Back from the west coast, but still playing western teams, Toronto hosts the Denver tonight, a chance for the Raptors to avenge that embarrassing loss the Nuggets handed them almost a month ago. You may remember that one… it cost Sam Mitchell his job.

With most teams, especially pro basketball teams where pride and respect is valued very highly, you can count on them to come out fired up and intense and well-prepared to avenge such a loss. Unfortunately, the Raptors are the most mentally weak team I’ve ever seen - they’ve responded incredibly poorly in every “pride” game they’ve played this year. (Examples - after The Worst Loss in Raptors History to Vince and the Nets, they didn’t bother to show up against Boston in the next game and got booed off the home court. After getting Mitchell fired in Denver, they didn’t bother to show up in Utah (even with Carlos Boozer sidelined). After losing to a stunning Steve Blake 3, the got blown out in Cleveland. And on and on…)

Aside from that aspect of it, Denver clearly proved that they are a tough matchup for the Raptors. Like the Warriors, the like to push and shoot - but they’ve got more muscle and an experienced point guard to guide them when in the halfcourt. They’re aggressive and intimidating, things the Raptors don’t respond well too - especially if Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t play (he’s still suffering from the flu and an apparent knee bruise he suffered the other night).

I just don’t see how the Raptors can compete with the Nuggets, short of several Nuggets having bad games. It’ll be another Raptors loss, though hopefully, not a blowout… let’s say Denver by 10.

Meanwhile, it seems the protest went down at Rogers yesterday, about 10 Raps fans strong. Disappointing turnout, but not surprising considering that it was very cold, and it was a workday for most. Still, they got some coverage in the Globe and Mail and that can only be a good thing.

I still don’t fully understand why they’re protesting Rogers and not MLSE, but hopefully they’ll get around to the real villains.

I really don’t see what Rogers has done wrong here. I think it’s because people just don’t like Rogers as a company; after all, they’ve had a bad rep for years thanks to gouging people for cable fees, forcing people to take “packages” of 27 channels just to get the one they want, exorbitant cell phone plans and fees, long-term contracts, Internet bandwidth throttling, and so on… not to mention terrible customer service and incredibly annoying and pervasive ads… so it’s easy to hate them. I get that.

But how are they to blame for this mess? What obligation are they under to carry EVERY channel, especially ANOTHER all-around sports channel when they already carry three (plus about a dozen other specialized sports channels)? It wasn’t their decision to air the games on this station!

That decision belongs to TSN and they’re to blame for that. If they are The Sports Network and they want to bring sports, especially sports with a Canadian angle, to Canadians, then they should be showing Canada’s one and only NBA team on its main network.

But still, they paid their money, probably a lot, for the rights to air them on whatever channel they wanted - that’s their right for the money they paid. That’s the way such a transaction is supposed to work.

The folks really to blame are the ones that enabled it in the first place, the greedy bloodsuckers at MLSE. It’s pretty clear now that what happened is TSN said “we’llback up the money truck and you let us put the games on the channels we want,” and MLSE, seeing only the dollar signs, decided it didn’t matter that Raptors fans wouldn’t be able to watch. I mean, fans don’t matter, only the bottom line, right? So what if TSN only paid that cash to try and force Rogers to pick up their ridiculously excessive and unnecessary channel? What do we care where the games air, we got paid!

At the very least MLSE should have included some clause in the contract that said “If Rogers doesn’t have TSN2 by X date then the games get moved to TSN, or we can air the games on RapsTV,” or something to that effect. Since they did nothing like that, and are allowing this to happen, means they just didn’t care enough about the fans, and only cared about the money.

So at this point, honestly, I don’t want Rogers to pick up TSN2. Yes, I want to see the games - and of course I’ll be happy if they do end up picking it up (and even happier if they issue a press release that says “we’re sorry it took so long, but it’s clear The Raptors don’t care about their fans, so someone had to take the bullet”) - but I really feel like Rogers is being unfairly blamed here for something they had no part in. They are the ones being bullied here, and that’s not right, is it? OK, maybe turnaround is fair play - after all, they’ve been bullying customers with their cable monopoly for over 20 years - but two wrongs don’t make a right. They shouldn’t have to be forced into paying for something they don’t want.

