Raptors vs Knicks vs Toronto Raptors (26-35) at New York Knicks (27-35) Friday March 5, 2004 7:00 p.m. EST Venue: Air Canada Centre Probable Starters PG: Milt Palacio (TOR)/Stephon Marbury (NYK) SG: Dion Glover (TOR)/Allan Houston (NYK) SF: Vince Carter (TOR)/Tim Thomas (NYK) PF: Donyell Marshall (TOR)/Kurt Thomas (NYK) C: Chris Bosh (TOR)/Nazr Mohammed (NYK) Coaches Kevin O'neill (TOR)/Lenny Wilkens (NYK) Injury Report <u>Raptors</u> G Jalen Rose (Hand) G Alvin Williams (Knee) <u>Knicks</u> C Dikembe Mutombo (abdomen) G Moochie Norris (Achilles'). <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">TORONTO (Ticker) -- Raptors an 11th loss in 12 games when Lenny Wilkens makes his return to Air Canada Centre. The Raptors suffered their 10th defeat in 11 contests win an 84-70 setback at Washington on Wednesday. The Knicks had lost six in a row and eight of nine before beating Philadelphia on Wednesday, 88-77.</div> Click here for the complete NBA.com Preview Keys to the Game From a Raptors perspective <ul> [*]Limit turnovers: The Raptors need to be smart with the ball and try to limit turnovers to limit their fast break chances. Limiting fast break points has been a key for a long time, mainly because the Raptors continue to lose games with either a lot of turnovers or too many fast break points given up. They can't win playing careless basketball. [*]Get the Ball in the post: Donyell Marshall and Chris Bosh need to get a lot of touches for some high percentage shots, and more consistent scoring. Live by the three, die by the three, in this case the long two, inconsistent scoring has put the Raptors into a hole as of late. There have been many times when the Raptors have constantly forced up jump shots, causing them to shoot a lower percentage a lose the game because of it. [*]Stop Allan Houston: On Jan. 19th Allan had only 17 points, but on December 19 he torched the Raptors with 33 points, including some clutch shots down the stretch. The Raptors need to do a good job contesting his jump shot. [/list] <font color="red">thefranchise3's Prediction:</font> Saying that the Raptors are struggling right now would be an understatement. If the Raptors can come close to the Knicks in rebounding and points in the paint tonight, they have a chance, but knowing the Raptors that likely won't happen. Knicks by 10.
Knicks will win this one, if not by skill, by biased refereeing they will probably have against the raptors. Marbury is over-rated in NY. What makes ppl expect him to be so good if he wasnt doing anything before in Phoenix? He was with Amare and Marion yet they were at the bottom of the barrel regardless.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting intrepid1983:</div><div class="quote_post">Knicks will win this one, if not by skill, by biased refereeing they will probably have against the raptors. Marbury is over-rated in NY. What makes ppl expect him to be so good if he wasnt doing anything before in Phoenix? He was with Amare and Marion yet they were at the bottom of the barrel regardless.</div> Last year, Marbury led the Suns to their first playoff birth in more than a decade, so how on earth can you say he isn't good and he never did anything in Phoenix? Marbury is not in the least bit over-rated, he has the ability to single handedly take over an entire game. This season was completely different, Amare has been plagued by injury for half the season and a lot of things have gone wrong for the Suns and mind you, all of those things that went wrong had nothing to do with Marbury, you cannot say he is a bad player because of things that went on which he had absolutely no control over. Starbury is not in the least bit over-rated and you would have to be a complete fool to even question Marbury's status as a tier one player in this league. Vince can't win this game by himself, so unless someone else steps up to the plate like Donyell did in Miami, I predict the Knicks to win this one by 8. Also, the fact that you're already making excuses for losing this game before it's even begun says a lot.
35-28 Raptors in a shootout after the first quarter. I haven't seen this much energy in their game since the 2001 playoffs . Vince is on fire, and so far I like what I've seen from Strickland, he made a few nice passes with an excellent hustle play at the end of the first.
Is this the same Raptors that we always watch?? Wow some real nice playing, especially by Vince on both ends and in everything, did you see the pass to Bosh for the dunk?? Nice stuff, they gotta kep it up. Our pint guard can shoot, ?>?????
Wow, the raptors are hot with 32 first q points and shooting 68 percent! Rod strickland has 2 assissts in 3 mins, and vince is abusing hardaway. strickland also dove for the ball and vince basically had a buzzer beater heave
hehehe , I told you guys , you will love Rod when you see him playing I heard the commentarist say "ahh the beauty of having a PG"
wow.....how did we lose this one? ...horrible lost, i think we are in like eighth place now....thats bad...and i think marbury's performance just shut intrepid1983 down
Knicks win 109-103, a fairly good game by the Raptors, except the rebounding was atrocious. They got killed on the glass, giving the Knicks many offensive rebounds which I believe cost us the game. Box Score Vince Carter led the Raptors with 32 points, and 9 assists. Next game is vs New Orleans, they will likely slip again... We need a miracle to make the playoffs now. <font color="blue"><font size="1">Title updated with the final score by thefranchise3</font></font>
WE lost in the 4th we couldn't put it away . <strike>DAM!!!!!!!!!!!!</strike>How could we get this one get away. I thought Strickland played great 6 assist. <strike>DAMN!!!!!!!!</strike> <font color="red"><font size="1">Try to express your anger in a more intelligent manner, please follow the guidelines. The words that are crossed out add no value to the conversation. -thefranchise3</font></font>
I mssed the game..but from what you guys are saying, I hope the Raptors can keep this energy up for the remaining games of the season.
Nice line for Vince, Hot Rod looked okay, but once again the Barneys make like Ikea furniture down the stretch............. No Finish.............. So no use for Lonny Baxter, eh, KO?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting McGrady^1:</div><div class="quote_post">wow.....how did we lose this one? ...horrible lost, i think we are in like eighth place now....thats bad...and i think marbury's performance just shut intrepid1983 down</div> Yea, his performance changed my opinion.. he was pretty good. I knew Raps would lose tho. But every team does well against us, even bench players. Beating us doesnt prove anything about any other team, we just plain suck. Many teams stop their losing streak against us too, even Magic can have their way with us, and of course Marbury will look good if everyone else around him is good. THat means u cant focus on just him and he can blow right past u with a floater, u got Milt guarding him.. obviously Marbury is gonna have a good game with bench player Milt, its almost a gimme. But nope, Knicks won, congrats for them, they were consistent throughout the majority of the game so they deserved it
Our defense was horrible and cost us the game. We could have easily shut down the Knicks is we just played some solid D. Glover had 5 turnovers and Rod went 2 of 10 from the field.
we really need jalen and alvin back we need jalen to take some pressure off vince and alvin's perimeter defence
