The Raptors take their perfect record against Western conference teams into LA tonight to face the near perfect Lakers.

Of course, that perfect record is just a single win, against the Warriors in the second game of the year. This is their first real test of the west, and it comes against the best.

Ahem.

So the Lakers are good. Bryant and Gasol have been great, Bynum has been solid and even Lamar Odom has been good coming off the bench. And the rest of the bench has played extremely well - their depth is a huge part of their hot start.

Depth, unfortunately, is one of the Raptors’ biggest weaknesses. After our starters, the talent level drops significantly and no one this year seems like they are ready to take it up a notch.

Unless maybe Joey Graham is the guy? He’s had two straight good games, a rarity from him. He’s been playing with aggression and without fear, and is actually taking the ball toward the basket - something the Raps have been lacking.

Still, joey could have career night tonight and it wouldn’t matter. For the Raps to win they need 3 or 4 guys to have career nights, and they need 3-4 Lakers to have off nights.

Hey, anything can happen, that’s why we watch. But it’s gonna take a near-perfect storm for this flawed Raptors team to near the Lakers in LA.

Lakers by 13.

Look out, NBA, the Raptors are rolling! Two in a row, baby!! It’s on!

In all seriousness, while last night’s win wasn’t an earth-shattering victory, it was a good win - the Raptors’ first against a quality opponent (read: +.500) all year. No, I’m not kidding.

What’s most impressive is that the Raps used the third quarter to make thier run - while I have no statistical evidence to back this up, my observations have led me to infer that good teams makebruns in the third - and that they withstood the Hawks’ inevitable fourth-quarter run.

Now I will grant the Raps caught a bit of a break when, down three with 20 seconds to go, Atlanta’s Marvin Williams froced an awkward drive instead of shooting a triple. Two Jason Kapono free throws later, it was over.

Speaking of Kapono, was it just me or was J-killah shooting jumpers coming off screens last night? Finally! He even made something happen on one of his out of control drives, drawing the D and kicking to Bosh for the lay-in.

Bosh, of course, was magnificent again. 30-10, plus seven assists? I really have no more words of praise to offer the guy, he’s just been too good to describe.

It’s a damn good thing the Raptors closed this one out and got a couple wins before heading west. I don’t think they’ll win one out there, but at least this gives them some confidence. Had they gone out on a 0-4 skid that really would gave been too huge a hole to climb out of.

But with two wins and the promise of Jermaine O’Neal coming back, hopefully spirits are high and this team is starting to feel good about itself. And when teams are feeling that confidence, anything can happen - maybe even a win out west.

If you can remember three weeks ago today - it feels like a lifetime, but it was a mere 21 days - the Raptors were coming off a tough loss in Detroit, but still feeling good about themselves. After all, they were 3-1, had managed to stick with Detroit - who’s had out number for years - for the whole game, and were looking to go 4-1 by beating up on the lowly old Hawks.

Even though the Hawks were 3-0, the Raptors gave them no respect, came out flat, and got their asses handed to them.

And while I’d like to believe the Raptors learned their lesson, I expect their usual un-prepared-ness will come in to play tonight, and they’ll get beat again. Only this time it’ll be even worse because it’s at home and the Raptors desperately need this win before they go out west for three games.

The Hawks are 9-5 for a reason. Behind the veteran leadership of Mike Bibby, the steady all-around play of Joe Johnson, the improvement of Marvin Williams - finally - and the surpising sophomore Al Horford, the Hawks have a lot of pieces in place. They’ve also got Josh Smith, who’s injured - they’re 3-5 without him, pretty damn good considering all the things he does for them - and a cast of solid if unspectacular role players, like Flip Murray and Maurice Evans. They’re a well-put together team; and although I haven’t thought much of their coach, Mike Woodson, over the years, I have to give him some credit. He sure flummoxed the Raptors in game one when he put Joe Johnson on Jose Calderon and Bibby on Parker. Combined output for Bibby and Johnson: 36 on 13-22. Calderon/Parker: 10 on 4-19.

Yep, slight mismatch there. Sigh.

Now, the Hawks are missing Smith so you’d think maybe that’d go in the Raps’ favour, but remember he was hurt in the first half of the first game - he left right before the Hawks went on their game-busting 18-4 run if I recall. Not only that, but we had a healthy Jermaine O’Neal and Jose Calderon for that game, and still got killed.

