Meltdown In Minny and At DNB HQ

Raptors had beat the T-Wolves 12 straight but as Raptor fans have learned of late no streak is safe these days. Was that foreshadowing? You are darn right it was.

Just to get the Rap fan base all riled up naturally Beasley gets the opening hoop. Raps were slugging it out and led 6-5 early make that 8 as Sonny Weems made a basket but missed on next trip on a jumper on the break not a wise choice. Bargnani was not exactly on target from 3 but decided to drive for score. Wish choice and Raps lead 14-11. Oh by the way all you Beasley fans you boy is 1-7 after making that opening score. You still want him? Maybe it is the losing streak but it is another close game with T-Wolves up 19-16. They all seem to be blending together and feeling the same. I was as dead about this game as the Minny crowd was. Bayless with a nice jumper cuts it to a 1 point game. He would blow a lay-up to take the lead but Ajinca would eventually score to give Raps the lead. But T-Wolves would end quarter with a 21-20 lead.

This game just really didn't not have a good vibe for me. No real follow to it and very disjointed. Maybe that is what you get with a team last has lost 10 straight vs team that has lost 6 straight. The team on the 6 game loser was out to a 27-23. Really this was a brutal game both teams shooting in 30% range and T-Wolves on top 34-27 at the mid point on the 2nd Quarter. Thing were getting worse for the Raptors before they were going to get better if they were. T-Wolves were up 42-32. T-Wolves were on a 9-0 run and the lead was up to 13. Raptors were 3-18 in the 2nd Quarter. Raptors were shooting just 28% and should feel fortunate to be down just 10 at the half 42-32.

So after watching some real basketball at the halftime break with Texas taking on the Mizzou and they ended up winning by the way. I was back for the 2nd half. No really I was. But I have no proof to over you as my Internet went down and somewhere floating around in Cyber space is my recap of the 3rd. What I can tell you is in the 3rd things went way south for the Raptors anyway. Being out scored in 3rd 31-20 and a 10 point halftime lead was 21 heading into the final quarter. But I still had no Internet access what to do? To the cloud!!! Nah screw the cloud to Double R aka Ryan who pitched in and summed up anything in the 4th of note as most of you let's be honest had long turned this one off. Take it away Ryan.

The only bright spot for the Raptors in that 4th quarter was the play of Ed Davis. With this game already decided the rook was getting valuable minutes in which to show the coaching staff what he can do. He would finish the game with 15 points, 10 of which can in the fourth quarter. He also had a team high 11 rebounds, which was 8 more than Bargnani’s total on the night, in 6 less minutes of playtime. Whether it was jumpers, tip-ins, layups or dunks, Davis was doing it all in this quarter and if he gets increased minutes in the future, the coaching staff would expect him to mirror if not surpass this fourth performance. The one area where he has to improve if his free throw shooting as he finished 1-4 from the charity stripe, with a couple of those misses coming in the forth quarter. Other than Davis the Raptors pretty much waved the white flag as Soloman Alabi got 7 minutes of playtime and in the end the Timberwolves ended their six-game losing skid and pushed the Raptors skid to 11 games with a 103-87 victory.

It is me again your friendly Dino Blogger aka James Borbath. It was a rough night for the DNB and a rougher night for the Raptors. But we showed more hustle in trying to recap this game than the Raptors did in it. That is the sad reality and what is also very real is the Raptors have lost 11 straight. It gets to the point is hard to imagine where the next Raptor win comes from. Someone joked with me on Twitter were better than the Cavs. Which is true but the only time the Raptors see them is not till some time in April. These are tough times and you have to wonder is there ever a point Jay Triano's job security becomes an issue? Also what do we do about Andrea and his total lack or ability/effort on defence. When teams run the pick and roll on him and Calderon it is almost as sure a 2 points as slam dunk.