Short Handed Raps Visit Graceland

No Bargnani, No Weems and Johnson not 100 percent but will give it a go. Also no Peja and Reggie. In this one. What would a short handed group of Raptors have to offer a Grizzlies team on the 2nd half of a back to back? It was time to find out.

Kleiza gets Raptors off on the right foot with a basket. After a Calderon bucket Grizz would come to life and get a bucket in the paint and an easy slam off a steal by Rudy Gay were tied at 4. DeRozan sticks a jumper later after his turnover and it was 10-7 Raptors. Raptors shooting it well 6-9 to start the latest was a Calderon jumper and it is 12-7 men in Red. Grizz still in Christmas mood with 4 turnovers and Raps taking advantage as Kleiza hit again and Raps on a 10-3 run lead 16-8. Kleiza had a wide open 3 but missed it, stuck on 16-8 and the Grizz call a time out. Davis missed but Kleiza the tap back and he is 5-7 early. Derozan the hustle play leads to him getting the hoop and harm. Time out with and 1 to come and Raptors leading 22-10. DeRozan missed the and 1 after the break. Raptors had a 9 point lead with under 2 to play. Bayless draws a charge on Gay saves the Raps giving up an easy 2. But then Bayless Travel with 2.1 second left and Raps up 8. Grizz would do nothing with the 2 seconds and Raptors had a 24-16 lead after 1.

Bayless nailed a 3 ball and the streak lives for those who care but more importantly Raptors lead was 31-20. From that point the Grizz got on a run and cut the lead down to 5 with the score 31-26 with 7:07 to play in half.... time out Triano. DeRozan drives to hoop out of time out and draws contact get to the line....splits a pair and he was just 2-5 from the line. More double D with the slam in transition. However Rudy Gay would answer with a 3 pointer then a bucket and the foul. Gay a steal and a chance to tie it up but they throw it away. Only to have the Raps give it right back and Grizz tie it up at 34. Yet another turnover out of time out and Grizz take the lead 36-34. Just a very sloppy game by both teams the Christmas spirit of giving was in full effect. Kleiza nails a 3 to give the Raptors the lead back 39-38 with just about 3 to play. This was not pretty but the Grizz had fought back in front 44-41. Raptors had more turnovers in this half than people returned gifts today. Maybe not that many but seemed like it. A Conley bucket and a charge on Bayless was not improving anything. A buzzer 3 would make it look more respectable than it was but Grizzlies still up 48-44 at the half.

Well as bad as Raps played in the 2nd they were only down 4. Grizzlies had 8 and DeRozan had 4 to start the 2nd half. Raptors were struggling and the Grizzlies had built up the lead to a dozen with score 62-50 with 7:13 to play in 3rd. Raptors respond out of time out with 8-2 advantage. But a Conley 3-ball would get the Grizz lead back to 9. Raptors just didn't look good on D and giving up easy transition points was not helping matters. Grizz were back up a dozen and Raptors were struggling to get anything. A good example of what not to do was a Barbosa pass on a 2 foot shot to end up with a miss from 3 for someone else. Raptors were down 77-63 and Grizz were shooting 55% after the 3rd.

Really don't have a lot to say about the 4th the Raptors were there, and Grizzlies let them hang around at times, but eventually laid the smack on them to close the door. In the end it was an 11 point Raptors loss and it offered few positive signs after the 1st Quarter. Memphis take it 96-85 an Raps had 25 turnovers and were just 5-14 at the line that is 2 ugly stats in what was a pretty ugly game.