I don’t have much of a preview to write here. The Raps just played the Bulls last week, and lost at home, so I don’t imagine they have much hope of winning in Chi-town.

As I wrote last week, Derrick Rose is better than any player on the Raptors (and he’s just a rookie), the Bulls winning simply depends on how much support he gets from his teammates. The Bulls have a lot of shooters, and if they’re on, they’re tough to beat; They’re also athletic so when they get out on the break, look out.

Since the Raptors give up more open looks than any team in the league and offer up some of the worst transition D you’ll ever see, it’d be pretty easy for the Bulls to run them off the floor.

The Raps were in last week’s game because Andrea Bargnani caught fire and they fed him the rock for three quarters (and proceeded to ignore him down the stretch). They also hit the glass when Gordon, Deng and Hinrich were missing shots.

That’ll be tougher tonight because the Bulls will have Drew Gooden back; their best rebounder missed the last game and although the Raps were without Jermaine O’Neal, his contribution is expected to be pretty minor.

Early word is that Jose Calderon is gonna try and play tonight. Not sure if this is a good thing or not; if he’s not 100 per cent then what’s the point? Heck, 100 per cent or not, he’s going to get destroyed by Rose.

As for the rest, well, the deal is still the same. The Bulls offer the sort of shooters and athletes that that give the Raptors trouble. If their shots are dropping and they’re getting out on the break, the Raps are in trouble. But because jump-shooting teams are always vulnerable, the Raps can steal this one - they get a few misses, hit the glass well, keep the bigs involved, slow things down some, and get solid contributions from Parker and Calderon… well, I guess there’s a chance.

But not much of one.

Bulls by 11.

Moving on, the All-Star Starters were announced last night, nothing too crazy happened (like T-Mac making it ahead of Chris Paul or even worse, Yi making it ahead of Kevin Garnett). I agree that Allen Iverson isn’t having a great year but he’s always been a fan favourite, and he’s still a very good player; remember the starters should be a combo of player talent and popularity. Devin Harris and Jameer Nelson are having good years but they haven’t reached their ceilings and they’re not that popular… yet. Let them join the team as bench players this year, pay their dues that way, and in the next year or two - assuming they continue to get better - they’ll get the votes.

I assume Chris Bosh will get selected by the coaches, and although the team sucks and Bosh has been up and down, I definitely believe he’s one of the best forwards in the east. And, although I was hoping he’d make it this year, I have no doubt that Jose Calderon will miss the cut. He’s missed too much time and, either because of the injury or some other reason, hasn’t played quite as well this year as last year. He just doesn’t deserve it, not with Harris and Nelson having the seasons they are. Even Derrick Rose is more deserving right now. Calderon’s turn is going to have to wait until next year - assuming he ever gets healthy.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say for today. It’s an unfortunate time to be a Raptor fan, our team sucks and there’s a chance we won’t even have an all-star. Sigh. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of good, exciting games this weekend to keep us entertained.

Raptors head to Detroit tonight to take on the Pistons. It’s on TSN2 so most of us in Toronto won’t get to see it, but, frankly, that’s probably for the best. The Pistons are struggling and I think it’s well established this season: If you’re struggling, the best thing you can do is play the Raptors. Boston loses 7 of 9? Play the Raps and get a win. Atlanta loses 5 of 6? Play the Raps and get a win. Sigh.

This will be the first time the Raps face the Allen Iverson version of the Pistons, and they’ve been pretty up and down this season. They struggled a bit when Iverson first arrived, then went on a roll, and now are struggling again, losers of 5 of 6. They seem to be having a hard time integrating Allen Iverson and Richard Hamilton, and as such, the news from Detroit today is that Rip will be coming off the bench. Pretty interesting for a guy who just signed a contract extension - wouldn’t it make more sense to move the guy who is a one-year rental (Iverson) to the bench and keep the guy you see as part of your franchise’s future (Hamilton) in the starting lineup? That’s just me though…

All in all the Chauncey Billups trade looks like it hasn’t really worked out, but as has been speculated all along, I suspect the trade was more about money than anything. The Pistons will save a lot of money with Iverson’s and Rasheed Wallace’s expiring deals, and I think we’ll see a lot of teams trying to save a little dough in the next two years (and as I’m sure you’re all aware, Detroit is a town that’s been hit even harder in these times than most).

But for now, they’re trying to make it work with two high-scoring guards, and if the Raptors are lucky, they won’t get it all figured out tonight and the Raps will be able to steal a W.