And quite frankly, I don’t want another sports channel! I’ve got enough sports channels and besides, you know TSN isn’t asking for chump change from Rogers here (otherwise the deal would already be done) - so how do you think Rogers is gonna pay for it? By raising cable fees! No thanks, I pay them enough.

Finally, I particularly don’t want to have Raptors games on yet another channel. I mean, 82 games spread across five channels… are you kidding me? Ideally every single game should be on one channel, shouldn’t it? I know that won’t happen, but I don’t think two is unreasonable - majority on The Score (being the only network that cares about ball) with the Sunday afternoon games on CBC (maybe try and start a tradition there, and CBC is in the most homes and lots of people sitting around on Sunday afternoons might stop in to check it out).

But five is too much. Enough is enough. The madness must end. I think we can all agree this season is lost regardless, so you know what, TSN2, you can have your games and I hope at the next meeting Rogers extends a big middle Raptor claw at you and says “you paid for nothing, ‘cause you ain’t gettin’ on Rogers.”

And maybe by the time next season’s negotiations roll around, MLSE will have smartened up enough to not let something like this happen again and will get the games on a smaller number of channels.

In the meantime, enjoy your dwindling viewership and ad revenue, you greedy motherfuckers. You deserve it.

Tags: Denver Nuggets, MLSE, Rogers, Toronto Raptors, TSN2

So, we rammed through the short second season of Heroes in about a week. There’s absolutely no doubt that it was inferior to the first season. But, in all honesty, I can’t blame the show for that; it was painfully obvious that the writer’s strike was to blame. You could clearly see there was a lot more that the writers wanted to develop but never got the chance to.

It’s unfortunate, too, because I love the “children paying for the sins of the parents” idea. The idea was present in the first season, as Mohinder felt the after-effects of his father’s work, and it looked like we were going to explore it a lot more here… but as it stands it was really only Matt and Claire that dealt directly with their parental issues. There were so many questions left about the previous generation of “heroes” that I wanted answered - and I expected answers, given that this “volume” was called Generations - that left me very disappointed.

I want to know exactly what these people joined together to do back in the 1970s. What were their real goals - how did they intend to “save the world?” How did they find each other, why did they develop this mysterious virus in the first place? I want to know what Peter and Nathan’s parents powers are, and Kaito Nakamura’s as well. Too much was left unsaid.

As for the story itself, it was… OK. As with the first season, I don’t really understand the motivation of the villain here. Adam Monroe says the world needs to be cleansed. OK. But to what end? He would have released his virus, and then… What would he have done after the Shanti virus destroyed human civilization? He would go on, living forever, by himself? And he hatched this plan in 1977! He’s had 30 years to think about it and still thinks it’s the best thing to do!? He would have ruled a dead planet for all eternity! Fantastic. Wouldn’t it have made a little more sense if the “virus” had the effect of killing only “regular” humans?

I also don’t get why Matt’s father helped Adam. What could Maury possibly get out of it? Did Adam promise him he’d use his own blood to keep Maury alive when everyone else died? Certainly Adam couldn’t have threatened him; he can read Adam’s mind, influence his thoughts, even put him in his own worst nightmare. Their “partnership” made little sense and should have been expanded upon.

I was further disappointed by Peter’s characterization. Honestly… why is he such a ninny? He’s so bloody naïve it’s unbelievable. He should be the best character on the show - more than anyone, he wants to help people, to do the right thing, not because he wants to be a hero - like Hiro - but simply because it’s the right thing to do.

But from his introduction as an amnesiac - terribly original, that, and why, exactly, does the Haitian take his memories? - to his falling in love at the drop of a hat, to his wanting his power taken away, to blindly following Adam… not once, the entire season, does he do anything pro-active - he simply reacts to everyone around him. Why is he so naïve? Especially at this point; Nathan and his mother almost betrayed him at the end of season 1, the company betrayed him in season 2, why isn’t he a little bit suspicious that Adam may not be on the level?

Look, Peter is the most powerful of all the “heroes.” He’s also potentially the best character, and Milo Ventimiglia is a good actor. This should, essentially, be his show. But to show him continually following along blindly and not making his own decisions really undermines his character.

