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.

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?

Triano unleashes their "Other Animal"

As everyone knows, tonight marked the highly anticipated debut of  our other animal Reginald Evans. Reggie entered the game to a chorus of "reggie" chants from a delighted ACC. And much like a dog, a wolf, or a bear that's been caged in too long Reggie went at the Sixers like a beast that hasn't been fed in weeks. Body parts and guts were flying everywhere and Reggie emerged with a smile on his face, satisfied with the meal he worked so hard to earn. He reminded me a lot of JYD as he was a lot like a junkyard dog on a porkchop. He boxed out under the basket, grabbed a few boards, a steal, and assist, took a charge and scored a basket. All this in a matter of 5 minutes. Maybe we'll call that one the value meal combo at McReggies.

Despite the excitement of having Reggie back, this game was a mish-mash game for the Raptors with lots of highs and lows. First you got a solid first quarter by the starting unit. Then the second unit comes in and explodes with Jose fueling the fire. Couple that with the highs of Reggie coming in. They push a lead up to the 20's in the third only to completely blow that lead in the fourth. Still, the Raps hung in there and took care of business once again at home improving to 20-6 on their home turf. They held AI and Brand to 8 and 11 points respectively. That is a pretty big shutdown in my books. Good job despite falling asleep on other Sixer players. Still, you have to give the Sixers credit for fighting till the end and coming back from such a big deficit especially since they just played the night before. Kudos to them and I don't think they have anything to be ashamed of.

Things you may have noticed:

• Amir Johnson Johnson played a big game and despite Reggie coming back, he should not be forgotten or under appreciated. He went after any loose ball remotely near him and played hard nosed defense. He added 10 points which is a bonus. Here's hoping he develops his offense a bit more and that his upside hasn't been reached. He's a young guy with a lot of potential. 

• Jose played inspired basketball tonight making an impact as soon as he entered the game. Dishing out a lot of creative assists and scoring when the defense allowed him some space. He tossed up more pretty looking lob passes than I have ever seen him in one game. He also added 10 bucks off the bench and 6 dimes.

• How on earth did the Raps fall asleep on Lou Williams? He only tore the Raptors a new one earlier this season and he did the same thing tonight. He went off for 26 points and is "that guy" on the other team that the Raptors let loose. If they're planning on making a playoff run they should try to avoid this or it's gonna kill them one of these days.

• Bargnani played decent defense throughout the game and shut down Elton "No Name" Brand all by himself on several occasions. He shot the ball well but was cold again from the arc. He did hit the dagger 3 pointer when it counted though his team seemed to forget about him on the offensive end with all the excitement create by Reggie and the dunkfest that was going on by the twins.

• Bosh? He was Bosh, solid as usual and I can't really remember the last time he's had a bad game. Mr. Dependable is who he is and that's exactly what makes him special.

• Belinelli had an off game going back to his crazy circus shots and out of control drives. He needs to work within the confines of the offensive system, and the flow of the game. At least shoot off a screen or run a pick and roll man! I think he'll bounce back strong. Hopefully some time off will do him some good.

• Did anyone miss Turk tonight?

So I was watching this game and it dawned upon me who the twins reminded me of. Sonny Weems and Demar Derozan remind me of the Autobot twin brothers Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They were both fast race cars and were really good friends as well. They would drive really fast and fly into the air to attack the Decepticons. Much like the way Sonny and Demar attack the rim, slashing through the lanes and finish strong. Demar would be Sideswipe since he is the more openly accept of the two, more popular, and shows up in episodes more often. That would leave Sonny as Sunstreaker. He's just as fast as Sideswipe and despite them both being Lamborghini Countaches and both being high flying 6'6'' wings who can shoot midrange and have killer hops, Sonny is a bit under appreciated. That seems to be a trend that is going away though as Sonny has been amazing when given a chance to start. Maybe we should break Turk's foot and have him wait 50 games.

Studs: Amir, Jose, Sonny, Demar, Bosh

Duds: Belinelli

Now the Raptors get the All Star break off to relax and reflect on how they've won and ponder on spoiling us fans some more by continuing to win. One question I asked myself today as I was driving home from work listening to Bob McCowan: When's the last time I watched an allstar game and actually enjoyed it? I couldn't think of one. Back when we were all kids, watching the NHL allstar games used to be awesome. Now all of them seem to suck. I'll still watch though to see how our Big Bosh Man does. Hopefully Demar wins something too but I think Sonny shoulda been included in this dunk contest. Just a damn shame.

Raptors This and That

With the trade deadline rolling around there has been a lot of rumours and guessing going on from fans online and I didn't want to add fuel to the fire but since there is this lull between games I thought I'd put my two cents in so to speak. 

