Thursday, March 18, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
GUTLESS!!!
Starting on the lighter side:
Did anyone notice how much Leo was tootin Tyreke Evans' horn? I was tellin him to shut his pie hole the entire game. Well actually, I was telling my TV. I do that a lot, yell things at the screen. But Leo, if you love him so much why don't you quit your job with the Raptors and go move in with him? I think he's got a man-crush on him and is going to buy him candy and flowers.
The Game:
A gutless performance in the second half. The Raptors mailed it in during halftime, put on their night caps and went to sleep. Their offense consisted of a lot of standing around and shooting an ill-advised jumper first thing down the court. Bosh was off big time and he kept forcing up that jumper that just wasn't working. He needed to post up every single time but he didn't. They needed to get the ball to him in the post, or post up Bargnani or run high ISO for him... they didn't. They needed to get Jose the heck off the court and out of the arena. They lost to an obviously inferior team and might as well pack it in this season. This ship seems to be sinking faster than Reggie Evans in a above ground pool.
The Complaints:
Jose was awful, just frickin awful. He should NOT have been left on the floor but yet after missing shots, turning the ball over and getting a flagrant foul, Jay was adamant about leaving him in the game cause things were going so well. With Jack our offense had a flow, but he remained on the pine again way too long. Jack at least can pass as an NBA pointguard even when he's having a bad game. Jose lately, seems like some dude they picked up out of the crowd. It pains me to say it since he used to be such a good player but he's just been a shadow of his former self. As his hair has gone, so has his game.
Again, Andrea does well in the first half and they don't go to him in the third till the end of the quarter when they've realized they've just been jacking up errant jump shots. By that time he's worn out and ready to come out for a breather. To say that the Raptors have been stoopid is an understatement. Even Devlin and Rautins noted it. I get tired of saying, you must be tired of hearing it. I just put both my hands up in frustration, that's what I'll do from now on.
For the first time ever, I've felt that Jay Triano is not fit as headcoach. I've always been a supporter but now I see the idiocy of his ways. Bad substitution management, bad play calling, bad time-out timing and management. Ask yourselves this question Raptor fans, do you think any team would hire him if he got let go tomorrow? Uh-No.
The usual Turkoglu plea:
Dear Jay Triano and/or Bryan Colangelo. You made a mistake with regards to acquiring Hidayet "The Turnover" Turkoglu. Please remove him from the team. At least remove him from the starting line up. He is the newest version of Stephon Marbury. Last version was Tracy McGrady but he's playing again now. Hedo needs to leave the team, go home and keep from hurting his own team during games. He is the worst free agent acquisition in sports history, no wait hat was Hakeem. He is the second worst acquisition in sports history. If Jason Blake can be removed from the Leafs, the Raps have some sort of chance of getting rid of him this off season. I bet the Blazers are laughing their asses off at us.
Did anyone notice how much Leo was tootin Tyreke Evans' horn? I was tellin him to shut his pie hole the entire game. Well actually, I was telling my TV. I do that a lot, yell things at the screen. But Leo, if you love him so much why don't you quit your job with the Raptors and go move in with him? I think he's got a man-crush on him and is going to buy him candy and flowers.
The Game:
A gutless performance in the second half. The Raptors mailed it in during halftime, put on their night caps and went to sleep. Their offense consisted of a lot of standing around and shooting an ill-advised jumper first thing down the court. Bosh was off big time and he kept forcing up that jumper that just wasn't working. He needed to post up every single time but he didn't. They needed to get the ball to him in the post, or post up Bargnani or run high ISO for him... they didn't. They needed to get Jose the heck off the court and out of the arena. They lost to an obviously inferior team and might as well pack it in this season. This ship seems to be sinking faster than Reggie Evans in a above ground pool.
The Complaints:
Jose was awful, just frickin awful. He should NOT have been left on the floor but yet after missing shots, turning the ball over and getting a flagrant foul, Jay was adamant about leaving him in the game cause things were going so well. With Jack our offense had a flow, but he remained on the pine again way too long. Jack at least can pass as an NBA pointguard even when he's having a bad game. Jose lately, seems like some dude they picked up out of the crowd. It pains me to say it since he used to be such a good player but he's just been a shadow of his former self. As his hair has gone, so has his game.
Again, Andrea does well in the first half and they don't go to him in the third till the end of the quarter when they've realized they've just been jacking up errant jump shots. By that time he's worn out and ready to come out for a breather. To say that the Raptors have been stoopid is an understatement. Even Devlin and Rautins noted it. I get tired of saying, you must be tired of hearing it. I just put both my hands up in frustration, that's what I'll do from now on.
