"The Magician" Outpowers Wizards - 99-93

Andrea Bargnani turned in his fifth straight impressive offensive showing with 25 points on near-perfect 8-9 from the field including 4-5 from three and 5-5 from the line. Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker were also very effective. The Wizards were led by former (for a few seconds) Raptor Antawn Jamison who finished with 32 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals despite fouling out after playing 37 minutes. The Raptors improved to 15-21, despite finishing the game with an Ostertagean total of 20 turnovers.

NBA.com recap

Player of the Game:
Bargs was more than solid again last night, shooting a remarkable percentage in his 25-point effort while adding 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Overall a very nice night from Bargnani, playing through trade rumours that have him heading to Dallas.

Notables:
Chris Bosh - 18 points (5-16 FG, 0-2 3FG, 8-9 FT), 8 rebounds, 6 assists. Bosh had another off-shooting night but was masterful in distributing the rock, something he's done often this season. It's very nice to see him affect the game postively even when he can't score at will.
Anthony Parker - 15 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 3FG, 1-2 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks. Parker has been crashing the boards recently and it's turning up huge results. Besides his scoring which is also way up, AP is averaging over 5 boards in his last four games.
Will Solomon - 14 points (7-11 FG, 0-1 3FG), 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers. Will's been playing nicely as Jose Calderon's (hamstring) fill-in starter. He's put up solid numbers, and despite 5 fouls (refs in Europe are much more lenient on guard physicality) he has kept the ball in control, which is all one can ask from him.

Full box score

Stat of the Game:
The Raptors didn't really play that well. Of course, we know a W's a W, but the only thing that really saved them was shooting. The Raps owned a +7 advantage at the free throw line (17-20 for 85% compared to 10-18 for 55.6%) and shot an impressive 54.4% (37-68) from the field compared to Washington's 46.4% (39-84). Toronto's hot shooting helped overshadow a brutal twenty turnovers (Washington had 12), and Jamison's abysmal 3-8 shooting from the line certainly helped matters as well.

Next Game: Friday, January 7th, 7:00 PM vs. Memphis Grizzles