Raps Beat Wizards On Italian Day
Posted January 7, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Surprise, surprise: Chris Bosh makes a difference when he’s in the Toronto Raptors lineup.
Bosh had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Raps Sunday, as the club exploited some porous defence from the Washington Wizards en route to a 116-111 win.
The Raptors (15-19) toyed with the NBA’s worst defensive team for most of the game, shooting 51 per cent from the field and outscoring their opponents 40-28 in the paint.
Raptors point guard T.J. Ford added 20 points in his first game back from a sprained ankle, while swingmen Anthony Parker and Joey Graham added 16 and 15 respectively.
Meanwhile Gilbert Arenas, the NBA’s second-leading scorer, overcame a slow first half and finished with 33 points, but couldn’t dominate the way his team needed him to.
Caron Butler added 24 points for the Wizards, and Antawn Jamison chipped in 17.
The Wizards (19-14), shot just 43 per cent and lost for only the second time in nine games. Eddie Jordan’s club actually made an impressive push late, and despite being down 24 points with seven minutes to go, whittled the lead down to as little as five with a minute left.
But that was as close as they’d get, and the Air Canada Centre crowd, who were celebrating Italian Day with 10,000 Andrea Bargnani figurines, wasn’t to be disappointed.
In fact they have great cause to be optimistic. The Raps appear to be turning a corner, with the worst of their schedule behind them and a share of first place in the Atlantic Division.
Up next for Toronto is a three-game road trip which starts Tuesday in New Jersey against the Nets, the team with which they share first place.
After visits to Milwaukee and Boston, they’ll return to Toronto for a season-long five-game homestand.
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