Now, we’re operating without JO and a Jose who, from all indications, is still suffering from his hamstring issue (seriously? That hasn’t healed yet? What the hell good are our trainers, anyway? Or are we just using that as an excuse for his terrible defense and lack of desire to turn the corner on screens? Just something to think about).

I have to say, going back to mentioning the role players, something bothers me more and more all the time with Bryan Colangelo’s plan last summer… the Hawks lost a key role player when Josh Childress went overseas. He was replaced with Flip Murray and Evans, serviceable guys with proven NBA experience.

So why, when the Raptors lost a key guy - TJ Ford - in the Jermaine O’Neal deal (we traded two key players, TJ and Rasho, but say Rasho is replaced by O’Neal) we didn’t replace TJ with a serviceable NBA veteran? Why was the only free agent pick-up we made an unproven journeyman from Europe? Why did we go into the season with only 13 guys when a high-energy guy like Murray was out there and a bomber like Evans was out there?

And say what you want about Darrick Martin, but whenever one of Jose or TJ wasn’t playing, Martin was always trying to teach when they were on the bench. What the hell is Will Solomon gonna be teaching Roko when the two of them are on the bench? Solomon was really just an indefensible acquisition.

Sigh. Anyway. Enough with the roster-bashing, “this is your team,” as coach Norman Dale would say. Jimmy Chitwood isn’t coming to save us so we’ll have to make do.

It’s gonna take another monster night from CB4 to stay in this game tonight. Without O’Neal to back him up, Bosh is also gonna have his work cut out for him on defense, with Horford. I say we also need Andrea Bargnani to have a big night tonight, and the potential is there for it: Zaza Pachulia is surprisingly effective but Bargnani, at this point, should have too many moves for Pachulia to deal with.

Still, all told, I think the Hawks, with Raptor Killer Bibby at the helm, will likely run us off the floor again. Even if Chris and Andrea score 30 a piece, there’s no way they can make up the mismatch that is Atlanta’s backcourt over ours.

Hawks by 15.

Phew. Well, at least we won’t go on that 7-game losing streak I feared.

Don’t get me wrong, a win against the Bobcats isn’t a cure-all; there are still a lot of concerns with the Raptors right now. But a win is still a win and I’m glad they got it. They needed it.

So what can you say about Chris Bosh? He simply owns the Bobcats, doesn’t he? 39 points (on 15-20!) and 11 rebounds; he threw in a couple blocks and two key offensive rebounds to boot. He has taken his game to another level this year.

Andrea Bargnani started at the center spot yesterday and also saw some time at the three with Kris Humphries on the floor.

Now, yesterday, I said the Raptors needed someone else to step up besides Bosh and Bargnani. I never, ever thought it would be Joey Graham!

Ah, Joey. I’ve touched on Joey numerous times here at Raptorama; much as I liked the draft choice at the time (I wanted him over Granger and Green) his basketball IQ has never been equal to his athleticism. He’s shown brilliant flashes in spurts, but it’s been more bad than good the past three years.

Last night was far more good than bad. Yeah, he made a couple of mistakes - a couple of rushed jumpers (which I guarantee won’t happen with consistent minutes) and a couple bad fouls. But he was so aggressive, going to the rim, diving the lanes, bodying up Gerald Wallace… and, in terms of the jump shots, he seems to have learned the lesson that Jason Kapono has not - when you’re open, shoot the damn ball! (Sam says it all the time - when guys are open, we want them to take the shot. I can’t imagine it applies to anyone more than Kapono, but the message doesn’t seem to have gotten to him.) Well Joey’s got the message, and he delivered, the tune of 17 points.

I would like to see Joey get a “block of games” (as Mitchell likes to say) to see what he has this year. I don’t have a lot of confidence in him, but if he play, say, 70% good Joey and 30% bad, that’s OK, isn’t it? Heck, 50/50 would be better than whatever the hell Jamario Moon is bringing, which isn’t much.

All told, you can’t take too much away from this win; it’s the Bobcats, they’re terrible. The Raptors are supposed to beat teams like Charlotte. You’d have a case to complain that maybe the Raps should’ve won more easily, but then again, they’re also missing their starting centre.

Either way, it’s back to .500 (they were 7-7 last year as well) and hopefully, they got a bit of confidence back and can make a game of it Friday against the 9-5 Hawks.

Time to get back to work. After two and a half days of people like me spouting off about the death of the 2008-2009 season, the Raptors finally get a chance to go out and prove us all wrong.

The potential victim: The Charlotte Bobcats, who, at 4-9, are the second-worst team in the Eastern conference.

