Toronto Raptors vs Houston Rockets Jan.2/09

he Toronto Raptors breathed a collective sigh of relief Friday.

Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani poured in 19 points apiece to lead the Raptors to a 94-73 win over the Houston Rockets, snapping a four-game losing streak at the Air Canada Centre and giving Toronto just their fifth victory in their last 18 outings.

``We needed that,'' Bosh said afterward. ``Everybody was thinking about the whole New Year thing and how to start off fresh, and just get a change of momentum, and that was a good win for us. We were about overdue for it.''

[ ] The unlikely victory to tip off 2009 came with point guard Jose Calderon sidelined for all but the first quarter with a hamstring injury, and with Jermaine O'Neal on the bench in street clothes.

But the Raptors got a balanced effort in their absence, with all 12 players scoring, and for the first time in a long time stayed focused offensively and defensively for all four quarters.

``I think we showed how good we can be tonight,'' Bosh said. ``Everybody didn't really expect much out of us, no J.O., no Jose, J.K. (Jason Kapono) being nicked up a little bit _ nobody expected us to win tonight. But not only did we win, we won in a convincing fashion. We have to demand that out of everybody every night.''

Joey Graham added 10 points, while Anthony Parker and Jake Voskuhl led Toronto in rebounding with eight apiece.

Von Wafer topped the Rockets (21-13) with 18 points, all in the fourth quarter. Yao Ming added 14, while Luis Scola had 13 rebounds.

The Raptors struggled mightily in December, toppling to the bottom of the Atlantic Division, and the sense of desperation around the locker-room was palpable.

They finally showed a decent dose of confidence, especially during the dreaded fourth quarter, which has been their undoing this season.

The Raptors led for most of the night, and took a 66-49 lead into the fourth in front of a capacity crowd of 19,800 fans at the Air Canada Centre.

With the second unit on the floor for much of the final 12 minutes, Kris Humphries converted a three-point play, his basket coming from a behind-the-back pass from Roko Ukic that brought the fans to their feet and gave the Raptors a 25-point lead. Ukic then scored on a driving layup that put Toronto up 86-59 with 5:25 to go, a lead Toronto wasn't giving up on this night. The closest the Rockets would come again was 21 points, as the crowd ushered the team off the court with a standing ovation.

``I'm really proud of the way we continued to play the same way throughout the game,'' Bosh said.

The win was No. 5 out of 16 for head coach Jay Triano, who succeeded Sam Mitchell a month ago.

``I was pleased with the way we played defence, we held a team that has 21 wins to 34 per cent shooting,'' Triano said. ``Off night for them maybe, but we were gritty tonight. I think every possession there was real focus. We had a good practice defensively (Thursday) and I think that translated into the effort on the floor tonight.''

Calderon strained his right hamstring _ the same injury that kept him out of two games in November _ just before the end of the first quarter when he was lunging for the ball. He tried to return in the second, but lasted less than a minute before leaving for good with 8:07 left in the first half, finishing with five points but zero assists.

``We will wait until (Saturday),'' Calderon said on his injury status. ``Right now, I don't have much to say. I'm happy we won and there's nothing else to say.''

Will Solomon filled in with one of his better nights, finishing with eight points and seven assists.

``Will played a great game, he's good,'' Bosh said. ``We believe in Will and Roko and their abilities. Things like that happen during the course of the season and when that does happen we have to reach into that bench and ask them to play and those two guys, they stay ready.''

O'Neal missed his second straight game with a sore right knee, leaving Bosh and Bargnani to battle behemoth Yao all night long. Yao shot just 5-for-12 from the floor, and the Raptors had him on his heels on the defensive end, outscoring the Rockets 11-4 on fast-break points.

``We know that when he's stationary, he's probably one of the best centres in the league, but in the open court in transition, it's another story, that's not to his advantage,'' Bosh said. ``So we wanted to play a different kind of basketball.''

Bargnani was also a force on the offensive end, shooting 8-for-12 from the field. The Raptors shot 48 per cent on the night.

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• Jan.2/09

[raptorsfan1000]

Thanks TSN 2 for not letting 100 000 000 raptor fans watch 25 games

[mega7on]

fuck tsn2.

[duckman32001]

o neal can take jump shots too you idiot. Just not up to three point range. O'neal is not slow underneath the basket and he doesn't get tire fast. In fact, O neal has more skills in the post then Rasheed Wallace. Also O'neal is a better defensive player than Wallace. Wallace is basically a better verison of Bargniani. And we don't want another centre who likes to play in the perimeter when we already have so many perimeter offensive players.

[khmai1711]

wallace can at least take jump shots and make them. their both big and dagerous under the basket. and plus o'neal is to slow and fat he gets to tired fast

[duckman32001]

how is o neal suck. When he is getting good post position and teammates are passing the ball to him he is very dangerous going up one on one. Before he got injured again he was a monster under the basket

[khmai1711]

they should've got rasheed wallace then o'neal cause he really sucks

[srslayerz]

yea i thought it was too!

[srslayerz]

4:04 yao watch out WATCH OUT!

[srslayerz]

lmao 1:36 i love the announcer

j j j j j j j JOEY GRAHAMMMMM

[srslayerz]

thanks for uploading this :D

[2exclusive4MC]

good catch.

[2exclusive4MC]

trading for butler is actually pretty creative, but i think BC will work some magic.