The Nightmare is over

First I want to start by praising BC for ridding us of the nightmare known as Turkey Poo. True he brought it on himself but he had the team's best intentions in mind even though i didn't agree with it from the outset. He also got rid of Jose who I will miss but his lack of defense was too big of a hole to continue to suffer through. I haven't blogged in a while so I will touch upon some of our acquisitions. If BC can just get a free agent signing correct he might be alright. I don't understand all this hate for him. He's trying his ass off and not screwing up Babcock-style so I don't get all the hate.

Ed"209"Davis (Trademark Pending): First impression I had from him is that he didn't seem happy coming to Toronto. Not one bit. But lets hope he settles in. How many Raps fans felt like punching that reporter that kept asking him about Canadian taxes? I felt like super-kicking him. But alas, I didn't really know too much about his game as I hadn't seen it for myself but from what I heard he can rebound and block shots. I heard from some people that he couldn't score, and from other people that he had a strong low post arsenal. I was more excited about Soloman on draft night then I was Ed. However this all changed after watching them play during the first summer league game. Ya ya it's just one game but you could tell a lot about them just from the way the carry themselves on the court. Ed was quite impressive. Seems very comfortable in the post, has some good back-to-the-basket moves and some nice hooks and footwork. Needs to add muscle... ya ya ya... they say that about every bigman not named Shaq or Dwight. Also needs work on his mid range jumper. Bet a lot of fans wished he took #33 so they can recycle their Antonio Davis jerseys. I dunno what do you think? Ed 209, or Little Baby Davis?


Soloman Alabi: Some of the words used to describe him was that he was mechanical and robotic. This does seem to be the case after watching him. Looks like he needs to stick to what he's good at which is swatting shots and rebounding. Offense can come into play slowly as he adjusts and learns. Needs to smooth out that hook shot and shoot the mid range shot more cause I know he can hit it. Well spoken guy and seems pleasant enough. He'll be a good backup center or pf and an upgrade over POB during garbage time. During draft night I had hoped the Raps traded for Lani Gawal instead. Looks like he's turning into a super stud in the summer league. I hate when I'm right.


Leandro Barbosa: I don't know much about him having only watched him play a few times but what I don't understand is why people are saying he'll be the starting PG. He's not a playmaker from what I can tell so I don't understand the logic. He's super fast so obviously you want him on the wings. I like this pickup cause he can score but I worry that his arrival will hinder the development of Sonny and DD.  Nonetheless, a solid pickup which upgrades our team. I like Cpt. Barbosa off the bench as a spark plug allowing Weems to start and develop.

Boris Diaw: The man is a rock. A skilled one at that but he needs to get away from my favourite spot which is the buffet line and spend more time on the treadmill. Hopefully this comes to fruition. Plays just about any spot on the floor except the 2. Defends well which goes without saying is an overwhelming need. I like Boris coming off the bench as well or used as a defensive stopper. Too much of a log jam at the 5 and the 4 positions to justify starting him.


Tyson Chandler: Ah, my favourite pickup of the trades. What's weird is that I traded for him in my game on NBA 2k10 like a week ago. Then again I also traded for Turkoglu a few years ago and promptly realized he was a dickwad and traded him away for something good. But whatever, TC is a solid legit center. He brings intensity and is one of the quicker centers in the league. This is a definite upgrade for us on the defensive end. Let's hope he's healthy but I like this pickup more than I liked the Jermaine O'neal one back then since I always thought Jermaine was so fragile that he was one bad bump away from serious time off.... which he was. Chandler is younger and his issues seem a lot less serious. I'll take a bad toe over 2 bummed knees any day. His defense should cover up the some of the defensive inefficiencies produced by my favourite Italian bigman.

So the Raptors make some good trades today and I just like playing around with line ups cause it's fun. 

Depth Chart:
C: Chandler, Amir, Alabi

PF: Bargs, Davis

SF: Diaw, Weems

SG: Derozan, Barbosa, Belli

PG: Jack, Banks

Possible Starting Line up:
1:
C: Chandler
PF: Bargnani
SF: Weems
SG: Derozan
PG: Jack

2:
Chandler
Bargnani
Diaw
Derozan
Barbosa

3:
Bargnani
Amir
Weems
Barbosa
Jack

Bench:
Amir
Davis
Bellineli
Alabi

Starting line up 1 is my favourite as it has the two towers up top and the young guns being allowed to develop with more minutes. Jack is our only real legit PG so he's going there unless there's another major trade. Another big issue is how they're going to find minutes for Amir Johnson the $34M man and their prized rookie Ed "209" Davis

Looks like it opens up some spots to sign guys like Mike Roll, Bobby Brown, Joey Dorsey or some other legit free agents that are still available. Doug Smith said the Raps are done dealing but I am not sure about that. Can a guy like Colangelo really keep the gun holstered? Also, like I said it doesn't rule out signings since we still have that $15M trade exception. Cha-ching! We also need a backup PG cause I really don't see Captain Barbosa as a legit PG.

A great day in Raptorland. I can finally stop complaining about the Turkish Shit factory. No disrespect at all intended to other Turkish people who I know are outstanding citizens. This is the biggest thing to happen to Toronto Sports in a long time. Maybe we should actually have a parade down Yonge St.

The Draft: hopefully it is rich and clean and goes down smooth

The Draft

Let's talk a little bit about this draft since we got nothing else to talk about lately. I'm not bored though as I am being well entertained by the NHL playoffs and my boys down at the Igloo are doing well so far. This discussion is with the idea that Christopher Wesson Bosh is going to do what everyone including that jackass former espn analyst thinks Chris should do which is say SAYO-F'n Nara Toronto. I hope I am wrong. With that in mind we would draft a PF would we not? But hold on here.

Andrea Bargnani sliding over to PF. That's what Bryan Colangelo says. That has the makings of a disaster and I am guessing that if they do this, he'll either be back at the Center spot by the end of November or he's going to be injured by trying to go up against the most physical and athletic position players in the world. In comparison, NBA centres are big, heavy, and slow. Perfect for the likes of a 3 point shooting bigman, anomaly, and pasta pusher to go around, pump fake out of their shoes to make plays and/or shoot over. PF's are faster, more agile, more defensively intelligent and capable of dealing with that type of coverage. PF's would eat Andrea up and spit him out. Andrea's game is based on 2 mismatches:

A. The aforementioned slow, sluggish, only-playing-basketball-cause-I-am-7-feet-tall sloths in the NBA. There are of course exceptions to every rule and I am sure you can point out a few to me but in general most C's are usually slow. Unlike the glory years when you had guys in the league named Hakeem, The Admiral, Ewing, and the young Shaq, aka Shaq Fu: The Return.

B. AB7 also plays upon the mismatch of SF's who the other team might put on him to test out his much improved post play. As we've seen he's had much more success in this department this season.

It's like the difference between matching wits with Steve Urkel vs. Stephon Urkel. It's not much of a contest here. They might look the similar but there is no comparisons who is smoother. PF wins out.