Of course, knowing the Raps, that’s not likely to happen. As if their record wasn’t indicator enough (and as if the six straight losses weren’t enough), I’ve mentioned several times now their inability to bounce back from difficult losses, and Monday’s fourth-quarter collapse was another tough one. I don’t think they’ll respond on the road against a team that is hungry for wins like Detroit, and if it comes down to a close fourth quarter, who do you think is going to execute: The brain dead-Raptors, or the veteran, playoff-tested Pistons? And while the Pistons certainly don’t execute as well as they did with Chauncey, at least they have a couple of guys who, you know, are actually capable of getting a shot off in the final minute.

The key matchups tonight come in the frontcourt; with Hamilton on the bench, the Pistons will likely return to the starting lineup they had when he was hurt last month, with Tayshaun Prince at PF and Rasheed Wallace at C, along with Amir Johnson as SF.

This may actually work in the Raps’ favour. If Hamilton were to start at SF, that’d mean Moon would have to check him, and, well, Hamilton would murder him. The matchups are a little more traditional now.

But I’ll tell you what I’d like to see. Moon really needs to be guarding Prince - neither Bosh nor Bargnani should be guarding a perimeter guy like that. Amir Johnson is athletic, but isn’t much of a scoring threat (actually, he can score, he just isn’t a big part of the offsense with AI, Prince and Wallace) so even though he’s quicker than either of our bigs, Bosh or Bargnani should start on him, with the other on Wallace.

Assuming Parker gets the start at PG again, I think we also need to switch up the defensive matchups there - AP should be guarding AI and Joey G is much better suited to guarding Rodney Stuckey, who’s a big, strong PG that can get into the paint.

Defensively, I know the Pistons will likely put Prince on Bosh and leave Johnson to cover Moon, but that doesn’t mean the Raps need to play into that game. You just can’t have Bosh or Bargnani covering Prince; he’ll kill us.

Either way, the Pistons are all tough one-on-one defenders, outside of Iverson, who still plays the passing lanes as well as anyone. Ball movement and hitting open shots is going to be key, as is exploiting any matchups the Raps get if the Pistons go small.

Bench-wise, well, having Hamilton there means Detroit’s bench is about a billion times better than ours. Detroit’s got Jason Maxiell back there as well, who, though he has been up and down this year, has killed us in the past. There’s also veteran Antonio McDyess and of course, one of the few players who can make a legit claim to be a worse #1 overall pick than Andrea Bargnani: Mr. Kwame Brown! The bench is rounded out by Walter Hermann and Aron Afflalo who don’t play much.

For the Raps, Ukic will match up just fine with Will Bynum but against Stuckey or AI? Yikes. Hump and Voskuhl will have their hands full with Maxiell and McDyess, and if comes down to Kapono guarding Hamilton… yikes again.

Then there’s the Jermaine O’Neal factor. He said on Monday he’d play today; here’s me not holding my breath. Even if he does, he’ll be rusty and ineffective on offense, but he should be able to check McDyess on D. I’m not counting on much from him, whether he plays or not.

Really, even though this version of the Pistons isn’t as good as the Chauncey Billups-led Pistons, they’re still not a great matchup for us. Hamilton always kills us, so we have to hope that Iverson and Wallace have off-shooting nights (both are under 43% on the year) and that we can keep Prince from having a big game. On the Raps end, Bosh and Bargnani will both need to have good games - and they’ll need at least one of Parker, Graham or Kapono to step up with a big game of their own.

This Detroit team doesn’t scare me, but I still don’t think the Raps will be up to the task. Pistons by 9.

A mid-afternoon tip (as our American cousins celebrate Martin Luther King day) sees the Raps taking on the Hawks in Atlanta. As I indicated earlier, most of the intrigue today surrounds Jermaine O’Neal and the trade rumours, but there is still a game to be played!

The Raps and Hawks have split their two matchups, each winning at home in November; the Raptors 93-88 victory on November 28 was Sam Mitchell’s last win as Raptor head coach.

The Hawks rode their backcourt of Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson in their win, and the Raps rode the back of Chris Bosh in theirs. Bosh’s 30-10-7 capped off his magnificent November.

So who will show up to play today? Once again, the Raps get schedule-screwed, having to play on the road on the second day of a back-to-back while the Hawks had both Saturday and Sunday off.

The Hawks were missing defensive ace and high-flyer Josh Smith in the Raptors’ win, and he’s back in the lineup now. However, Al Horford is out with a knee injury, as the status of Marvin Williams - who hit his head on the floor against the Warriors Friday - is also questionable. Without those two, the Hawks will be on the small side tonight.

As for the Raptors, well, they’re also shorthanded. Even if O’Neal plays, he’ll likely be limited, and there’s no word yet on Jason Kapono, who sat out yesterday’s game with the flu (unfortunately for Raps fans, this looks to actually be the flu, and not trade speculation flu). And of course, starting point guard Jose Calderon is still on the shelf with the Hamstring That Won’t Heal.

