MVN - Most Valuable Network

Bosh and Bargnani Return, Conscious Ford Leaves on Stretcher

Sorry about the lack of updates, finals week here at Mizzou so I’ve been a little occupied, but I’ll make up for it over the next month as school is out with more posts. But anyways, back to what matters: Raptors basketball, which has gotten back on track as Chris Bosh and now Andrea Bargnani have returned to action, as tonight the Raptors went on the road and beat the Atlanta Hawks 100-88.

The win came at a cost though, as T.J. Ford left the game on a stretcher after a flagrant foul by Al Horford with 1:32 left with the Raptors in holding a 92-84 lead. He was conscious and according to a team spokesman was moving both upper and lower extremities. You can read more about his immediate status at the link below:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=fordinjury-071212

The win has certainly on the back-burner to Ford’s injury, especially given his injury history, having missed the whole 2004-05 season with a bruised spinal cord injury. He also had missed time this season with a stinger, which is a stinging sensation from nerves that move range from your neck to your arm. He also missed time last playoffs with the injury, showing there may still be possible lingering effects of his injury. Hopefully these measures were all simply precautionary and we will have a much better update tomorrow and T.J. is fine, as he was having a great season so far, even missing time with the stinger.

Ford’s injury abruptly ended a great night for both him and the Raptors, as he led the way for the Raptors with 26 points and 8 assists. Chris Bosh returned to his old college stomping grounds and had recorded another double-double, with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Andrea Bargnani also returned after missing four games with a hyper-extended left knee, but he showed some rust, going scoreless on 0 for 4 shooting in 12 minutes.

The game started as a game of runs, as the Raptors started the game broke an early 6-6 tie with a 11-3 run to gain the early edge, but the Hawks answered with a 12-2 run of their own to take 21-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. Neither team could gain a double digit lead for most of the second half though, as first the Hawks took a lead, but the Raptors stormed back to take a 54-43 lead heading into the half. Atlanta would not go away though, as they cut the lead to 69-68 at the end of the third quarter. A Raptors 8-1 run to start the fourth quarter started a fourth quarter in which Toronto outscored Atlanta 31-20. Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams led the Hawks with 23 points apiece in the losing effort.

It was the first time that both Bosh and Bargnani had been on the same court since November 28, with Toronto going a very respectable 3-3 with their two big men and two of their three leading scorers out, including beating the Bobcats without #2 scorer and starting PG T.J. Ford. The Raptors had lost 3 of 4 games without both before Bosh returned on Sunday to lead the Raptors to a 93-80 victory. Before that there was a massacre in Boston on Friday night, as without Bosh the Raptors fell 112-84 to the Celtics.

Recaps:On Friday the Raptors fell behind early and could never recover, as after taking a 12-11 lead early on the Celtics had a 27-16 lead by the end of the first quarter. They stretched it out from there, as Kevin Garnett led the way with 23 points and 6 rebounds, while Paul Pierce added 18 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. Anthony Parker led the way for Toronto in the losing effort, scoring 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals on 6 of 13 shooting(1 of 6 from 3-point range). It was an overall ugly effort by the Raptors as they couldn’t didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Celtics, even as well as they had the Suns, as facing facing a second top 5 team in three days proved to be too much, especially after the track meet they had with the Suns.

The Raptors then returned home to Toronto for a patented Raptors afternoon matinee, playing Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, and the Houston Rockets. The Raptors had another poor shooting start to this game, as they dug themselves a 16-2 hole to start the game, making only one of their first 10 shots. The Raptors went on a 14-6 run to end the first quarter to get back in the game, but the Rockets jumped out an kept their lead hovering around 10 points for the second quarter. The Raptors went off in the second half though, starting the half on a 21-7 run to take a 55-52 lead with 3:05 left in the third quarter. The Rockets would keep it close for a little while, but cold shooting would befall them, as with Houston within 4 points at 69-65 with 9:16 left in regulation Toronto went on a 17-4 run to put the game out of reach.

Chris Bosh started off slowly, but recovered with 16 second half points, 9 in the final quarter. Bosh finished with a team highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds, coming on strong in the second half as the Raptors made their run. Kris Humphries also had a big day off the bench, recording 16 points and 9 rebounds. T-Mac returned home and led the Rockets with 23 points, but on 7 of 21 shooting. Yao Ming added 15 points and 6 rebounds, but Bosh, Humphries and Toronto dominated the boards, holding a 48-35 rebounding advantage, including 18 offensive rebounds.

Preview: The Raptors have a quick, difficult turnaround, as they head home to face the Dallas Mavericks tomorrow night. Toronto will certainly have heavy hearts to go along with jetlag concerning Ford’s injury. The opponent might be enough to get them pumped up though, as revenge might be on their mind, as the Raptors have blown 20+ point leads to the Mavericks, once last season at the Air Canada Centre and once this season, on November 20, as the Mavericks won 105-98 behind 32 points from Dirk Nowitzki. Toronto had a 24 point lead midway through the second quarter, but Dallas had stormed back to take the lead by the end of the third quarter. It along with a similar tough loss to the Mavericks last season at home give Toronto payback on their mind. The Mavericks beat the Knicks 99-89 at the Garden, behind 36 points from Nowitzki to go along with 22 from Josh Howard. The game starts at 6:00 local time, and hopefully there will be good news on T.J. Ford

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 12:09 am and is filed under Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.