GAME RECAP: Toronto 97, Minnesota 77

Toronto stormed out of the gate tonight and wrestled control of the game early tonight to give Chris Bosh a win over Minnesota on his 22nd birthday.

Bosh had 13 points and 9 boards at the half and continued his strong play in the second half to finish the game with 17 points and 15 boards.

Following the game the Raptors birthday boy told reporters that, “I haven’t won on my birthday since college. It was good to play hard and get a win by double figures.”

Minnesota was ice cold shooting the ball in the first quarter which allowed Toronto to jump out to a 24-8 lead heading into the second quarter. The eight points by Minnesota is an all-time Minnesota Timberwolves’ low and Toronto Raptors’ opponent low for points in the first quarter.

Following the game a grumpy Ricky Davis addresses this when he told reporters, “it is almost impossible to go down 20 points in the first half and try and make a comeback. It is kind of like running uphill.”

Besides Bosh, another player that stepped up for the Raptors tonight was Pape Sow. Despite finding himself in foul trouble Sow was able to play tough defense on Kevin Garnett while contributing 8 points and 6 boards.

Following the game Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell was signing the praises of Sow and told reporters that, “I thought Pape (Sow) and Chris (Bosh) did an excellent job competing against Kevin, playing defense on him. Kevin’s a warrior, he plays like that every night. I thought Chris and Pape, the two guys who guarded Kevin most of the night brought unbelievable energy. Defensively, they really made an effort to stop him and when you do that, you might not shoot the ball well, but Chris had 15 rebounds and 17 points against, arguably, got to be one of the greatest players to ever play at that position.”

At the end of the game the Air Canada Centre was begging Matt “Lakeport” Bonner to shoot a three but he held onto the ball until time expired. With Toronto stuck at 97 points and three points away from free pizza the Toronto fans booed the Raptors as they left the floor. The look on Bonner’s face was priceless as clearly he had no idea about the promotion that Pizza Pizza runs and was shocked that the fans would boo him after he snagged a career high 12 boards.

Date
Fri 03/24/06, 9:23 pm EST

Source

 * [HoopsAddict.com HoopsAddict.com]