So, that means Parker will likely get the start at PG, and although it’s a plus to have him guarding Bibby, I suspect the Hawks will pick him up full court and try and pressure him into a couple turnovers, and will likely have some success.

Of course, given the absence of Horford and perhaps Williams, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani should have no trouble scoring against Zaza Pachulia, Solomon Jones and Maurice Evans, should they? Bargnani has struggled a little the past two games (11-30, 4-10 from downtown, 8 turnovers) so let’s hope the Raps can get him back on track.

Meanwhile, on the defensive end, I suspect the Hawks will get out and run and expose the Raptors’ sloppy transition D. Look for some Josh Smith highlight-reel alley-oops on the 6:00 Sportscenter.

Joey Graham will likely get his second straight start at SG, matching up with Joe Johnson. Johnson has killed the Raps in the past but Joey has the size to guard him. Will he play smart and stay out of foul trouble? Remains to be seen, but if the same Joey shows up today that showed up yesterday, he’ll help the Raptors stay in this one.

All in all, I have to give the advantage to Atlanta. Their frontcourt is small, but Bibby, Johnson and Smith are Raptor killers. Even if Bosh and Bargnani have big games, the Raptors have proven they don’t know how to ride a hot hand and you’ll likely see some forced bricks down the stretch. And without Jose, you’re going to see too many turnovers, leading to too many Hawks fast breaks.

Add to all that, the Hawks are 15-4 on their homecourt. Whoever would have thought Atlanta would have a significant homecourt advantage? But you know what, good for them. They’ve been bad for so long, it’s good to see a team like that finally have some success. And I like the way they built this team through the draft, and added a veteran leader (Bibby) to guide their young guys. That’s the way to do it.

Hawks by six.

Tonight the Raptors take their first trip to Indiana to take on TJ Ford and the Pacers. As I indicated the last time these two met, it’s pretty clear to say the trade has been a bit of a wash; neither team is better than they were before the trade. You could argue that, although the Pacers have the worse record, the Raptors had the higher expectations and thus appear to be worse… but either way, both teams have struggled.

Not that I’m saying the new players are to blame. It’s not O’Neal’s fault that the Raptors don’t have a wing player and it’s not TJ’s fault the Pacers can’t defend the paint. But both players have missed time due to injuries (big surprise) and probably haven’t had the impact their teams hoped they would.

But all that aside, these are a couple of teams that need to go on winning streaks, starting now, if they have any dream of getting back into the playoff race. The Raptors remain 3 full games back of Philly - who has won five straight - for the oh-so-coveted eighth playoff spot, and Indy is a game-and-a-half behind the Raps.

Suffice to say, these teams are running out of time.

Injury-wise, Toronto still doesn’t have Jose Calderon, and O’Neal, if he plays, is likely to come off the bench in limited minutes. Meanwhile, while Indiana finally appears to be healthy. Indiana got Mike Dunleavy back last week and he looks to be starting again; he’s averaged 15/5 since his return from a knee injury. TJ Ford is back after a back and a groin injury, and in a somewhat familiar turn of events… is no longer starting. Jarrett Jack has been getting the nod. How long will TJ sit still for this? Really, I wish I had been paying closer attention because I’d love to see if this plays out like it did last year with TJ and Jose.

With all their bodies, the Pacers are a fairly deep team and as we know, the Raps are thin when completely healthy. Give the Pacers a huge depth advantage here.

Up front, Bosh and Bargnani (and O’Neal, if he’s not too rusty) should still have an advantage over the Pacers front line. I love Rasho, obviously, but Troy Murphy is not a great defender and even though Jeff Foster always has great games against us, he shouldn’t be able to hang with our faster bigs. The key is gonna be for our guys to keep the Pacers off the glass. Murphy cleaned more glass than a maid in a house of mirrors last time these two teams played; we need to win that battle to stay in it.

I think Danny Granger had a terrible outing in the teams’ last meeting but I expect that to change tonight. His scoring is now over 26 a game. Who’s going to slow him down? No one but himself and the Raps can’t expect him to have another off day… but hoping he’ll toss up another dud is basically all we’ve got.

Frankly, I’m not looking forward to this game at all. I think the Pacers are gonna blow the Raptors away. Now that they’re healthy, their strengths - wing scoring from Granger and Dunleavy, scrappy rebounding from Murphy and Foster - are our exact weaknesses. We can’t guard the wing and we can’t rebound. That’s a regular disaster right there.

Pacers by 15.

Another day, another game the city of Toronto misses because it’s on TSN2. Sigh. Lucky for me, however, I’ll be at this one. I wonder, next year, do you think they can do a “TSN2″ ticket package where you can buy tickets to all the TSN2 games? That’d be nice.