He’s also hurt by some lazy writing… after all, he can read minds but never bothers to discover if Adam is telling him the truth of his motives. He has no problem reading Victoria Pratt’s to discover where the virus is, but doesn’t probe further to get her perspective on Adam’s plan? Even after Victoria tells him Adam’s a bad guy - and then Adam shoots her in the back - Peter doesn’t think that maybe he should check and be sure?

It was also incredibly repetitive to have him travel to the future, discover it devastated, then decide he had to go back and change things. Um, didn’t we see that EXACT SAME SEQUENCE in the first season, with Hiro?

And in a terrible moment of plot-device driven writing in the finale, Peter - instead of simply walking though a vault door - decides to open it using telekinesis. What? Yeah. Why does he do this? There is no “real” reason, but it quickly becomes obvious: it’s so that once the door is open, he can fight off the other heroes outside so Adam can go in, alone, and Peter can’t see Adam’s true intentions as he releases the virus.

What’s worse is that they carry this scene on for several minutes as Peter strains and sweats and even gets a nose bleed trying to open the door with his mind. Seriously. Every single viewer is sitting there saying, “why doesn’t he just walk through?” and they’re dragging this scene on like this? It was awful, it really was. I nearly ruined the entire episode for me.

Again, Peter is the most powerful of all of them. Why give him these powers if he’s not going to use them? I’m just very disappointed in how little they’ve developed him as a character.

The second best character on the show, Hiro, meanwhile, does enjoy some serious character development here. While the “character time travels/has to fix the timeline” bit has been done to death, it did give Hiro a chance to learn some valuable lessons, particularly with regards to his own power and how easy it is to screw everything up when you time travel. However - and I again fault the writer’s strike for this - it seems he completely FORGETS this when he comes back to the present, finds out his father’s dead, and tries to travel back in time and save him! Despite everything he just learned about screwing with time, he does it again!

But, Kaito sets him straight and honestly, their final moments were some of the best of the entire series. Guess it took him a couple of tries but he seems to finally be getting the “power and responsibility” lesson.

Thankfully the writers recognized at least somewhat that Hiro and Peter are the two most important characters, as for the second season in a row, it was the two of them that ended up stopping the villain in the end. That was good to see.

And, the confrontation with Mohinder and Sylar was also pretty well done, and made for some tense moments. The final scene with Sylar getting his powers back was cool, and I look forward to him being the bad guy again next season… though hopefully, with more of a purpose than we’ve previously seen.

I think a final problem with the season was the introduction of too many new characters. Bob, Elle, Maya and Alejandro, Adam, Monica, West… I mean the show already has a large cast, did we really need another half-dozen people involved? And in such a shortened season they all felt really crammed in. Hopefully for next season they streamline the show a bit and focus on the main characters a little more.

So, overall, the season was a let-down, but it wasn’t awful, and not entirely the fault of the creators or people involved in the show - it’s the fault of Hollywood politics.

But now that that’s all been settled, and they’re no doubt aware of the problems that plagued the second season, I expect to see a much stronger third season.

I’ve got victory #2 under my belt! It was definitely a crazy day. After all, I had Ronnie Brown on my bench!! 39 points! Five touchdowns, one of them passing? Un-be-leivable.

Still, I got good days from Julius Jones, Marshawn Lynch and Larry Fitzgerald; and it looks like Matt Cassel was the right call - though he had a mere five points, that’s better than Ben Roethlisberger’s -1!

My opponent got a lot of points in the afternoon games from Drew Brees, Brandon Marshall and Joseph Addai, but Mason Crosby and the Packers D saved my skin. Trailing by 9 heading into the night game, Crosby got 10 points and although the Packers D gave up a lot, they did offset it with an interception and a fumble recovery. Phew!

Gotta say that I was very impressed with Dallas after watching that game. I thought the Packers played just fine, they didn’t make too many mistakes, but they simply could not keep pace with the Cowboys. And this is on a night when Terrell Owens was a non-factor!

And Marion Barber… I can’t remember the last time I saw a guy that was that hard to bring down.

I’ve also heard their defense wasn’t great this year, but they held the Packers in check, particularly the running game (and even about 90 of the passing yards they gave up were in the final five minutes, when they were playing prevent).

