DNB Game In Pictures

This is something new will try for the odd Raptor game that has some extra time between games. Basically we have some photos from last night's game with some fun captions to give you all a laugh so if your ready...Roll'Em

Raptors Show Rare Clutchness At The ACC.

James Johnson will not only play tonight he will start. This is a terrible sign for Sonny Weems who lead the Raptors in scoring last night and tonight is on the bench. I grow more frustrated with this franchise by the day. Johnson will wear 0 and Raptors better hope he plays better than a 0 or they will hear it from more than just me. At least he should know what to do to defend Deng. Anyway here we go this promises not to be pretty.

Raptors were off to a nice start with a 9-4 lead and Johnson was playing some defence a foreign concept on Raptors but not the Bulls. But Chicago would fight there way back to tied at 11 midway through the first quarter. Weems checks in and shooting and scoring right away to give the Raps a lead but Bulls would get on a roll and lead 17-13. Noah was rebounding everything in sight by the way in his return. Had 10 rebounds before taking a seat in the first quarter with three plus minutes to play. Derrick Rose as expected abusing the Raptors as well an easy drive and score draws a time out with Bulls leading 23-17. Weems and Barbosa both hit jumpers to make it respectable after one with the score 29-25.

Weems got Raptors started and Raptors briefly had a lead 30-29 but turnovers and miscues sparked a 9-0 Bulls run and Bulls led 38-30 and a time out to ask the Raptors what the hell they were doing out there? Ed Davis would end a 3 minute 3o second stretch of no scoring and horrible offence. Raptors clawed back to down 39-37 with DeRozan and Bargnani leading the charge. DeRozan then had a dunk and off a steal hooked up the newest Raptor James Johnson with a dunk tied at 43. The Raps make little sense they show nothing vs Bobcats 24 hours ago and yet tonight are scrapping with the Bulls but on short end of stick 50-46. James Johnson showing some hustle and defence with a block on Boozer. Hustle and D will get you love in T.O not from me but in general. I am not has quick to hope on the new guy fan club train but some are getting aboard no doubt. Bulls still in front thought and had a 5 point late. DeRozan finished an Alley Opp and it was 58-55 Bulls at the half.

Demar had tweeted he was going Ham for the rest of this season on Twitter? Going ham defined for me. It must mean to go nuts and slam the ball like crazy and make jumpers like your Ray Allen. Whatever it means Demar was doing it and he exploded out of gates in 2nd half and the Raptors had a 65-63 lead with 8:32 to play. Bulls called for a time out and Thibodeau was less than thrilled with his teams defence. Deng a 3 out of the time out and Bulls were back on top. Calderon made a bucket a rare event for him these days. He does have 14 assists though which is outstanding even I will admit. Caldeon was doing a good job running the offence and Raptors had build a bit of a lead at 73-68 with under 5 to play in 3rd. Raptors were continuing to shock the realistic view with a 83-75 lead and Bulls playing first game after the break could not match the Raps intensity to this point. Bulls closed quarter well and cut lead in half it was 85-81 Raptors heading to the 4th.

Rose got Bulls going with 5 straight Rose points and led 86-85. Bayless continued to struggle tonight with a turnover that just was sloppy and can not even understand how it happened. He has been just awful of late. But that being said the Raptors would get back on track despite that, as Bargnani would start the ball rolling with a basket and 1. He was fouled again and headed to the line giving the Raptors the lead back 90-88. Weems would get a bucket to make it a 4 point lead. Boozer would score and looked to have fouled Amir Johnson in the time out not that long after Triano was have a discussions with the refs about that one. Raptors after the time out had Calderon back in and started to build a lead 98-91 with just over 6 to play in 4th. Barbosa was giving a burst of the bench Bargnani hit him cutting to the net and it was 102-94. More Barbosa with a long two after a Bulls score to make it 104-96.