So therefore in my estimation we should draft a PF. Positionally a PF is what we need if you want to talk about needs.

Who I like in the race:

Ed Davis. He's the anti-Bargs and seems to be a good compliment to him on both ends of the floor. He doesn't overwhelm you with size but he's got the skillz. A good example is Antawn Jamison who isn't big but who could argue with me that he isn't one of the league's best PF's?

Donatas Whatevertheheckicantpronouncehisdamnnameis. He's a Andrea Bargnani wannabe! Do two wrongs make a right? Most people say no. I say screw you, hell yeah it does. We shouldn't be stockpiling more Euros true. But Donny here is a skilled bigman. Apparently he has more of knack for lowpost play, rebounding and physicality. He's got a good jumper and seems almost like he's already got the skill set that Andrea lacked before the NBA and now has recent come to fruition with. Just the idea of having two skilled 7 footers who are pretty interchangeable seems scarey to me. That'd being said... if we take him we don't have a legit inside rebounding threat. It's not like Andrea is all of a sudden going to pull down double digit rebounds and can't expect Donatas to do that either in his first season. Having two European roosters in the hen house might not be very good for egos though.


Hassan Whiteside. A defensive and rebounding specialist. Just what the doctor ordered. He's another 7 footer who's got the size and athleticism. Seems like another perfect tonic to what ails the Raptors these days. A legit center. But I am guessing he'd handle the move to PF a lot better than the fragile confidence of Il Mago would.

Any of the aforemention 3 players would be good picks in my opinion and I would be quite happy with. Of course the team has to go with the best talent available as well and if theres a player available down at 13 that is in any floor position, take him regardless of need.

The team could also go a different route and take a PG. We are in need of one believe it or not. It's not a dire need. It's nothing we can't handle at the moment unlike trying to plug a hole filled once by a perennial all-star. But the Raps are probably going to get rid of Jose or Jarrett. Jose sucks and I pray it's him that goes but the business side of it says otherwise. Apparently it's more fiscally responsible to ship Jack off. Man that sound's bad. Anyways, even if they do keep Jack he is not an elite level PG. Jack is a very good PG especially in contrast to the swiss cheese contributions provided by Jose. So if we pick up a good PG now and develop him, it might pay dividends down the road. .

Whatever happens, this is sure to be a very interesting draft and post season for us to see unfold. Very entertaining no doubt. Will we pick up what we need to get us over the hump? Or will we be headed for another disappointing season? Oh hear me ye basketball gods, bless upon us Raptor fans the players, skills, and intangibles needed to bring glory and victory on the battlefields of the National Basketball Association and the floor of the Air Canada Centre. Bring upon 2nd round defeat for our evil monstrous green enemies.

Raps make it a streak and build momentum

The Toronto Raptors won an early Saturday game today against the Sixers in extra time despite blowing a 17 point lead. A win is a win and in my opinion this was still a good win and a character win as they still stuck in there in OT and didn't fold like they usually do. First team to play defense wins, or maybe this game was more like, last team not to play defense wins cause this game was like a scoring clinic. Everyone was hoisting 3 pointers and long shots and everything went in. The Sixers and Raptors shot 55% and 56% respectively as indication of that.


The work of CB4 and AB7
The Killer Bees were at it again and the important thing was that they both mostly shot good percentages from the floor and quite well from the line too. This wouldn't be my blog though if I didn't have anything to nit pick at. Bosh had a very very solid game and both he and AB7 seem to be catching a second wind in the season even though it's late in the season. What I have to complain about is really the same thing I and many other Raps fans have mention many times over this season and nothing has really improved. It's the ball possession and handling by Chris Bosh. He can't seem to pass out of the post very well. I just realized the reason for that recently and it's because he fails to recognize the double team or he realizes but only when it's way too late and he ends up coughing it up or passing it to a player with the wrong jersey on. This as a result will negatively effect your three point shooting as you can't create enough open looks for your teammates when a double team occurs. Hence the Bosh Butterfingers. Turk seems to have this problem too but it usually happens to Turk closer to the arc.

Sonny could be the best accidental positive in Raptor history
In the last two games, Weems has only missed two field goals. Compare that with Turk's shooting. Now tell me who was this year's big free agent acquisition. Sonny finished this game with an impressive 18 points which is a very nice supplement to the starting squad as early in the season, the starting squad seems way too stagnant to start games. Sonny seems to have all the tools that a player in his position needs to develop into a solid slashing sharpshooting wing. Only things he needs to work on is his free throw shooting and his three pointers. He defends well, has a great mid range jumper which he hits off screens very well, he rebounds, runs the floor and isn't afraid of driving to the hoop. All this at under $800K which makes Bryan look a bit less stupid after picking up Turk. I've been calling to have him replace Turk in the starting line up for months. So far I'm feeling pretty good about that but it's not like it took any sort of genius to figure it out. Just not a Triano. Sonny Weems is a diamond in the rough and the Raptors accidentally buffed it just a bit.


More Ab7... more damn you!!
The Big Italian Cool showed more evidence that he's nobody's robot by noticeably smiling on several occasion during this game. And he had reason to smile as he hit a very impressive and unexpected 3/4 court heave to end a quarter. Either he's playing well or he's discovered the secrets of the spending quality time with the opposite sex. His 3 pointer was a bit more "on" than it has been in this later part of the season and he seemed very focused and alert. He wasn't lock down on D but he was still effective for the most part. Coulda used a few more boards from him but I guess the ends justify the means so they say. What I really really wanna see from this guy is a two handed dunk where he hangs on the rim a little bit. Only time i can remember him do that was in his first or second season when he did it against the Clippers over top of 2 bigs including Kaman. I believe it's on Youtube.

Jose was very effective on the offensive end.
You certainly notice deficiencies a lot less when the offense is rolling and Jose's play was good especially against. This is important as the Sixers are a team whose point guards have historically torched him.
Line: 16pts 10assts 1to. Can't really argue about that. This is the least I have complained about this guy since January.

Just like the Jenifer Aniston's boss said in Office Space
You call that flare? There's people who do the bare minimal and don't put on enough flare. Then there's people who go above and beyond. Unfortunately for us, Turk is the Jenifer Aniston in this situation. He just does the bare minimal game in and game out. Sometimes he does less than that but this game was a good example of doing the bare minimal. I think 11 must be his favourite number cause he seems to hit that on the offensive end quite often. He wasn't noticeably bad in this game, he just wasn't noticeably good either.

So yeah it's three in a row late in the season and I know all of you wished they could have regain their composure a lot quicker after the post All star game slide but at least they have proven they have a heart beat lately and hope that they can bring this on in the post season. What's troubling me is that you know and I know that the playoffs require a 6th gear that a team needs to kick into and this does not exist for the Raptors. Unless they show me something I have never ever seen before or could never expect. Like Bargnani all of a sudden averaging 30 and 10 outta nowhere. Which would never ever happen. I have a feeling the Raps are in for a rude awakening.