So, the Pack failed their first real test and are 2-1 on the year. This is no knock on Aaron Rodgers, who was solid again; they just couldn’t get enough going on the ground to balance things out and they couldn’t bring down Marion Barber enough.

As for fantasy, like the Packers I’m 2-1 and flying high! OK, that’s a little extreme but all things considered, I am happy I got a couple of wins. I really was afraid this was going to be a zero-win season after week one. It’s obviously possible that two wins is all I’ll get - especially if Cassel’s play against Miami is indicative of what he’ll do the rest of the year and Roethlisberger’s really hurt - but hey, two wins is better that’s better than none!

I can’t believe I had Ronnie Brown on the bench!!!!!!

And yet I still won? Unbelievable. I honestly think the football gods have taken pity on me. 2-0 since the Brady injury? Gotta be divine intervention.

Results:

It’s funny, I called last Friday’s game against Jersey a statement game. And it was. Yet this game feels about a million times more important.It’s only the sixth game of the season and we’re already playing must-wins? That’s kinda scary.

But that’s what it feels like. Losers of three straight games - all featuring an offense that ran the gamut from “bad” to “utterly inept” - the Raptors are in desperate need of a win tonight. They can’t afford to fall behind in the Atlantic Division, even at this early stage. Yes, last year they were 2-8 and still won the division by six games - but that was the worst division in league history.

It’s now the strongest in the conference. And don’t look now - the Raptors are the only team in it with a sub-.500 record.

Like I said yesterday, it’s not time to panic, yet. And it’s not like losing tonight means the season is over. But the Raps need to get serious and come out strong, and get a win tonight.

The Raptors shot well in the first game of the year against the Sixers, and they’ll need to do so again. Andre Igoudala is going to be hard to stop - again - and you know Korver and Willie Green will knock down their shots. But they can’t let young guys like Rodney Carney go off and they’ve got to box Sam Dalembert and Reggie Evans out - they can’t let a one-dimensional player like Evans get 15 boards in 21 minutes like they did last week. Getting Dalembert in some early foul trouble wouldn’t hurt either.

For the Raps, the game plan is the same as always - move the ball well, find the open man. And hopefully they’ve learned from Chris Bosh’s and Juan Dixon’s example from Wednesday - take the ball to the hole sometimes!

On the defensive end, after sleepwalking through the first five minutes on Wednesday, the Raps finally started to get back in transition, stopping the Magic fast break game. They’ll need to do that again tonight; players like Igoudala and Carney can run, and Andre Miller, while not all that fast himself, can definitely find guys on the break. Closing out on Korver would be a good idea too.

All told, this is a game the Raptors should win. Top to bottom they are a far superior team to Philadelphia, and were heading towards a blowout last week before they fell asleep in the second half.

But… this has looked like a completely different team the last week. And I think the Sixers are confident, coming off a couple of wins (including drubbing Charlotte by 25), not to mention their big comeback against the Raps. I don’t think they’re scared of the Raptors at all, and the Raptors are tentative and hesitant…

I think it’s not going to be a good night for the Raps. Sixers by 12.

How quickly things change – how much one weekend can affect your whole outlook! On Friday I was still convinced the Raptors would win this series in six games.

Instead they played their two worst games of the season and now I’m convinced they’ll lose the series in five.

There’s no other way to say it: The Nets completely dominated the Raptors in New Jersey. The Raptors did not show up to play in either game and the Nets absolutely owned us and embarrassed us.

The Raptors left New Jersey with their tails between their legs. Their body language last night left no indication that there is any hope whatsoever that they’ll win another game this year.

I’m just so shocked and stunned I can’t even write a full post-game review. Chris Bosh was unbelievably bad in both games. The defense was non-existent. The offense was either stagnant or rushed, never flowing. The rebounding wasn’t too bad but when the Nets barely miss a shot, it’s kinda hard to get any. Vince Carter was good, Jason Kidd was simply unbelievable. Lawrence Frank made all the right adjustments and Sam Mitchell made all the wrong ones.

So now it’s not about the series anymore. It’s about showing some pride in front of the hometown fans tomorrow night. Take the experience and use it for next year, but come on, guys – don’t go out like that. Keep your heads high and show us some heart tomorrow night. That's the only goal left to accomplish.

