Toronto Raptors-New Orleans Hornets: Hornets Wishing They Were Saints
Toronto starts a three game western conference road swing down in New Orleans tonight where the Hornets are1-1 at home and 2-3 overall to begin the season unlike the cities NFL team which remains unbeaten.
Toronto beat the Detroit Pistons on their home court at the ACC in their last game Wednesday which I had the pleasure of attending on my birthday November 4th to give them their second win of the season, the first being their home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers and they sit at 2-2 though 0-2 on the road which was a sore spot for the team last year where they were 15-26 and look too obviously improve on those numbers.
A couple players that stood out in that game aside from Bargnani, Bosh, and Tukoglu, were Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright and Jarrett Jack off the bench.
Amir Johnson only had six points but was energetic, drove the hoop, and had five rebounds while going 4-4 at the free throw line.
Antoine Wright had 12 points and was tough on the ball with five rebounds while adding an assist and was 4-6 at the line.
Jarrett Jack had nine points, six assists, and was 2-2 at the line.
If these guys can continue to provide scoring off the bench which amassed 35 points in the game just about one third of the Raptors scoring in the 110-99 win this team can continue to be successful.
Toronto dropped both games against the Hornets last year 99-91 at home and 101-92 in New Orleans, Chris Bosh was injured when the team traveled down to play the Hornets and I expect this new-look Raptors team to be a lot more competitive in this game.
Starting matchups:
Jose Calderone and Chris Paul
Calderone will have a tough time guarding CP3 and should just try and limit his scoring ability and should hope for some help collapsing down low if Paul decides to drive and will have to try and take care of the ball when he has it because we all know the ability of CP3 to force turnovers and steals.
DeMar DeRozen/Marco Belinelli (who I would start) and Morris Peterson
Mo Pete who the Raptors know very well and was a fan favourite while playing in Toronto is a veteran who can hit the outside shot and moves the ball well and who DeRozen may have trouble guarding but if Jay Triano switches it up and starts Belinelli who I believe would match up better against Mo Pete, it would leave DeRozen to go up against either Devin Brown or Marcus Thornton which I think would be a favourable matchup for the Raptors and would take some of the pressure of starting of the rookie DeRozen.
Hedo Turkoglu and Julian Wright/Peja Stojakovic
Turkoglu’s mobility, ball handling and shooting skills and a two inch height difference should give him the advantage over Wright and Stojakovic who has a similar skill set to Turkoglu yet doesn’t handle the ball as well nor has the foot speed of Turkoglu.
Chris Bosh and David West
This match up favours Toronto and CB4 against a guy that isn’t that physical and only outweighs Bosh by only ten pounds. Bosh should be able to put some good numbers up in the paint and shouldn’t have too many problems defending in the paint against West because of the lack of scoring from their centre Okafor but he may see some double teams when he has it down low which can open up Bargnani for the outside shot.
Andrea Bargnani and Emeka Okafor
Okafor is not a good perimeter defender and as we have seen with Bargnani a big part of his game is taking the opposing centre outside of the paint and hitting the three. Okafor is great down low and may have to help West defend against Bosh which again leaves more space for Bargnani and if he takes Okafor out of the paint again CB4 should be able to score at will down in the paint and get to the line often.
Depending on the Jay Triano’s approach to this game and with the added scoring off the bench there is no reason in my mind why the Raptors can’t get their first road win of the season down in New Orleans tonight against this Hornets team that has come out a little soft so far in this young season.
