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Vince Carter shrugs off the boos to score 17 & ties career-high in steals
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| Suns point guard Steve Nash (left) defends against Raptors guard Jerryd Bayless (right) |
Coming off one of their biggest victories of the season, the Toronto Raptors came into Friday night’s contest on a high and full of confidence after shocking the Chicago Bulls 118-113 on Wednesday night.
But with one brutal quarter, those memories were quickly erased by the visiting Phoenix Suns who came out on fire to scorch the Raptors defence en route to a 110-92 victory.
Toronto (16-43) scored the opening bucket of the game but it quickly went downhill as the Suns went on an 11-0 run and led 35-14 by the end of the first quarter. It should come as no surprise that fans were getting on Vince Carter every time he touched the ball, but it didn’t take long for the crowd to turn on their own team. As soon as the first quarter ended, the Raptors walked off the floor to a chorus of boos that rained down from the over 19,000 fans in attendance at the Air Canada Centre.
The Raptors looked a half step slower and a porous defence allowed Phoenix (29-27) to score at will in the opening 12 minutes. By the time Toronto woke up and actually started to play as a team, the damage had already been done. Of the 14 first quarter points, Andrea Bargnani had 12 as he finished with a game-high 26 points, shooting 12 of 15 from the field.
“They jumped on us early and for whatever reason we were a step slow tonight,” said Raptors coach Jay Triano. “We were slow reacting, were slow going to the ball on the glass and they take advantage of that. They move the ball extremely well. Steve (Nash) orchestrates things…We played them even after the first quarter, but at that point our confidence was shot as well, for a lot of guys.”
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| Raptors centre Andrea Bargnani (centre) goes in for an easy dunk while players from both teams look on. |
Bargnani echoed the sentiments of his coach and thought he and his teammates were simply not ready to play.
“Like the coach said, we didn’t come ready to play,” said Bargnani. “We were not ready at both ends of the floor and they just took advantage. They’re a really good team on the fast break. They shoot really quick, seven or eight seconds to shoot the ball, so they were scoring. We were not ready to play, that’s it. That can’t happen.”
Raptors sophomore guard DeMar DeRozan struggled with foul trouble, including a technical, as he was clearly frustrated all night long. DeRozan usually averages over 34 minutes a game, but despite sitting on the bench for long stretches at a time, he did manage to score 14 points in only 24 minutes. Toronto once again shot over 50 percent but were poor from the stripe as they made only 15 of 23 free throws.
Phoenix had a balanced scoring attack as both Carter and backup centre Marcin Gortat, both of whom were acquired from Orlando in December, tied for a team-high 17 points. Meanwhile, Channing Frye, Mickael Pietrus and Hakim Warrick added 16, 14 and 12 points, respectively. Carter also tied a career high in steals with 6. Steve Nash had a poor shooting night going 2 for 12, but finished with a game-high 11 assists to go along with seven points and seven rebounds. Nash also reached another milestone as he surpassed 9,000 assists for his career.
The Suns dominated three other categories as they outrebounded the Raptors 42-31, including 12-6 on the offensive glass, as well as outscored Toronto 14-7 on second-chance points and 26-11 on fast-break points.
Love and Hate
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| Suns guard Vince Carter dribbles the ball while being defended by newly-acquired Raptors forward James Johnson |
The Raptors fans are known to show their love and support for Nash but for the first time the Suns rolled through Toronto with Carter on their roster. Carter was booed heavily in the pre-game introductions, but those jeers quickly turned to cheers for Nash who was introduced immediately after the former Raptor.
Last week, Raptors fans mercilessly booed Chris Bosh when he returned to Toronto for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat. As much as Bosh was booed, no former Raptor will ever be hated as much as Carter. Despite the negative energy directed at him, Carter always has a big game when he returns to the Air Canada Centre and he did it again last night.
“It’s always fun to be back. I enjoy playing here, this is where it started for me, it is like home,” said Carter, who was traded from Orlando to Phoenix on December 18 in a deal that also saw former Raptor Hedo Turkoglu return to the Magic.
“When you come back you remember spots on the floor that were good to you and you try and get to those spots. Just be aggressive for the team and get us going early. It is the first game of the road trip and we wanted to take advantage of that and start the trip off right and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Suns coach Alvin Gentry noticed Carter was more focused than usual before the game.
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| A fan holds up a sign mocking former Raptor Vince Carter |
“Today our guys were kidding around and booing him in shoot-around and every time he touched the ball,” said Gentry. “Everybody still seems to want to boo him when he comes in and that’s great because I thought that got him really focused and really aggressive. When he plays like that we’re a really good team.”
Despite having a poor shooting night, Nash gave full credit to his teammates for picking up the slack.
“Tonight I didn’t play very well but I thought collectively we played well,” said Nash. “Our defence was good for the most part. I tried to put pressure on the defence and create openings for my teammates. Sometimes my shots don’t go but my teammates did a good job finishing and making plays. I thought it was a great team effort.”
Toronto has two more games remaining in their four-game homestand and next welcome the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. The two teams last met on December 28, when the injury-plagued Raptors, minus Bargnani and Jose Calderon, knocked off the
Mavericks 84-76 in Dallas, who were playing without Dirk Nowitski. Tipoff is at 6pm at the ACC.
Mavericks 84-76 in Dallas, who were playing without Dirk Nowitski. Tipoff is at 6pm at the ACC.
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| Suns point guard Steve Nash |
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