Stupid Stupid Stupid!

You can thank the moron coach for this loss. Things were going so well in the third so what does he do? Goes completely away from the what was working and inserts his usual stupid line up in fourth to lose the lead and lose the game. I was just waiting for this team to screw up and they did in many many ways. Most of these errors can be traced back to the decision making of the coach. Apparently he's never heard of using strategy to maintain a lead. I mean that is the best way to win a game is it not? You build a lead, and you hang on to that lead or expand it. It's not rocket science but yet Jay seems to do whatever he can to tear leads down. Everything he does serves that purpose. He's a moron!!! I am just some lowly fan who observes from afar. I am not a professionally employed through basketball in any means. Yet I can see these errors as clear as day and I am sure all you fans can too. If a dog gets yelled at enough times for pissing on the rug, the dog eventually knows it needs to be in the great outdoors to squeeze out even a drop. But this breed of Triano dog is sooooo dumb, it'll piss all over the rug, your bed, your couch and your shoes.

The Perpetrators
Did anyone else notice how the team just lost all their energy and enthusiasm as soon as Bosh and Jose entered the game in the fourth? They started turning the ball over like crazy and the offense went limp. Suddenly the Raptors turned into just the Chris Bosh show as the offense completely went through him and everyone else just stood around. Usually when Chris is on this is a good thing but since it was the Chris Bosh Butterfingers and Turnover bake off, it wasn't so good. See that turnover he made off the two missed Melo free throws that leads to a game tying 3 by Billups? Just pathetic. Talk about shooting yourself in the nards. Don't see it too often but Chris was part of the key plays that cost this team the game. First he had that particular turnover, then he missed one of his two free throws. Game over.


Coach? Please explain
Why on earth would you have your biggest defensive deficiency on the floor during crunch time? Why would you sit Jarrett who had played so hard for you during their hot stretch? Why would you have Jose on the floor who is so bad defensively that they had to make Demar or Antoine guard the other team's PG? It escapes logic. Everyone who did well: Belli, Demar, Jarrett all got nailed to the bench for most of the fourth and their lead gets dwindled down. Jarrett got put back in eventually but alas, your lead is gone. That entire stretch where they lost their lead coincided with Jose entering the game. Stupid coaching. Stupid stupid stupid. 


Why did they play a bit better? Can't Credit the Coach 
First of all it was addition by subtraction cause when you get rid of a black hole on defense and offense you would logically do better so no surprise there. Turkoglu didn't play. Don't know why, don't care, just glad he didn't. Sonny was inserted in place of that jackass and he played well. Which is immediately a humongous plus. Weems played with some passion and some pride in his game on both ends of the floor. As did Antoine who replaced Demar in the starting lineup. Demar, Belli, Sonny, and 'Toine stepped up big time. They get rewarded by getting their asses nailed to the bench in the fourth. If we were training dogs, and not managing a basketball team, we'd end up with the wildest, stupidest dogs in the history of man. They would probably run around chasing parked cars and piss and shit themselves. You punish for doing well, and you reward for playing like shit. Good job coach.



Rebounding
It's what Captain Picard would call a anomaly. Something that is odd, peculiar, a strange condition, situation, or quality. Something that never happens and you probably couldn't have foreseen, but somehow still occurred. The rebounding for once wasn't an embarrassment. Don't get too excited about it. Don't expect it to happen with any type of consistency from now on. Don't use it as a source of hope. Your heart as a Raptor fan will be broken. Andrea was a magnet for rebounds. Three Raps end up with double digits in rebounds. That's fantastic but I am not counting my lucky stars that it happens again.

Andrea the Giant
He was a force. I don't think I have ever seen the guy get teed up for slamming the ball on the court in frustration. And it was in regards to him getting a rebound too! I have been dying to see that since he came into this league. For him to play with some emotion and some passion. His rebounding tonight was also an anomaly as we all know. That being said, it was still really really nice to see.




To Conclude, take me to the vet and put me down
When you make these changes and they work, you'd think logically that you should stick to these changes. Instead logic has escaped us as Triano goes right back to the losing formula. Somebody please get us a real coach. Somebody please take Jose and Turk off our hands. Somebody please shoot me.

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.

Boshless in New Jersey... Rash Nest of fury

So the Raptors roll into the big swamp without the services of their ace, Christopher "the Animal" Bosh. So someone needed to step up on both ends of the court. It's like a car missing it's steering wheel, or missing 2 pistons in the engine. Luckily they had an ace up their sleeve in Rashman and the whole team turned it up a notch to compensate. Especially considering that they were facing former Raptor, The Humpty Hump. Nah, I am just kidding but in all seriousness I miss having the services of Kris Humphries. I always thought he could have provided a lot more if given more steady minutes. He has a good jumper, decent footwork, and hustles more than most Raps did last season. The only knock on him was he took a few jumpers you wouldn't want to see but how do you expect a young player to develop his game without taking some shots. I wouldn't be opposed to the Raptors re-acquiring him.

Hedo Turkoglu bounced back well and it really was a good opportunity for him as he would be getting more shots with Chris out of the lineup. After his horrible 1 pt performace, Hedo came back with 14 pts, 6 boards and 6 assists. It's the type of performance that you want from him on a more consistent basis and here's hoping he strings together a few more games like this so he can get back into the flow. One thing I did notice tonight is that he had a more serious demeanor out on the floor, not smiling at everything and he seemed more focused on the court than I have seen. Even more so than that season best performance he had against the Knicks. It was against the Nets but it's a good building block for him.

• Rasho showed what he's made out of. He's a classic styled centre that you don't see much anymore. He relies on his clean, smooth jumper and has a variety of moves in the post. He possesses a good hook, and good instincts which I suspect comes from his years of veteran experience. As bad as he's looked sometimes this season, he's shown us what he can provide given solid minutes. He's making Colangelo look like a genius. Or... more of a genius than he already did.

• Bargs only had 13 points. I expected a lot more points out of this guy tonight but Bargnani played within the confines of the team's gameplan and the flow of the game. The rest of the team was scoring and didn't need him to score 20 in order to win. He had a good shooting percentage and played well on the defensive end. That being said, he seems to have cooled off and needs to step it up. There's something missing in his game. Perhaps it's aggressiveness, more likely assertiveness. He needs to impose his will on the offensive end like we've become used to seeing. It's almost like he's mentally tired.  He needs to pick up his britches and find some way to spark his game. Another factor that I might not be considering... at least for this game, is the dynamic that he and Bosh have together when they're both on the floor. The operating space that they create for each other was obviously not there.

• Turkoglu, like I said looked really focused. He didn't toss up too many ill-advised shots, ran off screens well, tried his post up game and took what the game gave him. People may say I have been too harsh on him and too harsh last game since he had some family issues. I did not know about his issues till after I blogged but I still think it was fair since he has been off his game the entire season. He needs to concentrate on himself, instead of pouting about him not getting "Ball". This game was a good example of what he can do. Let's see some more of this and hope it's not another case of a blind squirrel finding his acorn. He is a highly skilled forward but in my opinion he hasn't shown the mental toughness or the assertiveness he's capable of. I for one pray he brings it together down the stretch of this season. Will he be Dr. Turko, or Mr. Hide?

