Raptors dominate first half to down Clippers

The tide swung the other way in the third quarter, normally a Raptors strength. In case you blocked it out of your memory bank, which would be completely understandable, Toronto once coughed up a 27-point lead to the Warriors in Oakland. “You have to be better down the stretch and execute”.

A game with a point differential of 29 at the half shouldn’t wind up as close as Sunday afternoon’s affair did. “They are going to press up on it, and we have to play through all of the aggression”.

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers looks frustrated as the Clippers lost their third straight game in a blow out at home against the Toronto Raptors. “I thought we had a chance early on to get up big, and they kept getting second shots”.

“I don’t think a lot of our stars are playing well”, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. Remember when Lob City garnered images of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan tearing down rims symbiotically, not whatever the latest weird vehicle commercial Griffin’s starring in?

Luis Scola added 20 points and Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 10 assists for Toronto, which closed out a 2-3 road trip. He got help from Jay Harris (18 points) and Melvin Johnson III (eight points, 12 rebounds), although none of the three men project to make much of an impact at the National Basketball Association level despite their D-League prowess. Portland had entered the contest on a seven game losing streak, but the struggling Clippers were apparently the magic elixir that was needed to get them back on track.

Said Rivers: “If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we finally didn’t play terrible in the third quarter”. But we can’t let that frustration affect us negatively moving forward and I think we need to do a good job of sitting down, being real and understanding what the problems are right now.

Sunday’s tale of two halves was probably best exemplified by DeMarre Carroll, who went 8-8 from the floor in the first half, only to find himself mired in an 0-5 second half slump. The Kings guard played 36 minutes and struggled from everywhere on the floor in going 2-11 for nine points.

But Biyombo will only be one of a handful of centres, albeit the guy who will start the game, that the Raptors roll over the next six weeks or so as Valanciunas rehabs a fractured metacarpal on his none-throwing hand.

There’s no excuse for Los Angeles, especially since they should have all the motivation to reprove themselves after last year’s awful collapse.

“Our first three games (on the trip), we lost games just like this”, said Carroll, who made his first eight field goals and finished with 21 points. 500 and only one team who now holds a top five seed in either conference.

Smith, 29, signed with the Clippers on a minimum deal over the summer but is averaging a mere 4.7 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, and 1.4 assists per game in just 14.8 minutes per game so far.