But… while the Raptors are coming off of two horrendous losses, and dealing with injuries to Jermaine O’Neal (who may not play) and Jose Calderon (who’ll play at less than 100), the Bobcats are coming off a big win over Philadelphia and likely getting their top scorer, Jason Richardson, back after two weeks off with a knee injury.

Given the Raps less than stellar play of late, you have to imagine their confidence coming into this game is at a serious low. If Richardson is healthy, and with DJ Augustin and Ray Felton playing great basketball, plus bombers in Adam Morrison and Matt Carrol not to mention Gerald Wallace… this is a team that has strengths that can exploit our weaknesses - perimeter D, and vulnerability to the drive-and-kick.

Still, as the Raptors showed in Charlotte two weeks ago, the Bobcats have no answer for Chris Bosh, none whatsoever. Bosh dominated the second half of that game, along with some help from Andrea Bargnani. In fact, Charlotte didn’t now how to handle Andrea that day, and now he’s starting so hopefully it creates even more of a mismatch. Even if he has to start at the centre spot - if O’Neal doesn’t play - Emeka Okafor doesn’t like guarding guys on the perimeter.

Taking a look at Bargnani’s numbers since he joined the starting lineup in the 3-spot, you can see they’re looking pretty good: 17 points per game, on 56% shooting - and that’s pretty impressive seeing as how almost half his attempts are from downtown (he’s shooting 46% behind the arc). He’s also adding 5.6 boards and one block per game.

Now, those aren’t exactly all-star numbers and maybe you’d like a 7-footer to get more boards. But they are superior to what Jamario Moon was providing; though he was shooting a respectable 48% (and 42% from downtown), Jamario was only scoring 7.6 per game with 3.5 boards. While scoring isn’t really his strong suit, last year he was getting more than 6 boards per game. If he’s not willing to go get some - and, has been pointed out ad nauseum, he’s going to bite on every pump fake the other team tries - he’s not contributing. Bargnani earned his starting role by playing solid defense every time he came off the bench.

As for the rest of the Raptors, Jermaine was playing well before he got hurt, and they continue to get career years from Chris Bosh (3rd in the NBA in ppg, 5th in rebounding) and Jose Calderon (2nd in assists, 1st in free throw percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio)… but they’re getting nothing from everyone else. If O’Neal doesn’t play - and even if he does, I assume he’ll be limited - someone is going to have to step up. Whether it be Parker, Kapono or Moon, or even Humphries, if the Raps want to win tonight, they need an above-average game from one of their supporting players. Bosh will be great, and I believe Bargnani has another big game in him, but whatever Calderon does will be offset by Augustin and Felton (Calderon struggled on D before he got hurt, now I’m pretty sure Larry Brown himself could beat him off the dribble), and you know one of Wallace or Richardson will have 30-plus.

Basically, I believe tonight’s game is in the Bobcats’ hands. The Raptors are banged up and in the dumps. If the Bobcats come out aggressive, if they establish the drive and kick game and only take the threes that are open as opposed to just launching bombs, they should beat Toronto.

Thankfully, Charlotte has shown itself to be inconsistent and impatient. If they continue to do that, and if Bosh gets going and Toronto gets just a little help from its supporting players, the Raptors should win.

Or maybe those factors all cancel each other out and we have a close game down the stretch, in which case, it comes down to who manages their timeouts, who draws up the better plays and who executes.

And you don’t really think Sam Mitchell’s going to outthink Larry Brown in a close game, do you?

Bobcats by 2.

By the way, after hearing several people say, “Stop booing Vince Carter, it only makes him better/try harder!” I decided to do some research. Is that sentiment true? Does the negative attention make him better?

Carter’s performance last week was an absolute classic - that was one for the ages. But was that indicative of his play in Toronto, or an aberration?

Here’s his stats from Friday:
November 21, 2008: New Jersey 129, Toronto 127 (OT)
Carter: 17-28 FG, 3-7 3PT, 2-2 FT, 9R, 6A, 39PTS

Here’s his stats when playing in Toronto since the trade, including playoffs:

April 15, 2005: New Jersey 101, Toronto 90
Carter: 15-26 FG, 3-8 3FG, 6-7 FT, 9R, 4A, 39PTS

Nov 11, 2005: New Jersey 102, Toronto 92
Carter: 9-17 FG, 2-7 3PT, 0-0 FT, 7R, 6A, 20 PTS

January 8, 2006: New Jersey 105, Toronto 104
Carter: 18-35 FG, 3-5 3FG, 3-5 FT, 10R, 3A, 42 PTS (including the three-pointer at the buzzer to win)