Either way, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Derrick Rose play, so I’m glad I’ll get the chance to see him live and in person.

Chicago’s a funny team. Two years ago, the same season the Raps won 47, the Bulls won 49. Last year, with great expecations, they lost 49, and didn’t even make the playoffs.

This year, the expectations were minimum and they’ve started off slow again - 16-22. Their team is a little different - they traded away Ben Wallace, for one thing - and they’ve handed the reins to Rose. Plus they replaced head coach Scott Skiles with rookie Vinnie Del Negro. They’ve still got a lot of talent left over from that 49-win team, though. Loul Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni… they’ve got young guys in Tyrus Thomas and Jaokim Noah, not to mention Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden… you might say they’re a lot like the Raptors in that their roster should have produced a better record thus far. Plus, like the Raptors, they also lost to the Thunder! Couple of regular overachievers here, eh? Sigh.

Deng and Hinrich have both missed time due to injury, but both played in the Bulls’ last game (off the bench) so we should see them tonight. The Bulls come in off a five-game home stand in which they went 2-3; in fact they’ve lost 7 of 10. Before getting schedule-fucked (seriously, back-to-back games against the Champs?) the Raps had won 4 of 5, so as I said yesterday, the big test is going to be seeing how they bounce back from the Boston beatings. Will they get right back on track, or have those two games completely thrown them off the rails?

Rose has been impressive, averaging 16 points, 6 assists and 3 boards, starting in all 38 games. He’s also shooting 46% from the floor, not bad for a rook. Yeah, he’s got almost three turnovers a game but that’s to be expected from a rookie PG.

If our two back-up PGs can give the same solid play they gave against Boston on Monday (combined: 11-18, 4-5 3FG, 5 boards, 8 assists, only 2 turnovers and 26 points) then we should be able to hold our own in the PG battle, especially if Hinrich is still rusty (they also have Lindsey Hunter, who isn’t scaring anyone). If Jose plays, well, he’d better be at 100 per cent because we can’t afford to let Rose get into the paint at will.

At the off-guard, the Bulls trot out super-scorer Ben Gordon who can light it up in a hurry. But, I believe he can also be taken out of a game with some aggressive D, which is what Anthony Parker will have to bring. I hope he’s up to it because if Gordon goes off, the Raps don’t have a chance in this one.

The Bulls have started Deng, Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha at times at SF this year; plus, they’ve also got Andres Nocioni who can play there. Deng, obviously, is the biggest threat (when healthy) but Hughes can still score too. Moon just has to stick to his defensive principles - keep in front, stay down - and he can be effective. Of course, we all know how likely it is that’ll happen, so expect one of them to go off tonight.

Up front, the Raps should - SHOULD - have a big advantage. But, Drew Gooden always manages to have good games against us, so I expect he can effectively neutralize Bosh (unless Gooden is injured - apparently he rolled an ankle in the Bulls’ last game). That means Bargnani’s gonna need another big game, something he shouldn’t have any problem doing with Thomas or Noah guarding him. They’re athletic young guys, but haven’t yet proven they have the basketball smarts to hang with a versatile big like Bargnani. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of Nocioni guarding the big Italian - he’s a decent defender with good footspeed who should be able to stay with AB.

Of course, there is the question of Jermaine O’Neal, who is rumoured to be ready to play in this one. I’d be happy just to see him in person, you know, to see if he still exists (anyone notice Kendrick Perkins on the bench for Boston the other night, even though he’s hurt? Funny how that works. Sigh). No word at this point if he plays (or if Jose plays, though that seems more unlikely) and certainly no word on if he starts or comes off the bench… but I can’t imagine him not starting. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

One other thing to note, Chuck Swirsky, former voice of the Raptors and current Bulls radio play-by-play man, will be back in the house for the first time since leaving last summer.

I always liked Chuck. Yes, he was too over the top and an unbelievably biased homer. And he should have retired the “salami and cheese” bit long ago. But he was a good play-by-play guy, and he had an undeniable passion for the team, the sport of basketball, and most notably the city and Canada in general. I know he’s a team employee, but that only makes it his job to be a homer. He went above and beyond the call of duty in his effort to integrate basketball as a sport, and himself as a person, into Toronto and Canada. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and I’ll always respect him for that.

And he was memorable, you can’t deny that. He was a personality, a true character. Watch one Raptors game with him doing the play-by-play and you couldn’t forget him. I wished he would have stayed because I love the idea of having a “voice” for the team, you know? Guys like that, the Chick Hearn, the Jack Buck, heck, even the Tom Cheek… they are a dying breed and I hoped Chuck would have a legacy like that. And if you’re gonna have a “voice of the team” it should definitely be someone unique and memorable. He did every game for what, nine years? There’s no doubt some Raptors fans who had never heard a game called by anyone else until Devlin stepped in.

