Another game against everybody’s best friend, Gilbert Arenas! Fantastic.

I will cut Gilbert some slack. I like his addidas commercial, and I do appreciate that he’s a hard worker and that he didn’t have his career handed to him; he did actually work for it. And he has fun with it! So many guys treat their lives as basketball players like it’s some miserable responsibility that they can barely tolerate, like taking out the garbage or something. Gilbert doesn’t – he seems to genuinely enjoy it. Good for him.

I just wish he didn’t have to be such a jackass, though.

Tonight’s matchup in Washington is huge for both teams. The Raptors are a half-game up on the Wizards for third in the east; the Wizards are a half-game up on Miami for the Southeast Division lead.

The game will also serve as a tie-breaker if the Raptors win – they’ll take the season series 3-1. If the Wizards win, it’ll come down to conference records – still to be determined.

Washington is a tough place to play, as the Raptors well now, having gotten blown out there by 30 a couple weeks ago. The Wizards are a team much like Denver, or Toronto itself – good offensively, poor defensively. And when the shots are dropping, they are capable of blowing anyone out, and when they’re not dropping, they’re capable of getting blown out.

Unfortunately, the Wizards are finally fully healthy – having gotten Caron Butler back from a knee injury – while the Raps continue to miss Andrea Bargnani, who just started working out again yesterday and won’t be back for another week or two.

Add to that the Raptors recent road woes (having lost four of five away from the ACC) and the Wizards’ home success (winning five of six), it doesn’t look good for Toronto.

But as the Raptors have shown in the past week – winning three of four since Bargnani went down, and two of them in convincing fashion – they respond well to adversity, so you can never count them out. And as shown in the Miami game, they can rebound when they put the effort into it. As you may recall, the Wizards dominated the Raptors on the glass the last time they met, with Bosh only pulling in one rebound. I expect the Raptors to at least put in a little better effort this game.

Still, I think Gilbert and the Washington offense will be too much for the Raptors on this night. If the Raptors get the same energy and intensity off the bench that they got last game, it’ll be close, but Arenas is super-clutch, so I’d put my money off him in crunch time.

And if the energy is not there, if the Raptors aren’t focused like they were the other night… Wizards by 14.

On another note… The Star pointed out this morning that six of the last 11 Raptors games are on Raptors NBA TV (including tonight's). I have to ask… whose brilliant f’ing idea was that!? Obviously I have the digital channel so it doesn’t affect me personally, but here we are, in the stretch run, people in the city finally noticing that hey, this team is good, they’re going to the playoffs… and no one will be able to see the games. What complete fucking idiot at MLSE made this decision? Whoever it is needs to be fired. Today. Seriously.

Note to MLSE: You will never, EVER, EVER grow any interest in this team, locally or nationally, unless you make the games available for everyone to watch. Making it so that 99% of the country CANNOT watch, is NOT a good business decision. REPEAT: NOT AIRING GAMES ON STATIONS PEOPLE DON’T HAVE IS BAD. BAD! VERY, VERY, BAD.

Look, I know what they’re doing. They want people to pay for Raptors TV. But you have to understand that your fan base right now is miniscule. You currently have about 600,000 RapsTV subscriptions? Well, guess what: That’s about all of us. You may, in a year or two, get to 800,000. But that’s it.

Casual fans are not going to pay for Raptors TV. And if you air MORE THAN A QUARTER OF THE TEAM’S GAMES, including THE MOST IMPORTANT STRETCH RUN, on the station that no one has… no one will ever turn from a non-fan into a casual fan and from a casual fan to a die-hard… BECAUSE THEY CAN’T SEE WHAT THEY’RE MISSING!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not a business major, but as a marketing expert, I know a little bit about growing your business. And a no-brainer is making your product available to the most amount of people, for the least amount of money, until you’ve grown your audience to a point that they enjoy your product so much that a majority of them would be willing to pay for it. This makes sense, right?

So tell me if this makes sense: Sportsnet, a station everyone has, would have taken more games (i.e.: paid MLSE for more games) but only wanted to show them regionally. MLSE refused, saying they had to be national games. So they took those games off the table and moved them to a station very few people have, Raptors NBA TV – which they own, so therefore earned no money, except for advertising.

So to sum up: Rather than have a potential audience of 4.5 million in the GTA alone, MLSE decided it was better to have a potential audience of 600,000, AND turn down the money Sportsnet would have paid for the rights. (And do you think anyone is going to pay RaptorsTV a lot of money to advertise to a maximum of only 600,000 people?)

So, if given the choice, what would you do to improve the ratings of your struggling program? Make it available to 4.5 million people for free… or make it available for 600,000 for $3.99 a month? Keeping in mind that even if those 600,000 watch every game, you will not gain one single new viewer in the process, whereas, even if only 60,000 people watched on the other network, the potential existed to gain millions of new viewers?

You might notice I’m a little upset at this. I am. I can’t stress this enough. Putting so many games on Raptors TV is franchise suicide. (Franchicide?) Please, MLSE. Fire the incompetent morons in charge of these decisions and hire someone who can help you improve the ratings. Try and GROW the fanbase, not strangle it. I’m begging you.

I've been working on these two reviews for about two weeks now so I figured it's about time I finished them up and posted them.

I wrote them in concert since the events of the first tie directly into the second. Without further ado…

Civil War: The Initiative
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Marc Silvestri
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Following Civil War, the new rules of conduct for superheroes have been established: register, or be tried for treason. Spider-Woman breaks the rules; she hasn’t registered, and she’s taking down the Grey Gargoyle. Ms. Marvel flies in to give her an assist, and pleads with her to come in. Spider-Woman refuses, calling Iron Man a murderer – she holds him responsible for the death of Captain America.

