Ben Uzoh puts up a triple double night as the Toronto Raptors dispatch away the New Jersey Nets 98-67.....
Ben Uzoh`s inspiring night of triple double figures in the last game of the season helped the Toronto Raptors crush the New Jersey Nets 98-67 here at the Air Canada Center in Toronto on Thursday.
Uzoh finished the game with 12 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds to notch up a first triple double for the Raptors since Alvin Williams did it back in 2001.
Ed Davis was not far behind also finishing the night with career best figures of 24 points and 12 rebounds. Gary Forbes scored 23 points and Alan Anderson managed 20 points in the game to help the Raptors end a four game losing
streak.
It was an lacklustre performance from the Nets side, considering the fact that this was their last game playing for New Jersey. Anthony Morrow and Armon Johnson each managed to score 11 points. Gerald Green and Jordan Williams
added 10 each as the Nets mustered season low points. This loss was their 6 straight ensured a last place finish for them in the Atlantic Division.
Throughout the night, Raptors cleaned up the glass, Solomon Alabi being the best prospect in that aspect of the game. He grabbed 19 rebounds in the game and his impressive showing on the board helped the Raptors out-rebound the
Nets 58-39 on the night.
In a game, in which the home side was extremely dominant from the get go, there were no lead changes and at one point the Raptors were able to build up an advantage of as many as 38 points.
Toronto`s impressive start to the game set things up for how the rest of the night was going to be. They raced to a 17-2 lead inside the opening 5 minutes, Anderson connecting on three triples in that span to help his team`s cause.
The lead remained in double figures for the remaining time and only got below that mark once. After the first 12 minutes, the scores were 26-15 in Toronto`s favour.
If the first quarter was low scoring on the Nets part, the second quarter was even worse. They managed to score only 12 points in that frame while managing to miss on their 15 field goal attempts. The Raptors were not any better
on their conversion rate; they managed to miss 16 of their field goal attempts. But attempting a high number of shots paid off, helping them rack up 28 points in that frame.
By the half way stage, Raptors led by the same number of points as the Nets scored till that mark, 54-27.
The onslaught continued on in the second half with the Raptors extending their advantage to above 30. At one point in the third quarter, the home side were ahead by 36 and despite the run of 8-2 to close the period by the Nets,
the advantage remained at 30.
At the 5:34 mark in the game, Raptors were able to achieve their highest lead of the night, being ahead by 38 points. The home side had no trouble throughout the night and in the end were able to easily dispatch the Nets away with
a difference of 31 points.
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