The Raptors own New York this season

Despite missing the big Boshman again for the evening due to a stomach virus, the Raptors once again beat the Knickerbockers. Bosh had food poisoning or something, just a few days after Andrea had something similar. This raises the obvious question, who the heck is their cook/nutritionist?!?! What are these guys stuffing their faces with? Week old pizza slices? Penne Pasta consisting of NOT the finest Italian ingredients? If I had to guess, they probably ate some of that crap that is given out for free after the Raptors get 100 points. Big mistake. But alas, they still manage to beat the Knicks, snapping a 4 game losing streak and all is right with the world once again.

Lets talk about the game though and it was an ugly game. Very difficult for me to watch as their didn't seem to be any flow, any rhyme or reason. Just a couple of crappy teams playing crappy ball. Basically it was David Lee versus the Raptors bench. Nobody pays to see that but the ends justify the ugly means. David Lee basically ran roughshod on the Raptors, Andrea in particular. Andrea bascially just waved at Lee's shots as they went by. Almost escort him to the basket for free. On a positive note, the Raps fans got to boo an old foe in Tracy McGrady. The original Raptor villain. The one we booed with passion long before VC abandoned us. Plus he sucked so it made it so much sweeter. He had like 6 turnovers or something awesome like that. Pretty good for the top payed played in the league.

• Sonny Weems is the next coming of Michael Jordan!! Ok maybe not... maybe not even close but he's made Bryan Colangelo look like a genius all season long. He's got the attributes to make a solid wing in this association and maybe more. Someone just needed to look beyond his draft positioning and give the guy a chance and some playing time. So often, the Raptors have been the springboard to success for players in this league. The trend seems to be, they do well here and cash in some place else. Hopefully we can retain Sonny. He displayed his entire arsenal tonight and teams continue to sleep on defending this guy's jumper.

• Point of interest...Jose and Jarrett. Our backcourt was weaving their way through traffic and finishing off the glass. The Knicks just couldn't contain their slashes and they hurt the Knicks all night long. Jose seems to have his step back as he was a half step faster than the defender on almost every drive. Jarrett was going through the Knicks defense like a wrecking ball and the Knicks just got outta the way. I kinda wished they gave Marcus Banks some burn though since he's been so good off the bench for us this season. A year ago, I woulda read that and thought I was making some smart ass, sarcastic comment. 

• Andrea Stunk. I mean he was awful. I cringed every time he put up a shot cause it never looked like they'd go in. They should make him watch the tape of this game over and over again. It's a how-to and how-not-to visual learning tool. Try the things that David is doing, stop doing the things you were doing like forcing up bad shots, rushing possessions, and trying to go through a double team on the post like you were Shaq-fu. The low post game was not working and he needed to go back to his mid range game. He didnt. He needed to go to the head fake jumpers, the step-out jumpers and the controlled drives. He didn't. His defense was atrocious. I don't know if you've noticed... rhetorical question, but it seems soooooo easy for everyone in the league to shoot over top of Andrea. I dunno if his long arms actually help the opponent line up their shot more or what. He took a shot to the back of the head that busted him open. I thought that might awaken him, nope.

• Amir also played well. I always thought they should start him instead of Rasho, especially with Reggie back. He's done well and deserved to be rewarded. Tonight, he rewarded Jay by being a rebound hound on the offensive end. Showing the other team the offensive rebounding usually reserved for Raptors opponents on the other end. He was a fireball, a sparkplug, a catalyst all night and I thought some of that hustle might have sparked something for Andrea. Some of the hardwork would have infected Andrea via osmosis. Shows how much I know. 

• Turk did well. I guess you can call that well. The rebounds are certainly nothing to sneeze at. All the Turk supporters would agree he did well. Let's bring some reality. He's getting paid $53million dollars!!!!!!!!! He's expected to play the way he did in Orlando, and he's expected to score more than 15 points a game, every game!!! Then the cynics would say, "Well we don't need him to". We're 5th in the East, not 1st. So therefore, we need him to! 

There's nothing sweeter than beating the team for the so-called best city in the world. It just makes me sleep a little better at night. It's really a wonderful thing. However, the Knicks are going to try to do what everyone else in the world hates about New York franchises. They are going to try to buy success. Throw money at their problems instead of working hard. Instead of scouting, drafting properly, developing their players, and building a team like everyone else does. They just make a crap team for years, and try to buy talent. Makes me sick. Another reason why I am savouring this win.

Raps got PHI next. PHI doesn't seem very powerful but you never know what any team is capable of at any time and it's a game that's going to need Chris Bosh, and Andrea Bargnani back. Neither of which were present at this game. Physcially, nor mentally. And please, someone please feed these pro athletes something good.