Ms. Marvel tells her that Cap’s not dead – that they’re keeping him on the raft and he’s in a coma as the super-solider serum in his veins tries to save him. It doesn’t convince Spider-Woman, who takes off; Ms. Marvel doesn’t pursue.

Meanwhile Walter Langkowski and Reed Richards recruit the young mutant known as The Collective into the new Alpha Flight – even though he killed the old Alpha Flight. Reed has designed a new Guardian suit for The Collective to control his powers.

Finally Iron Man discusses the future with Jarvis and Jarvis tells him that, even with the new world order, the Avengers are still needed…
____________

Why, why am I continuing to read Marvel Comics when the fallout of Civil War is tainting them all? Sigh. Actually this isn’t a terrible comic. If you can ignore the Thunderbolts portion – which I am, actually, because it’s terrible and because it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the story – and get past the inanities of Civil War, and just focus on the moment – and the new world order and what it means to the superheroes of the Marvel Universe – it’s not bad for what it is.

I’m going to point out for the record here that I don’t hate the current make-up of the Marvel Universe; the idea that superheroes should be registered or risk becoming outlaws. It’s the steps that were taken to get to this end. But I’m not going to talk about that here, let’s just focus on the issue at hand – the Marvel Universe is not all soft and cuddly towards superheroes anymore. The public fears and distrusts them and the government has taken steps to quell those fears.

So, for this issue, well, there isn’t so much a story here, as there is a broad look at the Marvel U., using a couple of scenes to illustrate it. The fight between Spider-Woman, the Grey Gargoyle and Ms. Marvel was fun, and I do appreciate that Ms. Marvel defeated the “real” villain before turning her attention to Spider-Woman. It’s seemed lately that many “registered” heroes think it’s more important to take down unregistered heroes, rather than villains, and it’s nice to see it’s not the case here.

The Captain America setup was… interesting. I’ll talk about it more in my review of New Avengers #27. I’m not entirely sure I like that the writers are playing to the emotions of the reader that way – teasing his return to us, only to pull it away. However… in this case, Spider-Woman and the reader are feeling exactly the same way, so it works.

Bendis’ usual snappy dialogue is in full play in the scene, and Marc Silvestri’s art is nice to look at. Though I must say, I much prefer David Finch’s work now. Finch started out in Silvestri’s studio with a style much like Marc’s before becoming a star on his own; at some point, he surpassed Marc as an artist and now it looks like Marc’s developed a style similar to Finch! Funny. But it does the job well enough here.

The next scene is the Thunderbolts scene, which I’ll ignore since Marvel has – for the second time – completely ruined a great title. Next up we have the Alpha Flight, Omega Flight intro, featuring Sasquatch and the Collective, the young mutant who killed all of Alpha Flight except Sasquatch back in New Avengers #16.

I’m not entirely convinced of the setup’s logic – I mean I’m glad they found the kid a suit to help him control his powers – but why have him join Alpha Flight? He’s an American, after all, why not have him in the Initiative where he would receive proper training? I dunno. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me; guess I’ll have to read the series when it comes out to see if they explain it.

Silvestri’s take on Sasquatch was cool, but I must say he drew a very odd looking Reed Richards!

Finally we have Iron Man scolding Ms. Marvel for telling Spider-Woman Cap was still alive. Or maybe he was scolding her for letting Spider-Woman go? It’s not entirely clear. In any event, Jarvis – acting completely out of character, by 1) not offering any helpful advice when Tony asks, and 2) calling Tigra a bitch or a cunt or something else so nasty it had to be censored.

Why would he do this? He’s never had a problem with Tigra in the past, has he? And besides, Tigra was on Tony’s side in the war, spying on Cap for him! What the hell? And he’s always been showing as willing to offer some sage advice – even if it’s as obvious as “you should put Thor on the team” – to those who ask. Here he’s just an ass. Shows once again why Bendis is a terrible Avengers writer!!

Anyway it’s at this point that Tony makes his decision to form a new team of Avengers, which takes us into Mighty Avengers #1.

This is followed up by a couple of previews for new series including Omega Flight, Mighty Avengers and Avengers: The Initiative. Why they needed a preview of Mighty Avengers, which came out the same week as this issue, is beyond me. The Omega Flight one shows off some cool Scot Kolins pencils, but little more.

The third preview is a little more interesting in that it implicitly illustrates the problem I mentioned above: a super-hero/government cop, in this case the armored, heavily powered, fully loaded War Machine, telling a flying teenager to cease and desist.

Look I understand the issue here. People with powers need to be trained. Fine.

But you’re telling me War Machine, a guy with a suit of armor just like Iron Man’s (with more guns!) has nothing better or more important to do that harass teenagers? He’s WAR MACHINE, for God’s sake! You think maybe someone with a little more human touch might not have been better than a flying one man army? Sigh.

If Marvel keeps throwing out unlikely scenarios such as this, it’s going to take me a long time to fully accept the new status quo…!

_________________________

New Avengers #28
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinel Francis Yu
Publisher: Marvel Comics

After rescuing Maya Lopez – Echo – from the Hand, the new Avengers are on the run in Japan. Wolverine believes the only place they will be safe is the home of the Yashida clan – current home of the Silver Samurai, with whom Logan has a long-running feud.

With the Samurai demanding to know how and why they are in Japan, the Avengers recap the previous days’ events, including a humourous sequence showing just how difficult it is for superheroes to operate in New York, as Cage is once again harassed in the street by SHIELD.

Convening at Dr. Strange’s house – now cleverly disguised as an under-construction Starbucks – the New Avengers decide what to do regarding Spider-Woman’s news from the Initiative (that Captain America is still alive).

Clearly, they all agree, it’s a trap… but what choice do they have? They have to check it out. So they storm the location the body is supposedly held – the Raft, the maximum security prison where the New Avengers first formed.

