T.J Ford Is Reborn In Game 3
I said this morning lots of people had lots on the line tonight for the Raptors. A shift in the line up with Bargnani over to the 5 spot and who would start at the 3 position. No one was sure. But the smart money was on Jason Kapono. T.J Ford has lived to start another day though and that was a surprise. Bosh saying T.J needs to shoot more also was for most Raptor fans. If anything they would prefer T.J was on the bench but Bosh does not seem to share that opinion. Jamario Moon would get the start his first playoff start. Crowd was jacked and the Raptors would not allow a big run early which they had in both games in Orlando it was a decent beginning not great but decent. In fact the Raptors would start a run lead by the much talked about T.J Ford who looked on his game and the rest of his team mates were following his lead. Andrea Bargnani also under heavy pressure was playing well too. Raps were in uncharted waters with the lead after quarter number 1 by a score of 28-20.
The second Quarter was all about the point guards. First Jose was in and played very well hitting a few nice looks but then T.J came back. The T.J Ford show is not always a good thing but on this night it had very high ratings. T.J was a one man army and leading the charge as the Raptor lead grew and grew. T.J even made a 3 he could do nothing wrong. The crowd even burst into a T.J chant. It had to feel very good for Ford who has been the Raptor whipping boy for quite sometime of many fans. Ford as I suggested this morning needed to prove something tonight and I doubt he reads this blog but you would think he did by his first half performance. Raps were rolling like we had not seen in a longtime. 61 first half points and a 21 point lead.
Lewis would start 3rd quarter nailing 2 straight 3’s and that prompted Sam Mitchell to burn early time out. Magic would fight back in this quarter but Howard would get sent to the bench with his 4th foul. both teams were clearly frustrated with the officials. Hedo Tukoglu would get technical foul and many others came close to drawing them. The Refs were not the friends of ether team. But the Raptors were in the lead heading into the 4th quarter. Raptors had an 11 point advantage to play with heading into the 4th quarter.
The Toronto Raptors have had their issues in 4th quarters but on this night there would be no problems. The Raptors would dominate. Jason Kapono was making shots once again. The crowd who at times in this season I have taken to task was just unreal tonight. They deserve an assist on the score sheet. Raptors owned the glass tonight as well. Basically everything that they did wrong in Orlando they did right on this night. After all the negative talk we all the sudden had a series again. The point guards Ford and Calderon were great and after Jameer Nelson out played them in games 1 and 2. The bench had 42 points for the Raptors as well. Raptors won in impressive fashion 108-94. Magic still had the series lead at 2 games to 1 but they had to have their confidence rocked in this basketball game. Could they recover enough by Saturday to avoid going back to Orlando all tied up at 2-2. That will be determined Saturday but for now Raps had a win and confidence. Both baldy needed. 39 points(Ford 21) 16 assists(Jose 13) 12 rebounds and 2 Ford steals. So tell me again why we need to trade one of these guys. Forderon is a great thing when working correctly. Jamario Moon had 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double double in his first playoff start. Superman was more human with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Hedo Turkoglu was the games high scorer with 26 points. Bosh had a quiet night with 15 point 5 rebounds and 5 assists. For the rest of the numbers check the boxscore below:
Breaking NEWS:
It was learned after the game that Jameer Nelson starting point guard of Orlando Magic Collapsed due to Back Pain. It seems Nelson will now be O.K and able to play in Game 4 Saturday in Toronto. The source for this was Eric Smith’s Blog of the Fan 590 04/25/08
Tags: Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Jamario Moon, Jameer Nelson Injury, Jason Kapono, Jose Calderon, Magic vs Raptors Game 3, NBA PLAYOFFS, T.J Ford