December 15, 2006: Toronto 90, NJ 78
Carter: 4-17 FG, 0-6 3PT, 4-8 FT, 6R, 2A, 12PTS

February 14, 2007: Toronto 120, NJ 109
Carter: 5-15 FG, 3-5 3PT, 4-7 FT, 6R, 10A, 17PTS

April 21, 2007: NJ 96, Toronto 91
Carter: 5-19 FG, 1-3 3PT, 5-8 FT, 7R, 3A, 16PTS

April 24, 2007: Toronto 89, NJ 83
Carter: 8-24 FG, 1-7 3PT, 2-4 FT, 11R, 5A, 19PTS

May 1, 2007: Toronto 98, NJ 96
Carter: 10-22 FG, 4-7 3PT, 6-10 FT, 5R, 2A, 30PTS

Feb 13, 2008: Toronto 109, NJ 91
Carter: 5-15 FG, 1-2 3PT, 4-4 FT, 3R, 7A, 15PTS

April 11, 2008: Toronto 113, NJ 85
Carter: 9-15 FG, 1-5 3PT, 4-4 FT, 6R, 2A, 21PTS

As you can see, some real ups and downs. But, average it all out, and after 11 games in Toronto, we have:
FG: 105-233 (45%)
3FG: 22-59 (37%)
FT: 40-59 (68%) (5.4 FTA per game)
RPG: 7.8
APG: 5.7
PPG: 24.5

Now, take a look at his overall stats since he joined the Nets:
FG: 2642-5858 (45%)
3FG: 509-1387 (37%)
FT: 1670-2074 (81%) (6.8 FTA per game)
RPG: 5.9
APG: 4.7
PPG: 24.4

In other words… ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME. So there is absolutely zero evidence that booing makes him any better or worse. Basically, this is a non-argument.

What I find most interesting is that before Friday, since the last time he beat us at the buzzer, he’s actually been in a real funk at the ACC; here’s his stats from the past seven Nets games in Toronto before Friday, including the playoffs:

FG: 46-127 (36%)
3FG: 11-35 (31%)
FT: 29-45 (64%)
RPG: 6.3
APG: 4.4
PPG: 18.6

Those are significantly down, as you can see. But do I think the boos contributed to a bad stretch of games? Not at all. You can attribute that to the Raptors getting better as a team, and to New Jersey declining (note that the Raptors won 6 of those 7 games), and to Vince’s general indifference to playing hard every night.

Basically, what I’m saying is, I doubt the boos affect the guy at all, positively or negatively. We all saw Carter for long enough to know that sometimes, he just doesn’t bring it, and sometimes, he gets it going like no one else. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it - and it’s one of the main reasons we dislike the guy so much.

So don’t stop booing for Vince’s sake - I don’t imagine he cares at all. If you’re going to the game, and - like me - you enjoy having a villain to boo, then keep on booing. If you don’t enjoy it, then no one’s gonna force you! They’re your tickets, it’s your night out, enjoy it how you like.

Well, that’ll go down as one of the worst weekends for basketball fans in Toronto in recent memory. First, Vince eats us up like Hannibal Lecter (just call it The Silencing of the Fans) and then the Raptors didn’t bother to show up against the Celtics.While I’ve never really been a Sam Mitchell “supporter,” I’ve maintained over the years that having one coach, one voice, is better than a rotating door of coaches. Consistency is important. I hate these teams that fire coaches every 18 months.

That said, consistency has been the only thing Sam’s had going for him, and I think we’ve just about reached the tipping point. Before Sunday’s non-effort, the Raptors had blown 15+ point leads in three straight games (although they managed to escape Miami with the win). Add in the Celtics game where they were also up 17, and you have to ask yourself: why can’t this team keep a lead?

And when you come out clearly unprepared to play, what possible excuse is there? Who is to blame, except for the coach? Good teams get up when playing the champs, and good teams bounce back from tough losses.

These things didn’t happen. Yes, of course, some of it is on the players. But it starts with the coach. And when it’s a habit - remember, they had a rough loss to the Celtics two weeks ago and laid an egg - in the form of a 26-13 first quarter - against Philly next game - the coach has to take the heat for not breaking players of the habit. That’s his job.

Obviously, I don’t expect Sam to be fired; we all know MLSE doesn’t want to eat his salary, there’s not a whole heck of a lot of candidates and I don’t see any of the assistants really creating any real change (though I’d love to see Jay Triano get a head coaching trial).