Their hearts soar when they see a body, in Cap’s costume, on an operating table, but one quick sniff from Wolverine reveals the truth – “it ain’t him.” It is a trap, and Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and their new, government sanctioned Avengers team is waiting for the New Avengers…
______________

This is the second issue of the Bendis/Yu run, taking place post-Civil war. This series has never felt like a “real” Avengers series, more like a cheap knock-off, and that pretty much continues here. The characters don’t seem to have a lot of connection to one another; once again it seems like it’s just a matter of Bendis saying “these are the characters I like, so I’m going to put them in my Avengers book.”

Now, it’s not that I don’t like the characters or their interactions with one another. But without any traditional Avengers, without Avengers headquarters, without Jarvis, without any official sanction… what makes them Avengers? As far as I can tell they’re a glorified Defenders team, even using Dr. Strange’s house as an HQ!

However, if you can get past the fact that it’s not much of an Avengers book, it’s actually a pretty good read, just like this title has been from day one. It might not be a good Avengers comic book, but it’s still a good comic book!

While I like all the team members, including Wolverine, I don’t understand his presence here. Why would he join this team? He’s got enough team issues with the X-Men. He’s got his solo adventures plus he’s tracking down his “origin” in his second solo book. On top of that… what’s his connection with this team? Everyone else is a registration outlaw in some sense (still not exactly sure why Cage is an outlaw. Doesn’t everyone already know his ID? As seen in NA#24 they also know where he lives. So… what’s he done wrong?). Anyway. They’ve all got that common bond, but as seen elsewhere, all the X-Men (and the 198 mutants) are already registered so weren’t a concern to the SHRA. So what’s his connection to this team? Other than the fact Bendis likes him? I dunno.

I do love Cage and Jessica’s married couple banter, though; Bendis always nails that one. I’m glad to see them still in a book together, and Iron Fist too (maybe the book is more Heroes for Hire than Defenders…!)

This issue, continued from the previous one, has the team fighting ninjas and traveling to Japan. Having this team fight ninjas makes a little more sense here than it did earlier in the series (ninjas wouldn’t bother the Sentry or Iron Man much, I’d think) since they’re much less powerful. Although with Dr. Strange in there I wonder how much of a threat anyone is. I think Bendis needs to set aside some time in an upcoming issue to establish exactly what Dr. Strange’s role is, and exactly what his power level is. I mean if he can teleport the whole team anywhere, when are they ever going to be in danger? (Also, didn’t he declare himself a non-concerned neutral in all of the SHRA doings? Isn’t he now actively helping SHRA outlaws? Sigh.)

I admit to not having much interest in Echo or her fight with Elektra and the Hand (it seems to me that the use of these characters indicates that Bendis wishes he were still writing Daredevil) but Leinil Francis Yu does draw some great fight scenes.

I’m a little torn on Yu’s work here. I’ve always liked his work, but I don’t know that it works as well on a team book as it would on a solo book. It definitely wouldn’t work on a traditional Avengers book, but as we’ve said, this isn’t a traditional Avengers book so… I guess it works. I guess the problem is that, with his (for lack of a better term) “scratchy” style, with so many characters in every panel and page, it looks very busy. It’s still good but the pages are really crowded. I bet he’d kick total ass on a solo book like the Hulk or Daredevil (much like he kicked ass on Wolverine!).

All in all, I’m standing in the middle ground on this comic. I neither loved nor hated it, and though I would lean towards the former Civil War had so many missteps that continue to affect books negatively, it brings me back to the latter.

But since Bendis is the man responsible for what I consider the two best comics of the century (his Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man runs) I’ll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. The new New Avengers aren’t off to a great start, but it’s not a bad one, and that’s enough to bring me back for more next issue.

Well, guess I was wrong again about the Raptors’ chances last night. But this is one of those cases where I don’t mind being wrong at all. The Raptors came out with a ton of energy and dominated Miami from start to finish.

Is that Miami team for real? Wow, they were awful. Is that really their whole game plan without Wade – dump it into Shaq, and launch threes when he gets doubled? How did they possibly win 8 straight games to climb into first in their division?

But you gotta give the Raptors credit; even if Miami was on a bad night, good teams jump on listless opponents, and that’s exactly what the Raps did. (Of course, it’s mystifying how you can blow out Denver, play one of your worst games of the year against Boston, and then blow out Miami… ya gotta love the NBA!)

I absolutely loved the way the Raptors played last night. The rebounding, the getting after loose balls, the passing… even the shooting, there were maybe three shots all night I thought were bad shots (and if you guessed Kris Humphries took two of them, well… you’d be right).

The energy and hustle reminded me a lot of the Orlando game from last week; I thought that energy came from the team banding together in the absence of Andrea Bargnani. Perhaps in this case the Jorge Garbajosa injury similarly inspired them.

Yesterday, it was discussed at length who would replace Garbo – Whether it would be Morris Peterson, Joey Graham, or Humphries, or some combo of said. But no one mentioned Anthony Parker, I guess because he’s already in the starting lineup. But guess what – all the “glue” things Garbo does, Parker does too, and like Garbo, his basketball IQ is off the charts. And while Garbo might be a little bigger and a better interior defender, Parker is a better shooter and a great perimeter defender. And he’s self-aware enough to realize exactly what the team needs of him, especially now with Garbo gone.

And that’s exactly what he provided: 20 points, 7-11 shooting, 5 rebounds, one turnover. And he played solid D on Eddie Jones and James Posey (combined 7-21 for 20) and made the hustle plays (like absolutely stealing that loose ball from Antoine Walker! What a play!). If that’s what we can expect from him while Garbo’s out, I say, bring it! The guy has clearly got his stroke back; he may not be 100 per cent on defense but he looked smooth as silk on offense.

