Man - the Raps looked awful for most of the 2nd quarter and it appeared the Magic were going to runaway with this game. Through one stretch the Magic outscored the Raps 30 - 9 to take a 57-41 lead with a minute left in the first half.
Thank goodness the Raps appear to have woken up and have been lights out since. They scored 8 points in that final minute of the half to cut the lead in half to 57-49 at halftime. And through 4 minutes of the third quarter the outscored the Magic 14 - 2 to take the lead again. Currently 75 - 71 Raps late in the 3rd.
So far on this crazily busy Toronto sports day - a Toronto FC loss, a Jays win. Raps - ? Leafs - ?
No kidding. Sure he got 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 steals BUT 0 for 6 on 3 pointers, 0 for 7 on regular field goal attempts and even 0 for 2 from the free throw line for ZERO points. With him that bad it is kind of amazing the Raps were in the lead for much of the game nd were tied with 4 seconds left.
Well clearly Game 1 turned out to be just a minor hiccup for both the team and for Lowry as they romped to 4 straight playoff wins for the first time in Raptors history. Tonight a dominant performance where they jumped to an early 28 - 7 lead , upped that to 99 - 70 lead by the end of the third quarter coasting to a 115 - 96 win.
Now as the Centre of the Universe sports media finishes up their autopsy of the Leafs in the next day or two then their spotlight will shift to shine on the Raptors. So far the team whose TV ratings were up 30% this year - have done OK in the ratings for Round 1 drawing in the 600,000-800,000 range sometimes while head to head against the Leafs. Now that the Leafs are gone look for those ratings to jump a fair bit.
And now the REAL playoffs start - at least in the East. The Top 4 seeds in the East destroyed seeds 5 - 8. The Bucks and Celtics both swept their series in four straight.and will meet in Round 2.
The Sixers and Raptors both lost just one game each and both at times tonight had 30+ point leads coasting to Game 5 series clinching wins. They’ll meet in Round Two. Let the real basketball fun begin!
Don't want to jinx them but to me this is the best Raptors team ever. Tonight was the 5th playoff game in a row where they simply dominated the competition. Tonight they ran out to a 39 point first quarter. Led by double digits most of the way. Anytime it looked like the Sixers might make a game of it the Raps would shut them down and go on a streak of their own.
Kawhi simply a beast. 45 points! The more I watch him the more I appreciate him and can understand why many consider him the third best player in the NBA.
And Siakam - wow just awesome. 29 points for him. I swear he;s getting bdetter everytime I watch them. A rapidly rising star.
The two of them combined for 74 points. This is fun!
Let’s hope they keep it up. I’ve not missed one game on TV this year and went to one game (that’s all I can afford!). They have been fun to watch. Let’s hope the Celtics/Bucks playoff goes 7 games and tires them out. Hope we go 4 straight but I think it’ll go 6.
Whew! Tight game pretty much the entire way but Kawhi continues to be a beast and leads the Raps to a win in Game 4. Game 5 back in TO Tuesday night. And tickets are as low as $135! (for obstructed view standing room only in the corners at the top of the upper bowl. lol
Anything with a seat at least $185 near the top of the Upper Deck. $400 and up for any lower bowl seats. So I’ll be watching from home. lol
Man the Raps AS A TEAM finally are looking good again. First time since game 1. Crowd just about blew the roof off with this MONSTER dunk by Kawhi. 'THAT"S A MAN"S JAM!"
And right now it looks like Jurassic Park has grown down Bremner all the way to York Street and is growing as Jays fans join the watch party.