So, a few quick thoughts heading into game three. The game plan is the same as it’s been the first two games: defend Vince well, get back in transition, hit the glass, move the ball.

Both benches will be key again. The Raps need production off the pine. Calderon can't go 4-11. Bargnani needs to produce something. Humphries can't miss those chip shots. Mo needs to bring the same energy he had in Game 2. And Dixon needs to be used sparingly, becuase he gives up too much size on defense (not to mention is shooting slump).

Meanwhile, the Raptors need to hold Nachbar in check. He’s killing us.

We’ve all heard about Jason Kidd’s “injury,” and I’m gonna tell you right now folks…. It don’t make no difference. I mean, the guy's played through pain before (he played three weeks with a broken rib already this year) and he hurt the knee on the first play of the last game - and still almost had a triple double. He'll play and he'll be fine, at worst, maybe 95%. So far, I like the pressure they've put on him with Ford and Calderon carrying some of the offense, and it only makes sense to keep it up if he's hurting, but there’s no reason to change anything or expect he’ll be at all diminished.

I expect the Raptors confidence to be high in this game – they haven’t had a great game yet and I think they’re due. Bosh (flu), Graham (flu) and Bargnani should all be healthy by now – no more excuses. The pressure, meanwhile, is obviously getting to Vince.

I look for the Raptors to play their best game of the series, for Vince to continue to struggle, and the Raps to win by double-digits, taking a 2-1 lead into Sunday’s Game 4.

Well, that was an absolutely atrocious basketball game for the first three quarters. A combined 63 points at half time? Phoenix scored 68 themselves in the first half last night? Ugh.

Thankfully, the Raps gutted it out, and things picked up by the fourth quarter – the Raptors offence came alive and they came away with a well-deserved win.

Other than Bostjan Nachbar, who nearly broke our backs again, I thought the Nets were awful last night. It really should have been a blowout for the Raps - if Toronto could just do something consistently on offense, this series will be over quickly. The Raps had the defense going strong all game, if they could the offense going too, look out.

Outside of sticking to Nachbar (and Kidd but I know they leave him on purpose) the Raps' really hustled on defense last night. They rotated quickly on Carter and Jefferson, and Mo Peterson (yes!) and Anthony Parker did a fantastic job of forcing them to the middle when they drove. More importantly, even though Kidd got another 11 boards, the Raptors got back in transition and kept the fast break in check, holding them to seven fast break points.

The Raps created 16 turnovers (with 9 steals!) and only turned it over 10 times themselves (Ford: 1, Calderon: 0). And Bosh's block on RJ (which led to a Parker three as RJ was still lying on his ass)… well, that was the highlight of the series so far. They still gave up a few too many offensive boards and few too many boards to Kidd, but overall a much better effort on the glass than Saturday. (Check out the block on Youtube.)

What an emotional roller coaster of a fourth quarter. Back and forth, big shot after big shot… I think everyone in the building held their breath when TJ shot that three! Whew. And I'm pretty sure my heart actually stopped when Nachbar shot his three - I'm still kind of in shock that he missed it. I still don't see why that guy's open all the time… why would you leave him, of all people, open? I mean, Vince, RJ, Kidd, all had subpar shooting nights… but this guy's light's out and he's wide open. As I said above, great defense on everyone last night… except Nachbar. Too may open looks! Sigh.

The crowd took a little longer to get going last night than it did Saturday, I guess people were still coming in from work, but I'd say it was a little louder and rowdier than Saturday - way more “VC sucks” chants (though why these chants start when we're on theline, but not when VC is on the line… sigh again).

Bosh was, as usual, our MVP last night. 25 and 13, with a bad cold even. I give him some of the blame for leaving Nachbar open a lot, but he crashed the boards and in the fourth, he was amazing on offense, getting inside, hitting it outside, and hitting his free throws.