But I appreciated the contributions the Raps got from everybody last night, from Parker to Bosh and right on down the line. Maybe not everybody had a great stats night, but the energy and focus was clearly there from everyone. Mo missed a couple shots but hit some huge ones. Juan Dixon was fantastic. Graham played decent defense and snagged 3 offensive boards. And Humphries… 7 offensive boards, 10 total in 25 minutes? That’s EXACTLY what we need from him! The guy was everywhere last night. And when Miami made their little run right at the end, they didn’t panic, they slowed things down, and then TJ Ford just drove the ball into the paint to get fouls – exactly what you’re supposed to when you’ve got a late lead.

Now, obviously, some of the Raptors’ success it had to do with Miami being as slow as molasses on defense – it seemed like they couldn’t (or couldn’t be bothered to) move their feet at all when the Raptors swung the ball around.

So I guess the question is, was it “just one of those nights” for the Heat, or is that who they really are? Because if so, I hope the Raps play them in the playoffs! I mean, those weren’t just misses, but some really bad misses, off the side of the rim, off the glass… yikes.

Oh, and how about Alonzo Mourning? What a jackass. See him trying to “shush” the crowd? Leo said it best: “that’s probably not something you need to be doing when your team is down by 20.” Right on. He’s gotta be, next to Vince Carter, the most hated player by Raptor fans, far more than Tracy McGrady.

Unfortunately, even though we’re now in third place the Rapsdidn’t really gain any division ground since the Nets and Knicks both won, but it’s another game won. Six games up, 11 games to go!

Well, I'm 99% positive the byline on the article linked below read “Doug Smith” this morning, but it's now credited to Dave Feschuk. Was it my mistake, or the Star's? Either way, it explains a lot - Didn't think Doug would call out Mo like that (maybe Joey), but Feschuk is crusty enough to do so.

If I'm right and it was indeed credited to Mr. Smith this morning, he probably got some dirty looks at practice today!

Anyway, in Smith’s actual latest article Joey talks about guarding Shaq tonight…

Yep, it’s gonna be a massacre.

Heat 101, Raptors 86.

So, Jorge Garbajosa underwent successful surgery for a dislocated ankle, torn ligaments and a broken fibula. Poor Garbo; out six months. Hopefully he’s going to be able to make a full comeback, but it’s too bad he won’t be able to play in the Euro championships in Spain. But if the rehab is six months, that puts him back just in time for traning camp… guess that’s the bright side.

So Doug Smith had some pretty harsh words for Joey Graham and Mo Peterson in the Star today, Calling Mo out of shape and saying he’s throwing money out of the window with each subpar performance, calling Joey clueless and inconsistent. Not that he’s not right he's right on the money in fact - but still, you don’t often see reporters tell it so bluntly.

But one of them has to step up, right about now. They don't have to replace Garbo, by any means; all they have to do is play to their own potential, for more than 1 or 2 minutes at a time.

Why Graham can’t figure out where to stand when Ford/Calderon and Bosh run a pick and roll is beyond me. It’s not like the offense runs through him! Is it a failure of the coaching staff that he hasn’t yet learned where to go, or how to throw an entry pass, or what not? Or is he simply uncoachable?

As for Mo, one of the more disturbing things I’ve noticed about him is that he’s barking at officials a lot this year. That indicates a lack of focus, which could be part of why he’s playing less… just shut up and play, as they say. Also, he needs to move the ball better too. I think because he’s playing so little, he’s rushing and forcing his offence a little when he’s in there.

So who gets the start tonight against the Heat? I’m assuming it’ll Graham at SF; Mo could start, or Juan Dixon at SG and Anthony Parker at SF, but I think Graham matches up best with Mimai's James Posey and you need Parker guarding the suddenly-good-again Eddie Jones.

We should, I hope, also get a look at Luke Jackson tonight. I hope he can contribute something, because obviously, they could use him, especially if they don't get much from Mo and Graham. I’m sure he won’t offer as much as Garbo on the defensive end, and won’t move the ball as well, but he can apparently shoot the lights out, so they should be able to score when he’s on the floor. In that sense he’s probably more of a Bargnani replacement than a Garbo replacement. (Still don’t know why they didn’t at least give him a try the other night, since no one else seemed to be able to put it in the hoop…)

Either way, he’s the perfect type of player to take a flyer on, especially given the situation the team is in right now – it’s certainly not going to hurt the team to give him a try. Besides it’s always nice to see a guy come back from multiple injuries like he’s had.

I don’t really know what to make of this Heat team. Honestly, they shouldn’t be playing as well as they are. They're so old and slow! If the Raptors were healthy I’d’ve had this one penciled in as a win. As it is… probably not.

Ah, well. We just have to hope Indiana can beat New Jersey so the Raps can maintain the Atlantic Division lead. Here’s how I see the Nets schedule playing out (best case scenario for NJ) (bb = second game of back to back):

Vs. Indiana – W
At Detroit – L
Vs. Philly (bb) - W
Vs. Atlanta – W
At Chicago – L
Vs Washington (bb) – W
At Washington – L
At Cleveland – L
Vs. New York (bb) – W
At Indiana – W
At New York (bb) – W
Vs. Chicago – L

That gives them a 7-5 finish, and a 38-44 record. And like I say, that’s best-case. Look at all those back to backs, you know they’ll lose at least one of those. They could just as easily lose one of the New York or Indy games, or both Washington games, and go 5-7.

As for Toronto (worst case scenario):

Vs. Miami L
At Washington L
Vs. Charlotte W
At Miami L
At Orlando (bb) L
At Philly L
Vs. Chicago L
At Minnesota (bb) L
Vs. Detroit L
Vs. New York W
At Detroit L
Vs. Philly (bb) W

That’s a 3-9 finish for a 41-41 record (and a six-game losing streak! Yikes). So they should still win the division, and that’s worst-case; I think they can beat Orlando, Philly and Minny, even if they are underhanded and on the road. And maybe they’ll even steal one of the Detroit games (especially if Detroit’s clinched and is resting players, and Bargnani’s back). They could conceivably still finish 6-6 or even 7-5.

