Raptors Rewind- You Never Promised Me A Rose Garden Edition

1st Quarter

Well the first six minutes of this game was making me look pretty smart. I had said prior to this one it would be a battle between the young bigs of Oden and Aldridge and the more experienced Bosh and O'Neal. Well 26 of the first 28 points of the game were scored by those 4 players. Brandon Roy would break a 14-14 tie with a basket and he would follow up with another basket to follow that up and the Blazers had a 4 point advantage. The is after the Raptors had come back from being down 12-6. Bosh got to the line and made a pair and Andrea Bargnani who checked in for O'Neal made his first jumper. We were tied again at 18. But the Blazer again would push back in front. scoring 4 straight until Jose Calderon would respond with a jump shot. Jose would get another basket via his jump shot and all even at 22 again.

Anthony Parker would hit a big 3-ball after Portland had scored to take the lead. Andrea Bargnani would score on a second chance for the Raptors thanks to J.O rebounding his own miss. Channing Frye would score at the buzzer but the Raptors battled back for 6 points down to have a 28-26 after the first quarter of play.

2nd Quarter

Rudy Fernandez would score the 3-ball for the Blazers and they were back in front. But Andrea Bargnani had his groove on with another 3-ball. Will Solomon would get another 3 pointer for the Raptors and they had a 34-31 lead. Andrea Bargnani would score a 2-ball this time and Raptors had their largest lead of the night of five points with the score 36-31. Raptors would build the lead up to 7. But the Blazers would respond with an Outlaw 3-ball cutting the lead down to 4. Will Solomon was doing a good job leading the Raptor offense and they would build the lead back to 6 points with the score 40-34.

Greg Oden was back on the floor had he had his first basket since in flurry early on. But the Raptors would answer that with a 3-ball. Brandon Roy had a bucket that would be answered with a Jamario Moon jam. Raptors lead the game 45-39 with 4:10 to go in the half. Blazers and Raps exchange two point buckets and the lead remained at 7 points. Chris Bosh showed Greg Oden a little something with a nice move and a jam and a foul. It would give Bosh 3 points and the Raptors a 50-40 lead. Oden would get sent to the line and make a pair. Brandon Roy would follow up with a jumper for 2 for Portland. But Parker had a 3-ball and Bosh would score again and he now had 15 thus far tonight. Most important to him his Raptors had a 55-44 lead. Oden would make a pair from the line but Jay Triano would draw up a play that would get Bosh a score. But Travis Outlaw would get a miracle toss from half court to cut the Raptor lead to 8 at the half leading 57-49.

3rd Quarter

Raptors shot 52% form the field and they were 6-8 from 3 point range. But it was Lamarcus Aldridge that would open the scoring. But Chris Bosh responded with a basket from him to start the half he had 19 points to this point. Greg Oden was having a nice night with a number of powerful slams and he had 16 for his side including his latest monster dunk. Jermaine O'Neal would respond with a bucket for bucket. The Blazers would drain a long range bomb to pull with in 5 points and Lamarcus Aldridge would make that a 3 point Raptor lead with the score 61-58. Bosh would drive and looked to be fouled but no call came. The lead remained at just 3 points for the Raptors. Bosh was forced into a fad away jumper from a long way out which he would miss but Jamario Moon was there to jam in the rebound. Steve Blake would come down to the other end and knock down a 3-ball with ease. Blake would get another look to take the lead but that would catch iron. J.O would miss his first attempt but the Raptors would get a second chance with a rebound and J.O would drive to the basket on his second chance to score and not miss. Raptor lead 65-61 with a time out on the floor.

Travis Outlaw would score on a fading jumper in the land out of the time out. Lamarcus Aldridge would tie the score on the next trip up the floor for the Blazers. The lead that late in the first half had grown to 11 was all gone. 65 all and a brand new ball game. Aldridge would get to the line and make a pair to give the Blazers the lead. They would score again to extend the lead to 4 points. Chris Bosh would drive and draw the foul and almost made it an and one bit it would fall out. So he would head to the line for a pair that he would make. Andrea Bargnani had a chance to put the Raptors back in front but he would miss the 3-ball. Will Solomon would make a bad pass that would go out of bounds and the Raptors missed another chance to pull even. Raptors would trail 69-67 after 3 quarters of play.

4th Quarter

Raptors shooting % sunk down to 43% after the 3rd quarter. But they were still in the basketball game. Took over a minute and half for someone to score. But Chris Bosh would bust open the score sheet with a basket to tie it at 69. But after that the Blazers would run off 4 straight. But Andrea Bargnani would answer that with a 3-ball which Brandon Roy would answer with a 3 pointer of his own and it was 76-72. Lamarcus Aldridge was being good all night long.He scored again and Roy followed that up with a basket and another. Raptor were now looking an eight point deficit square in the face.

Jerrmaine O'Neal had the ball swiped away by Roy and wanted a foul. Instead it would be another Aldridge score and an 84-74 lead for the Blazers. Moon would respond with a score only to have Brandon Roy answer with a 3 pointer. He would get another basket and Jay Triano like his team was frustrated with the non-calls as well and get a technical foul. But in reality he was likely as frustrated his team had no answers for Aldridge and Roy. Raptors who once lead by 11 now trailed by 13 points with the score 89-76. Roy would continue to dazzle with another score. J.O would come back with a jam plus a foul and pull the Raptors back to down 10 points at 91-81 with just under 4 minutes to play. There was time left to make a comeback but it would not be easy. Bosh would get to the line with 3:08 left on the clock for a pair. He would make both and the lead was 8 points for the Blazers. Bosh had 27 points on the night for the Raptors. Brandon Roy would take a tumble at hands of Jamario Moon and head to the line and calm as can be make a pair. Bosh quickly answered with 2 for the Raptors. Steve Blake would score with a one handed runner. J.O would respond but the Raptors needed stops. But they were not coming as the Blazers got a dunk to push the lead back to 10 points at 97-87. This game was done for the most part. Raptors once again played well but not good enough. They could not find that complete 48 minutes it would take to beat a quality opponent. Raptors would fumble and bumble their way down the final minute or so. The Blazers would dribble out a season sweep of the Raptors with a 102-89 win over Toronto.

Blazers/Raps Boxscore

I am a bit under the weather so if there is some editing that is lacking it will get done tomorrow morning. I also had to reboot the computer right before the start hence the bit of strange start to this Raptor Rewind with no set-up and Raptor Rewind Logo. But I was able to stay healthy enough to keep hitting keys. So I will be happy for that. Got an interview to put together tomorrow as well. It will get done but may be a little slower then I would like. But it is for a good cause getting Raptors on TSN 2 for everyone so I will get it done. I may just have to stop to blow my nose or but some ice on my head. But enough complaining from me. Raptors have a tough loss tonight and once again can't close the deal on a good team. Nothing new to report there.