Before I talk about tonight’s game, a follow-up to this morning’s post…As disappointed as I am with the loss, I am by no means pushing the panic button! It’s one game. It happens. You never want to see it happen to your team, but bad losses happen to every team, except perhaps the very elite.

You hope it’s an aberration. You only need to worry when it becomes a habit. If they bounce back tonight, it’ll be all but forgotten.

So - can they bounce back? For sure. Orlando’s an improved team over last year, and Dwight Howard is getting better and better, but the Raps match up relatively well with them, at least offensively. They better play some better defense than last night, though.

Last year, Rasho Nesterovic did a great job keeping Howard in check. I expect he’ll get some extra minutes tonight in the same role, since Chris Bosh has a tough time with him even when he’s playing well, which he clearly isn’t.

The biggest test will be how the Raptors handle Rashard Lewis. In the past two games, the Raptors have been absolutely abused by athletic swingmen - Ray Allen and Desmond Mason - and Lewis obviously falls into the same category. I wonder if Mitchell will consider moving Carlos Delfino into the starting lineup to check him?

Lewis signed that huge, $130 million contract in the offseason, that everyone universally agrees was way too much money for a career second banana. But even though he’s overpaid, the guy can still play. He’s burned the Raps a number of times over the years already.

Last night, both Jameer Nelson and JJ Redick missed the game for Orlando; no word yet on whether or not they’ll play tonight. But they only went eight players deep last night, and Howard, Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Carlos Arroyo played heavy minutes, while our starters were benched for most of the game. So hopefully, tired starters and a thin Orlando bench, as well as the trip to chilly Toronto, will make them as sluggish as the Raps were last night.

I really hope the Raps pull this one out. I want them to get that third win on the books. Last year it took them 10 games; the year before, 18. I wanted them to go 3-0 to start the year, but I’ll be happy with it taking 5 games to get there.

Raps by seven.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Game Previews.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.