And if they end up tied, the tie-breaker (since the season’s series is 2-2) will be division records; the Raps are 9-4 with three games left against division opponents and the Nets are 7-6 with three games left. So the Raps have to win 2 so the Nets can’t win a tie-break.

Basically, if the Raps go 3-9 with wins against Philly and New York, the Nets have to go 10-2 to beat us outright. (And New York would have to go 12-0! Ha.)

Of course, if the Raps go 0-12…

Was there a full moon or something last night?

Wow, the game against the Celtics was just a horrible, horrible night for the Raptors. Nothing went right at all.

So, is it normal for me to feel guilty? Because I’d spent the whole game cursing Jorge Garbajosa for playing one of the worst games any Raptor has played this season… and then he crumpled to the ground with what may be the most gruesome injury I’ve ever seen anyone sustain in a Raptors uniform. And I feel terrible.

I mean, that was bad. Al Jefferson’s reaction pretty much said it all – the way he turned away because he couldn’t look. It seriously made my stomach turn. Oh, man. Just thinking about it is gross.

What a stupid play to injure it on, though. I mean… what was Garbo trying to do, block Jefferson’s dunk? First of all, he was about five minutes too late on the play… and second… he can’t jump!! There’s no way he was going to block the shot. Just a bad, bad play. Even Jefferson said after, “When that happened, the first thing that came into my head was, `Why did he jump? Just let me go.'”

And frankly, Garbo shouldn’t even have been in there. He was playing some terrible, terrible basketball. He couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean and on defense, the one thing he usually does well, he kept getting caught on screens – leaving TJ to guard Paul Pierce! – and was out of position on almost every single rebound attempt. At that point, when they needed to get rebounds and score, and he couldn’t do either… he was seriously hurting the team by being on the floor. Mitchell should have pulled him well before that.

In fact, I think the blame for this loss has to be on Sam Mitchell. With the team trailing, but Boston not pulling away, all it would have taken were a couple big shots. Boston didn’t seem to want to win the game – it was there for the Raptors’ taking, if they could just put a little run together. Yet two of their best shooters – Morris Peterson and presumably the newly-signed Luke Jackson – couldn’t get off the bench. Come on, Sam. You’re seriously telling me you’d rather have Joey Graham in there than MoPete? Mo’s coming off his best game of the year! Why do you keep jerking around his minutes? Or, even if you liked what Graham was bringing – he played all right, I give him credit – why not put Mo in for Garbo? Where was Kris Humphries, who played well the past two games? Bosh was sleepwalking all night, and he couldn’t score to save his life… you’re telling me he couldn’t use a three-minute rest while we see what Humphries has? Basically, why not try something different, because whatever was out there clearly wasn’t working? I realize the bench wasn’t great in the first half, but why not at least let them try and redeem themselves in the second half – since the starters were no better?? Sigh.

Obviously, the team missed Juan Dixon, who was out with a neck strain, but isn’t that exactly why they signed Jackson? To stretch the defense? I don’t expect him to contribute much, but again, when nothing else is working… why not try it?

The worst was when TJ – the only Raptor who actually showed up in the second half – fouled out. First of all, no one on the coaching staff bothered to tell Ford that he had five fouls. That may or may not have changed things, since they had to foul, but still. Second of all, they’re down 4 with 30 seconds left, and they replace TJ with… Darick Martin? Are you kidding me? When you’re down two possessions and need threes, you don’t want to put in Peterson, or Jackson? (And what happens? Martin gets a wide-open three from the corner, which is Mo’s sweet spot… and misses. Ballgame. Sigh.)

Thank goodness they won against Denver on Friday to offset this loss… isn’t it amazing that they can outscore Denver, one of the best offensive teams in the league, by almost 30… and then lose to the second-worst team in the league? How can they pull even on rebounds with Denver – the best rebounding team in the league, believe it or not – and get outrebounded by the Celtics by 10!? Brutal.

It was great to have Anthony Parker back on the floor; although he was a step slow on defense, he, along with Ford, was the only Raptor who would put the ball in the hoop. Calderon played OK, but he’s not going to the basket like he used to – is he afraid of injuring the ankle again?

Oh, and how about the inestimable Dick Bavetta last night! Apparently, you can get a jump ball by grabbing into a guy’s wrist instead of the ball! That must be one of this year’s new rules. Sigh.

Anyway, at least the Knicks lost too. I’d say they’re pretty much out of it. It’s really just New Jersey the Raptors have to worry about in the Atlantic Division race. But man, what shitty luck this team is having. First Parker, then Calderon, then Parker again, then Bargnani, and now Garbo. And each injury/ailment progressively worse than the last! Sigh. Well, at least it can’t get any worse… right? (Dixon’s neck better not be serious!)

It’s going to be a tough stretch run. Before last night, I was expecting them to go probably 7-6 (including, obviously, a win last night). Now, without Garbo and Bargnani… it wouldn’t surprise me if they finished 3-9. Which, sadly, should still be enough to win the Atlantic… sigh.

Whoops, didn’t get a chance to update yesterday. But what was there to say, really? The Raptors said it all on the court. For maybe the first time all year, they played inspired basketball on the defensive end and went after rebounds like Oliver Miller going for French fries. Maybe they didn’t win by 13 as I predicted, but they did play with the heart and focus I thought they would. The team has proven its resiliency time and again, and they stepped up big time, getting a much needed win.

It wasn’t a perfect game by any means; after all, the Raptors only shot 42% And it was chippy from start to finish, with the two teams combining for 85 free throws. But the Raptors had 55 rebounds, 10 of them offensive, and when they did move the ball well, they got the open looks they needed. Would I like to have had Andrea Bargnani taking those open looks? Sure. But any NBA player is capable of hitting an open shot if his teammates are moving the ball and getting it to him in a good spot.

