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 Call it a laugher that ended in tears for Raptors fans. The Raptors outscored an unmotivated Knicks squad in every quarter -- building a lead as big as 21 points and never allowing New York to within a possession after the early moments of the second frame.
A great result but ultimately, too little, too late as the Bulls knocked the Raptors out of post-season contention with their 98-89 victory over the Bobcats in Charlotte.
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DeMar DeRozan experienced his share of growing pains in year one, but he certainly ended on a strong note, finishing with career-highs in points (24) and field goals (nine) while tying a career-best with nine rebounds in 38 minutes of work.
DeRozan had just six points in the first half before connecting on seven of his eight shots after the break with the majority coming from within a few feet of the basket. A summer of work awaits the Californian as he attempts to expand his game, but he can take some comfort in the fact that his most recent game as a Raptor was his best one.
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That Raptors used a season-high 37 assists to fuel their offensive fireworks against the Pistons, which was a far cry from the lack of ball movement on Sunday night.
Leading the way on Monday was the point guard tandem of Jose Calderon and Jarrett Jack, who combined four 23 of those helpers and an assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly six-to-one. Calderon dished out eleven assists and had zero turnovers, while Jack came off the bench to add more scoring (15 points) and one more dime with 12, but turned it over four times.
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Whether it was a product of the home team hell-bent on taking care of business in a must-win game or an opponent not intersted in playing any defence, the Raptors record books are in line for some re-writing following Wednesday's win.
Toronto connected at a .650 clip to set a new single-game franchise mark, while their 131 points scored also set a new franchise-high for a regulation game. The Raptors also set franchise records in total points (8,534), points per game (104.1), made field goals (3,199), field goal percentage (.482) and free throw attempts (2,118) this season.
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"We said before the game take care of our business and see what happens. I thought we had pretty good energy, but we didn’t get up on a couple threes and I thought that is what allowed them to stay close. DeMar (DeRozan), Sonny (Weems), Amir (Johnson), Andrea (Bargnani); we had four guys with nine field goals, that is pretty darn good. We shared the ball and we played pretty well together."
- Jay Triano on the season finale.
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4-0 |
Raptors record vs. the Knicks this season, their first season series sweep ever |
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6 |
Number of seasons Toronto has cracked the 40-win mark |
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62-28 |
Points in the paint favouring the Raptors, who tied a season high |
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.696 |
Amir Johnson's shooting percentage over his last four games (32-46 FGM-A) |
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33 |
Number of three-point attempts by the Knicks |
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"It was very disappointing. I think we left everything on the line. I think we wanted it, but you can’t take away from Chicago. They did the same thing and they got the better end of the stick."- DeMar DeRozan on learning the Raptors' playoff fate. |
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"It just felt like a little bit of a playground, both teams play good offence and not a lot of energy on defence. It happens, it’s the end of the year." - Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni, on his team's final game. |
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"You have to understand that teams play their best basketball typically right after the All-Star break and they are going to make a run. That is pretty much what happened. Obviously we had some injuries that didn’t help our situation, but we can’t use that as a crutch or an excuse." - Jarrett Jack on Toronto's second-half swoon.
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