For the first time ever, I've felt that Jay Triano is not fit as headcoach. I've always been a supporter but now I see the idiocy of his ways. Bad substitution management, bad play calling, bad time-out timing and management. Ask yourselves this question Raptor fans, do you think any team would hire him if he got let go tomorrow? Uh-No.
The usual Turkoglu plea:
Dear Jay Triano and/or Bryan Colangelo. You made a mistake with regards to acquiring Hidayet "The Turnover" Turkoglu. Please remove him from the team. At least remove him from the starting line up. He is the newest version of Stephon Marbury. Last version was Tracy McGrady but he's playing again now. Hedo needs to leave the team, go home and keep from hurting his own team during games. He is the worst free agent acquisition in sports history, no wait hat was Hakeem. He is the second worst acquisition in sports history. If Jason Blake can be removed from the Leafs, the Raps have some sort of chance of getting rid of him this off season. I bet the Blazers are laughing their asses off at us.
To Live and Die in LA... in 1.9 secs
Forest:
I GOTTA FIND BUBBA!!
Bubba:
Forest, why did this happen?
Forest:
You got shot...
YOU GOTTA QUADRUPLE TEAM KOBE!!
Bynum:
Bosh, why did this happen?
Bosh: Kobe's got a fade away jump shot...
Bargnani:
Say... me fell like me want some shrimp on me penne
It was a good effort by most of the Toronto Raptors against one of the top teams in the world but in the end, the desired outcome slipped by the wayside by a silky smooth fadeaway jumper by Kobe. I didn't get a lot of time to write this one as it was a late game and I hit the sack as soon as it was over and I had work the next day so here I am writing this with a few hours till tipoff in Sackless-town.
Basically we lost this game due to a variety of reason which have been touched on by most people online and most people with eyes. These reasons are very obvious to everyone but like so many things in sports, seems to be invisible to the team's and the other people involved in the game.
The Refs should be SHOT or HUNG or STABBED but they should not be let go without consequence.
Now before you go and call me a psycho I don't mean that literally of course but these refs lastnight were a good example of a major issue in this game. That being, giving the superstars preferential treatment. Kobe was given every chance to get to the line on a variety of phantom calls where he would fall on his own ass and not be in the vicinity of a Raptor but yet the Refs who must've had something of LA's in their pants would call everything against the Raps and basically changed the outcome. This is not acceptable. This is not what fair play is about. This is disgusting.
What's also disgusting is the pig of a player we have on the Raps. The oinker in question of course is Hedo "The Turnover" Turkoglu who was without a doubt a detriment to this basketball team. Not only is he not living up to his guaranteed contract. A contract that spits in the face of every hardworking, blue collared... or white collared for that matter, citizen of the world. But he is costing us games with his sloppy play. He's slow, sloppy, careless, lazy and now you can add sorry to that list. This pig is gobbling up money, taking away playing time from players who could contribute and all the while, he's laughing and smirking on the court and on the bench. A horrible attitude, coupled with a horrible season is a good formula for failure.
Triano... I hope this is a situation where you learn from your mistakes, but since you've made these mistakes countless times I am guessing you are blind. Why on earth would you take Jack out at the end of the 3rd, and hold him out of the game till about the 8 min mark of the 4th when your team has given up the lead or is on a serious cold streak? Jack was on a rampage lastnight and the idiot coaching staff decides to rest him way too long. This is the NBA, it's the 4th quarter against a top team you are within reach of beating. I am sure Jarrett can spare some tiredness to push towards a win. Compounded with leaving Bosh and Bargs on the bench way too long as well, this was another formula for failure and Jay Triano is every bit as culpable as anyone. Jay has a bad habit of taking hot players out of the game. And by this I mean players who are on a scoring streak or are effective at a certain moment in a game. Then he totally ignores the person the rest of the game. Key examples are where Bargs gets hot. Suddenly Bargs couldn't touch the ball other than to swing it to the other side of the court on top of the key. Jack is another example of course, as is Demar. When Demar gets hot in the first half, it doesn't matter. He's coming out of the game in the 4th or even as soon as the 3rd. Demar had a very good first quarter but was completely forgotten about after. I'd still rather have him on the court playing defense than Turk who would more likely tear a groin than play good man to man defense. It's like asking a giraffe to run down a gazelle.
