Pulled in a career high 18 rebounds, too. I loved hearing him say that the keys to the comeback were "energy and playing together".

-Didn't love the Toronto defense for the first three quarters. We kept trying to trap the Knicks with double-teams, daring them to find the open man. With the Knicks able to do this pretty easily, extra pressure was put on our defensive rotations, and the Knicks found open shots at will. I'm glad the team pulled out the intense defense they did for the last quarter, because otherwise the game would easily have slipped away.

-Quick player notes; Terrence Ross shooting with confidence is a massive positive for this team. John Salmons has continued to fit in really well to this team, and his tight defense on JR Smith was crucial late. Tyler's two rough fouls leading to 4 missed free throws was brilliant, and so very Tyler Hansbrough. 

PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- JONAS VALANCIUNAS (16pts, 7/11FGs, 18rebs, 7o.rebs). One of this best games yet. Again, if this is what he can do on a regular basis...

2 votes- DEMAR DEROZAN (25pts, 7/13FGs). An efficient 25 from Demar. When the Raptors needed someone to come up with a big performance to stay in the game, he did this, at least to some extent. Glad he didn't take another 20 shots.

1 vote- KYLE LOWRY (15pts, 4/10FGs, 11asts, 4rebs). Showed Knicks fans exactly what they missed out on. I love Kyle's ability to make his own offense late in the shot-clock, and drain deep threes. 

NEXT- 28 December vs NEW YORK. REMATCH. Let's do it. In reality, we should win this one pretty easily, and move to 13-15 for the season. Can't wait to see how Andrea is received in Toronto; considering we booed him pretty loudly when he was actually on our team, I can't imagine it will be pleasant.