• Double J and Mr. Jose. Jarrett more than made up for his off game against the Griz. He ran the offense well and didn't embarrass himself at all. He pushed the ball well and found his teammates. On the defensive end he looked like he was more awake than previous.  Jose came off the bench and sparked a 7-0 run. He really is the sparkplug off the bench and is exactly what we need from a 6th man. His shot was on which is very good to see for Raptors fans cause we know the type of damage he can do when he's nailing those shots off screen and rolls and off curls.

• Demar stepped it up a bit and played the type of aggressive game that he needs to play. He attacked the basket and got a good variety of dunks and more importantly, put-backs. He seems to have the skills and just needs to develop naturally as wings of his types do. Hopefully he develops into a top tier player. He seems to be getting more comfortable as the season goes along and that can only mean good things for this up and coming team.

• Swamp monsters. To be fair to the Nets, this team was as much won by the Raptors as it was lost by them as they were playing their usual NJ Nets style basketball. They don't have the talent to compete but at the same time, also don't have the confidence and all the other little things that make a good cohesive unit. They've lost too many games and even if they did have the talent, they certainly don't have the will anymore. The cupboards aren't totally bare in NJ though as they have some quality players. Obviously Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, and Yi Lian Jian are the bright pieces they have but Yi hasn't played to his ability and to his potential. 

• If the last Raptor loss could be blamed on the absence of Turk's game, then this NJ loss can be at least partially blamed on Yi's brick show. In fairness to him he still played well defensively at least from a numbers standpoint. Perhaps he needs a change of scenario much like most of these Nets. I suggest he enlists to services of a good big-man coach much like the way Patrick Ewing is for Dwight Howard. In fact, I would suggest that for Bargnani too. So far he's been an embarrassment to his Chinese people but he's got the tools to turn it around and I hoping to see more from this guy.

I just got HDTV thanks to my cousin Julie and I absolutely love watching the Raptors on HD. It makes a world of a difference. Of course when my favourite team wins, it certainly doesn't hurt. Tonight, they face a Wizards team that I don't know. I don't even know who they have on the team anymore, seriously. I am going to have to look up their roster cause they have pillaged this team worse than the Nets did. No Jamison, no Butler, and thanks to his gunshow, no Agent Zero... now just Plain Zero, (thank you Arnie!). What I worry about is that it is a second end of a ROAD back-to-back. This is a game Andrea should be able to dominate but we shall see.

The Samsquanch was at the ACC and witnessed The Beast from the East

So I sat in section 318 as I usually do and come to realization that over the years I have become a loud, rowdy Raptor fan much like the other die hard fans that sit up there. It's really quite energizing to sit with other fans as jacked up about the game as you. What I witnessed was not the blowout that I was hoping to see but still a fairly entertaining game that saw the Raptors give up a 6 point lead in the third quarter but managed to pull ahead at the tail end of the contest. Personally, I prefer to see the a good blowout as long as it's in the right direction.

Everything that you usually see at a game was predictably there. From the arena announcer who looks like Vickie Guerrero to the annoying planted fake fans that go from section to section and conduct their brand of phony baloney crowd noise. What was new was Turk sporting his mask which he reluctantly sported. I have to agree with him that the thing doesn't look good and he's not gonna get any sexy time as a result of it, but I mean the team is not paying him for his runway model looks. Deal with it! If he wants it to look good he could paint it black and add some whiskers to it. That'll distract the hell out the other team! Another difference was a small group of Israeli fans who were out there supporting Omri Casspi. Lots of Israel flags, shirts, and jerseys. Good for them, I am sure to them they love him as much as Turkish fans love Turkey Glue, and our Italian fans love Bargs and Belli who was out of action today. Belli looked sleek in a nice black suit jacket with pimpin' white shirt to go along with it. I think he gets the bench wardrobe award this season. Bargs looked more like a waiter, Turk looked like some 70's prof, and we all know Reggie looks like an ogre wearing his ogre father's over sized clothes. Marco was pimpin like Rocky Balboa in Rocky 4 when he was rich, not Rocky 5 when he became a penniless chump.

To the game now which I have to admit was entertaining but I am sure fans woulda blown a gasket if they had let it slip away cause we as Toronto fans are quite demanding as fans should be. I guess that is a good characteristic to have though, winning games regardless of how you manage to do it. The game in a nutshell for Sacramento was this high screen and roll they kept running from the top of the key. They ran that play so many times I lost count and I didn't understand why the Raps couldn't figure it out. Just have the man coming off the screen close out on the shooter faster and get right in his face. I guess it's easier for me to sit in the stands with 20/20 hindsight. Add in some nice perimeter shooting from Greene and Kevin Martin and that was pretty much their game. The Raps used their usual game plan dumping the ball down to Bosh every chance they got and swung the ball off high pick and rolls to look for an open man.

Things of note:

• Turk played a decent game in his first one back hitting several spot up jumpers and hit some teammates up with several nice passes. Then he added his usual charge that he does driving right with his head down, and his usual lazy bone-headed passes. Still, we have to give him credit since he was in his major shooting slump and seems to have better command of his shot for the most part. Maybe that mask helped his shooting. I think what would really help would be some prescription glasses but alas, he did a good job overall.

• Bosh was an absolute beast and like most games, he was the focal point of the offense and the main reason the Raptors won.  They kept feeding him the ball and he just kept forcing his way down low for an assortment of lay-ins, hooks, put-backs, and 2 handed rim rockers. I don't remember him shooting too many jumpers which is surprising as i didn't predict the Sac-town boys were up to the challenge of guarding him facing up but the Sac-town boys were right up in his face and Bosh more than happily obliged with his collection of And-1's. He ended up with a very impressive line, 36pts 11 rebs, 5asst. The fans were chanting MVP in the fourth as he took the game over and maybe some people think it's silly, but Bosh truly is the Raptors' MVP and I think he deserves some votes.

• Antoine Wright showed up in the fourth. The only thing he had going for him were a collection of early fouls and I remember thinking in my head, wow he's really having a crappy game. The guy sitting behind me voiced that opinion as well as he picked up his 4th. Then, right when he does he starts dropping shots. Mind you, he did receive some very nice passes for his jumpers but he also had a nice drive late that, along with Bosh helped buoy the team in the 4th.

• Donte who? Donte Greene, that's who! Greene scored 3 straight 3 pointers coming out of a timeout and stunned the Raptors who were up by 6 points at the time. Then he got fouled by Amir on a 3 point shot and hit 2 out of 3. It was the key moment in my mind and if it had not been for Greene, this might have become a blow out. I only heard of this guy in passing and I assume he doesn't usually go off like this from the arc. He made Amir look bad, but like most big-men he can't be counted on for perimeter defense so I wouldn't lay too much blame on him.

