MVN - Most Valuable Network

Raptors Victory Over Nets Oh-So-Sweet

Throughout the first quarter of tonight’s game it looked as the same old Raptors that had been struggling showed up to play against a New Jersey Nets team that was barely clinging onto it’s playoff hopes. The Nets used a 10-2 run midway through the first quarter to help build a solid lead, pushing it to a game-high 13 points before a Jose Calderon free throw to end the quarter brought the score to 30-18.

The second quarter was very encouraging, as the Raptors bench really helped spark their comeback effort in the quarter led by Carlos Delfino, who would put up half of his team’s 28 points in the quarter. Overall of the 28 points only eight of them came from starters, as Calderon also stepped up with six points of his own. These two were really big throughout this quarter, which had to be a big confidence booster for Sam Mitchell. Sam has seen a bench that was a strength of the team be plagued with inconsistency throughout the season, at times causing him to rely on his starters more because of a lack of production from anyone off the bench. In tonight’s game though, the bench players were really the reason for the Raptors cutting a double-digit deficit to just a two point deficit at the half.

This really energized the starters coming our for the second half, which started out as a track meet, with both teams scoring literally every time down the court. After Anthony Parker missed a three-pointer to start the quarter for Toronto the Raptors would make their next ten shots, scoring on 10 of their next 12 possessions. The Nets simply couldn’t keep up with that pace, as after a Devin Harris three-pointer with 6:25 left in the third quarter that brought the Nets to within one point the Raptors outscored New Jersey 21-6 the rest of the quarter.

The third quarter was dominated by the starters, as two Andrea Bargnani free throws to close out the quarter were the only bench points scored in this quarter. This game really shows why you need a solid bench and it’s benefits, as the starters were able to get a little more of an extended rest for most of the second quarter, with Delfino and Calderon stepping up to shoulder the load, helping the Raptors starters to come out and play a solid quarter start to finish, whereas the Nets could only keep up for about half the quarter.

With the score after three quarters being 83-67 Mitchell was then able to have his bench play the majority of the third quarter, with Andrea Bargnani scoring eight of his 14 points in the final period as the Raptors were on their way to a 113-85 victory. Delfino led the way with 24 points, shooting 6-of-8 from behind the arch. Bosh finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds, while Bargnani and T.J. Ford both scored 14 points, with Bargnani adding 6 rebounds and Ford adding 8 assists. Calderon added 11 points and 10 assists off the bench to give the Raptors 53 bench points tonight.

The emergence of the bench in tonight’s game was just one of oh-so-many reasons that this win was big though. First of all, it officially eliminated the Nets from playoff contention, giving the Raptors a little bit of revenge to the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season, oh yeah, did I mention they have Vince Carter. Enough said, so that was a pretty sweet little revenge there just to stab to dagger through their hearts.

But the even better news was that all teams the Raptors are behind in the 4-7 race lost tonight, with the Bulls edging the Cavs 100-95 in Chicago, the Pistons blowing out the Wizards 102-74 in Detroit, and most surprisingly of all the Pacers picking up a 85-76 win in Philly against the 76ers, which allowed Toronto to pass Philly and take the #6 spot based on the fact that they hold the tie-breaker over the 76ers.

CLE: —-, Remaining games: Mia, @Phi, Det

WAS: 2 GB, Remaining games: Phi, Ind, @Orl

TOR: 3 GB, Remaining games: @Det, Mia, @Chi

PHI: 3 GB, Remaining games: @Was, Cle, @Cha

I really cannot stress how big these teams losing were, as with the Raptors game at Detroit, a probable loss, looming they really needed at least one of these teams to lose. Now all eyes are on tomorrow night’s 76ers-Wizards contest in D.C. which will play a huge role in determining the seeding in the East. This win means that even with a loss to Detroit tomorrow they will still be at worst only one game behind the #5 seed, with the Wizards having to travel to take on the Magic for the final game of the season and the 76ers having to face-off against the Cavs after their contest against the Wizards.

The Raptors finish out with a home contest against the Heat and at Chicago to finish out the year, teams they are a combined 5-0 against this year with an average margin of victory of 28.8 points, with the closest contest between any of these teams being 15 points.

But first the Raptors play on the national stage on ABC Sunday afternoon, taking on the Pistons in Detroit at high noon. A win against the Pistons a few weeks ago has been the highlight of the second half of the season and another win down the stretch would give Toronto the confidence to go in and steal a game if these two teams were to match-up in a first round series, to go along with breaking a 9-game losing streak in Detroit.

But the Pistons crushed a previously hot Wizards team tonight and are 6-2 since suffering that defeat at the hands of the Raptors. Rasho Nesterovic’s emergence down low has helped the Raptors in their match-up against the big Pistons front-line, as in their first couple of match-ups in Toronto the Raptors were simply overpowered down low. But Rasho provides height and strength down low, which has really helped the Raptors out down the stretch this season.

But it should be an interesting game to watch Sunday afternoon, and also don’t forget to keep an eye out on tomorrow’s 76ers-Wizards contest, Raptors fans.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Toronto Raptors. 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.