Back Court Scoring of DeRozan and Lowry leads to Raptors win over Magic

One of the best and not talked about as much back courts in the NBA, is the Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry and shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. On Saturday the Toronto Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 108-95.  DeMar and Kyle Lowry lead the way for the Raptors.  Here are the stats for each team.


Top 5 Toronto Raptors Scorers

DeMar DeRozan- 26 points, 8 rebounds, 9/18 FG, 8/10 FT
Kyle Lowry- 21 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 5/12 FG, 9/11 FT
Amir Johnson- 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7/9 FG
James Johnson- 12 points, 3 rebounds, 4/6 FG
Jonas Valanciunas- 10 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2/8FG, 6?8 FT


Top 5 Orlando Magic Scorers

Evan Fournier- 18 points, 6/10 FG, 5/7 FT
Elfrid Payton- 16 points, 9 assists, 3 rebounds, 6/12 FG, 4/8 FT
Nikola Vucevic- 15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 7/11 FG
Tobias Harris- 11 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4/15 FG
Channing Frye- 11 points, 2 assists, 4/10 FG, 2/7 3PTFG


Toronto Raptors Thoughts

1. Would you agree that Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are top 5 backcourt in the NBA?  
2. Raptors out rebounded the Magic 50-40.  When you have more rebounds, it gives you more opportunities to try and score to win the game
3. Jonas Valanciunas didn't shoot good, but got to the line, and did his job on the glass.  
4. Nice performance from James Johnson off the bench. Good shooting and okay numbers. 12 points and 3 boards.
5. I still am confident that the Toronto Raptors will win the Atlantic Division this season.  Think about it, look at the rest of the competition, The Boston Celtics, The Brooklyn Nets, The New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers.  
6. Bold prediction Toronto will win 52 games this season, and finish 3rd seed. 

Orlando Magic Thoughts

1. Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton shot good (50% 6 of 12), but much do better at the free throw line.  Nice assists with 9. Almost a double double.  I think the Magic have found their point guard of the future
2. Nikola Vucevic is proving so far he is the double-double master.  All three games he has scored double digits, and had double digits in rebounds.  I think he could possibly be an all-star this year.
3. This team must crash the boards better. Nikola Vucevic can't do everything on the glass.  Box out and go after those rebounds.  
4. Evan Fournier has been a solid pickup so far, but truthfully I'm anticipating the return of my favorite Orlando Magic player Victor Oladipo.  
5. Tobias Harris almost had a double-double, but shot bad from the field.  4 of 15 aren't good numbers.  Everyone though has a bad game or two once in a while.  Tobias must shake it off and do better the next game.

Final Thoughts

The Raptors improved to 2-0, while the Magic have dropped to 0-3.   I feel the Raptors are top 3 in the East, while the Magic will finish with top 5 worst record in the NBA.  What did you think about this game? Send me your comments. Thank you for reading Pro Basketball Hoops Land. The place where you can read articles, send comments, and purchase pro basketball merchandise.  On the left side of my blog, you can see I have all 30 teams.  They are in ABC order, so I encourage you to pick the team you want to purchase merchandise from, and make a purchase today.