The Toronto Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the Air Canada Center last night
by a score of 106-97. Andre Iguodala paced the Sixers with 23 points including a big 4th quarter. Kyle Korver
added 20 off the bench going 7-12 from the field(4-7 beyond the arc). After a close first half, the Raptors opened up
a 22 point advantage in the 3rd quarter after getting hot from the field. Jose Calderon came off the bench to provide
a spark with his flashy play passing, and scoring the ball.
TheSixers cut the lead to 1 in the 4th but the Raptors held strong. Chris Bosh was the
go to guy when things got rough late in the game as he nailed a couple of big free throws down the stretch. Andre Bargnani
showed people why he was the number 1 pick of the 06 draft leading Toronto with 20 points shwoing a smooth outside touch.
Positives
-Korver's shooting
-outrebounded Toronto 47-35(15 from Reggie Evans)
-effort
-Dalembert's shot blocking(4 blocks)
Negatives
-everything else Dalembert did besides shot blocking
-turned it over 17 times(Toronto only had 10 TO's)
-defending the 3 ball
-3rd quarter
Game changing play
After digging into the 22 point deficit and cutting it to 1, Andre Iguodala was leading the fast
break for what looked to be an easy bucket that would have put the Sixers ahead. What happened however was TJ Ford
hustling and stealing it from Iguodala from behind. The Raptors immediately after got a 3 from Bargnani which ended
up being an and 1 because Dalembert sucks and the Sixers went from possibly being up 1, to being down 5 within 10 seconds.
Bottom Line
Expect to see a lot of Sixer games this season go like this. Great effort, Maurice Cheeks
coaching his ass off, but the team falling just short because the other team is simply better. This team has to cut
down on the turnovers. Too many times last night Toronto threw tons of double teams at the Sixers and it worked effectively.(give
Sam Mitchell credit their) Not too many times will a PG not turn the ball over at all during the game and thats exactly what
TJ Ford did. He sparked the play that gave the Raptors all the momentum again as well.
Whats next? The 76ers travel to Chicago to take on the Bulls. The game is on Friday and
starst at 8:30. This one could get ugly and it won't be in our favor.
VS