Chris Bosh and TJ Ford, of course, were sensational. They each played 46 minutes, and I love it. This is the time of year your best players have to play the most minutes. Not only that, but the deep bench has saved their legs all season; they should be ready to go 45 a night no problem. Especially TJ. Every game matters so much right now; they can rest once the Raptors have clinched a playoff spot! And if they don’t, well then they have all summer to rest.

Now, tonight, the Nuggets come to town. Denver is starting to figure out its issues with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, and hence, had won five in a row before losing in Chicago last night in the last second.

Now, Denver’s not one the West’s elite teams, but they’ve got some serious weapons on their side, and not just Melo and AI. Camby can still be a force on the defensive end, and Najera is still one of the most annoying players in the NBA. Nene has had a fine second half of the season and the Raps will have trouble with his physical play. JR Smith is also a fine scorer off the bench for Denver.

The Raps will be without Anthony Parker and probably Jose Calderon again (and of course Bargnani), meaning they will rely on the bench and on heavy minutes for Bosh and Ford, as long as the game remains close. Kris Humphries played well on Wednesday, and will be asked to matchup with Nene most likely; Joey Graham has played decent ball the last two games and will probably get some time on Anthony.

Defensively, other than Camby who’s really more of a help defender, the Nuggets are probably even worse than the Raptors. Iverson’s quick enough to stay in front of his man all night, and they do force steals, which helps them get on the run. But if the Raptors run their offense and move the ball well, they’ll be able to score enough points to stay in the game. It’s stopping Melo and AI that is the real challenge.

Guarding Iverson will fall to TJ Ford and Juan Dixon; The Nuggets have Steve Blake at point guard but Iverson usually take the bulk of the PG minutes. Either way, Ford and Dixon will have their hands full. Iverson’s older but hasn’t slowed down at all, and he can still fill the bucket up. He’s absolutely killed the Raptors in the past.

And Anthony… well, he’s possibly even more deadly than Iverson, as long as he keeps his head in the game. He can score just as well as AI, and he’s bigger and stronger to boot. Thankfully for Toronto he’s been prone to mental breakdowns during games, where his immaturity supercedes his talent. We can only hope that happens tonight!

All in all, it’s going to be a tough game for Toronto. The only saving grace is that Denver is in the middle of a five-game eastern road trip, and that they played last night – a real tight game that they lost at the buzzer. And that game didn’t finish until after 11:00. The Raps have to hope it took a toll and that the Nuggets are tired tonight. If that’s the case, look for a close, if slightly sloppy game throughout, with the Raptors having a chance to win at the end.

Otherwise, the Nuggets will be able to score at will on the undermanned Raptors, and should roll.

So, do you want to see the optimistic, cheerful preview I began writing this morning at 8:30… or the depressing, gloomy one I’ve been struggling to write since 9:30, when I heard the news that Andrea Bargnani had an emergency appendectomy overnight and may be out for the rest of the regular season?

I won’t go so far as to call it a crippling blow – after all, the guy’s still a rookie – but it definitely hurts the Raptors in their playoff push. They still have every opportunity to win the Atlantic division and take a fourth seed into the playoffs, but the road will be a lot harder.

The loss to New York on Sunday hurts even more now; the Raptors could have all but slammed the door on the Knicks’ playoff chances with a win, and gained another half-game edge on the Nets.

But they didn’t put in the effort and lost, and that makes tonight’s game the possible turning point of the season. Playing without Bargnani, and possibly without Jose Calderon and Anthony Parker, the Raps will face an Orlando team that finally has all of its players back from injury.

So it’s gut-check time for the Raptors. Battered and bruised, missing key players, playing after two consecutive embarrassing losses… They need to suck it up and prove that they belong in the top half of the east.

Both New York and New Jersey lost last night, so this is a perfect statement game, a way for the Raptors to tell those teams, “hey, you better start winning because, even though we’re hurt, we’re not going to lie down for you.”

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So the question becomes, how do the Raptors make up for the Big Rook’s absence? If it were just Bargnani missing, it wouldn’t be a concern; the Raptors do have a deep bench.

But given Parker and Calderon’s injuries, they’re already running a thin bench. That means Jorge Garbajosa, Kris Humphries, Rasho Nesterovic, Joey Graham and Mo Peterson will play additional minutes.

Peterson in particular needs to step up. After Sunday’s disgraceful 0-8 performance, I thought MoPete might have been relegated to the bench for the remainder of the season. But now he’ll get one last chance to prove himself.

Playing without Bargnani may help the Raptors on the backboards. If Rasho takes on additional minutes and Humphries plays under control, they may grab more rebounds than Bargnani did. If the Raptors go small and play Peterson, Graham or Juan Dixon more, they’ll have to give greater effort on the boards to make up for the missing 7-foot rookie.

Either way, Dwight Howard’s capable of grabbing 20 by himself on any given night, regardless of how many big men your team plays. I say it pretty much every game, but giving up offensive rebounds and second-chance points kills the Raptors. Second chance points hurt you in so many ways. You play good defense and force a miss, but they still score – that hurts. Player A blocks out Opponent A, but Player B doesn’t block out Opponent B – that makes Player A angry at Player B. Player C played good perimeter defense on Opponent C, but they still scored – that makes Player C upset. Second chance points kill teams.

Of course, all the rebounds in the world won’t help if you can’t shoot. The Raptors couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean on Sunday against New York, and thus, lost despite outrebounding the Knicks. The non-existent ball movement led to the team settling for long range bombs – which just weren’t falling. The Raptors have shown time and time again this year that when they move the ball well and find open shooters, they’re practically unstoppable. Why they sometimes get away from this is beyond me; they need to get back to it tonight or they’re going to be looking at their second three-game losing streak of the month.