Don’t get me wrong, Devlin’s done a fine job, but, well, let’s just say he’s no Swirsky, eh? I’ll always miss Chuck.

As for the game, well, I really want to believe the Raps can take this one. But their bad habit of blowing games after tough losses doesn’t give me much confidence. I’m afraid their mental makeup is still shaky and they’ll come out flat and uninspired… and that means the Bulls will take it, by 9.

Well, let’s just say I’m not looking forward to tonight’s game in Boston. Through three head-to-head matchups this season, it’s pretty clear - the Raptors just can’t hang with the Celtics.

The way the Raptors are intimidated by the Celtics is, frankly, a little embarrassing. I know they’re good and they’re the champs. But that’s no reason for our team to shrink like frightened turtles when the Celtics take the court! It’s been proven, particularly over the past two weeks, that they can be beaten. So why did the Raptors play scared?

I know Kevin Garnett is a great player and a good defender. But it’s shocking how easily he takes Chris Bosh completely out of the game. A little nudge here, a little grab there, scream in his ear… and Bosh is done. Is it any wonder the Raps made up 12 of the 20-point lead with Bosh on the bench in the fourth quarter?

Look, I love Bosh. He’s got all kinds of talent, he can do a ton of different things from all over the floor. But he can’t let himself be intimidated that way. And I know you can point to the stats and say he still averages 18 and 10 against them the past two years and that’s pretty good against the league’s best defensive team. Maybe so. But we all know there is more to the game than stats and anybody who’s watched a decent amount of basketball in their life can clearly see when a player is taken out of a game, mentally. And Bosh has that look every time he plays Garnett.

He hesitates. He holds the ball in a vulnerable spot, and his handle gets shaky when he puts it on the floor. The jump shots come up short. He drifts instead of getting deep position.

What’s most disappointing is that Garnett had a bad offensive night - and yes, I will give Bosh some credit for that - so if Bosh had simply taken it a little harder at Garnett the other way, we may have completely neutralized him. But we didn’t. Leo said it about 14 times during the broadcast, Garnett may be laying bricks, but he still has a huge impact on the game. Well that’s because the Raptors let him.

As for the rest of the team, well, Bargnani got jobbed by an early crap foul call, no surprise playing against the Celtics (who intimidate the refs the same way they intimidate other teams). That took him out of his rhythm, and maybe he was a little intimidated by the Celtics barking and hollering as well as he finished 5-14. But, he did turn it on in the fourth as he nailed a couple of threes, and he grabbed 9 boards. All in all, I’m disappointed he didn’t play better, but at least his shots looked good and he appeared to be playing with the same confidence he’s had the past couple weeks (as opposed to his play in December, when his shots were clanking all over the place and he looked lost out there).

Jose Calderon gave his hamstring a go and that was obviously a mistake as Rajon Rondo repeatedly burned him in the first quarter. Honestly, I don’t know what the hell Jose was doing out there. Bad hamstring and all, Jose was playing up on Rondo - when the scouting report clearly says lay off him. I must have yelled “back up, Jose!” at the TV about a half-dozen times. Obviously, someone read the scouting report - check out the way Roko played Rondo in the fourth. He was a good five feet off of the Celtics speedster, and that neutralized his penetration (he finished the quarter 0-3, with two assists and a turnover. He had 14 points and nine dimes up till then).

So, much like the Orlando game, Roko got the fourth-quarter minutes and played quite well down the stretch. I wish he hadn’t taken that three he took, but if you’re telling me you’d rather have Will Solomon and his .227 3-point shooting mark taking that shot, you’re crazy. Big Willie went 0-2 is now 13-36 over his past four. I think it’s time to retire this whole “Solomon gets more minutes than Roko because he’s a better shooter” argument, because better is relative. Yeah, 22 per cent is better than 18 per cent, but do you really want to count on either one? Clearly, neither of them can shoot the ball into a swimming pool at this point; they oughtta be taking Dave Hopla shooting classes together. Sigh. But as I’ve said all along, if you’ve got to choose between two struggling guys, choose the younger guy who can learn from his mistakes and is more likely to be part of your team’s future. This is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, outside of that bricked triple, Roko played well yesterday; he pushed the ball at the right times, penetrated at the right times, and as I say, played Rondo the right way. He also did his job on what would turn out to be the key play of the fourth quarter. Taking the ball on a kickout from the right side, with the Celtics’ defense scrambling, he swung it to the top to Moon. We know what happened next - Moon hesitated, then took the three. He missed and the game was over, but if he had done what he was supposed to - swung it to Bargnani on his right, who could have shot it or passed it to Kapono on his right - you’re looking a 2-point game with a minute to go. Instead Moon missed, Paul Pierce nailed a jumper the other way and the comeback was dead.

