Raptors Rewind- TSN 2 Or Not Edition

The Raptor Rewind marches on be it rain or snow or not TSN 2. I really am tired of this non-sense. To have to scramble to find a way to do what I consider my job. I talked with my cable company today and they say that they are doing all they can. It was a nice person I talked to and she was a basketball fan and hopefully will now be a reader of the Dino Nation Blog. But I just am angry that this is an issue at this point. I am not sure who to blame for that. Is it Rogers? Is it TSN and their parent company Bell Globe Media? Should the Raptors be blamed for not taking a more hard line stance with these companies to get this fixed. I mean MLSE I think would take a different approach if this had to do with the Maple Leafs and not the Raptors. Point is as fans we are the ones who suffer. But that being said I will not let that stop me from doing what my mission is here to provide fans with my brand of coverage of games. I tend to think I care more about fans than the parties involved. Someone needs to wake up and stand up for the fans of the Toronto Raptors. That being said a game will be played and be it somewhere on the Internet or on the radio I am going to do my best to follow along and give you a recap of the events of the night at the ACC. I hope the folks who make the choices about these matters understand, when you complain about the ratings for basketball on your networks you are part of the problem. If you don't respect the sport and treat it's fans like garbage you have no right to complain about the ratings. Sports fans do not care about your bottom lines and whatever issues this may cause. All they want to do is watch the game and cheer for their team. They deserve the right to do that. I mean why exactly do we have a CRTC if they sit back and let these things go on? Sorry for the rant but I think all of you share in my rage. I promise the rest of this will be about basketball. However, I wanted to express my opinion and hopefully represent you the readers who have been effected by this.

1st Quarter

Well I have a combo of radio and video feed. Bosh was fouled by Yi and went to the line and made the free throws. Jason Kapono would nail a 3 pointer and raps had an early 5-0 advantage. A couple of buckets for J.O and it was a 9-0 run for the Raptors to start the game causing Lawrence Frank to call a 20 second time out. Jamario Moon would get a couple free throw and then later get an alley opp feed from Jose Calderon. Calderon would then get a 3 pointer and the Raptors had a 16-2 lead early on. It was like continuing on from the game in New Jersey.

Vince Carter had his second basket of the night and the only points for Jersey to this point. Vince would hit a 3 pointer after a Bosh miss and he had all 7 points for the Nets to this point. Jermaine O'Neal would respond with a jumper. O'Neal would later make a pair from the line they had a 20-9 lead. J.O was hustling on defense to drawing an offensive foul. Ryan Anderson was fouled and heading to the line for New Jersey. He would make both and the Nets were now down 9. The Nets would cut it to seven but Bargnani would get a kind roll on his jumper to extend the lead back to 9 points. The Raptors had a 26-15 lead and aside from Vince Carter scoring a bit this looked much like the game in New Jersey. Ryan Anderson hit a 3-ball for the Nets. Raptors had made a turnover the second in a row. But the Nets could not convert this second time. Antony Parker missed a 3-ball from the corner that would go out of bounds off a Raptor. Keyon Dooling would get a steal and score the Nets were back to within 6 points. Roko Ukic would get a basket and Vince Carter buzzer shot would not fall. Despite going over 4 minutes without a field goal the Raptors still lead 28-20 after one.

2nd Quarter

The Nets would end up on the line with two free throws from Ryan Anderson. He would make only 1-2 from the line. J.O would get to the line himself but he would miss both. Josh Boone was able to score on the other end for the Nets and it was a 28-23 Raptor lead. A Ryan Anderson 3-ball and the lead had shrunk to just 2 points. Jermaine O'Neal would finally respond for the Raptors. The Nets would score again but Roko Ukic would find J.O and set the table for an O'Neal throw down. J.O had 12 points to lead all scorers in the game and Raptors lead 32-28. Chris Bosh would hit Joey Graham streaking to the hoop and Joey would throw it down. Brook Lopez would score a basket from in the paint for the Nets. Joey Graham with a spin and a pass to Kapono who would hit a big 3 ball for the Raptors. Raptors lead was back up to 7 with a 37-30 lead. Chris Bosh had a huge block. But Raptors could not convert it into points.

The Nets had pulled to down just 5 and Jermaine O'Neal who was having a good game would have to sit with 3 fouls. Jason Kapono would make a long 2 pointer from the corner to make the lead 7 again. But Brook Lopez would get a thrown down off a V.C pass. Yi JianLian would hit a 3-ball and this was a 2 point basketball game with the Raptors up 37-35. Chris Bosh was with out a field goal but he would drive strong and get sent to the line. He would make both and Raptors lead 41-37. Josh Boone got offensive board on a missed 3 pointer from Yi. Boone would put it in the basket to pull the Nets to with in just 2 points. Andrea Bargnani was fouled and made 2 from the line. Bosh was blocked and then had it stolen away. He wanted a foul called. But instead Jersey would score in transition and he would get called for a technical foul. The Nets had their first lead of the night 44-43. The Nets would score again on a second chance opportunity. Jose Calderon would get a 3 pointer or was it a 2. For now it was a 3 pointer and Raptors trailed 46-45 at the half.

