Glad to see the Raptors put the Spurs nightmare behind them, that was as much a game to forget as this one was to remember. No Anthony Parker as he was still recovering after the Bruce Bowen cheap shot so Mo Pete was in the starting lineup. But the stars of the game in order were Andrea Bargnani, Juan Dixon and Kris Humphries. Just like the Spurs game was unofficially decided in the second quarter, this one was too, although the Rockets mounted some half-hearted surges which cut the gap to 7 in the third, but you knew it wasn’t going to happen for them.
Bargnani, Dixon and the Raptors got hot in the second quarter to the tune of 65%+ FG shooting for the first half. When Bargs has some space and his feet set, he might be as good a shooter as Mo or Parker on the team. He showed that in the second quarter draining 4 threes, each of the back-breaking variety. Juan Dixon showed why Colangelo traded for him; good decision making on the part of Dixon opened up the game for his teammates and himself. Two plays in the second showed how good Dixon is: on the first one he drove and smartly kicked it out for Calderon who scored, on the subsequent play, he drove exactly in the same manner but this time the defense backed off him and he rose up and drained the jumper.
One bad move by Mitchell which Van Gundy didn’t exploit as much as he could have. Juan Dixon was guarding McGrady early on and T-Mac was just abusing him because of the height advantage. He scored about four straight times on him while Mitchell chose to not provide help. Later on, the Rockets completely ignored that matchup whenever it presented itself. Kris Humphries is soon going to become a legend if he continues to play like this, he had one strong move to the basket in the first quarter where he took on three Rockets. He displayed a feathery and accurate touch around the rim
the entire game and anytime he scored the Rockets just responded with a WTF look.
Got to see Rafer Alston still chucking away, he hasn’t improved a single iota since he left the Raptors, still suspect shot-selection and unable to really break the defense down. Luther Head had a pretty bad game, he had three really loud turnovers, you know where everyone goes, now why would he do that? Bargnani and Bonzi Wells were going at it and after Wells scored once on him, he starting talking some trash, but Wells had to quickly shut up when it started pouring threes. Bargnani also had a couple really strong moves inside, something all Raptor fans want to see more of.
The boo birds were out in Houston in the first half and re-appeared in the fourth with the home team down 20 and Kris Humphries looking like Magic Johnson. The Raptors played great but I thought the Rockets bailed them out by settling for way too many jumpers, especially McGrady who Leo Rautins correctly pointed out wouldn’t have a major impact on the game even if he scored, as long as he stayed on the perimeter. Bang on analysis by Leo. Rafer Alston also feels the Rockets don’t have any “hustle, desire or intensity” since the All-Star break, he’s probably right. The salami and cheese were served with the score 98-78 and 4+ minute remaining going into a timeout. Chuck was actually tolerable in this game and even when his favorite pet Bargnani was draining his threes, he refrained from the Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki comparison. It was great.
I have to give some props to aRapsfan4Eva for setting up Raptors Nation where he streams live Raptor games for fans who can’t see the game on TV. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but it’s the effort that counts. Here are the highlights for the game courtesy of Chasin, another hard working Raptor loyalist.
The Raptors are now four games ahead of New Jersey and both teams have played 58 games. Wonder what Marty York thinks of the Raptors after this ?