And I don’t think Bryan Colangelo is exempt from blame either. This is the roster he created, and it is far to thin to realistically compete. I know hindsight is 20/20 but how did he, or anyone, expect this team to be competitive with only a 12 man roster? It seems like everyone - myself included - looked at the good things O’Neal and Bosh could do, assumed Moon and Kapono would be better, and that the team would stay healthy. But I have an excuse - I have the eternal fan optimism in me; Colangelo should have been preparing for the worst, that there would be injuries, that one player or more would regress, that the chemistry wouldn’t be there… whatever. That’s his job.

But he clearly didn’t prepare for any eventuality other than “we’ll be healthy and everyone will be as good or better than last year and our new guys will be able to contribute right away.” Now reality has set in: Rarely do teams stay completely healthy, the swingmen are worse than last year, and a roster that includes no backup centre (behind an injury-prone starter) and a pair of unproven PGs is not a real contender. And a 12-man roster, obviously, cannot compete in the trade market, and the team won’t go over the tax to sign anyone (even if there were help available) so there is no method of improving mid-season.

I still like the O’Neal trade, but it really needed to come with the caveat that BC could go over the tax level to sign some veteran backup centre - like a PJ Brown type - to come in and play 12 minutes a game and give JO some rest. Or, it should have been Parker or Kapono in the trade instead of Nesterovic, or maybe included Rasho and one of them, and brought Jeff Foster back… something, anything to shore up the depth.

And I’d rather have a journeyman NBA retread like Darrell Armstrong or Damon Stoudamire - hell, even Darrick Martin! - playing backup PG than a guy who washed out of the league six years ago.

And frankly, I’d rather have Carlos Delfino than anyone else the Raps have at SF or SG.

But, like I say, I’m not a GM and hindsight means squat. This is the team we have and we’re stuck with it.

Unfortunately, they’re in a big hole right now. With three-game and six-game road trips in December, it was imperative that this team get off to a good start in November. When you consider the early schedule and the upgraded expectations, the Raptors SHOULD have been 10-5 heading into this three game trip, the five losses coming to Boston, Detroit, Boston, Orlando and split with Philly. (I say this because those four teams are better than us and Philly’s about even.)

But the losses to Atlanta and New Jersey should not have happened, and we should have been looking at the next two home games from an 8-5 record and a nice dose of confidence.

Instead confidence is eroding, the team is last in the division (the only team below .500), 10th in the conference, two key players are fighting injuries, the superstar is frustrated, and the team’s play has steadily deteriorated. The way they’re playing, I have absolutely zero confidence this team can beat Charlotte or Atlanta at home before heading west to take on the Lakers, Jazz and Nuggets.

Add it up, and we’re looking at coming back from out west on a 7-game losing streak with all hope of the playoffs - let alone a first-round victory - long gone.

There. I said it: I believe the Raptors are in danger of missing the playoffs.

I’ve hit the panic button. And I’m serious. It’s not just “I’m upset coming off a loss.” I’m looking at the way this team is playing - worse every game - and the upcoming road games, and I’m seriously concerned that this roster, with this coach and a GM’s hands tied by the luxury tax, not to mention the injuries, will not be able to right this ship in time.

I’m not saying they can’t turn it around; of course they can, and they might even start tomorrow night! That’s the great thing about sports. Maybe they can’t make a trade, but sometimes, the motivation comes from within. One game, heck, one play can restore confidence and change everything. You never know.

But I just haven’t seen the evidence that this team of players, with this coach, can do that.

And, you can’t keep saying “it’s only 13 games.” They were very important games, and frankly, the Raptors have not had a “good” all around performance since the first week. Heck, they’re 16-28 since February!

Not only that, but do you realize that in his four-plus years here, the Raptors have had exactly three five-game winning streaks under Sam Mitchell? That’s 340 games! Even bad teams go on runs sometimes, but the Raptors - a supposedly good team - just don’t do that.

Do you really think this is a team capable of winning 5 or 6 in a row, or going on a 12 of 15 run? They need a win streak to get back in the race, but I don’t see any evidence to suggest that they can do it. (And don’t say “they did it in 06-07″; yes, they climbed out of that 2-8 hole, but the competition in the East that year, was, um, not exactly world-class. It’s a lot better now. And part of the reason the Raps were so good was with their depth - they were able to withstand injuries to Parker, Bosh, Garbo and Bargnani. They can’t do that now.)

