Raptors Can't Get Over the Hump - 99-91 Hornets

The Raptors were in the game throughout all four quarters today, but when it came to crunch time, the Raps could not come up with stops or scores when they needed them. This helped highlight a very poor shooting performance from the Raps: outside of Jose Calderon (perfect 8-8 FG, 5-5 3FG, 1-1 FT), Jermaine O'Neal (7-10 FG and 5-6 FT) and Joey Graham (2-4 FG) every Raptor shot well under 50% from the floor, notably Jason Kapono going 3-14 overall and 1-7 from three and Chris Bosh needing 17 field goals (making six and missing his only three-pointer) and his 13-15 from the line to score his 25 points. Not the efficiency we've come to expect from this team.

NBA.com recap

Player of the Game:
Jose Calderon stepped up tonight and continues to shine against tough competition, tonight's being a matchup with Chris Paul. As noted earlier, Jose did not miss a shot, going for 22 points to go along with 7 assists and 3 rebounds. A very effective game from Ho-say.

Notables:
Jermaine O'Neal - 19 points, 7 rebounds. At times Jermaine was dominant down low, abusing Hilton Armstrong especially, but when guarded by the 6'8" James Posey he had trouble scoring.
Chris Bosh - 25 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists. Despite Chris' tough shooting night, he still put up stellar numbers, and moved the ball exceptionally well against a swarm of Hornets defenders (nice wording, eh?).
Jamario Moon - 7 points (2-7 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2-2 FT), 8 rebounds, 2 blocks. Jamario was active again, shooting poorly but affecting the game positively on the boards and on defense. Another solid performance.

Full box score

Stat of the Game:
The Raptors' stellar defense of the previous two games was nowhere to be found today, allowing the Hornets to shoot 48% (36-75) from the field 36.4% (12-33) from three. The Raptors need to get back to defending if they want to get back to .500 - they proved when they defend, they're tough to beat.

Raptors Host the Hornets

Once again alliteration aside, the Raptors look to extend their 2 game win streak against the New Orleans Hornets, Sunday at 12:30. The game is on CBC, channelsurfing.net, and on the Fan 590. The last time the Raptors had a three game winning streak was during the first three games of the season, from October 29 to November 1st. Hopefully the Raptors can keep up the defensive intensity and fast pace that has helped them win the previous two games. On New Orleans' side of things, they sit at an underacheiving 12-7, 3rd in the southwest division.

What to watch for:
- Chris Paul is averaging 19.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 12.6 assists per game, along with 2.4 steals per game against the Raptors. He knows how to control the floor against the Raptors and is a lockdown defender. Jose Calderon will need to be at his finest to keep Toronto's offence flowing.
- In the last 2 games, the Raptors have shown great team defense and balanced scoring. Hopefully they can keep that up against a tough Hornets squad that boasts some very talented scorers in Paul, David West (20 ppg), and Peja Stojakovic (14 ppg).
- The Raptors are yet to win against a Western conference team above .500, and have only one win against Western conference teams (vs. Golden State on Halloween) in 5 tries. Hopefully the time difference will throw off the Hornets and Chris Paul's basketball-playing-robotic brain.