In this end, a double teamed Kobe hit his trademark game winner. He's what a real game winner is. Turk is a joke, he's not a 4th quarter player, he's not a 1st, 2nd or 3rd one for that matter and I wish I could say otherwise. I am a Raptor fan. He is a Raptor... i don't want to see him fail but that's all he seems to be able to do. Wait, the only other thing he is capable of doing is inducing Raptor fans to slap themselves in the forehead with the palms of their hands after watching him play. Vomit, wipe, repeat.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Philadelphia runs afoul of a Toronto Sporting Venue
Intro:
thesamsquanch was in attendance. He was down at the ACC with his lady, with tickets in hand for a sporting event. Instead, thesamsquanch somehow walked into a masons, or bricklayer's convention. All manners of bricks and mortar were on display, from the Italian variety to the standard American. The Raps couldn't hit the side of a barn, as they say. Or throw it in the ocean, as some others mention. To be perfectly simple about it, they stank. Oh, and if you were wondering where I was, which I guess none of you really do anyways since nobody cares. I was the young chap in section 318 wearing his white Andrea Bargnani jersey, old man's hat, doing his darndest to sport a short but growing mullet. Oh and their were two really annoying screeching kids sitting behind us. I know they are just having fun, and I appreciate that but when I looked around me all I can see are people with their fingers in their ears trying not to get permanent hearing loss. To the parents of those kids, please teach them volume control. To those kids, I hope you have fun and enjoy that free cardboard you call food.
In-arena crud:
Since I was there, I can mention some of the things you wouldn't normally see in a televised viewing. Vickie Guererro was at it again, giving out prizes. I wonder if she ever gets bored of showing the same video of the BMO cards going around so a fan can pick the right card. I sure as heck am bored of her. The worst in-game advertisement shown on the big screen, usually during halftime, is the Cambria commercial. Cambria is a bar in the Air Canada Centre. Or at least, that's what I gathered from the commercial. The commercial shows some old musician who I don't care about, and then goes to shots of the bar furniture, the stools, the bathroom sink for some reason, and the bench etc. I am not sure if I should go there to get a beer, or if I should run out and buy some bar stools, or get a new bathroom sink installed. Just bizarre.
The Raptor drove around in his Ford go-cart which for one of the few times I have seen it, didn't actually break down. It's true, I've seen the thing stop working like 3 times and the Raptor would have to wave someone over to help him push it off the court. Typical crap. Much like the way the Raptors basketball team performed today, and has been performing like a lot lately.
The Good Guys:
Bosh was back, Turk was out. As of this time I do not know why he was absent. I guess it was probably due to the ankle but whatever. The Raptors lacked that 6th gear to shift to, heck they lacked the 5th gear and only showed their 4th gear a bit in the fourth after a Jose 3 pointer and an Antoine 3. Bosh scored 12, Bargs with 11. You can't win like this. It's not possible. Jarrett had a good game with 20 points 9 assists, and 4 steals. Off the bench Belli was had a rare decent game chipping in with 11. That's usually not very good news from an overall standpoint. If I had to describe what I saw, I would say that it was a flurry of turnovers by the Raptors, a lot of offensive boards given up and their second chance points as a result, and a lot of bricks on the other end of the floor where the Raps found themselves wide open and still either lose the ball or lay a big stinky egg. It's like the old sports cliche, they didn't get beaten by the 76ers, they did a good job of beating themselves. At no point did I think that Philly was overpowering the Raps in anyway. The Raps just continued to screw the pooch. Eventually, when you keep doing that to yourself, the other team is going to pull away and that's exactly what happened. I really was like they had their nards removed lately. They just had to fight, no backbone, no willpower, nothing.
The Bad Guys:
They mostly held Elton "No Name" Brand in check with a series of fouls. Thaddeus Young went off on us and was "That Guy" from the other team that the Raps like to allow to have a career night. Just ask Kobe about the topic. AI was in attendance for this game and did a lot of damage with a hand in his face, and also wide open sometimes. He wasn't much of a factor the last time they played the Sixers.
I usually like to get into specifics about the way certain players performed during a game. This game I will spare myself, and yourselves the headache of trying to dig through a pile of dung to find the nuggets. Let's just agree that every has their nads removed except Double J.
The Rant:
What really bothered me, and I mean I got pissed off when this happened, was when the Raptors crowd started chanting PIZZA PIZZA when the team got to 99 points. Your team just embarrassed themselves in front of their home crowd against a shitty opponent. What kind of jackass fans are you to cheer for the garbage pizza you get for free? Get out of the arena, get out of my city, don't come back, don't call yourselves Raptors fans, don't call yourselves sports fans. Just get out, go watch Yo Gabba Gabba, or Hanna Montana, or whatever it is that idiots watch. You're the type of people that go to play day when you were children and are overjoyed to get the participant ribbons. Mind you they are nice ribbons, but when their isn't an ounce of competitiveness in your blood what good are you?
