Raptors Rewind- Please Win Edition

Good news for the Raps before the opening tip. The Clippers would be without Marcus Camby for this basketball game. The also do not have Chris Kaman who has been out for awhile. Can Bosh and O'Neal take advantage? Raptors fans are praying for that at this point. Clippers are coming off getting hammered by the Bucks. It really is set up for the Raptors to win this game. But given what has been going on with this team nothing is for sure right now. Cross your fingers and say a prayer as the Toronto Raptors look to head in the Christmas break with a win. Any kind of win will do. Raptors Rewind is back after a live blog break doing my part for the score.

1st Quarter

Not a good sign the Raptors won the opening tip but it went out of bounds. But Jermaine O'Neal would get the opening basket. That was after a Bosh miss and a couple misses for the Clippers. Chris Bosh would get fouled get to the line and make a pair. Al Thornton would drive and score for the Clippers. Bosh would get back to the line and make 2 more from the line. Raptors lead early 6-2. Eric Gordon hits a mid-range jumper from the corner. Jose Calderon would respond with a score plus the foul shot and the Raptors lead 9-4. Zach Randolph the former Knicks get a basket. Jermaine O'Neal had an answer on the other end. Bosh would follow that up with a hook shot and score in the paint. Raptors would get another score down low. The Raptors stormed out to a 15-6 lead. Clippers would score and Chris Bosh had a loud answer with a one handed throw down. Raptors lead 17-8 with a time out on the floor.

Baron Davis got to the line and made a pair. Jamario Moon would drive and get to the line and score both. J.O would get into the paint and score and he had 8 point so far and the Raptors lead 21-10. A Clipper turnover turns into a long 2 pointer for the Raptors. Jermaine O'Neal would score again and the Raptors lead 25-10 early on. A big lead we have seen this before. But that being said the Raptors looked very good. Clippers would get a basket on an alley oop from Baron Davis out of the time out. Jose Calderon would draw a charge on Baron Davis. Raptors had gone cold after the time out. But they still had a 13 point advantage. But Eric Gordon would hit a 3 pointer to cut it to 10 points. Baron Davis would hit another 3 pointer from Baron Davis and the Clipper had an 8-0 run going. It would have been 10 but the Clippers cost themselves a basket with an offensive cylinder interference call. Raptors still lead 25-18 after one quarter of play.

2nd Quarter

Andrea Bargnani was struggling again as he missed his first attempt of the second quarter he had already a few misses in the first. Zach Randoplh was back in the game with 2 fouls but he would drive and score. Anthony Parker would end the Raptor drought with a bucket. The Clippers would score but Will Solomon who had checked in nailed a 3-ball. Raptors lead 30-22. Randoplh would pick up his 3rd foul. Anthony Parker would get another 3 pointer. The Raptors would get another basket from Bargnani and the lead was back up to 13 points. Couple ugly misses on 3 point attempts from Will Solomon and Baron Davis. Zach Randolph was remaining in the game as the Clippers were short in the front court down Camby and Kaman. He had made a couple free throws prior to the brutal 3-ball display. So the Raptors lead was still 11 points.

Out of a time out Steve Novak would hit a needed 3 pointer for the Clippers. Zach Randoplh had a basket and lead had been trimmed to 35-29. The Raptors would respond and rattle off 4 straight points. Make that 6 straight points for the Raptors. The lead was up to 41-29 Raptors. Jermaine O'Neal would add on to that. The Clippers shooting was truly awful and we have seen awful in Raptorland. Jermaine O'Neal had another bucket. Jose Calderon would add a 3-ball and The Raptors were building a very impressive lead with the score 46-29. Clippers looker like the Raptors with all jump shots and they were missing everything. Jason Kapono had a 2 pointer. The Clippers finally may get some points as Jermaine O'Neal would get tagged for his second foul. But they would only get 1-2. Anthony Parker would hit a 3 pointer in response. The Raptor lead was 21 points. Steve Novak would finally get a field goal for the Clippers but the half time score was 51-32 Raptors. Dino Blogger's bold prediction was looking good for now.