• Battle of the 7 footers: Andrea the Giant had a fairly efficient game ending up with 22 and 8. Missed more 3 pointers than you'd like to see but I can live with that if he's scoring in other ways and grabbing boards. Defensively he wasn't anything to write home about as Spencer Hawes seemed to have his way a bit with him. Spencer has a decent mid range jumper and Bargs seems to have trouble against this. I guess it's a bit of karma considering that is his m.o. as well. Bargs didn't seem to get his post up game in as much as he'd like but managed to keep his mid range game alive and had a nice duck in for a lay in. On the other end he had issues with Hawe's back to the basket game as Hawes has this very nice drop step where he head-fakes and ducks in for the lay-in. A move we saw Bosh do several times in the first half which resulted in dunks. Bargs has this move as well but he doesn't do it as frequently. Hawes also abused the Raps on the offensive boards and was one of the reasons the Kings stuck in there despite shooting a low percentage.

• A lot of momentum was taken out of the game as soon as Bosh left in the first but to compound things, when Bosh came back he saw Jose take several sequential 3-pointers in a row and clanked them, adding in a bricked 2 point jumper and you got the makings of a drought. Calderon didn't play particularly well but I guess I wouldn't say that if some of his shots went in.

• Subdued at the wing: Neither Weems nor DeRozan make a big impact points wise. Was this due to DeRozan returning? Sure it was. Neither were given too many minutes and seemed to float out there for the most part. They both had some nice dunks and Demar had a noticeably nice alley-oop jam courtesy of Jack who through a beautiful pass in full speed transition up the court. 

Play of the game:

The Bargnani touch pass inside to Bosh who turned and threw down the big two handed safety jam. The pass was very sweet and had the other team completely faked out. We've seen this quick swing pass from Bargs before and when it works it's pretty but when it doesn't, it ends up looking like a good idea gone horribly wrong.

Bone-headed play of the game:

Turkoglu right side, drives in towards his defender and proceeds to brick it off the corner of the backboard, he then recovers to toss up a brick from 3-point land as the 24 sec shot clock winds down. It looked as ugly as it sounds. I'll take the benefit of the doubt for him and blame it on his mask and not his decision making.

Funniest moment:

Demar losing his shoe on the offensive end and running back with the shoe in his hand to get back on defense. He smoothly put the shoe back on as the ball was on the other side. Oh and some douche bag from the crowd air-balled a shot during a contest to win some cash. He got a chorus of boos for his troubles. I guess it's not as bad as missing 5 straight field goal attempts at a CFL game.

The Raptors have now won 2 in a row and sit 5 games over .500. They are an impressive 19-6 at home and 7-3 in their last 10. If they could take something away from this it would be that their defensive intensity seems to have diminished noticeably in the last 3 games and they should ratchet it up a notch again. They need to play to the level they were playing against the Lakers as they seem to be playing down to the level of competition as evident here today. Outside of Kevin Martin, this Sac team was pretty thin on talent. This should have been a blow out by the Raps but instead it was another ugly game like the one against the Nets. Just like that game this is another, "a win is a win is a win" type of result.  Next up, the Raps face Philly at home. Another team they should blow out of the water but I am sure the two A.I.'s would have something to say about that. It's not till Wednesday so I will post either a scouting report or a pregame chatter sheet beforehand.

Studs: "The Animal" Christopher Wesson Bosh, Antoine Wright

Duds:  Amir eventhough he had a few decent plays he was never really able to get anything going.

I think that Bosh has been hanging out with Batista lately cause he is playing ball the way Batista wrestles. He just tosses his opponent around like a rag doll and beats the living heck out of them. I would be worried though if he starts giving them sit-out power bombs.

P.S. Props to the R.R. crew for doing an amazing job and showing this little blog some love.

Raptors win 6th straight and further solidify their position in the East... NOT!!

Yesterday Chris Bosh was announced as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. The Raptors were on a 5 game winning streak and the world was their oyster. I hope these aren't the high points of the season. Chris Bosh was asked if he thought the Raptors were at the same level as the top 4 teams in the East. Bosh wisely answered, no but we have the tools to get there if we work hard and work together. Tonight, the Raptors demonstrate what not to do and proved that Bosh was right on with his analysis unfortunately. Maybe this is a good loss as it brings the team back down to earth and shows them that they shouldn't get over confident and that they still have a long ways to go in terms of team improvement.

This game was really two games played at the same time for the Raptors. They obviously played decent enough to score 115 points but was an absent tenant on the other end of the floor. When you get the Killer B's combing for 69 points and adding another B in Belinelli for a total of 90 points and still lose... the question obviously is: Where did the other Raptors go? They made it to the game physically but mentally, they were still back in Toronto on Sunday when things were all roses. It was like they were a football team that left their offense out there to play defense. This defensive effort was reminiscent of the swiss cheese defense from the first 2 months of the season. They need to forget this game very quickly and refocus their efforts on the next task. NOT letting NJ, the laughing stock of the NBA beat you or risk tearing down all the respect and progress gained in January.

Why they lost:

• The defense obviously. The team looked like they were floating around out there on the other end and they were just going through the motions. No intensity, no focus, and no mental toughness. Hibbert was allowed to do whatever he wanted down low and that can not be. Indiana is not a 130 point team, at least not till now.

• Everyone else fell asleep. The most telling stat is that nobody outside of Bosh, Bargnani, and Belinelli scored more than 6 points. That is a pathetic stat. Weems who was on fire the last few games was held scoreless and looked disinterested. Antoine Wright who had 15 points last game went O-Fer!!!! 0-8 FG, 0-5 from the 3 point line. Only 4 free throws saved him.

• Clearly out-coached. These teams just played 2 days ago and in that amount of time the result was completely reversed. How is this possible? Indiana clearly dissected the game on Sunday and found various weaknesses that they took advantage of and Toronto clearly walked onto this floor over-confident and took Indiana for granted. I think the coaching staff might have took the day off and drank beers around the fireplace.

• The refs were drunk on power. I dunno if it was just me but I thought the refs' whistle would not stop and went off like every 2 seconds. Lots of bogus calls, especially those calls on Bosh and Bargs where they were not allowed their space and were called for the offensive foul. Clearly, these refs did not understand that rule at all and need to review this tape and correct this. Unfortunately, the refs had a huge effect to the outcome on this game and that simply shouldn't be the case.

• Demar is injured, Jose got injured, Hedo injured himself on Dunleavy's elbow. Jose wasn't playing well anyways but he rolled his ankle in a very disgusting looking way after stepping on Double J's foot. Down the stretch we had to rely on Banks cause Jack who was also awful was in foul trouble. This was a game Hedo could have easily had a beneficial impact on but he was too big a baby to play this one cause of his orbital bone. Suck it up man. You're not gonna die from playing with that type of injury.Missing 2 starters and your main backup PG is not a formula for winning.