thesamsquanch was in attendance. He was down at the ACC with his lady, with tickets in hand for a sporting event. Instead, thesamsquanch somehow walked into a masons, or bricklayer's convention. All manners of bricks and mortar were on display, from the Italian variety to the standard American. The Raps couldn't hit the side of a barn, as they say. Or throw it in the ocean, as some others mention. To be perfectly simple about it, they stank. Oh, and if you were wondering where I was, which I guess none of you really do anyways since nobody cares. I was the young chap in section 318 wearing his white Andrea Bargnani jersey, old man's hat, doing his darndest to sport a short but growing mullet. Oh and their were two really annoying screeching kids sitting behind us. I know they are just having fun, and I appreciate that but when I looked around me all I can see are people with their fingers in their ears trying not to get permanent hearing loss. To the parents of those kids, please teach them volume control. To those kids, I hope you have fun and enjoy that free cardboard you call food.In-arena crud:
Since I was there, I can mention some of the things you wouldn't normally see in a televised viewing. Vickie Guererro was at it again, giving out prizes. I wonder if she ever gets bored of showing the same video of the BMO cards going around so a fan can pick the right card. I sure as heck am bored of her. The worst in-game advertisement shown on the big screen, usually during halftime, is the Cambria commercial. Cambria is a bar in the Air Canada Centre. Or at least, that's what I gathered from the commercial. The commercial shows some old musician who I don't care about, and then goes to shots of the bar furniture, the stools, the bathroom sink for some reason, and the bench etc. I am not sure if I should go there to get a beer, or if I should run out and buy some bar stools, or get a new bathroom sink installed. Just bizarre.
The Raptor drove around in his Ford go-cart which for one of the few times I have seen it, didn't actually break down. It's true, I've seen the thing stop working like 3 times and the Raptor would have to wave someone over to help him push it off the court. Typical crap. Much like the way the Raptors basketball team performed today, and has been performing like a lot lately.
The Good Guys:
Bosh was back, Turk was out. As of this time I do not know why he was absent. I guess it was probably due to the ankle but whatever. The Raptors lacked that 6th gear to shift to, heck they lacked the 5th gear and only showed their 4th gear a bit in the fourth after a Jose 3 pointer and an Antoine 3. Bosh scored 12, Bargs with 11. You can't win like this. It's not possible. Jarrett had a good game with 20 points 9 assists, and 4 steals. Off the bench Belli was had a rare decent game chipping in with 11. That's usually not very good news from an overall standpoint. If I had to describe what I saw, I would say that it was a flurry of turnovers by the Raptors, a lot of offensive boards given up and their second chance points as a result, and a lot of bricks on the other end of the floor where the Raps found themselves wide open and still either lose the ball or lay a big stinky egg. It's like the old sports cliche, they didn't get beaten by the 76ers, they did a good job of beating themselves. At no point did I think that Philly was overpowering the Raps in anyway. The Raps just continued to screw the pooch. Eventually, when you keep doing that to yourself, the other team is going to pull away and that's exactly what happened. I really was like they had their nards removed lately. They just had to fight, no backbone, no willpower, nothing.
The Bad Guys:
They mostly held Elton "No Name" Brand in check with a series of fouls. Thaddeus Young went off on us and was "That Guy" from the other team that the Raps like to allow to have a career night. Just ask Kobe about the topic. AI was in attendance for this game and did a lot of damage with a hand in his face, and also wide open sometimes. He wasn't much of a factor the last time they played the Sixers.
I usually like to get into specifics about the way certain players performed during a game. This game I will spare myself, and yourselves the headache of trying to dig through a pile of dung to find the nuggets. Let's just agree that every has their nads removed except Double J.
The Rant:
What really bothered me, and I mean I got pissed off when this happened, was when the Raptors crowd started chanting PIZZA PIZZA when the team got to 99 points. Your team just embarrassed themselves in front of their home crowd against a shitty opponent. What kind of jackass fans are you to cheer for the garbage pizza you get for free? Get out of the arena, get out of my city, don't come back, don't call yourselves Raptors fans, don't call yourselves sports fans. Just get out, go watch Yo Gabba Gabba, or Hanna Montana, or whatever it is that idiots watch. You're the type of people that go to play day when you were children and are overjoyed to get the participant ribbons. Mind you they are nice ribbons, but when their isn't an ounce of competitiveness in your blood what good are you?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
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!
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.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Raps get PWNED in Hooooston
SO, that was a wonder game wasn't it? It was like a time machine for me, like watching a Raptors game from their old early expansion years. Turnovers everywhere, disorganization, rushed shots, porous defence, and really really bad shooting. Critics would say that they were missing their star players but I respond to that by saying, NO EXCUSES. Especially in the way that they lost. I mean I have to admit, i didn't even finished watching the game. It was too painful to watch. Bargs was scoring but some of the ones he missed were atrocious. There was no defense to speak of at all. The Rockets just made their way to the basket at will. I dunno what to say... really. I am speechless. I just hope that Bosh comes back soon and they can collect themselves soon cause if they keep playing like this, they'll end up being another joke in the east.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)