L To Be Proud Of

The Raps and the Suns but on a hell of a show. This was a basketball game that any fan of the game would enjoy. I have been live blogging games since December and can not remember to many that were better than this one. It would all come down to a final shot from Hedo who had made 2 clutch 3's down the stretch but he would not make a third. Raps lose a real heart breaker 101-100. But as angry and truly vexed as I was about the eventual win over the Clippers, I am the exact opposite about this game. You may say that is nuts cause the Raptors get L for this game and a W for the other. However this game was a much more complete and better overall effort from Toronto despite the outcome. If they can carry this with them to Denver and Utah they will have a chance to win. If you missed the game and want to re-live it in real time as it happened you can check out the live blog from The Score that I did.

Chris Bosh continues to impress with another double double effort of 25 points and 10 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire was the games high man with 30. While Canada's own Steve Nash had 20 and 9. While Hedo Turkoglu who was questionable with a bad hip had his best game as a Raptor by far scoring 20. For the rest of the stats check out the Boxscore.

The Raps gave a solid consistent defensive effort. There were some bad moments in the 3rd and into the 4th along the way but a much more balanced effort overall. Amir Johnson continued to shine in getting on the glass and battling hard. Marco Belinelli had some moments early but faded late. It was a rough night at the office for Jarret Jack. Calderon got the majority of time and deserved it. He had a couple of steals and was not nearly as bad as he usually is on the defensive end. Sonny Weems got some more PT and did nothing to dis-credit himself from getting more. He had one of the highlight moment on the night with an nice alley opp throw down.

The Raptors trade blows with the Suns and did not look out of place doing it. The first quarter of this game was a clinic on great offense from both teams as the Raps out dueled the Suns to a 33-31 first quarter lead.

The short Coles Notes version to all of this is that if this team can play like that night in and night out they will at the end of the day be much better than the current 5-5 record that they currently hold. Even though it was a loss on the night the Raptors if they can build from this will be a much better squad in the long run.

So if you can ever be truly happy about an L that is what I am. This was a team that at the end of the day I could be proud of and the their superstar could be proud of as well. There will be other games and other chances but the Raps played like winners despite the L is the standing saying differently. If you missed this one it really is a shame and I encourage you to try and catch a replay of it...well worth watching.