A complete waste of a brilliant offensive performance by the 3 B's and a career high for Bargs who scored 34. He exploded in the 3rd for 19 in the quarter but scored throughout the game. Woulda liked a few more boards from him though but he was getting pushing all over the place by Hibbert and getting drawn to the perimeter on other occasions. I was worried that Bargs would do what he did last year and just go off in January and fade off in February.  He squashed that notion immediately scoring a ton in the first game of the month. Truth be told, he shoulda been yanked earlier in the fourth when it shoulda been garbage time but personally, i don't think anyone else deserved to be on the floor at all tonight cause they were atrocious. Belinelli deserves a lot of praise for exploding in the first half for 17 but was held to just a 3pointer in the 2nd half. Still, it's way more than is expected from him so kudos to him. His shot was on and he succeeded in a flurry of slashes into the lane and through the Indiana "defense". Bosh was a beast as usual and seemed visibly upset through the game. Was he upset at his teammates? Yup. At the refs? Yup. At himself? I don't think he should be because he has nothing to be ashamed of. Unfortunately tonight, he is one of the only Raps that could say that.

The most important thing now is to look forward. Yes it's disappointing and yes they should have won this game but like I said, forget this one quick and focus on the Nets or you're gonna end up being on the wrong end of another embarrassing L. The good news is that NJ is also on the back end of a back-to-back. Jump on them early and they will do what the Nets do best: go away.

Junk:

That has got to be the emptiest arena I have ever seen a professional sports team assemble. How is this team making it in the NBA and the Seattle Supersonics and Vancouver Uglies ousted?

Anyone else notice how much better Bargs plays with that beard of his? He rubs it before free-throws for better grip but I think he's really rubbing the beard for luck.

Pierce is apparently injured with a broken foot. Garnett has a bummed knee. What's the term for when someone takes joy in the suffering of another? Well I don't feel bad about it.

3 Bs... I should trademark it!

Lines of the night:

Sonny Weems, 0 points, 3 T.O., 3, PF, 24 mins

Antoine Wright, 4 points, 0-8 FG, 33mins


Studs: Bargs, Bosh, Belli

Duds: Rest of the team

Good win, sweet revenge

The Raptors pull off a comeback win at home last night and exact a measure of revenge against the Bucks who bested them on two previous occasions this season. Now there's a number of things I want to talk about regarding this game and just the Raptors experience as a fan in general.

The Raptors pulled off this win without their Italian big man. Andrea has been off here and there since he's been with this team but in general, since the Raptors picked him #1 in 2006, the team is almost always with their 3 point shooting giant. What's more surprising is this article that I read which was posted on Raptors Republic. http://www.82games.com/0910/0910TOR5.HTM

I don't know why this should be shocking to me but seeing the PER per position makes you realize how important the big lug has become. He plays by far the majority of the minutes at his position and his position is far and away the most productive and effective on the team. Let's face it, this season Ab7 has been a catalyst for this team on the offensive end, and on many nights on defense as well. Especially recently, aside from that stinker in Milwaukee which he still managed to score 10 and grab a few boards.

Whenever he's on the floor, he scores or someone else scores as a direct or indirect effect of him being on the floor. The other team's center who is the last line of defense and who does most of the rebounding has to be pulled away from under the basket in order to cover his long range and mid range game. As we all know, this is called creating space on the floor. Bosh benefits from this since he doesn't have to go around the PF and the C to get to the rack. This is also something Bosh produces, although not to the extent that Ab7 does since Bosh is generally lacking the 3pt capacity that Ab7 does and so he doesn't create as much space as Ab7. This also allows the point guards and wings to slash through the lane from the create space and use Ab7 and his defender as screens. While the other team's guards are chasing the wings and guards with or without the ball, the Raptor's players are using them as obstacles for the defenders to have to go around. Simple basic stuff but very effective.

SOOOOOO without Bargs in the line up lastnight someone needed to step up big. If nobody steps up you s end up with a result like in the previous game. Bosh gets 44 points and a whack load of boards and everyone else is panting and pissing themselves as the other team tears them a new one. Jack steps up last night. Showing ferocity that I have never seen in him in a Raptor uniform. Woulda liked a few more dimes from him but with the way he was scoring, who cares. When's the last time another Raptor besides CB4 and AB7 score more than 25 points in a game? That's a good question! In the last couple of seasons obviously nobody besides Bosh has averaged 20 or more points in season. So obviously secondary scoring is necessary. I've always believed that you need at least two 20 point scorers, and I mean on a regular basis, for a team to be successful. Successful meaning a team that is always a legitimate contender year after year. Either that or one who scores 20 or more, and 2 or 3 that score at least 15 points a game. No matter how much D you play you always have to score to win. Bargnani is the only other player on this team that provides that.

We need someone to step up. Someone to become that play or else we need to trade for someone who can. Bryan Colangelo thought they had that person with Hedo and he is clearly an epic failure. Jack, Calderon, and Derozan are capable on any given night to give you that. Whether they do it or not is another question.

I also want to make a quick comment about the officiating I've seen at a few games. Tony Brothers is a scum bag. I have been to a few games at the ACC and seen him at a few and also seen him on tv. He constantly makes questionable and outright bogus calls on the Raptors. He basically gave the Cavs the game this week and on many occasions was the culprit for calling Bargs and other Raptors for phantom fouls. I know what you must be thinking, a fan not agreeing with a ref. Nothing new. Boohoo. However from the evidence that I have seen from this particular man, he needs to be investigated. I don't know if he is gambling or just has a personal grudge with some teams or players but officiating needs to be clear, unbiased and right down the middle between 2 teams. He has not demonstrated this whatsoever.

I also want to mention that I have gone to many many games the past few years and absolutely love watching the games from the upper bowl. I am usually in the Sprite Zone. I don't know what they call it now but I don't care. To me it'll always be the Sprite Zone. The fans up there are the real fans and sitting at any of their games in this section for even 10 mins or less and it becomes quite evident. The fans there are loud, funny and knowledgeable. It really gets you into the spirit and into the fun. One of the things that bothers me though is when the fans freak out for the 100 point free Pizza Pizza. Listen, this pizza that they give you is not the usual pizza you'd buy from Pizza Pizza. It's a slice they have made special for you. Set aside for you Raptor fans. This slice is of very low quality, cardboard-like, and very flavorless. It's almost like dog food. And to hear people beg and plea for the Raptors to get 100 is pretty sad. It's like they're subliminally trained to bark when they hear a bell. Pavlov's doggies. Same thing goes with those jackasses that wave prizes around to try to get you to get up and make noise. I call them fake fans that the team has planted around the arena. They just give the prize away to the closest cute kid regardless of if they are even paying attention or making the most noise. That's fine and dandy and I am all for kids having a good time but it just makes me sad to see these die hard fans hooting and hollaring like trained animals.

