Patience is wearing thin for everyone in Raptorland. If it is not someone that wants Bargnani traded or maybe even deported it is a person that wants Bryan Colangelo to walk the plank. After a double OT loss to San Antonio what would the Raptors have two days later in Houston? The answer would be not much.
Andrea Bargnani did show up in the first quarter and first half. Not so much in the third and beyond. This game had the doors blown open by Houston in the third out scoring the Raptors 38-28 adding to the lead they had built in the first half.
The Raptors offense was clicking decently all night but a lack of defense and turnovers would overshadow that. God bless Raptor fans as they can try and pull a positive from almost anything. Terrence Ross got to play a lot and took advantage with 19 points off the bench. He shot 9-17 in this one and added to his fairly empty to this point NBA highlight reel with some nice dunks.
While I would be excited to see a DeMar DeRozan vs. Terrence Ross Dunk off this does not instantly make me think Terrence has suddenly arrived. The cold reality is he did a chunk of this work with Houston holding a fairly significant lead and having the game well in hand. Is this good for him and help his confidence and ego that has likely taken a hit. Sure it is, but does that mean I think he should start in Memphis tomorrow? Not particularly.
Eventually, can and should Ross earn some minutes? Sure he can, but understand what Terrence Ross playing is likely going to represent. It will likely be a sign the Raptors goal of the playoffs has had the white flag raised on it. If not for injures were not even having this conversation.
All 5 Houston starters were in double figures. Raptors not so much as Bargnani had his 21, Val and DeMar each had 12. While Dominic McGuire had big donuts zero in the scoring column. While Kyle Lowry in his return to Houston was so-so at best with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. He shot on the night just 3-10 and 0-3 from distance. Both backcourts were sloppy with 7 turnovers for Lowry/Derozan and Lin/Harden. But Harden did pour in 24 and had 12 assists while Jeremy Lin had 16 points and 10 dimes.
Raptors keep losing dropping another one 117-101 at the Toyota Center. It is one to face one of the hottest teams out of the gate this NBA season the former Vancouver now Memphis Grizzlies. That likely looks like another L. Lot of those piling up and nobody is happy about that.
To all that wished me congratulations on 5 years of the DNB yesterday thanks to all of you.
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