Parker was simply unbelievable last night. He played Vince brilliantly, he scored, he had four steals, including the one that led to the three pointer at the end of the first quarter which finally got the crowd going… and he hit every shot exactly when we needed him to. It's amazing, at the start of the year, he was so inconsistent I was questioning why he was even playing, and now, I hate it when they take him out, even if it's only for two minutes! But I always say the best way to take Vince out of a game is to make him work on defense, something he hates doing. I love the way AP mixed it up last night with a variety of mid-range jumpers, drives and threes. Gotta make Vince work. And if AP keeps getting 8 boards a night… that's a huge bonus for us.

Rasho Nesterovic, meanwhile was the unsung hero - he was crashing the boards big time and keeping plays alive (four offensive boards!). Plus he knocked down a couple shots. Bargnani looked lost out there, and Humphries didn’t seem into the flow of things either.

And how 'bout MoPete. I said it, get him in there for his defense and experience, and that’s exactly what he brought! Sure, he didn't do a whole lot that shows up in the stat sheet, but he played solid defense, got some important boards, took charges, and most of all, he helped get the crowd fired up (there was a classic “MoPete” chant even!!). Joey Graham was utterly useless again, thank goodness Sam gave him the quick hook. Dixon was fine but thankfully only played 4 minutes - he just gives up too much on defense. MoPete gave us the 30 minutes we needed at the three. It was odd seeing a finishing lineup of Mo and Rasho with Ford, Bosh and Parker - it's been a long time since we've seen Mo and Rasho finish a game - but those were the guys playing the best.

I’m sure Joey will start again on Friday, but that’s OK – at least we (and he) now know that MoPete is ready to step up and play.

The Nets did some interesting things last night; perhaps they overthought themselves.

For one thing, they didn’t play nearly as much zone. And on the man-to-man coverage, they were going under screens on Ford and Calderon, letting the PGs shoot the 15-footer. Which is fine with me – I have confidence both can hit it, and that’s a good shot of the screener recognizes it, and rolls to the hoop to crash the boards.

The Nets also switched up how they used Carter. On Saturday, they had him take the ball from Kidd at the top of the key and create. That didn't work, so yesterday he started on the block, posting up Parker, and Kidd dumped it down to him.

Thankfully, that didn't work either. But you know that, at some point, he's going to bust open for a 42/7/7 game. Hopefully the Raps can weather that storm, and hopefully, while he's doing that, he's actually preventing RJ and Nachbar from getting going.
Oh, and my other favourite moment of the night (other than the Bosh block/Parker three) was when I got home and saw Vince's press conference.

Reporter: Are you happy to be leaving this building?
Vince: Whatever.

That's the thing I miss LEAST about Vince Carter - the guy just has no passion whatsoever. I don't understand how you can't be excited and motivated to play in this series… but as usual, nothing seems to get the guy going. Whatever, indeed! See ya in Jersey, Vince! Hope you have a better game in front of your fans… if there are any!!

I was also just reading one of the Jersey papers and Mikki Moore was like, “we threw this one away, we had it.”

Um, Mikki… when your three best players go 17-54 (32%) and only shoot 8 free throws, and our three best players shoot 22-45 (49%) and go 16-19 from the line… that’s not letting one get away. That’s you being lucky you were even in the game in the fourth quarter! If the Raps get it going on offense, you better watch out!

________________________________________

By the way, I meant to post this yesterday, but didn’t get a chance: Congrats to Sam Mitchell for the Coach of the Year award!

As I said last week, I’m not sure exactly what the criteria are for Coach of the Year; after all, I still believe it’s harder to win 60 games with a team that’s expected to win 60 than it is to win 47 with a team expected to win 35. But they traditionally give this award to a coach that’s turned his team around and exceeded expectations, and on that basis, Sam deserves it.

And more than that, he deserves a ton of credit for just sticking to his principles and not letting all the crap get to him. Everyone expected him to get fired this season. I bet he nearly did after the 2-8 start. But he stuck through it. Can you imagine coming to work every day with that kind of scrutiny? The guy is tougher than nails.

Combine that with the other well-documented challenges – coaching without a contract, nine new players, language barriers… all in all, it adds up to a job well done. Congratulations Sam!

Judging from all the shits and giggles at Raptors practice yesterday, I’d say that the team isn’t too worried about their game one loss. While I appreciate that they are loose and relaxed, I hope they aren’t taking the playoffs too lightly. They have to come out focused and intense tonight because, as they say, this is a “must-win” game for them.