3rd Quarter

The Nets had 14 second chance points and Raptors 0. That was the big reason the Nets were in this basketball game and actually winning it. Seems Jose got credit for the 3-ball after all so it was 46-46. Chris Bosh hit a jumper and Raptors had a lead. Jamario Moon had a jam the lead was 50-48. Vince Carter would score to tie it. Bobby Simmons would hit a 3 pointer to give the Nets a 53-50 lead. Chris Bosh would score ot pull back to just 1 down. But Devin Harris who had been quiet got a basket and the Net lead was back to 3 points. Raptors found a cutting Moon who would take it to the hoop and score. Bobby Simmons would answer with a 3-ball and Kapono answered with a 3-ball of his own. The Nets had a 58-57 lead with a time out on the floor.

Vince Carter out of the time out would hit a jumper. Chris Bosh would answer with a score for the Raptors. Raptors would get a turnover and a J.K 3-ball in transition and the Raptors had the lead back at 62-60. Raptors battled on the glass and it turned into two free throw for Jamario Moon at the other end. Moon made both and he had 9 points and 8 rebounds to this point for the Raptors to this point. Bosh denied Ryan Anderson's attempt and that would get converted on the other end by Jose Calderon with a jumper the Raptors lead was 66-60. Raptors continued to play better defense and Andrea Bargnani on the offense would drive and get to the line. He would make both and the Raptors were on an 11-0 run if my math is right. Joey Graham would block Vince Carter and it would lead to a double foul call as Andrea and Vince would get tied up. Carter would exchange words with Andrea. Calderon would extend the run with another basket. Vince Carter would end the run with a 3-ball but his Nets were still down 7 with the score 70-63. Both the Raps and Nets would get a chance to change the score but both failed. So it was 70-63 after 3 quarters of play.

4th Quarter

So the Raptors came into the 4th quarter with a 7 point lead. They needed to hold on to it unlike the last time these two teams hooked up in this building. Both team came up empty on their first couple trips of the quarter. Andrea Bargnani was playing hard on defense, He would get rewarded being sent to the line on the offensive end and he would make both for the first points of the quarter. The Nets would have a turnover and Raps had a chance to extend the lead to double digits. However they could not and instead Harris would get to basket for basket plus the foul shot. Devin Harris would again get to the line and make both the Raptors lead was 4 at 72-68.Devin Harris had 7 straight points for New Jersey and the lead was now just 2 points 72-70 for Raptors. Jay Triano had seen enough and called a time out.

Jose Calderon would miss a 3 point shot out of the time out but it would not fall. Devin Harris would get fouled by J.O and Devin Harris was back on the line again with a chance to tie the game. He would do just that. Raptors were 0-7 in the quarter and Brook Lopez would score on the offensive put back to give the Nets the lead 74-72. Raptors were ice cold and Vince Carter who had been watching the Nets take the lead was now in the game looking to close it out for his team.

Vince out of the time out would drive and get sent to the line on an Andrea Bargnani foul. He would get the basket and the foul and the Nets had a 5 point lead. The Raptors continued to miss and Devin Harris drove and was sent to the line to take a couple free throws and he would make them. Jose Calderon would final give the Raptors a chance to score by driving to the basket and drawing the foul. He would make both which is nothing new for Jose he has made 58 straight to start the season. Devin Harris would come down and drain a bucket in response. Ryan Anderson would hit a 3 pointer, and a once 7 point Raptor lead had turned into a 10 point Nets lead.

Raptors had been out scored 21-4 to this point in the 4th quarter. Jermaine O'Neal would miss a pair off free throws for the second time on this night. The Nets would take advantage and score and had an 86-74 lead and were totally out classing the Raptors in this 4th quarter. A Jose Calderon 3-ball after Anderson made a pair from the line but the lead was 11 for the Nets. Jason Kapono would get another 3 pointer after a rare pointless trip for the Nets. Rookie Ryan Anderson was back at the line he would make 1-2. The young rookie had 21 points and 8 rebounds for the Nets.The lead was 89-80 for the Nets with under 2 minutes to play. Raptors were starting to wake up but it was far to late. Jay Triano frustrated with a call would get his first technical foul as a head coach. Carter would miss the Tech and Chris Bosh would hit a 3 pointer and the Raptors were down now just 5 points. Just 53 seconds left to play and it was the Raptors looking to make the unreal late comeback to steal a win. Vince Carter missed a fading mid range jumper and Jose Calderon would get a look at a 3 pointer to get the game to just 2 points down. But it would miss and the Raptors chances were pretty much over despite making it a bit more exciting down the stretch. The Raptors were extending this game but their fate was sealed. The Raptors let one get away losing by a final score of 94-87. The boxscore tell the tail of how the Raptors let this game slip away.

Nets/Raps Boxscore

It doesn't get easier for the Raptors to watch for those with or without TSN2. The Dallas Mavericks come to town and that will be far from an easy win for this Raptor Basketball team. The fall to 10-14 on the year and 4 games below .500.