Raps Can't Get No Satisfaction, Giving Up 30 to Stephen Jackson

The Raps faced off against the 9-23 Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were losers of three of their last four but their lone win came against an Eastern Conference powerhouse, the Boston Celtics. Raps came off a disappointing loss against the Portland Blazers as they finished their six game Western road trip last night against Golden State.

As usual, the Raptors played a good first quarter. Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon both had 9 points a piece as the Raps led 29-28 after one. Golden State who isn't known for their defense let the Raps get the shots that they wanted. Who is Marco Belinelli? If you haven't heard of him before, you probably know him now. He's an Italian product who apparently wants to be the best basketball player in the world. He has a lot of skill, as he displayed last night. He can shoot and can also distribute the ball well. He definitely outperformed his Italian counterpart, Andrea Bargnani on this night. He had some nice plays including some key threes and some nice dishes to Andris Biedrins. Chris Bosh hit a three in the mid second to pull within one, as the Warriors led 37-36. Although the Warriors slack on the defensive end, they had a few nice defensive plays where Ronny Turiaf had two consecutive blocks on Bosh and Jose. After the blocks, he danced and it looked something like this. From there, the Golden State made a run and then led by eight at the half. Chris Bosh had a good half with 17 points at the half. Jermaine O'neal did not return after the half due to flu-like symptoms.

The Golden State Warriors were living off the three ball and were 8/13 from three, two minutes into the third. They ended up going on a 12-2 run and with another three from Marco Belinelli, the Warriors got up 15 on the Raps. Jamario Moon then hit a three and had three threes in the game. Crazy. The Warriors REALLY don't play defense if Jamario's knocking down threes. The Warriors in turn had hit ten three pointers by the third quarter.

I think you might remember this guy, Kris Humphries (who's been buried on the bench), he made an appearance in the fourth and made a few key plays to get within 4. Marco Belinelli continued to perform well and had some good assists. The final minutes with the score 106-101, Bosh drilled a three to knock the Warriors' lead down to two. Then the Raps had a few open look threes, Parker, Kapono and Calderon all had open looks but they all bounced out. Bosh was able to get some good boards for an opportunity for a Kapono three but the shot still wouldn't fall. The Raps kept getting breaks with offensive fouls against the Warriors but couldn't convert. The Raps were only down 108-106 with one minute remaining until CJ Watons hit a clutch basket to go up 4. The Raps turned it over twice in the closing seconds including a botched inbounds play. Anthony Parker hit a three at the end to bring the Raps to 113-109 but it wasn't enough as the Warriors finished off the Raps 117-111. Tough loss for the Raps.

Double Double Doubles
Bosh had 30pts & 14 boards, Calderon had 21 pts & 16 assists

Warriors Who Came out to Play
Marco Belinelli had 23 points, 6 assists and 5 threes
Stephen Jackson had 30pts, 7 assists, 7 boards in 48 minutes of play
Andris Biedrins had 13pts, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks
For a Warriors point of view, check out GoldenStateOfMind.com

The Raps are finally home on Wednesday as they face the Denver Nuggets.


Photo credit: (AP Photo/Ben Margot)