As I’ve said before, the Raps have an amazing record in big games this year. Anytime they needed a bounecback game, had to get a win to accomplish something (division, homecourt) or felt their backs were to the wall, they’ve come through. This is not a mentally weak team which is why I fully expect most of the errors from Monday to be corrected and the Raptors to play a much better game.

I’ve read a couple articles over the last couple days, including Scott Carefoot’s latest (and as usual, fantastic) blog entry, suggesting that MoPete needs more playing time in this series, perhaps even as a starter.

Well, I couldn’t agree more. MoPete’s frequent benchings and inconsistent minutes are the great mystery of this Raptors season, especially recently, given the injuries to Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani. Most people, myself included, thought the injuries would be a chance for Mo to get back into the lineup.

It didn’t work out that way; Juan Dixon got most of the bench minutes, Joey Graham became a starter and played well, and Kris Humphries became the energy guy. MoPete was still the odd man out.

Bargnani is back, but Garbo’s still gone, and with the advent of the playoffs, and Dixon’s recent struggles and his size problems against Jersey, I thought MoPete would get another chance here in the postseason.

But for whatever reason, Dixon played ahead of Mo (and was subsequently abused by Richard Jefferson and Bostjan Nachbar, while shooting 2-5, in 15 minutes) and Graham played 35 minutes in which he looked OK on defense, but was utterly lost on offense.

MoPete – who has more playoff experience than those two combined – got a mere six minutes.

Now, I know MoPete hasn’t played his best basketball this year. But how much of that is his fault? His minutes have been jerked around like crazy. He went from having a major role on the team the last two years to not having an identity this year.

It’s been proven time and again, that NBA players need some sort of consistent routine to consistently succeed.

Imagine if you showed up for work every day, but had no idea what you were going to be working on that day. On Monday your boss only had an hour’s worth of work for you. The next day he had a full 8 hours. Then 3. Then 1. Then 5. then 2. How do you mentally prepare for something when you have no idea what it will entail? Yeah, I know, you should “always be ready.” Well, easier said than done.

Anyway. To me it seems like a no-brainer, he’s a good matchup against Vince or RJ, he’s a good defender, he’s been in the playoffs, he’s a smart player who’s proven he can hit big shots. Maybe his shooting hasn’t been great all year long but it’s surely been better than Dixon’s the last couple weeks (10 for his last 40, for those keeping track at home). Mo would definitely be my first two-guard substitution off the bench.

As for Graham, I know he played well before that game one stinkbomb, but if he’s doesn’t bring it for game two, I’d have him on a much shorter leash, with MoPete coming out of the bullpen for the save.

Other than that, my keys to game two are what I said before: Better defense, better ball movement and keeping J-Kidd off the glass. Oh, and getting Chris Bosh going early (and keeping him out of foul trouble) wouldn’t hurt either.

I’m confident the Raps have made their adjustments and will take this one, and we’ll be coming back here for game five. I’ll be at the game tonight, a little hoarse as I’m fighting a cold, but cheering as loud as I possibly can! Let’s make it even louder than Saturday, folks! Keep those “defense” and “let’s go Raptors” chants going!

Oh - and wear red!! Don’t let that jackass Jefferson tell us what to do – I want to see you in head-to-toe red, waving those red flags and going crazy! Let’s go Red, Let’s go RAPTORS!!!!!!
[/swirsky]

Nets 96, Raptors 91

Looks like I was right, sadly: the Nets’ experience helped them win game one while the Raptors’ bench was a non-factor.

Sometimes, it sucks to be right.

Clearly the Raptors need to make some adjustments. The good thing is, for the most part, the adjustments aren’t major, just a re-focus on doing the things they do well – things they didn’t do in game one.

But before I get into that, a brief recap…

First of all, the in-game experience was amazing. This is the first playoff game I’ve been to and it was, as the kids say, off the hook. If they still say that, I don’t know. But anyway, it was nuts.

Things got started off the right way with the whole crowd singing O Canada – something I’ve never seen/heard before at a basketball game. Next came the spine-tingling introductions, which included a movie-trailer like montage of scenes from the season set to some rising, awe-inspiring music. When the players were finally introduced, it was so loud, you couldn’t even hear Herbie saying the names! It was just a constant roar. It was unbelievable – it gave me goosebumps.