The Bulls would get on a run and tie the game up at 107 thanks to Derrick Rose who was on fire in the 4th quarter after a fairly quiet night by his standards. A time out with 1:59 to play and the Raptors 8 point lead was gone. But Demar DeRozan was having a nice game and 4th quarter and he hit and Rose answered and we were tied at 109 with 1:30 to play. DeRozan got fouled with 1:14 to play and made both at the line. Rose was playing monkey see and monkey do with Demar as he got fouled and made both tied at 111. DeRozan went back to the line fouled by Boozer and Demar much in the clutch makes both. Raptors got a key stop and DeRozan showed some vet smarts pulling the ball out on the break and Raps would eat some clock and get the score. James Johnson would end up at the line to put the icing on the upset cake against his former team for the 118-113 unlikely victory from the Raptors.

DeRozan and Bargnani both had 24 and both played well, a rare 8 rebound performance from Bargnani. DeRozan meanwhile was a perfect 8-8 at the line including some big ones down the stretch. James Johnson has a decent debut against his former team of just yesterday. He had 9 points 5 boards and 3 blocks. While Calderon didn't score much with just 6 but had 3 steals and 17 assists and did a great job running the offence. Solid effort from Amir Johnson and good performances from Barbosa, Weems and Davis off the bench. Raptors played there best 2nd half of the season and shocked the Bulls who were playing their first game since the All-Star Break.

Raptors Go On A Boozer At ACC

It was Andrea Bargnani Bobble Head Night with no Andrea Bargnani. Late word the Andrea Bargnani would not play do to an issue with his left knee. Add this to the mystery foot injury of Jose Calderon that has caused him to miss the last 3 games make it 4 games. Along with Reggie Evans still recovering from his foot surgery and Peja has knee swelling that may well not end till his contract expires. The Raptors instead of having 14 bodies to choose from, Raps were down 2 from what they can dress with just 10 healthy bodies. While Rose and Noah who were said to be game time decisions both decided to play. Add in the fact the Raptors played last night while the Bulls watch from their hotel rooms in Toronto. Chicago coming into Toronto on a big win streak looking to win their 7th in a row and the Raptors coming off a terrible effort in North Carolina. The deck was sure stacked against the Raptors starting a 4 game Pre-Christmas home stand.

I ended up doing this game for The Score so if you would like a blow by blow account at it happened please go check out that Live Blog post facto. I for the terms of the blog will just offer some post game thoughts on this one.

First and foremost I am not going to beat up on the Raptors for tonight. Clearly they were up against it, and a loss like the one in Charlotte angers me far more than anything that happen at the ACC on this evening. Even a full healthy Raptors squad were going to be hard pressed to beat a Bulls team that has been red hot. To rip apart the Raptors would be far from fair in my opinion.

The under manned Raptor but up a game fight at least in the first quarter. That being said they had no answer for Carlos Boozer and that would be an on going theme throughout the evening. Amir Johnson would get 2 quick fouls in this one and that left Ed Davis and Joey Dorsey to fend for themselves with an already under manned front court. I have to say that Ed Davis has really surprised me so far. I never expected him to be this good with all the time he has missed in the last year of his basketball career. Half a college season, all of training camp and all of the pre-season. He sticks to what he is good at and tries to do that well. His first NBA start produced at double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Jerryd Bayless has been picking up his scoring with out Jose Calderon but he was committing turnovers and not making the number of assists you would expect from your starting point guard. Leandro Barbosa has been doing a good job of adding points coming off the pine. He and Bayless have been playing well together.

The Raptors have never had much success against the Utah Jazz and the Bulls have added 3 players from that Jazz squad in Boozer, Korver and Brewer. All three of them contributed to varying degrees to this win tonight for the Bulls. Boozer just could not be stopped in basically 3 quarters of work he had 34 points 12 rebounds and 2 steals and block. Raptors just had no one that could check him all night long.