If you want some good pizza I suggest Burky's doghouse. Get one of their Pizza Pizza Dogs. Absolutely delicious. It's a bit pricey at $6.50 but you don't have to do any begging I promise. They give you a tastey hot dog, not as good as street meat but still pretty good. Then they cover the dog with pepperoni and pizza sauce and cheese. It tastes awesome!! The place is a bit hard to find thought. If you go around the first floor of the ACC, you come across the escalators beside where they do the broadcast for Raptors TV. Where Jack, Leo, Sherm and Adnan work their magic, it's behind all that. It doesn't quite face the walkway and that's what makes it hard to find.
You can also get beer there so it's a one-stop shop at halftime.

Raps lose again to the *ucks

So the Raptors lose again in Milwaukee to the team that quite simply outplayed everyone except Christopher Wesson Bosh who was a one-man wrecking crew. Everyone else looked like they were out of gas. Especially Bargs. He looked liked he was ready for bedtime.

So being an optimist I want to look forward and ask the question, how do we fix this team? Or more appropriately, how do we improve this team because I feel like this team has a lot of potential still and just needs tweaking.

Suggestions:

1. Trade Hedo

2. Trade Hedo

3. Waive Hedo

I have heard a few suggestions but the best one I have heard was from a poster on Raptors Republic who suggests:

To Toronto: Dick Jefferson

To Orlando: Hedo

To San Antoine: Vincenzo Carter and Antoine Wright, (since his contract is up soon)

Only thing wrong with this deal is the assumption that a team would want Carter with the way he is playing. It's actually worse than Hedo from what I have seen which is hard to imagine.

Also out there:

Hedo for Corey Magette. I think it's a good one but I haven't seen Corey much lately so I couldn't tell you what kind of shape he's in.

Hedo for Rudy Fernandez and something else to make up for the salary. Great trade if Rudy can get healthy soon.

Hedo for Devon Harris and/or any of NJ's decent players: YES YES YES!!! I don't think NJ is that dumb but they have proven otherwise in the past.

Hedo for some of NY's decent players: Since NY stinks and would be dumb enough to sign the likes of Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury I would say they are stupid enough to take Hedo. Hedo would actually be a way better player in comparisons to those two. I would prefer Galinari but i don't think theres anyway they'd part with him. I'd also take David Lee, who i was praying the Raps would get in the offseason instead of Hedo. He woulda cost a fraction of the money too. Harrington would also be acceptable.

Hedo for a sack of garbage: Since Hedo is human garbage, trading him for garbage would actually benefit the Raps since garbage couldn't be put on the court and cost you games. The game would stop and the garbage would be removed before play could resume. You couldn't do that without the coach pulling him. This would eliminate one step and would help the team.

Sweet Revenge

So the Raptors finally beat the Mavs and I don't just mean the first half of the game and then blow a huge lead and eventually lose. You see, that's what they did against the mavs twice last season. Earlier this season, they just flat out got their asses kicked. Tonight they did the opposite and beat the Mavs in convincing fashion and satisfied their fan's blood thirst for revenge. Too long have the Mavs embarassed Toronto, too long has Dirk Nowitzki strutted his stuff on the court at the expense of the Raps. Now only if they could do it against the Craptics then the world would be right.

Everyone seemed to play well tonight. Not only from an offense standpoint but on defense as well. Well duh, you can't win without having to play hard defense you must be thinking. But that's the thing that was their Achilles heel all this time and somehow they have suddenly managed to look like they're a good defensive team. They all seem to be playing very hard, getting into opponent's space and forcing them to pass or put up a bad shot. This has been the biggest change lately in their successes. A key part of this is Andrea Bargnani's improved defense. Since he is not leaving his man wide open anymore during switches, hedges and help defense, he's not allowing the opponent the chance to swing the ball around to the open man or just drive right into the lane. This in turn allows the Raptors to not look like total jackasses. But their defense wasn't entirely AB7's fault earlier this season. Every Raptor fan out their knew they had a problem with the other team's guards and wings just blowing by their defender and helping themselves to an endless buffet of jam, slams, layups and whatever they their hearts desired. They seemed to have developed this ingenious trick where they slide over and deny a slashing opponent a clear path. Groundbreaking strategy, I know. Nonetheless, these tweaks to the defense seemed to have stabilized them and allowed them to build confidence which as well all know is super duper important to success.

So to sing the praises of my favourite player even though I like to be fair and point out his shortcomings, Bargnani has been the difference to the team with their recent success. No matter how much defense you play you still have to score to win and the extra points we're getting from our new Madman AB7 is the difference. He's not only scoring, he's doing it efficiently, playing defense, rebounding, and showing some real fire and emotion. This seems to pump up his teammates and becomes contagious. Well to everyone except Hidayet Turkoglu. Yes that's his real name. Hidayet, (Rhymes with idiot) seems to be in a real slump. Bargnani on the other hand is on fire and here's hoping he stays this way and doesn't relapse back into the shadow of the player he's become.

When the Raptors signed him to a 5 year $50million deal I knew it was a great deal even though everyone else cried foul. Even without his recent improvements, at the time Bargnani was still one of the best centers in the league. I mean look at some of the other bums that play center in the NBA that make more money. Samuel Dalembert makes about $12 million a year. He is not half the player Bargnani is. Bargnani may not be as good a defender but Bargnani's ceiling for improvement is unlimited in comparison. Brad Miller is making over $12 million, Andrew Bogut is making 10, Tyson Chandler making about 12, Eric Dampier, 10, and he's making $13 million next season. Now... can you tell me how much you'd pay Bargnani in comparison? Not only that, he's very very happy with the deal telling me he's not a greedy bastard. I mean giving a person $10 million a year to play 82, two and a half hour games, a few practices a week, then get the summer off? Who wouldn't be content? Other NBA players, that's who! Bargnani is a quality player and Colangelo is a friggin genius. Darko is making $7.5 million and he's an absolute useless 7 foot tall pile of garbage. $2.5 million more and it upgrades you to Bargnani? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Let's face it, besides a few exceptional players, most centers are just tall guys that wave their arms around. Very few of them can shoot jumpers, even fewer of them can drive the ball, handle the ball, and the ones that can shoot threes? Well you can count them all on one hand. Bargnani, Troy Murphy(might be considered a PF), Brad Miller, Mehmet Ohkur, Rasheed Wallace(also might me considered a PF). Now that Bargnani has added shot blocking and rebound on a more consistent basis we now have one of the premier centers in the game. Dwight Howard might be a zillion times better but the man is naturally a PF and so is the boringest player in the NBA, Tim Duncan.

Now if only they can parlay Turkoglu into a decent wing we'd be a legit contender. No offense to Demar but since he's a rookie and for no other reason, i think we need another wing in order to go deep into the playoffs. Nobody wins a championship without a solid slashing, scoring, wing who possibly could be able to post their opponent up. Who does that sound like? Kobe and Lebron are extreme versions of this but someone a bit less skilled(and cheaper) would do the trick too. Kind of the way Carter used to be before he turned into a giant buffoon. Or at least until we realized he was one.

