Lebron Whines, Cleveland Shines

First things first, the Raptors really have nothing to be ashamed of taking the top team in the league to overtime without their top player, before finally running out of gas. In the end I do question some of Triano's late game substitution choices keeping Hedo in the game and keeping Reggie... who was an absolute animal tonight, on the bench down the stretch. Hedo did have his hand in bringing the Raps to OT but a few ill advised shots and wasted possessions by him were frustrating. 

Here's the problem I have with Lebron, and it's similar to the Boston thing. He whines and complains like a little baby. He already gets most of the calls going his way from the refs but when he doesn't.... whoa go cry to your mommy pal. He moans and bitches and I am sure he comes close to stamping his feet on the floor. Jack Armstrong echoed my sentiments. I felt like slapping Lebron on the side of the head, or just backhanding him. Boston does this too except they're worse cause they have a really asshole-ish cockiness that makes you want to vomit. Pierce saying that he's one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, made me throw up in my mouth a little.

Shit you might have noticed:

• Hedo for the most part played well. He shot it decently and took what the offense and defense gave him as he was the beneficiary of some nice passes from Jack and Bargnani. He still displayed some of his signature jackass moves though like just putting his head down and running his defender over and then looking at the ref as if he was surprised that he got called for the charge. It's like he's got some sort of deal with the devil where he has to do that at least once a game. The other irritating plays i could think of were his rushed bricked three-pointer to try to win the game at the end of the fourth, and the one near the end where he kept holding on to the ball and running the shot clock down to waste a key possession.

• Bargs played his best offensive game in a while. I think his best move is his pull up jumper from the top of the arch, hoping in close to the free throw line and he just pops up a nice clean looking mid range jumper. Same problem for this team that I have been complaining about for years, they just stop giving him the ball in the second half of games. He had about 18 points in the first but rarely touched the ball the rest of the way. The only thing he does when he has the ball is create. Give the Italian his penne pasta!!! He looked particularly good on the head fake 180 dunk from baseline and the head fake, step out jumper he had on Lebron. Totally faked him out, bravo il Mago.

• Attack of the Jack. Jarrett continued his strong play of late and came up big again in this game. He was absolutely fearless diving into the lane, slithering through defenders and scoring with a lot of duck-ins and drawing all sorts of attention and fouls. He's exactly what we need from a floor general. Clearly the best off season acquisition by Bryan. When I heard we got him, I was ecstatic. When I heard we got Hedo, I said to myself: Why? He's not what we needed. 

• The bench came up big and came to play. Reggie in my opinion had his best game as a Raptor. I couldn't believe all the points he was scoring and just wreaking havoc on the offensive glass and was like a tiger on a wildebeest carcass. Sonny Weems was also exceptionally good. Case in point, the fake out on James, shedding him for the two handed cram job. His shot was on and the Cavs were letting him shoot. Well done. Antoine also had a strong showing, he played as well as one could play on James. 

 

Kevin Durant... "YOU'RE NEXT!!"

 Like I said, the Raptors have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of tonight. Only thing I could complain about is them fading in OT. Toronto just doesn't seem to have the knack for pulling off games in extra time. I don't know what the stats are but I only remember like 2 or 3 OT wins by this team through the last bunch of seasons. As soon as they made it to OT, I knew they were done. It's a trend that must stop and hopefully something the coach can better prepare his team for. So that Raps have Saturday off before they meet up with OKC. Get some rest, a good practice in, maybe head down to the local Massage Parlour, and prepare for a shootout on Sunday.