3rd Quarter

Bosh and O'Neal combined for 22 points in the first half. Raptors were shooting 46% which was pretty good. However the Clippers were shooting 30% which was awful. The Raptors did not care just win and move on. Could they put together a 2nd half to match the first. Raptor fans for their personal sanity sure hoped so. Raptors would start the quarter with a 3 second violation on O'Neal. Al Thornton would make a couple from the line to start the half for the Clippers. Jermaine O'Neal would score and get to the line and make the free throw but would get called for a lane violation. Bosh and O'Neal continued to look good as they both added another basket to their totals. Eric Gordon would get a 3-ball for the Clippers in between that. Jermaine O'Neal blocked Baron Davis. That would turn into a Jamario Moon Jam on the other end. That was set up by an O'Neal pass. O'Neal would get another big block to maintain the the 17 point Raptor lead at this point. Bosh would miss two from the line that could have extended the lead. But no matter J.O would challenge another shot and it would end up on the other end and Calderon hit a jumper. It was Raptors 61-42 at this point.

Jermaine O'Neal had 16 points and 3 blocks and was leading the Raptor charge on both ends of the floor. Andrea Bargnani would get nailed for a clear path foul on Baron Davis. He would make the shots and Clippers would get a basket. Bargnani would then get tagged with an offensive foul. Which the Clippers would turn into two points. Andrea Bargnani had cost the Raptors 6 points of their 17 point advantage. The Raptors still lead 61-50. Clippers had an 8-0 run going. Bargnani would get to the line to get back a couple of the points he cost the Raptors. But he could only manage 1-2. Clippers would get a bucket from Zach Randolph. Andrea Bargnani would pick up his 4th foul and Eric Gordon would make them both. Bargnani would miss a 3 pointer and Andrea was almost all on his own blowing this lead. Jermaine O'Neal would finally score. But Eric Gordon would respond with a basket for the Clippers. O'Neal would just come back and score again. But Zack Randolph would get a 3 pointer. Andrea Bargnani would continue to blow up in front of your eyes with a loose ball foul and maybe that would convince Triano to get him the heck out of this game. The once 17 point Raptor lead was down to 6 points. Chris Bosh would drive and draw a foul and get to the line. Bosh would go 1-2 but Raptors would get the rebound. Jake Voskhul was in the game and he got to the line now. Jake would make both and Raptor lead was back up to 9 points now. So The Raptors would end the quarter up 69-60. A lot closer then they would like. Clippers out scored the Raptors 28-18 in the quarter.

4th Quarter

Baron Davis would open the scoring with a 3 pointer. Chris Bosh would respond with a two pointer. Zach Randolph would end up banging knees with his team mate and he was not able to stay in the game. Chris Bosh was still in the game and he was jamming it in the basket. He would be driving again and this time get to the line. Bosh would make both and the Raptor lead was back up to 10 points again with the score 75-65 Raptors. Baron Davis would get to the line and make a pair. Will Solomon on the other end would make another 3 pointer. Anthony Parker would make a two point shot and the Raptors lead by a dozen. Jake Voskhul was being aggressive and almost like the Raptor goon. He was responsible for Zack Randolph leaving. He would also lay a lick on Al Thornton. Meanwhile Bosh would make a basket and a foul shot. Bosh would get another score. Raptors lead was now 85-68. Eric Gordon would make a 3 pointer but Chris Bosh would later answer with a 3 pointer of his own. He was owning the 4th quarter.

Bosh had 28 and a lot of it had come in this final quarter. So who wants to trade Bosh now? Not Me. Bosh had 2 more that makes it 31 for him and the Raptors lead 92-73. Jermaine O'Neal made his way to the line and he would have a pair making one. He had 20 on the night and raptors had a 20 point lead. Raptor were going to win as they had their largest lead of the night with the bench in the game to close it out. It was a 97-75 final MERRY CHRISTMAS RAPTOR FANS YOU HAVE A WIN. Finally a boxscore worth looking at. Check it out:

Raps/Clipps Boxscore

Just as I said it would happen it did. Raptors win did you have any doubt? O.K so did I. But they came through lead by CB4. Take that all you people jumping off the bandwagon of CB4. J.O was solid as well. Check this dynamic duo stat line

54 points (31 Bosh, J.O 23 ) 16 rebounds ( 9 Bosh 7 J.O) 4 steals (2 each) 7 blocks ( J.O 5 Bosh 2)

This is what Bryan Colangelo had in mind when he traded for O'Neal. Hopefully the Raptors can remember what they did right on this night come Boxing Day in Sacremento.