Sonny Weems and Demar DeRozan continued to struggle they were a combined 7-22 from field with just 19 points. They also have been struggling on the other end of the floor. While many are calling for their heads, to me it will only be a last resort to see them removed from the starting line-up. While Barbosa likely deserves to start in front of DeRozan he is perhaps the only spark the Raptors have coming of the bench in terms of scoring. Linas Klezia has done nothing to show he is any better than Weems at this point. While I share the frustration of Weems and DeRozan they are suppose to be part of your future and you have to let them grow and develop. If this was not a rebuilding year I would have a different opinion. However, the Raptors have always been saying this is a development year and if that is the case you need to let that happen. I am more confident they will figure things out on the offence and have a greater concern with their defence at this point.

Among the small positives in this one was Joey Dorsey seeing more time and cashing in with 12 points 13 rebounds and a couple blocks. The one thing that I failed to understand was given this game was basically done after 3 quarters is why we did not see Solomon Alabi with the game pretty much decided. If you are not going to play him on a night like this one, when exactly would you do it. Alabi spent some time in the D-League and did ok in his time there. It puzzles me why he never saw 1 second of floor time.

The Raptors made this score closer than what it really was as the Bulls were up 29 and played reserves in the 4th and they did not do well. It ended up a 110-93 victory for the Bulls. Raptors will hope to get healthy for Friday as they will be taking on the Nets. If they do not get healthy they will still be challenged to get a win vs New Jersey. Raptors are really at a point where they could fall of the map unless they turn things around and are able to get a couple wins before Christmas.

Boozer And Bulls Waiting For Raptors

Carlos Boozer was the Bulls fall back plan in 2010 Free Agency. A broken hand prior to the season was likely not what they had in mind. Carlos is 8 games into his Bulls Career he is below all his career averages with 15.5 points (17.2 career) 8.0 rebounds (10.1 career) FG % 49.5% (54% career) among them . That being said he is coming in off a impressive 22 points and 18 rebounds vs the Pacers. He is now starting to gel a bit with his new team and Derrick Rose and him can make a lethal 1-2 punch. While Boozer's numbers are down, Rose is on the rise with increased points, rebounds and assists this season. He has never had to many issues with the Raptors as well in his short career. If Jose Calderon comes back tonight he may be in for a very long evening. The Raptors had a poor effort and now on a back to back face a better Bulls team that was sitting in Toronto waiting for them. Even with a great effort Raptors are in tough tonight.

The Basics: Chicago 15-8 (5-6 on the road) Toronto 9-16 (3-7 in Last 10)

When Last We Saw Them: The Raptors showed little effort energy and hustle and went down far to easily to the Bobcats last night. Turnovers were again an issue and so was the defence. Andrea Bargnani was MIA for the most part and were not talking Miami. Very few positives in a game that the Raptors should have won. Much like their first encounter with the Bobcats at the ACC.

Key Match Ups: If it is Calderon or Bayless it really doesn't matter because Rose is a handful for anyone. How the Raptors handle this match-up will ultimately decide their fate in this one. If they over help on Rose it could lead to lots of open looks and cause issues. Amir Johnson and Carlos Boozer will be one to watch as well. If Boozer can get Amir in foul trouble it could mean a real education for Ed Davis in this one. Noah and Bargnani will be an interesting one to watch as well. Can Bargnani bounce back, and get any rebounds going against a beast on the glass in Noah.

Other Things Of Note: Keith Bogans, Kyle Korver and a few others have the skill to drain 3's and perimeter defence has not exactly been a strength for the Raptors recently. The Raptors start a 4 game Pre-Christmas homestand with games against the Nets, Lakers and Pistons after this one tonight. Also Eric Smith and Jack Armstrong are going to be doing a Christmas Album so if you can track down Eric at one of those games the cost is 5 bucks and proceeds are going to charity. I am getting mine Friday. According to Chuck Swirsky (Remember Him??) via Twitter he says Rose is a game time decision and Noah has a banged up hand.

Where is it on: TSN 2 for this one, Always on Radio on Fan 590.

Update 11:20am- Looks like Rose and Noah will play tonight according to The Chicago Tribune