So whoever gets those minutes will need to work their tail off keeping Howard off the glass.

TJ Ford is superior to any PG on Orlando’s roster and of course Bosh destroyed the Magic for 41 last time out, so if they play at a high level, the Raps still have a shot in this one.

So that’s what it comes down to: If the Raps take this game as the turning point game it is, and play at a high level throughout, they’ll take it. But their margin for error has decreased exponentially. If they slip, even a little, Orlando will swoop in and take this win away from them.

I have faith in my team. I have faith in the hearts of our players, that they will be strong and focused and determined, and that they will win tonight despite all of their ills.

Raptors by 13.

Civil War: The Confession
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Publisher: Marvel Comics

My synopsis of this, which I wrote the other day, accidentally got deleted and I don’t have the issue in front of me now so I can’t do a full recap. But I’ll get the gist of it: In the first part of this story, Iron Man explains why he took the actions he did during Civil War and how he feels about them after the fact. He reminisces about the time he traveled back in time with Dr. Doom to Camelot, and how King Arthur inspired him to be a leader. By the end, we see he’s confessing this to Captain America’s corpse, as he breaks down in tears, saying the conflict wasn’t worth it.

In the second half of the story, we see Captain America and Iron Man’s final conversation, while Cap is being held prisoner. They both reiterate their position on the registration issue, but Cap asks him if winning was worth it… and Iron Man can’t answer.

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Civil War: The Confession is not a good comic book. Honestly, there’s nothing good about it.

This comic sucks.

I like Brian Michael Bendis. And I like Alex Maleev. Their run on Daredevil was simply outstanding. They also did The Illuminati special which I enjoyed. But this… this was a Class-A mail-in hack job.

So the issue opens with Iron Man discussing his feelings with Captain America’s corpse, a scene straight from the “Too Little, Too Late” Department. It’s obvious there was some editorial mandate from Marvel for Bendis to try and make Iron Man seem a little sympathetic, since his portrayal in Civil War ranged from jerk (Civil War #1) to murderous thug (Civil War #4) to creepy date rapist (Civil War #7).

And sure, it’s nice that he feels bad… but what did he expect!? It’s a war! A war he started! He chose the sides, not Captain America. It was ALL Tony’s doing. So now his friend’s dead, and we’re supposed to sympathize with him? Um, no. He should be going to jail!

Frankly, none of this comic makes any sense. So Iron Man, 500 years in the past, fights with King Arthur against Dr. Doom and some zombies… and this made him realize there’d be a super-hero war. Not a war pitting super-heroes against villains (or even zombies)… but other superheroes. What? How? How does he make this connection? I’ve read those Dr. Doom stories a half-dozen times. They’re fantastic stories, but nothing about them makes me see any connection between the conflict there and a superhero war.

Keeping in mind that those Dr. Doom issues of Iron Man happened 25 years ago, Bendis explains that Iron Man never mentioned these thoughts because he didn’t think anyone would believe him, at least not until Stamford. This makes sense in as much as the idea – “A zombie war between King Arthur and Dr. Doom made me think the superheroes would all fight each other!” is absurd, but the statement falls flat when you realize that there have been dozens of “tragedies” in the Marvel U involving superheroes that were on the level of Stamford since then, and Iron Man never mentioned his concerns before Stamford.

(Also, let’s note that Iron Man came back from that conflict and went on a serious bender that resulted in him living on the streets while Jim Rhodes became Iron Man, so he obviously wasn’t THAT concerned. Let’s also note that Iron Man later traveled to the future with Dr. Doom, where he met the descendants of King Arthur… and amazingly, that future had NOT been devastated by a super-hero war!)

So the whole thing comes across as a half-assed attempt to tie Iron Man’s sudden, abruptly odd characterization to something that’s been building inside him for a long time; but anyone who’s read the character over the years knows that this isn’t the case.

There are several other points to quibble with, but the major one is this: Nick Fury appears to bring the government’s initial proposal on the superhero issue directly to Iron Man, and this proposal prompts him to help the government create the superhero registration act. This isn’t really explained in any way; it’s told in a one-panel flashback. That’s a convenient way for the writers to avoid explaining the logic of it, because, um, there isn’t any.

First of all, Nick Fury is presumed dead and has no official government ties anymore. Obviusly he could get a copy of this proposal through his unofficial ties… but why would he bring it to Iron Man? Does Iron Man even know he’s alive? But regardless. Iron Man, before Civil War made him important, was nothing more than a billionaire playboy role-playing as a super-hero. Why would Fury ever bring something like this to his attention? Wouldn’t it make more sense to give it to Reed Richards or Captain America? Of course, but that doesn’t serve the story. Let’s give it to the guy who until now didn’t really care about government or other superheroes.

The second part of the story involves a flashback to right after Civil War when Iron Man makes a half-assed attempt to make good with a shackled Captain America. Cap asks him if the whole thing was worth it; naturally Tony, acting like the smug, self-centred jerkoff he’s been through the whole Civil War, doesn’t tell Steve how he really feels. Cap plays the tough guy role, yelling at Tony to answer him… so he makes a smart ass comment and walks away.

All this scene did was remind us – again – how shockingly bad Iron Man’s portrayal was during Civil War, showing us why they needed to make him look better in the first half of the book. Of course, comic book fans don’t need this reminder as we’ve been complaining about it for a year now.

Look, Iron Man acted like a dick for the entire Civil War; Captain America acted like a spoiled child having a tantrum because he didn’t get his way for six issues before turning into a sissy in issue #7. These characters don’t traditionally act this way. It was a sudden, jarring shift, done strictly to tell this story. I appreciate Bendis trying to “fix” it by having Iron Man break down and having Cap act tough, but it’s too late – the damage is done. You can’t take it back now, and you can’t try and explain it after the fact.