Bryan Colangelo is a very smart man and clever dealmaker as we all know. He's also demonstrated the patience of a 5 year old kid that's just eaten a pack of skittles. He makes trades a lot and is definitely not shy about pulling the trigger. He makes a move any chance he gets so I am almost certain he's gonna make a move. He even confirmed it by telling the Fan 590 that he's gonna be a buyer. So we're all in agreement that something will happen and we also all know it won't involve CB4. Another factor in this is that the Raptors don't have a pick in the next draft so any move he makes might include a pick. He's too much of a gunslinger to let himself sit idle. Also, there's been a lot of talk about how he hasn't done a good job with the acquisitions he's made but would you rather have Rob Babcock back? At least the man makes an effort to improve the team every chance he gets which is all I can ask for as a fan. His contract as Gm is coming up and personally I am worried. I shouldn't be because I think he's going to stay but I wouldn't like to see this team without him. Without him I suspect we'd still be the basement dwelling garbage pile that we were before he came in.

What we also know is that this team is very crowded at the 2 spot and weak at the 2 and 3. As good as Demar and Sonny are they are still relatively inexperienced and in terms of playoffs, probably not the strongest options seeing as how they'll have to contend with the likes of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Lebron James, etc. In saying so, I don't think you move either of them if you can help it. They are the team's future and you just don't mess with that.

Options to trade:

Jose Calderon:

• For: Jack is doing very well and eventhough he isn't causing a stink, you can sense Jose would prefer to be starting. He's a strong player at PG and would still get some interest from teams. The Raptors are weak at the 2 and 3 spots so creating a more balanced attack would be a positive. Making a deal where you trade Jose for a solid swingman would be the goal. It is also necessary since Turk reeks and isn't nearly what we envisioned him to be. So unless Turk becomes that 18 ppg scorer he was in the playoffs, this might be necessary.

• Against: Like I said he's a strong player and benefits the team while he is on the floor. When Jack comes out of the game there is no dip in skill at the PG position which is critical. It creates production from our second unit as Jose has a tendency of making plays for the likes of Weems, Amir, and Belli. The second unit would take a dip in production if he leaves which can't be underestimated as this is a strong point for this team at the moment.

Turkoglu:

• For: Assuming any team would want him with the way he's played and acted this season and with the amount of money he gets, getting rid of him would be a positive for this team. He has been playing a bit better lately so the team has to be convinced that he's not going to improve the rest of the season. More than half the season is over and he's scored 20 pts or more in just a handful of games. He certainly isn't having a big positive impact for this team and bringing in a more traditional slashing player at the 3 spot would be beneficial. He's also acted like a child. Complaining about not getting the ball enough and voicing it with his stupid "ball" interview. And refused to wear a mask to protect a broken bone. These sound like the actions of a child to me and can't possibly be good for the locker room.

• Against: He could possibly get better. He dropped a bunch of points on the lowly Knicks and played decent enough against the Kings in the last outing. If he can find a way to blend his tools in with the rest of his teammates the way he was supposed to when he was brought in, he could make the difference. I don't see this happening but maybe I am just a pessimist. Problem is, his defense is suspect at best and he usually just ends up waving at defenders as they go by, or even worse fouling them with a cheap unnecessary foul which ends up costing the Raps. His lateral movement is obviously weak. I mean if it's obvious to any casual observer than it's obvious to his on-court enemies. 

Amir, Antoine, Belinelli:

• For: If you can get something significantly better from a desperate team then by all means go for it but It's gotta have to be something damn good. Memphis gave Pau Gasol away for practically nothing so there are teams out there stupid enough to do it. Not to mention NJ... they're real dumb and there's that idiot out there named Babcock. He's not a GM but I hope he can influence his GM to make a stupid move.

• Against: The second unit is playing well, all three of these players have played well at some point through the last few games. There is chemistry there that you don't want to mess with. Amir has been a catalyst for hustle which this team sorely lacked. Antoine has been defending well and hitting very very high pressure, game changing shots for us. Belinelli has struggled a bit but has played well in stretches and provides bench scoring and slashing that this team also needs. I suspect any trade made wouldn't be anything more than a minor improvement and therefore wouldn't be worth the risk. Personally I am totally against this unless it is completely in our favour which is not impossible but not likely. 

I don't see any other scenarios that could happen. Bryan could shock us all and blow us all out of the water but with the success this team has been having I seriously doubt that. What I would like to see happen and I am sure I am not alone in this thinking is that they get rid of Turk for something good.

People seem to want to get Iggy but I think the price tag for him is going to be quite high. However, given his skill I think it would be worth it. I am not sure what his contract situation is but if he's got two or more years left then I would do the deal in a second.  You have to give up something to get something back as everyone knows and I would be willing to depart with practically anyone for Iggy. Demar, Sonny if need be but preferably Turk, Jose or both. I haven't done any ESPN trade machine tinkering but I am sure some garbage parts and picks could be used as mortar for it.  

Iggy would fit in very well and doesn't need to handle the ball the way Turk does to be successful. He is a much better defender, younger, and rebounds the ball better as well. He is the type of player that can flat out score and would give us the scoring we need game in and game out that we need. It would be a winning situation with no doubt. The problem would be convincing the 76er's to part with him. Seeing as the Sixers suck and are probably in favour of a reboot, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult.

I guess I am stating the obvious with this post cause everyone knows something is going to happen. Still, it's fun to try to guess what's going to happen. So sit back, put your feet up and enjoy. Not every city has such good GM's in it that have the guts to pull off the big trades to improve their teams.