Golden State Warriors @ Toronto Raptors 02/27/2015

Seeking to redeem themselves after a demoralizing loss in Cleveland last evening, the Warriors flew north of the border. Tonight's contest would feature the Golden State Warriors (7-8 in their past 15 road games) against the elite, yet slumping, Toronto Raptors (recipients of three consecutive losses).
Undoubtedly, Stephen Curry would be ready to go on February 27th, 2015. Two years ago tonight, Steph lit up Madison Square Garden in New York with a historic 54-point performance, and he has often played his best basketball against Toronto. Prior to tonight, Curry had scored an average of 28.6 points per game against the Raptors. On this night, however, his services would be in lower demand.
Golden State was locked in from the beginning, opening the game on a 22-5 run and forming an impenetrable defensive wall. At the end of the first quarter, Toronto (the fifth highest scoring team in the NBA) had converted on only 1 of 19 field goal attempts, as the Warriors maintained a commanding double-digit advantage.
In the second quarter, the Warriors continued to capitalize on "Grade-A" scoring chances and played stellar defense, pushing their 16-point first quarter advantage to 23. Leading the charge was future MVP Stephen Curry, attempting to quiet any misconceptions that he is solely an offensive player (he leads the NBA with 2.2 steals per game). Heading into the break, Golden State led Toronto by a score of 54-31.
The third quarter brought more of the same, as Klay Thompson heated up to put the game out of the reach by tacking on 11 points in a span of two minutes. On the whole, the Warriors owned the third, pushing their lead to 41 on numerous occasions.
With Andre Iguodala resting, Golden State was searching for their role players to chip in tonight. Thankfully, their role players were quick to answer the bell, and by the end of the third quarter, the action had become comically academic.
The Warriors entered the fourth quarter with a dominant 98-57 lead and their starters sitting the bench. Although the fourth quarter was not as kind to Golden State, their bench did just enough to fend off a hungry Raptors squad, 113-89.
From Toronto's standpoint, the most intriguing action of the night occurred when a fistfight nearly broke out between Tyler Hansbrough and Festus Ezeli in the dying moments of the third, resulting in a double ejection.
Perhaps now we will begin to understand the comments of Raptor stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
"Me? I'm trash," Lowry told reporters, "I'm trying to figure it out right now, to be honest with you."
When DeRozan was asked where his personal game was at, he replied, "Right next to the trash can (that Lowry's) is. Both trash."
Judging by Toronto's horrendous team performance tonight, it's quite difficult to disagree.

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