Overall, I can’t fault Moon too much. He had a decent game, even though the stats won’t necessarily bear it out. I thought he played with a good amount of hustle and energy. Heck, even the shot itself wasn’t terrible, the big mistake he made was hesitating on it!

Speaking of hustle, how about Joey Graham? Apparently Joey heard the Celtics are bullies and the best way to deal with bullies was hit back. Eight boards, a steal and two blocks in 24 minutes? Plus a technical foul? I’ll take that any day.

Overall, a frustrating game. Not one Celtic other than Ray Allen had a good game, yet we still let Boston run up a 20-point lead. Yeah, the fourth-quarter comeback was nice, but too little too late, yeah? I mean if Bosh had shown up, if Kapono or Parker could’ve hit a shot in the first half, if Rondo was kept out of the paint one or two times, maybe the lead is only 10 or 12 heading into the fourth and the comeback isn’t so unlikely. I’ll give the team credit for not quitting - which they would have done (and did do) a month ago - and I’m glad they at least made it exciting to watch. But making up 20 points in 12 minutes is hard against any team, especially Boston. You can’t let yourself get into a hole like that if you want to give your team a chance to win.

For tonight’s game, well, there’s not a whole lot you can say. If I may channel my inner Sam Mitchell, if the Raps are to win, they’re just gonna have to make more shots. Remember the game the Raptors won in Boston last year? They shot the lights out. 58% from the floor and an utterly ridiculous 15-21 from downtown, not to mention 19-19 from the line, on the way to 114 points. And yet they still only won by two! The Raptors are gonna need that type of game again to beat the Celts.

Can they do it? Sure. Will they? No way. Celtics by 13.

Raps host the Memphis Grizzlies tonight, who are one of the select few teams with a worse record than Toronto and have lost 8 of 10. Easy win for the Raps? I’d like to think so, but nothing is ever easy with this team, is it.

I’m actually looking forward to seeing Memphis play. They’re loaded with young, athletic guys, most of whom I’m not too familiar with, so it should be interesting to see them. Obviously, the most notable right now is rookie OJ Mayo, who’s lighting it up in his first season in the league - from the point guard spot, no less. He may not be a true PG, but he’s one of those versatile, athletic, score-from-anywhere guys the Raps often have trouble with so I hope we can keep him in check.

Rudy Gay has turned into a solid pro and I’m sure he’ll get everyone thinking about how foolish Colangelo was taking Andrea Bargnani ahead of him in the draft. But then again, there were questions about his work ethic and drive, and considering that Memphis has won a total of 55 games in the two-and-a-half seasons he’s played, well, maybe the jury’s still out on him.

Meanwhile, they’ve got the Other Gasol, Marc, replacing Pau in the middle. Marc’s having a solid rookie season as well, and he’s a big bruiser down there who can likely muscle Bargnani and Chris Bosh out of their spots. Still, he’s foul-prone so if CB and AB can use their quickness to put him on his heels, they’ll get him out of the game.

The Grizz play small - Gay starts at PF, Gasol at C - so as long as Chris, Andrea and Moon to hit the glass all night, the Raps should have a sizeable advantage there. Memphis starts Quentin Ross and Kyle Lowry at the wing spots; I don’t know too much about them, except they’re young and athletic. Parker and Moon should match up fairly well with them, the key will be just staying in front of them and forcing them to shoot from range - Memphis is the fourth lowest scoring team in the league at 94, and the fourth-worst three-point shooting team at 32.5%.

If you’re a Raptors fan and you remember the 2002-2003 season, those numbers may not surprise you - because the architect of the worst scoring Raptors team ever, Kevin O’Niell, is an assistant with the Grizzlies. Apparently KO is still allergic to scoring, although it’s funny when you consider all the young talent and the supposedly offensive minded head coach, Marc Iavaroni.

Big question mark for the Raptors remains the point guard play. No word yet if Jose Calderon will play, although to be honest I think he should probably take the night off and come back strong for the Boston games.

That leaves our friend Will Solomon to handle Mayo. Yikes. Much as I loathe him, I have to admit that he’s much more suited to guarding OJ Mayo than Roko is. Roko’s quick, but he’s just too thin at this point to body up a strong guard like Mayo. So I think (if Jose is out) it’ll be a heavy dose of Big Willie tonight. Oh, joy. Well, hopefully he’s starting to clue in that all they need him to do is bring up the ball and give it to Bosh, that he doesn’t have to score. Of course, that would be easier if he had any idea how to make an entry pass… sigh.