Trading Calderon was an option too when he was injured, but since he's come back he's played his way back into the lineup, back into respectability and back into my heart. LOL. But in all seriousness he's run the second unit so well and has executed the offense so well that he's untradeable in my books. He's showing that he's back to form. The type of form he had so long ago, most of us forgot how it used to look like. He's driving the ball and using that sweet lay-in. He's making great crisp passes to teammates that put them in good position, he's confusing the opponent's defense with quick swing passes, and he's hitting his shot off screens like he used to instead of clanking them really badly. Making shots instead of missing them? Great insight I know. There's no longer a huge drop off in PG play and offensive direction once the starting PG sits down for a rest. Other teams are finding that their secondary PGs are no match for us. Unlike Slowmo Ukic, who was garbage, human garbage. He's also finding Bargs more. Bargnani doesn't seem to get the ball enough in key moments of the game before. Bargnani would score 12 points in a first quarter, then the team stops giving him the ball. It's happened on many many occasions. Know how people always wonder why he does well in first and third quarters and disappears? Well it's cause he's not getting any passes!!! The only passes he gets is to move the ball in position for a play to feed Bosh or someone else. So when he does get the ball he forces up an ill advised 3 cause it's the only chance he gets to score.

So kudos to Bargnani and Calderon. Boo to Hedont Turkoglu.

Raptors beat the Knickerbockers

Okay so obviously I am please to be wrong about my previous prediction that the Raps would drop this one but they almost did. However, they hung in there and managed to pull off a decent beating on the Pairs of Pants from New York. Many things to take note of from this game where the Raptors played like it was their last game on earth in the first half. Burying everything they got their hands on, running the break very well, attacking the rim methodically and playing defense so tight, the Knicks barely had room to move. Then they played some gutless, uninspired baskeball in the third. Turned the ball over like it was out of fashion, and laid more cinder than a mason. Luckily they got a surprise scoring punch from Jose and Double D.

Bargnani was playing out of his mind. I don't know why but he and Jose both seemed to have their shots locked down and zeroed in. It's like when you go bowling and you hit several strikes in a row. For some reason something just clicks and your shot is on. Bargnani went 5 for 6 from downtown, including some shots that were so far from the 3 line that I thought he was insane when he first let the ball go. But every time it would swish in. His dunk through traffic was one of the most impressive plays of his career. The offensive end was great but his defense... i just can't explain what I saw. It was the best defense I've ever seen him play. It was like some other defensive legend had possessed his body and was playing great positional defense, help defense, getting his hand in everyone's face and grabbing every rebound near him and ripping them down with force. I wonder what kind of pasta he ate. Yes Galinari scored a few more points but the battle of the I-talians goes to AB7, no question. Watching him jump up and down and yelling like he was the top gorilla of the banana pile was kind of cool but also a bit scarey since we never usually see him like this. Hooting and hollar after plays, slapping his teammates and acting like he isn't Frankenstein.

One particular development was AB7 taking the ball in the post several times and either getting a nice hook, a jumper in or kicking it out after drawing a double team. They need to run this play more in the future. It just flat out works and creates space on the floor for an open shot when the defense tries to recover from collapsing on him. It would probably work for CB4 too if he knew how to pass out of the post. It only didn't work once when the refs called him for a travel but I thought Harrington fouled him as he turned baseline. He was running roughshod on them all night and David Lee seemed pissed at times which makes me happy. AB7 gets an A for his performance.

Jose was also playing well. Running circles around their defense and spotted up for a lot of shots which he iced every time. I didn't feel this level of confidence in his shot since two seasons ago when he stole the starting spot from TJ. He also made some nice passes, setting up his teammates with several easy scores. This included that sweet little lob to Double D for that slick looking left handed alley-oop. He drove the ball right into the defense and helped buoy the Raptors' lead in the 3rd and 4th. Jack played well in the first but seemed a bit out of sorts the rest of the game. I think it was mainly due to some of his passes leading to the bricks Hedo put up and leading to Bosh getting shut down in the post several times. Jose is making a case to be the starter but he's going to have to put up a few more stat lines like this to convince the coaching staff. Maybe the trade winds will die down a bit. Jose gets a B and Jack gets a C.

Bosh played well in some stretches and seemed to battle Lee but this was subdued by Lee and some double teams. Bosh's problem is that he is a ball hog. I love the guy but 99% of the time he gets the ball, he keeps it regardless of the situation. This results in one of two things. He either drives it in for a hook, or a nice move under the basket where he scores more often than not, or it results in him turning the ball over. He needs to learn how to kick the ball out to the open player on the perimeter. I am starting to suspect this is part of the reason why Kapono never had much success here since Bosh can't pass out of a double team. It's frustrating to watch him lose the ball off his foot, off his butter fingers or just having it stolen or stripped outright by the help defense. He was subdued by this but on this night it didn't matter much and he knew it. His teammates were bringing home the bacon this time and he didn't need to be the force he usually is. I'd rate his performance a B-. I mean the guy still scored 18 and 9. Can't argue with that.

Hedo is the guy I credit most with the Raptors losing their big lead. He provided nothing early on and threw up brick after brick. Bricking shots in key possessions that fueled the Knicks run. Not to mention his turnovers which weren't too many but seemed to be at the worst times which helped the Knicks build momentum. Particularly his idiotic turnover and clear path foul which nearly made me tear my hair out. He made some key shots down the stretch but it probably only partially made up for the points he gave up on their other end in the third. Jay even bench his ass in favor of Sonny. He has this mentality of shooting weird, out of rhythm shots, that are not in the process and not produced from a set play. The shots that he took that were advised were way off and often clanked off front rim. Then he tried to make fancy passes that result in turnovers. On defense he was like a ghost. He stood there, waved his hand sparingly, and looked like he rarely expended any energy at all trying to distract the opponent. Basically, he just stood there and his presence was only barely known by visual means. Turk gets an D-. Would be an F if he didn't hit a few shots late.

Derozan was the other player that, like Bargnani was possessed by some sort of Basketball demon. He was cutting and slashing his way through the Knicks D. Slithering through and getting fouled or getting a lay-in, dunk, or getting fouled. He did his damage at the free throw line. It's quite obvious to see in the boxscore. He kept the team in the game and had a huge part in this W.

So what do we gather from this game? I mean in order to improve the team. Bosh needs to learn how to kick the ball out, Derozan needs to drive the ball to the basket every chance he gets, and Turkoglu needs to be shipped out of here. I suggest trying to snatch one of the decent players from the Nets, or seeing what the Magic might give you since he had most of his success there and now the Magic look like they wish they had paid him max money instead of letting him go and signing a coked out Vince Carter.

In the end, this was an excellent game to watch as a Raptors fan. Especially the first half. It's always satisfying to see one of my teams beat a New York team. It really makes me happy to see the Knicks on a losing end of a Raptors beat down. Now on to Dallas where I hope they don't get squashed and can carry some of the momentum over. Here's hoping they don't melt down again in the third.