What adjectives can be used to describe the Raptors' trip out West? Disappointing? Infuriating? Sad? The Raptors had plenty of opportunity to win against the Suns and the Jazz, but came up on the losing end in 3 of their 4 games.
Chris Bosh carried the load for the Raptors on Wednesday, putting up 32 points and 17 rebounds in the loss--something that isn't unusual. Bosh has been putting up MVP type numbers all year, but doesn't get enough support. The Calderon-Jack experiment hasn't worked at all. Andrea Bargnani, for as good as he'll be one game, will go completely cold the next. And frankly, I had higher hopes for Hedo Turkoglu--yes, he's been playing good, but considering his fantastic playoff run with the Magic, I expected more.
The Raptors are now 5-7, and losers of their last 3. What scares me the most--the Raptors have seven losses. Six of those are against teams who made the playoffs last year. Granted, the Western Conference is better than the Eastern Conference, but nonetheless... For a team that should play post-April 2010, losing six out of seven to playoff teams is certainly a concern.
Just how bad was it? Well, the Raptors opponent field goal percentage was just above 50%. The killing game was Wednesday, as the Nuggets shot 62%.
During the 4 game stretch, the Raptors opponent averaged 106 points per game.
The opponent averaged 49 points in the paint, compared to the Raptors who averaged 39. On Wendesday, the Nuggets dropped 68 of their 130 points in the painted area.
Obviously, this isn't the start Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh and the Raptors had in mind. Maybe I'm overreacting, because there's sill a ton of basketball (70 games to be exact) left to play. But at the end of the day, keeping their franchise player, Chris Bosh, is biggest priority. If the Raptors have any chance of re-signing him, they need to win. Now.
The Raptors take on the Heat tonight at the ACC.
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