Of Boos & Broken Clipboards

MAGIC 104, RAPS 96

Look above.  The Magic knew who they had to defend yesterday.  In what was supposed to be a VC tribute night that Carter in turn, "politely declined".  VC decided to make his own tribute night finishing with 24 points and 8 rebounds, handing the Raptors another "haha, in your face, this was almost five years ago, stop booing, I got the last laugh" loss. 

I was in attendance at the game, and as much as I booed every time VC touched the ball, I'm pretty sure that after almost five years.......he's used to the boos.  From the Orlando Sentinel ,VC's thoughts on a potential tribute night:

"Why would I want to do it? You heard it out there," Carter said. "They came to me. It just didn't make sense. Actually, it wasn't as loud as it has been. It used to be deafening."

The Magic did a decent job defending Bosh, keeping him from reaching his ninth straight double double. Bosh ended the night with 22 points and 5 rebounds.  At one point of the game, I thought to myself "Jason Williams and JJ Redick are killing the Raptors!"  The two guards combined for 35 points.  The loss wasn't as bad as the last Magic-Raps matchup but the Raps failed to make a run in the fourth, and when Hedo turned the ball over off his foot, any chance of a Raptors run was finished. 

Offensively, with both Belinelli out with the groin injury and DeMar's ugly stat line, the Raps couldn't keep the offensive pace that they were looking for which led to the highlight of my weekend.  First of all, I got to attend a 'BOO, VC SUCKS' Raptors game but I also got to see this (via @tasmelas):

Key notes:

• Fresh off of Jarret Jack's stellar fourth quarter perfomance against the Heat, Jack had 8 pts, 7 boards and 11 dimes yesterday afternoon
• JJ Redick had 19 pts and 4 triples off of the bench for the Magic
• Offensive boards: 14-8 in favour of the Magic
• Raptors' only two losses at home are against the Magic
• For a Magic perspective, check out Third Quarter Collapse
• DeRozan Watch: 17 minutes, 1 pt, 1 rebound, 1 block

Next up, the Raps face off against the Indiana Pacers....

Photo credit: (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)