So, the plot is hollow, the dialogue rings false, and the structure of the story doesn’t fit. But how about the art?

Alex Maleev doesn’t usually disappoint, but this time… it really looks like he was either really rushed or just gave a piss-poor effort. Maybe a combo of both (or maybe he just hated the story as much as me and couldn’t put his heart in it). But the line work looks rough and unfinished, and the faces – usually a major strong point with Maleev – are plain and expressionless overall, and in those scenes where they’re trying to show emotion… well, they just look awkward. There’s not much else happening in the issue, it’s just a talking heads issue (again, something Maleev usually does really well), so I can’t think of any reason the art looks so weak… other than it was a rush job.

So… what else can I say? Civil War was a letdown, and if this was the finale, it’s fitting that it’s a letdown too.

Remember my comment about bad losses from a couple weeks back? Guess what category yesterday’s falls into?

What a pathetic effort the Raptors put out in the third quarter. I guess this is how Knicks fans felt last week, when the Raps did the same thing to them? What goes around comes around…

The difference is the Raptors are a team that should be able to, if not shut down another team’s run, at least go on one of their own; after all, they’re one of the most efficient offensive teams in the NBA. But they couldn’t get a single thing going in the second half.

The worst part of it all, is the players that the Raps let control the game. I mean, if you told me the Raptors would hold Eddy Curry to five points and 4 boards, and Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis to a combined 30 on 10-26 shooting, I’d feel pretty good about that, wouldn’t you?

But it was Channing Frye and Renaldo Balkman who beat them. The two combined for 35 points (on 15-22 shooting), 22 rebounds and 6 steals! Frye looked like the only Knicks player awake in the first half, almost single-handedly keeping New York in the game, and then Balkman absolutely dominated the third quarter. If the Knicks scored 35 points, I’d say Balkman was involved in 25 of them, either scoring, setting up the play by getting the offensive rebound or loose ball, or causing a turnover on the other end… the guy was everywhere. It was unbelievable.

And that’s why it hurts. You know, if Curry’s plowing his way to the hoop or Marbury catches fire, there’s not much you can do. But Balkman? Frye? These are supporting guys, role players. They’re supposed to help your stars get the job done, not get the job done themselves.

Why do the Raps have trouble with guys like Balkman? He’s very similar to Andersen Varejao who destroyed the Raptors in Cleveland last month. These guys have limited skills; all they bring to the table is energy, hustle and intensity. Do the Raps not have anybody that can match that? That’s it, they need to bring Jerome Williams outta retirement. Seriously. Who brought more energy than the Junkyard Dog? That’s the roster hole I hope Bryan Colangelo tries to fill this summer: scrapper.

Back to the game, the Raptors once again fell apart in the face of a zone defense. I don’t know why, but they completely freeze up when teams go zone. Why weren’t they working it in to Chris Bosh, who had a great first half? And how did Andrea Bargnani, who torched the Knicks last time, only get 7 shots? The guy’s a one-man zone buster, and when the Knicks went zone, he scored three straight buckets… then the Raps never went back to him. Sigh. Just a brutal effort.

I just can’t understand the way they played in that third quarter. In the first half, even the first two minutes of the second half, they were going inside to Bosh and Rasho and scoring that way. I mean Bosh was having his way with Jeffries. But it’s like, when Curry went out, the Raps thought the game was over or something. I don’t think Bosh had another shot in the whole quarter! And how many shots did TJ Ford or Juan Dixon take with 13, 14 seconds on the shot clock? I mean I know they were in a zone, but you still run your offence through the middle. Dump it in, and have your shooters move to the seams. It’s not rocket science! If the zone were as good as the Raptors make it look when teams use it against them, everyone would use it all the time! Sigh.

The Raptors got absolutely nothing from the backcourt. Ford threw up a stinker. I know he’s not the best shooter, and that’s OK; he can usually make up for it in other ways, but he didn’t move the ball well at all yesterday. 3 assists, 7 turnovers. Ugh. Jose Calderon better get back soon. On the other side, Parker was clearly not himself, but Mo Peterson was just unbelievably awful, and Dixon had his first real “off” game as a Raptor. Joey Graham was OK, but he’s still Joey Graham.

I really couldn’t believe how bad MoPete played. I don’t know that I’ve seen him play as poorly as he has the last few games, since his rookie year. I like the guy, he’s one of my favourite Raptors… but the fact is, he’s hurting the team when he’s out there. I’d say, of the 8 shots he took yesterday, that six of them were rushed or forced, like was desperate to score. Awful. And the thing is, he’s hurting his chances at a big payday too! Well, maybe not, most NBA teams are stupid and will pay him anyway. But still. He’s not helping himself.

Friday game against the Rockets wasn’t much better, but I didn’t really expect the Raps to win that one, and when T-Mac and Rafer Alston are on fire like that, what are you gonna do. I actually thought they did a decent job on Yao Ming. But Sunday’s game was so much more important; for extending the division lead, but also for the tiebreaker; if the Raps lose the last game against the Knicks the season series will be 2-2. If the Knicks continue to play well, that April 15 game against New York is going to be VERY important.

At least they’ve got a couple days rest, so Parker and Calderon can get healthy before the Orlando game. They need that one; in fact, the Raps really need to win the rest of the games they should win – like Orlando – they need to beat all the teams they play with sub.-500 records if they want to hold on, because they’re not going to beat Detroit and Miami…

NCAA Pool update: Well, I’m getting killed. I had a brutal second round, losing Texas (a final four pick on entry #1!) as well as Wisconsin and Louisville (both elite 8 picks). My second entry is in a little better shape – I still have all of my elite 8 teams in it - but because I did poorly in round one, I don’t think I’ll have enough total wins. Ah well. There's always next year.

By the way, this just in: Kobe Bryant (57.5 ppg in the last two) is pretty good.