I’m just putting this out there, but Bosh played like a max-franchise player last night, much like the previous 20 games of the season, but y’all had nothing to say about it yesterday. Our man of little words let his game do the talking, put this team on his tatted back, and won one for everyone. The fans needed it as much, if not more, than the Raptors did. I only caught the last 5 minutes of the 4th and overtime, but it looked like it was a great game to catch. It was a beautiful thing since not only was it a win, it was one fought out in overtime with defensive pressure forcing Wizard turnovers. When the game was over, a single tear trickled down my cheek, can’t ask for anything more then that.
Tonight the Raptors roll into the United Center, and take on the Bulls who got thumped by the Cavs last night in Cleveland. This will be a revenge match of sorts for the Bulls who dropped one against the Raptors earlier in the year at the ACC 99-89. The Bulls currently sit a game ahead of the Raptors for 7th in the East, but have played 4 less games, in fact, the Raptors have played more games, and more back-to-backs than anyone in the East. Not an excuse, but it can be added to the list of woes playing against our guys.
You might remember the last time these guys played, the Bulls had just lost a heartbreaker the night before to the Nuggets. Calderon and DeRozan came out of the gates strong and paced the Raptors, while Bosh and Bargnani were nowhere to be found. Gibson and Noah were killers in the paint, with the rookie going into the books as another regular dude who has career games against the Raptors.
The Bulls came out guns blazing, but only scored 11 points in the 4th quarter, going scoreless for the last 6:24 of it. Tonight they have the misfortune of meeting a motivated Raptors team that finally communicate with each other.
Bosh and Bargnani will need to pick up the pace against Gibson and Noah, who outworked them for most of last game. Can’t be letting opposing bigs live in our paint. To his credit though, Bargnani has been more aggressive on the boards lately.
The bench will need to step up tonight, as they did very little last night. Bosh, Bargnani and Turkoglu each played over 40 minutes which means Johnson, Pops and Rasho will get some burn.
Injuries
Raptors
Reggie Evans
Bulls
Kirk Hinrich
Jannero Pargo
The Line
The Bulls are 6 point favourites with an over/under of 205.
Simulation
Visser’s sims are 14-7 this year and this time the crystal ball is predicting a 107-104 Raptors loss.
Prediction
The Raptors need to win this one, but it wont be easy. Since the Bulls are also on the second night of a back-to-back, this will be a battle of attrition I’m going the opposite of what I feel in my gut, and say the Raptors solidify last nights win with a follow up tonight. 103-98 on the road 😉
Come swing by the RR Forums and check out our game thread (will post link as soon as it goes up). You want Twitter? Live Chat? ESPN Daily Dime (will post link as soon as it goes up)? We got you son!