Obviously, I want them to prove me wrong, and I hope and pray they start tomorrow. They gotta turn it around and win these next two and hopefully one of the road games. If they come back from out west 9-9, some confidence will be restored and they may be set up to get some wins before going back on the road at Christmas.

Otherwise it’ll be 6-12 and only the delusional will be saying “it’s only been 18 games.”

I don’t have energy to write a preview thanks to Friday’s loss. It still hurts too much. I’ll try and write more tomorrow - it’ll be like, therapeutic or something. I hope.

Anyway, it’s Celts at Raps and if Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t play - he’s listed as day to day - it won’t be much of a contest. Even if JO does play, Chris Bosh can’t pull a disappearing act like he did two weeks ago. He needs to step it up big time - the shrinking violet against KG routine has to stop.

As usual, I would like to believe that a brutal loss like Friday strengthens a team’s resolve, but I know this Raptors team - they aren’t mentally tough enough to handle it. With JO, I think they’ll keep it close through at least the first half; without him, it’ll be a laugher.

Celtics by 32.

There are no words to describe how awful that loss was. Great basketball game, that’s all I can say… I just have no more words.

The Raps play their first of four straight home games tonight against our old friends from New Jersey, the Nets. Of course, this isn’t your father’s New Jersey Nets team; in fact, there’s hardly anybody left from the hotly contested playoff series of 18 months ago.

Jason Kidd’s gone, Richard Jefferson’s gone, Nachbar, Collins, Moore, Williams, Krstic, Robinson… The only two left are Josh Boone (who’s hurt) and some ther guy, you may have heard of, named Vince Carter.

They’d added some nice young pieces in Devin Harris and Yi Jianlan, but they’ve filled out the roster with journeymen like Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes. Of course I call them journeymen but in their journeys, if I recall, each of them has had big games against the Raptors in the past…

Anyway, the focus of this New Jersey team is clearly Carter and Harris. Harris has been very impressive, averaging 23 points and 6 assists a night. He’s also averaging 11 free throw attempts per game! That’s, um, kind of insane for a point guard. And given that none of our point guards are exactly defensive stoppers, look for a lot of Harris going to the hole tonight.

As for Carter, well… I have to admit my hatred of the man has dulled to a slow-buring loathing. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still boo till I was hoarse if I were going to the game, but it’s just not the same anymore, now that New Jersey’s, well, kind of crappy.

I’m actually disappointed in the way this New Jersey team has gone into rebuilding mode, because with Carter playing the central villain, things were really lined up for a great rivalry. I blogged about this two years ago - that even though Carter was old news, that the team had moved on, that booing was maybe even immature - that Carter made a great villain, and villains make things interesting, so we should totally continue to boo him and hate him and build this thing up.

Rivalries are great, and of course, being a relatively “new” team, and being the only team in Canada, there aren’t any natural rivals for the Raptors. Two years ago, given that New Jersey had been successful for several years and the Raps were trying to get to their level, given Carter’s presence, given that the two teams are in the same division… it seemed as close to natural as we’d get. Then you get to the great playoff series in 2006-2007, and the rivalry seemed to be on.

When the Raps came out and completely obliterated the Nets in the second game of the regular season last year, I thought, “it’s definitely on, our guys showed it means something, and we got our revenge for the playoffs, let’s see how they respond.”

Well, they responded by trading Kidd, missing the playoffs, and going into full rebuilding mode. Given that they’re not very good right now and not a real playoff threat, and given that Carter’s tenure here is that much further in the past, this rivalry is pretty much dead.

I have to imagine that a lot of other people feel the same, and I have to imagine the booing - while still present - will be toned down a little tonight.

Unless Vince gets going. Then it’ll be back on in all its full-throated glory.

The Raptors should win this game. New Jersey is small, and I don’t see anyone on their roster that can slow down O’Neal or Bosh. Or even Bargnani, should he decide to show up tonight. Of course, Lawrence Frank proved two years ago that he can outcoach Sam Mitchell with a blindfold on, so you can bet he’ll have something cooked up to counter the big line-up, whether it be a zone or soft double or whatever.

I would like to believe that Wednesday’s game was a turning point for the Raps. I would like to believe that, three games in, the three-bigs experiment is a success. I would like to believe Anthony Parker is an offensive threat again. I would like to believe Sam Mitchell smacked some sense into Will Solomon in the past two days.

I would like to believe that the Raptors will win tonight, by 12 points.

(If it sounds like a less-than-confident prediction, it is. That’s how much Sam and Will Solomon have shaken my faith in this team.)