Monday, February 25, 2008

Back Home Again...Pacers - Raptors (Preview)

The Pacers return home tonight to play a good Toronto Raptors team. They are coming off of a disappointing loss to the New Jersey Nets who they had beaten the night before.

The Pacers have lost their two previous match-ups with the Raptors this season, and need to win tonight to make sure they don't get too far out of the playoff race. In their first match-up, the Raptors won 104-93 with Chris Bosh and Jason Kapono both scoring over 20 points. Their game in November had the same result, with the Pacers losing this game 110-101. Chris Bosh also put up 22 points in that game as well. (LINK)

Jermaine O'Neal was an impact in these games as well, scoring 14 with 6 rebounds in the first game, but only played around 30 minutes in the second game adding 13 points and 1 rebound. Jamaal Tinsley was also a factor in both of those games, but is still out until early March with his knee injury.(LINK)

The Pacers will have a tough time tonight with a very good Toronto Raptors team. Jeff Foster will have to bang down low matching up with the 7 footer, Andrea Bargnani. The team will also have to find a way to slow down All-Star Chris Bosh as he has a good shot at scoring 30 today.
If Danny Granger and Mikey Dunleavy can combine for 40-50 points tonight and get some help from the rest of the team, the Pacers could have a chance tonight. Travis Diener also needs to perform his dribble and dish to find open threes. The Pacers need hold Bosh and Bargnani to both under 20 points and play tough defense on all the other players. Also, make sure they are playing a good offense finding open shots instead of trying to play isolation basketball. If they do these things the Pacers could have a crack at beating the Raptors.

-Sean
--No in-game update--

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