Ultimately I believe this one will come down to Bosh and Bargnani - which is the way it should be, no? As good as Marc Gasol has been as a rookie, and as good as Rudy Gay is, they can’t stop Bosh. And the only one who can stop Bargnani is himself, so as long as he shows up the way he’s done the past couple weeks, this should be a Raptors victory. I think the home team takes it by 8.

Another game on TSN2? Fantastic. Thankfully, I don’t have much desire to see the Washington Wizards, so I don’t feel too upset about this one.

In fact I suspect this game would make me tear my hair out or smash my remote control in disgust, so I’m glad I won’t be watching. Because even though the injury-ravaged Wizards are terrible, and should be an easy foe for the Raptors to beat, you know they won’t be. You know the Raps will come out strong, but then they’ll relax, let the Wizards hang around, and then they’ll give up the lead and it’ll come down to execution down the stretch.

And God only knows how the Raptors will respond.

Will it be like Sunday, when they played aggressive D, crashed the boards, held Orlando to one shot, and played smart on offense?

Or will it be like Monday, when they let the Bucks hit threes and made terrible decisions at the offensive end?

Who the hell knows. I sure don’t. I don’t even know why I bother predicting these games, I’m never right. Sigh.

As for the matchup, well, even with their struggles, Washington has the best player on the floor on this game in Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison and Chris Bosh are a complete wash (except for the fact that Jamison always plays better against Bosh than vice versa) which cancels out our best player.

If Calderon were playing, he’d obviously be superior to Mike James, and of course even a hobbling Jermaine O’Neal is better than Darius Songalia. But they’re out and if you don’t think James is drooling at the thought of playing Will Fucking Solomon and Roko Ukic, then you obviously don’t remember his tenure here in the T-Dot. The guy does not lack confidence.

Naturally, Andrea Bargnani should have a huge advantage at the centre spot, but clearly he can’t be trusted at this point. He could have another great game, he could stink. You just never know with him. Will he take advantage of his size, quickness and range against Songalia? Or will he allow Songalia to get in the paint, and end up in foul trouble? He’s probably due for a stinkbomb.

The Wizards are starting Dominic Maguire at the 3 because DeShawn Stevenson is out, but I’d say he and Moon are probably even as well.

EDIT: Looks like Moon is out too. Meaning it’s either Kapono or Graham in the starting lineup. Since Kapono has played like garbage most of the year (how wrong was I about him!? I should probably write a post just apologizing for thinking he should start), I think it should probably be Graham. He hasn’t been stellar or anything, but he’s been decent. Better than the usual Joey, and better than Kapono… either way, this might give Washington an edge here, especially since we’ve been known to give up big games to young threes.

EDIT 2: Eric Smith is reporting that Graham will indeed start.

Bench wise, I don’t even know what the Wizards have but then we don’t have much either - especially with three bench players starting. Probably another wash.

This one’s gonna come down to the end I think. I foresee a tie with 35 seconds to go, a blown Raptors possession, a Caron Butler miss at the other end - and a Songalia rebound which he kicks out to Jamison for the game winning triple.

Washington by 3.

The Raptors are in Milwaukee for the second time this season, and for the second time, it’s the second night of a back-to-back. In neither instance did the Bucks play the day before. How, exactly is that fair? Sometimes I wonder about these schedule makers.

Anyway, with O’Neal and Calderon back in the T-Dot, this’ll be a tough one for the Raps to win. Yes, they beat the Magic without them, but can they do it two games in a row?

If Andrew Bogut doesn’t play for Milwaukee, that should help - he’s got a hamstring problem or somesuch. I’ve blogged about it before, Bogut generally kills us early and then the rest of the Bucks decide it’s time to get their own and stop giving him the ball.

Of course, last time out, they did give it to him down the stretch and he single-handedly kept the Bucks in the game… but Toronto pulled it out when he didn’t touch the ball in the final two minutes.

Somehow, five other Bucks have attempted more shots than Bogut - Jefferson, Redd, Charlie, Sessions and even Luke Ridnour - even though Bogut shoots it at 56% and plays the third-most minutes on the team. Oh well, what do I know. Maybe he only ever looks that good against Toronto!

I believe Ramon Sessions is also hurt; he’s having a great season but the Bucks still have Redd, Jefferson and Mbah a Moute, not to mention our old friend Charlie V, who are all capable of scoring in bunches and are the types of players the Raps have trouble defending against.

To be honest, I think the Bucks are better than their record and if Toronto plays like it’s played most of this year - as opposed to the way they’ve played the past two - it’ll be a Bucks win.

But I’d like to believe these past two games have finally instilled some much-needed confidence in this Raptors team. Beating up on a good Western team and then beating the team that crushed you in the playoffs, at home? That has to make them feel good about themselves, right?

