Toronto Raptors victory over the Washington Wizards

Last night’s victory over the Washington Wizards was definitely one of the best games for the Raptors. The season is slowly coming to an end, and sadly the playoffs are out of reach for our Toronto Raptors but that doesn’t stop some of our favorite players from playing the best they can and continuously giving their all in every game they play. It was a rocky start for the Raptors as they were playing catch up against Washington in the first two quarters and ended the first half 50-39 trailing behind. However it would seem as though they entered the second half with a new energy and desire to leave victorious at the end of the night. They battled hard and took the lead to make the score 68-62 after the third and didn’t stop there. In the fourth quarter they pulled out all the stops. They made sure to hold onto their lead and although it might have come close at times they pulled away to end the game with a victory of 88-78.
This game was not only memorable because of the victory but also because of the great effort put in by our players. Both DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry had game highs from the match. DeRozan scored a game high of 25 points, while Lowry contributed 9 points, 8 rebounds and his game high of 13 assists. However with this being said, the MVP of the night was undoubtedly none other than the rookie Jonas Valanciunas. Valanciunas scored career high of 24 points and aggressively grabbed 10 rebounds. He lead the team in minutes played with 40:42 minutes, followed by DeRozan with 37:23 mn and Lowry close behind. And surprisingly enough after dropping 34 points previously against the Pistons, Rudy Gay only played 26 minutes and finished with a total of 6 points. Like I have mentioned in my previous post, I strongly believe that Toronto can only get better with this new team that they have put together, and that our rookies will shine much brighter than expected. I’d like to emphasize on the rookie Valanciunas again. Being that he is only 20 years old and he is already making such a statement he will definitely continue to prove himself worthy of the position he has been placed in. 

 http://youtu.be/ggOQefxiBgo

Our Raptors team

This year has definitely been a year of big changes and has been filled with new ideas for the Toronto Raptors. A lot of people might argue that the team that they have put together this year is the best team that they have had in a long time. With the current record that they are able to hold onto they definitely still are not seen as one of the NBA’s all-star teams, but they are doing a little bit better than they have in previous years. A lot of credit has been given to the Toronto Raptors new head coach, Dwane Casey. He is said to have a great concept of how the sport should be played in Toronto and he is also known for his great defensive tactics. Dwane Casey along with the rest of the Toronto Raptors Coaches and head management staff has been able to put together a rather impressive lineup for us here in Toronto. Our new starting point guard and one of the main changes and most talked about player in Toronto is Kyle Lowry. He has been in the league for six years and has definitely created a buzz for himself as a new Raptor. Our Backup point guard is none other that Jose Calderon. Jose continues to be strong aspect for the raptors but he does not give us the push that we are expecting from Lowry. Our started shooting guard remains Demar Derozan; small forward is Landry Fields; power forward is Andrea Bargnani who is also the franchise player, and our centre is Jonas Valancunias . With this lineup it would still be pretty far fetch to say that the raptors have a champion ship team but we might just definitely be going in the right direction.