No update yesterday as I was sick, but not much to say. The Raps gave a good effort in Cleveland through quarters 2-4, but a 22-point hole after one? Yeah, good luck coming back from that when the Cavs are 23-0 at home.

I didn’t figure they’d have much chance against the Lakers either; the only hope the Raptors had was that the Lakers were A) unprepared for the frigid temperatures and B) looking ahead to Boston.

And hey, maybe they were, because the Raps played them tough for three-and-a-half quarters! (At least that’s what I’ve heard, since the game wasn’t on TV. I’m really glad Leafs fans got to see their team get blown out while Raptors fans missed one of the best games of the year. Fuck you, TSN.)

So, in the final minutes, you expected Kobe to take over and he did, draining a couple tough jumpers over Joey Graham. Without Jose Calderon (who didn’t play, and I’m officially renaming “The Hamstring that Won’t Heal” the “Weakest Hamstring in the History of Hamstrings”) and Chris Bosh (who left halfway through the fourth with a sprained knee), when the Lakers buckled down on D, the Raps couldn’t respond. Raps always have a tough time scoring in key situations, but it’s even tougher without your two best players.

Gotta give a lot of credit, though, to Parker, for running the show; to Graham, for perhaps his best game as a Raptor (24 points and from all accounts, tough D on Kobe - most of Bryant’s 36 were hard fought points); Bargnani, for 21 and 9; and Jermaine O’Neal, for 22 and 9 - and 9 blocks!! Some of them VERY impressive, from what I saw on the highlights. OK, maybe trash talking a scrub like Josh Powell comes across as bullying, but whatever. JO protected the paint against the Lakers like Oliver Miller protected his Big Mac lunch against team nutritionists. And this team desperately needs all the passion it can get.

I’m a little concerned about Bosh. Obviously, any injury to him greatly impacts our team, but also, given all that’s happened recently - the rumours, the booing and complaining, the team struggling - I have to wonder if his heart’s really in it. I mean, I don’t like to question anyone’s effort when they’re hurt because you never know how bad it really is, but to see him moving all right - and walking off under his own - it’s not a stretch to wonder why he couldn’t gut it out and help his team in what would have been the biggest win of the year. (Although “big” only counts for pride now, as the Raps are all but officially cooked.)

Oh well, at least it wasn’t a blowout. After those two non-efforts against the Bucks and Magic, the Raps have responded fairly well against two of the best teams in the league. You have to wonder why they’re so inconsistent in terms of effort - it really does concern me. I mean obviously even the best teams have a few “letdown” games a year, and some nights the breaks just don’t go your way. But the number of times the Raptors have seemingly not shown up at all is very, very disappointing. Imagine if they played as hard as they played last night against the Bucks? They would have blown Milwaukee out easily.

There have simply been way too many letdown games this year. I mean, think about this: If the Raps had taken care of business against Milwaukee (twice), the “Thunder,” and the Warriors - three teams they should have beaten - they’d be what, 23-28? With the soft part of the schedule coming, 42 wins would be a definite possibility.

As it is, even if they go 19-12 to finish up as Doug Smith still believes they can, they’ll still only be 38-42, and I don’t believe that’s good enough for the final playoff spot. I mean, if 38 wins is all it takes, all Milwaukee has to do is go 14-16 to hang on to that playoff spot! New Jersey, 15-17. And I’m willing to bet both of those teams can manage that.

Nope, in my mind, Toronto needs to go 23-8. Um, yeah. That’s not happening. Even with the lowered competition in the final few weeks, this team has delivered below expectations all year, so how can you give them a high expectation and expect results. I even said I’d be willing to change my mind about this team if they went a modest 5-3 before the All-star break… and they’re 0-4 since I said that.

I would really like to believe this team can make the playoffs in the crappy east. I really want to. Even Bryan Colangelo said on the radio this morning :(I paraphrase) they’re only a couple games back and this team is better than their record.

But unfortunately, reality has to set in at some point; eventually you have to admit: You are what your record says you are.

Bryan, it’s time to admit it. No matter what our roster looks like on paper, our record says it: We are not a playoff team. Case (unfortunately) closed.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 10:47 am and is filed under Game Wrap-ups, Toronto Raptors.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.