Archive for the 'Basketball' Category
11 15th, 2007
I finally watched most of a basketball game and boy oh boy did I pick a nice one, for a Toronto fan that is. Carlos Delfino scored 16 points and Chris Bosh added 14 points and six rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors beat the listless Chicago Bulls 101-71 on Saturday night.
The Raptors made quick work out of the Bulls despite playing their fourth game in five nights. T.J. Ford had 14 assists and Andrea Bargnani scored 14 points for Toronto, which had its largest win against Chicago in franchise history.
Andres Nocioni led Chicago with 20 points. Leading 41-30 at the half, the Raptors opened up the third quarter by outscoring the Bulls 14-1 for a 52-31 lead. Anthony Parker hit a 3 and Jamario Moon stole Luol Deng’s bad pass and took it for a breakaway dunk to give the Raptors a 21-point lead that started the boos from the sellout crowd.
Bulls coach Scott Skiles cleared his starters from the floor with 9:35 left in the third quarter, but it didn’t help as Parker immediately hit another 3 against the Chicago reserves. Chicago starters Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich never returned to the game.
The Bulls came into the season with lofty expectations, but are 1-5 before beginning a six-game road trip on Thursday night at Phoenix. The vibe hasn’t been good in Chicago since the Bulls were involved in Kobe Bryant trade rumors less than two weeks ago. General manager John Paxson put to rest the Kobe Bryant trade rumors less than a week ago, but some fans continued to chant “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!” while the Bulls were down 30-plus points in the third quarter.
Notes: Before Saturday’s game, the Raptors dropped 15 of their last 17 games against Chicago. … The restless Bulls fans started booing for most of the fourth quarter.