Can it translate to on-court success? I hope so. The Raps need this one, and the next two (at Washington Wednesday, home for Memphis Friday). I said it last week, they need a winning streak of at least five to get back into it - and this is as good a chance as they’re likely to have. That’d put them at 17-20 heading into Sunday’s brutal home-at-home with Boston; we have to assume that’s two losses so it’s imperative to get some wins before then.

(Again, what is with this schedule? Two straight games against the champs on back to back nights? No other team in the NBA gets this “honor.” Why us? Sigh.)

Anyway, let’s not get ahead. Raptors gotta come out tonight and execute like they did yesterday. Hit the glass, force turnovers, don’t settle, and the offense will come, I really believe that.

I think they can do it. Raptors by 13.

You know, it’s hard to get too upset about a loss to a good team like the Trail Blazers. They’re stacked, and in fact, I feel like they’re better than their record - even though it’s pretty good at 19-12 after beating the Raptors.

Unfortunately, it is frustrating, because once again, the Raps had a big lead - 11 points before a miracle three a the halftime buzzer by Travis Outlaw cut it to eight. It’s also frustrating to think that, heading into the season, our expectations were set high enough to make us think we were in the same class as the Blazers.

But, in the past two months reality has set in and we’ve come to expect that the Raptors don’t have much of a chance against good teams, because, well, they’re not a good team themselves. And although you can clearly say there’ve been improvements - three weeks ago the Raptors were getting blown out of games completely, now at least they’re in them in the first half - it’s not enough to get them back into the race.

So we’re stuck with another middling team in another mediocre season. In other words, it’s hard to get excited or upset about anything at all - they only beat teams worse than them and never beat teams better than them, so where’s the drama?

Of course, we all know the most frustrating thing about the loss was seeing Brandon Roy dominate the fourth quarter like that. 18 points, and most of them very difficult jump shots, the kind of “give me the ball and let me create something from nothing” mindset that none of the Raptors have. And he could have been a Raptor. Sigh. That one play, where he drove left, stumbled, lost the ball, got on his feet, recovered it, and hit a fade-away? No one on the Raptors even has the balls to take that shot. Sigh. That one mistake is haunting us every time we play the Blazers.

(A bit of a tradition for me is watching Lord of the Rings; you know how Boromir and the men of Gondor call the one ring “Isildur’s Bane?” I think I’m going to start calling Bargnani “Colangelo’s Bane.”)

Actually Andrea had his best game in recent memory last night. Slump buster? I’m not holding my breath, but at least he hit some jump shots.

Oh well. The Raps roll into San Fran tonight to take on the Warriors and they’ve got a chance to finish up 3-3 on the trip. That’d be nice since I expected a 1-5 trip. Of course, I expected that “1″ to be against the “Thunder” and losing to them still hurts. A lot. They could have already guaranteed a 3-3 trip by beating the worst team in the league. Alas.

However, I don’t really think 3-3 is going to happen. I’m sure you’ve all noticed, Golden State is virtually impossible to defend - they just run up and shoot. Given the Raptors are one of the worst transition defensive teams I’ve every actually seen play professional basketball, that can be trouble. I mean on most nights you can be assured the Warriors won’t hit a high enough percentage to win, but they’ll get enough layups and open looks tonight to outscore the Raptors.

And even if they don’t shoot that well, the Raptors’ offense isn’t good enough to keep up. I know Golden State is a terrible defensive team but if you’ve seen the Raptors struggle to even get open shots, let alone hit them, then you have to fear that that will continue tonight.

Of course, it is completely possible the Warriors will stink. You never know with this Golden State team. But I don’t believe the Raps have it in them to really step up, and play aggressively enough to take the Warriors out of what they want to do. I just think Golden State will simply run them off the floor and will take it by 19.

Now, one last thing, it’s been brought to my attention in the comments that there will be a protest at Rogers headquarters regarding the TSN2 issue tomorrow, December 30. Now, it’s planned to last all day, which seems a little extreme in this weather, but if you can make it down there and support the guys who’ve put it together, that would be great. Anything to bring some sort of attention to this ridiculous impasse.

I do hope that there is a future protest planned for those morons at MLSE since this is more their fault than anyone else’s (what team signs a television contract where the games are shown on a station that’s not available on cable in their home market?).

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow goes well for these guys, they get some support and maybe some attention. It’s probably a good time to do it, you know this is usually a pretty slow news week so a station like CityTV would likely be able to send a camera crew over. Anything to get some attention and pressure on the parties involved can only help.

Here’s the details:
Tuesday December 30th, 2008
Rogers Building
333 Bloor St. East, Toronto
8 am to 5 pm

There’s a dedicated Facebook group and if you need any more info, you can email Drew at spuddaz@yahoo.com. Good luck to everyone heading down there.