Raptors Implode In Second Half: 95-76 Pistons

At the end of the first quarter, things looked great for the Raptors; they carried a 22-17 lead, and all three big men were off to a flying start. At the end of second quarter, the Raptors fate was far from sealed, only losing by 3 going into halftime. However, the second half of the game told a different story. In the end, the Raptors fell hard to the Pistons. Tayshaun Prince led the victory with 25 points, 2 points shy of his point mark last game versus the Raps. Ex-Raptor Michael Curry now has bragging rights, his team is up 2-0 in the season series.
The Raptors are officially in a depression. They have lost their last 7 and are now a miserable 16-28. Speaking of losing, Kris Humphries is now out indefinitely with a sore leg. If the Jermaine O'Neal for Shawn Marion deal goes through, our thin front court will become much thinner.
NBA.com Recap

Player of the game:
Chris Bosh - 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists. Chris did not have a spectacular game, only shooting 9-17 and grabbing a technical foul. This was one of the times when it was hard to pick the player of the game for the wrong reasons.

Notables:
Anthony Parker - 10 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds. AP continues to run the point efficiently in the absence of Jose. Unfortunately, the point guards coming off the bench were not much help in the effort.
Andrea Bargnani - 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists. Andrea has not had a single digit point game since before December 3, although he did have a poor shooting night, going 6-16 from the floor.
Jermaine O'Neal - 11 points, 1 rebound, 1 block. Only Jermaine's second game played in thirteen games, it was good to see him out there.
Full box score

Stat of the game:
The Pistons simply owned the paint, while the Raptors had arguably their worst game on the glass this season. How bad you ask? The Raps were outrebounded 40 to 28, allowing the Pistons to grab 12 offensive boards. The Raptors were furthermore outscored 38 to 20 in the paint. This should not have been the case seeing as three of the four Raptors in double figures in points tonight were big men.

We are now 3 games past the halfway point in the season. The Raptors sit last in the Atlantic Division and have lost 7 straight. Next game the Raps go to Chicago and simply must take advantage of playing an 18-25 team. Last meeting saw Chicago winning 102-98. Hopefully the Raptors will see this as a must win game.