RAPS VS GRIZZ

[boogiesdad]

The Toronto Raptors haven't played well this season with Chris Bosh on the court. That doesn't mean they wouldn't like to have their All-Star back on the floor as soon as possible.


Bosh is likely to miss his second straight game Saturday night as the Raptors try to avoid a sixth consecutive loss when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies.

Two nights after Bosh sprained his knee against the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto's leading scorer missed his first game of the season as the Raptors (19-33) fell 101-92 at New Orleans on Friday.

Though Bosh, averaging a career high with 22.7 points and 9.5 rebounds, is listed as day-to-day, he could very well miss the Raptors' entire three-game road trip that concludes Tuesday night in Minnesota.

"It would be nice to have him, but there's nothing I can do it," interim coach Jay Triano told the Raptors' official Web site. "Some of these guys have to step up.

While injuries to key players Jermaine O'Neal and Jose Calderon have contributed to the Raptors' struggles this season, losing Bosh could make it even tougher for the club as they try to end their current skid with a fifth straight win over Memphis.

Even with Calderon back from a sore hamstring to run the offense, Toronto blew an 11-point second-half lead Friday in losing for the 12th time in 15 games. That losing stretch included a season-high seven-game skid from Jan. 11-21.

O'Neal scored 24 points, while Andrea Bargnani added 19 for the Raptors, who shot 50.7 percent form the field but succumbed to a 17-0 fourth-quarter run by New Orleans.

The veteran O'Neal is averaging 13.7 points on the season, but 22.0 on 58.3 percent shooting in his last three games.

Injuries kept O'Neal and Calderon (13 ppg, 8.5 apg) out of Toronto's 103-82 home win over Memphis on Jan. 9. Bosh had 32 in that contest, while Bargnani added 21 as the Raptors shot 55.6 percent against the Grizzlies.

Bargnani had 13 points and 11 boards as Toronto won 95-89 on Nov. 21, 2007 at Memphis to snap a four-game road losing streak to the Grizzlies.

Memphis (13-36) tries to rebound from a 126-105 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. Rudy Gay scored 26 points, but the Grizzlies' bid for a third straight win failed as they allowed their second-most points this season.

"It's tough to come back from the deficit we forced ourselves into in the first half," said Gay of the Grizzlies, who trailed 33-20 after one quarter. "It was tough, but it also was a lesson."

Gay is averaging 18.8 points on the season and 23.0 in his last five games overall. He had 22 on 10-of-15 shooting in last month's loss to Toronto. ESPN.COM

[vinzanity]

Raptors are hungry for a W. We should finally break out of our losing streak.

[SD2042]

With the Raps missing their main contributors in the lineup, the Grizz need to take advantage. They have to play with better consistancy on both ends unlike the last game.

[vincecarter4pres]

Why isn't Gay playing tonight?

If there is no known legitimate reason, I smell blockbuster trade coming.

Checkout if anyone else in the league isn't playing tonight who should be.

Edit:Nevermind, just found it on Yahoo, left hip flexor.

[SD2042]

Rudy sat out with a hip flexor. He substain the injury i nthe last game against the Clippers. He's expected to miss the next two games against N.O. and Philly coming up.


Grizzlies- 78
Raptors- 70

http://www.grizzliesonline.com/index.ph ... s_raptors/

Head Coach Lionel Hollins

On O.J. Mayo coming through at the end:
“I have to say that it was the moment for us to win. He has made big shots. He made them in the Houston game. Big time players, no matter what kind of game they have, seem to rise to the occasion. He rose to the occasion in the last few minutes of that game.”

On the win:
“We just clawed it out. We were short-handed with Rudy (Gay) out and Darrell (Arthur) isn’t here and Kyle (Lowry) isn’t here. We grinded it out, that is all you can say. We had some good defensive sequences. They tried to go small and we matched them. We kept them off the three-point line for most of the game. They were 5-for-23 for 21 percent. We just battled in that area. We battled on the glass. We actually won the battle of the boards. What can I say, 42 points in the paint, 10 second-chance points.

“We didn’t run a lot. I didn’t expect us to run a lot because we were short-handed. I will say it was a very professional win for our team. The whole team contributed to this win. Everybody did their part. They came in, and played good minutes. What can you say about Hakim Warrick, the guy came in and played 38 minutes and was humongous for us early. Everybody had their moments to contribute and everybody did. That is what we needed in a game like that. They were coming off the back-to-back, and I thought they would be a little tired. Hakim Warrick did a nice job on (Andrea) Bargnani. The guy can shoot threes and he didn’t get a great look all night long, no matter who was guarding him. I give Hak most of the credit tonight. We just played a beautiful, ugly game. As I told them at halftime, this isn’t a beauty contest. If it was, only pigs are in it, because it certainly is dirty-looking.

On pulling out the game in the end:
“I look at that point in the game, where we had a four- or five-point lead and they came back and took the lead by two. We called a timeout and came right back and took the lead back. From then on out, we kept building on it. The play where Hakim Warrick drove and kicked it out to O.J. Mayo for the three, that was a big time shot, a big time dagger for a guy that had shot a couple of airballs. He kept with it and our team kept with it.”


Marc Gasol

On the win:
“We played better defense than normal. Defensively it wasn’t a great game, but I think we kind of took over and we were able to get into a rhythm. Definitely, offensively we had the rhythm. I think defensively we set the tone. Some nights we play great offensively and great defensively, but tonight it wasn’t that way. It was a tough game, and like I said we pulled through. Tonight didn’t start very good for us, at least for me and the big guys, but we stayed in the game. We focused and we came out with a big win. We’d been missing that a lot too and this game helped us with the rebounds. We played a good game.”

[GoGrizz]

I must say that was one of the uglier wins that we have had this season....but I will take it!!

[True Blue]

I didn't get a chance to catch this because of the Tigers game. I saw the boxscore and noticed how well we guarded Bargs. Other times he just goes off against us.

Mike Conley continues to improve. Glad he is proving me wrong.

[SD2042]

Well, that's what happens when the new coach is giving you the freedom to either play well or screw up. So far, Conley is playing well. For his sake, he needs to keep it up.