Bulldozed

So Bargnani is back...Jerryd Bayless is too but no Jose and Weems as well. A banged up group of Raptors would be in tough against a very good Bulls team.

Welcome back Bargs as he gets the opening bucket. The team traded points to 5-5 and then Raptors got a roll with 6 straight to take an 11-5 lead and were 5/7 from the field. Bulls would claw back into it and made it 13-10 with about 7 to play in the 1st. A much better effort from the Raptors then the first time these two teams hooked up. Raptors were hanging tough up 22-21. Bargnani was looking really good 10 first quarter point after a basket plus a foul and Raptors led 25-23. Raptors did not close the quarter well though and as a result trailed 29-27 after 1.

Bulls were getting the better of the early going with a 10-4 advantage to start the 2nd. Raptors were down 8 and Triano called a time out to re-group. The time out did not help much as Bulls had extended out the lead 43-33. Also Bargnani had gone cold and DeRozan who had been red hot in his absence only had two shots so far. Raptors really looked sluggish. They only scored 14 points in the 2nd and at one point were shooting 5/20 that is 25% for those of you that find math a challenge. They were not stopping the Bulls as well who had 59 first half points.

It would get worse in the second half be for it would get better. Raptors would go down by as much as 23 and were in danger of just getting wiped out. But a 14-3 run would make it closer but not really close if you catch my drift.The Raptors clawed back to being down a dozen to make the 4th quarter at least interesting. Maybe they could pull off a Windy City Miracle to go along with the Mo-Town Miracle. But the Bulls were not the Pistons and it would show in the 4th quarter. They put up 30 points again and when the dust cleared they had a 20 point win 111-91.

Bargnani after a hot start was slowed down and ended up with 23 points shooting 7 for 17. He was 8 for 8 at the line and just 1-4 from 3 point land. His defence was lacking but overall it was a decent return and a pretty typical Andrea Night. Demar DeRozan was cooled off some by the return of Bargnani with just 18 points and he shot well going 7-14 and had a couple steals and blocks. The one big problem for the Raptors was rebounding. Bargnani actually led the Raps with just 6 rebounds. The Bulls won the battle on the glass 44-33. How will the Raptors bounce back playing a team they can beat tonight in the Cleveland Cavs? Will see but the Raptors lack of ability to get wins on the road is catching up with them. The schedule has turned and the Raptors have been playing a lot of road games. They have only 4 wins on the road and it is a problem.