T.J. Ford was on the bench in street clothes and Chris Bosh had long since limped to the locker-room with a groin strain when the Toronto Raptors surged ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies for good Wednesday.
The injury-depleted Raptors displayed the depth of their roster once again en route to a 103-91 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.
``That's our strength, especially with such a long season, so many things can happen,'' said Anthony Parker.
Parker finished with 19 points to top Toronto (8-7), which used a balanced attack to beat the struggling Grizzlies, with seven players scoring in double figures. Jose Calderon added 13 points and 10 assists and committed just one turnover while Carlos Delfino and Jason Kapono scored 14 apiece. Andrea Bargnani finished with 11, while Rasho Nesterovic pitched in with 10.
Chris Bosh had 10 points before leaving the game in the second quarter with a strained right groin, the one negative on the night. Bosh said he'd hurt his groin a day earlier in practice.
``I was just trying to get going,'' said the all-star forward. ``Usually it's one of those things that when you get warm, you don't feel it. But it was a little painful making certain cuts, so I decided to take it easy.
``I'm sure after a good rest tomorrow and good treatment, I'll be ready to go Friday (when the Raptors host Cleveland).''
Juan-Carlos Navarro led the Grizzlies (5-10) with 15 points, while Pau Gasol had 13.
Toronto outshot and outhustled the Grizzlies all night, blowing open the game with a second-quarter performance that saw them outscore their visitors 30-10.
``I think that's when they brought in their second unit, and I don't think there's really a dropoff when we bring anybody off the bench,'' Parker said.
Toronto led by as much as 28 points in the third and took an 82-60 lead into the fourth quarter at the Air Canada Centre.
The Grizzlies cut Toronto's advantage to 14 points on three-pointer by Tarence Kinsey with 1:51 left, but the game was well decided by that point.
``We were too stationary, we stood a lot, we weren't efficient and that's when they made their run and broke open the game,'' said Gasol.
The Raptors also lost Bargnani with about 10 minutes to go in the game, when he banged knees with Stromile Swift.
``Now is better than when I was coming off the court, so we'll see tomorrow,'' Bargnani said.
Calderon continues to fill in seamlessly for Ford, who missed his fourth straight game with an arm injury. Calderon has just two turnovers in his last three games _ and his lone giveaway Wednesday came just before he was subbed off, when Parker let a pass slip through his fingers.
``A.P. is killing me,'' Calderon joked afterwards.
``I just want to publicly apologize for the last turnover,'' Parker said. ``I dropped it.''
It wasn't all bad news on the injury front. Nesterovic played his first game after missing five with an ankle injury, and his size up front was certainly appreciated when both Bosh and Bargnani went out.
The Raptors shot 51 per cent on the night, while holding the Grizzlies to 39 per cent, and Toronto outrebounded the visitors 46-38.
``We got to their shooters, we didn't let those guys get hot and get going and we did a good job on Pau Gasol,'' said Raptors coach Sam Mitchell.
With four Spaniards on the two rosters, the game was billed as ``Spanish Night.'' The game was broadcast live in Spain, and some two dozen Spanish journalists were in attendance. Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa make up Toronto's Spanish contingent, while the Grizzlies have Gasol and Navarro.
Garbajosa, though, is out indefinitely with surgery pending on the ankle he injured last March that ended his rookie season prematurely.
The Grizzlies led 29-27 at the end of a first quarter that saw seven lead changes.
Delfino led the way with 14 points in the second quarter and Toronto took an 18-point lead late in the frame on a Parker jump shot. The Raptors shot 68 per cent and held the Grizzlies to a woeful 16 per cent shooting in the quarter, and Toronto was up 57-39 at the break.
The Raptors stretched their lead to 79-51 on a driving dunk by Parker with 4:21 left and left 82-60 with a quarter left to play.
NOTES: The Raptors defeated the Grizzlies at Memphis last week. . . The game was the second of a three-game homestand. The Raptors host Cleveland on Friday, then play the Wizards at Washington on Saturday.
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so this is when the raptors were good :(
smoshoneto 8 months ago
navarro had never play any defence, even in europe...
wretcheddog 10 months ago
I really hope celtics take it. BOO LAKERS!
Musicalsrockmysocks 3 years ago
Beated?
FUck you and learn to spell you homo.
EzeffinE 3 years ago 2
haha i was at this game raptors killeed them ::D
AlboKingz 4 years ago
pau gasol is a lakers now ahhaha and lakers beated u guys yesterday win over 121 101 20 point own
anchor626 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
im canadian and i still hate the raptors i love the celtics tho go celtics there taking it all the way this year just watch
Markeyedwards61 4 years ago
peli delfino is not in the starting lineup u faggot its bosh bargnai calderon till ford comes back jamario moon and parker
cbo1360 4 years ago
I was at that game...it was awsome!!! thats all i got to say... as a famous guest star was there: Verne Troyer aka Mini Me (from Austin Powers) was at the game in all raptors uniform. =]
IceMonster4u 4 years ago
Mala vista la mia... xDD Error. Garbo es 3 o 4. En el unico sitio que a jugador de 4 fijo es en la seleccion y unicaja. Ricky juega de escolta cuando esta mallet pk cuando no esta mallet no hay otro base, Ricky seguramente acabe jugando de escolta, mas k nada por el fisico y la defensa k tiene y por la altura, para frenar mas k nada a los anotadores
fl0pyRz 4 years ago