The first quarter was fast-paced and exciting and TJ Ford kept the Raptors in it, much as Jason Kidd kept the Nets in it. Ford did it with scoring while Kidd did it with rebounding and assists (9 in the first quarter!).

Chris Bosh’s early foul trouble didn’t help the Raptors, and Vince Carter’s off shooting didn’t help the Nets. But the disappearance of the Raptors bench did them in the second quarter, letting the Nets race out to a 10 point lead while the Raptors forced shots and turned the ball over.

In the third the Raps’ started out strong, cutting into the lead and seemingly catching a break when Carter went to the bench with four fouls. But the Nets played better without him, and increased the lead to 15 at one point. The Nets’ zone defense stymied the Raps’ offense, which spent several possessions standing around as if waiting for some divine intervention to figure out what to do.

Down by 13 heading into the fourth it didn’t look good, but Vince Carter returned, and oddly enough, that seemed to inspire the Raptors. It was almost as if they had someone to key in and focus on and that gave the team the intensity it needed to mount a furious rally. They got the lead down to one twice, with chances to take the lead (Calderon threw a pass to the Raptors bench) or tie (Bosh missed a free throw) but they couldn’t capitalize. A lame fallaway from Bosh and the inability to snag the rebound on the Nets’ final possession sealed the deal.

Basically it wasn’t a good game for the Raptors. The crowd was great, the fourth quarter comeback was great, but they’ll need to play better to win this series.

But here’s the positive thing: As bad as they played… they still only lost by five. Bosh was limited by foul trouble. And they held Vince Carter in check.

Not only that, but outside of the meaningless final two games, the Raptors only lost two in a row twice since December. They’ve shown great ability to bounce back after tough losses. Two great examples: After they got drubbed in the second half in New York, the Raps returned home and quickly lost Andrea Bargnani to his appendectomy. They came out that night and stomped the Magic in a statement game.

A few days later the Raps didn’t get off the plane in Boston, and the Celtics steamrolled them in a game which featured Jorge Garbajosa’s hideous injury. The Raps came out next game and dominated the fourth quarter against the defending champion Heat, and won running away.

Tough losses to teams they should beat seem to inspire them. This gives me great confidence that they can come out and win game two tomorrow night.

However, there are adjustments that need to be made:

Rebounding: The Raps weren’t killed on the boards, but they need to do a better job keeping Kidd off the glass. His getting rebounds ignites their break and that’s where Kidd’s most deadly. Even if they get outrebounded again, as long as its not Kidd that gets them, that should help slow the game down to a better pace.

Offense: Obviously, they need to figure out this zone defense thing. It shouldn’t be that hard, given that they have such good long range shooters – good shooting teams should always beat a zone. Part of the problem is TJ Ford. (Hey everybody wondering why TJ didn’t play in the fourth: listen up!) When Ford receives the ball at the top of the key, he immediately puts it on the floor and starts dribbling. It’s his attack mindset, which is beautiful against man-to-man, because most people can’t stop him.

But it’s absolutely the worst thing you can do against a zone.

As fast as TJ is, passing the ball is always faster, and the ball needs to move fast to beat the zone. That ball should never stop with one player, unless that player is the open man and is shooting the ball. As soon as TJ gets it, he needs to pass it (or shoot it) before the zone can rotate around. His dribble pentetration, unless the zone is slow rotating, just puts him right in the middle of the defenders – right where they want him.

Calderon does this occasionally too but is better at recognizing when not to – he’s much better at swinging the ball around the outside, or moving himself to where the zone won’t be and getting an open shot. Folks, this is why Calderon was out there: He is a better player against the zone than TJ. It’s that simple. That’s why they came back against Minnesota when Minny went zone and Calderon was in there. That’s why they came back the other night. Calderon is the better zone player.

TJ must learn what to do against the zone if the Raps are going to succeed in this series. Pass the ball, TJ, don’t dribble it. And everyone else, I say the same thing – make quick decisions with the basketball. Either shoot it or pass it. Don’t think about what you’re going to do, just do it before the defense has time to recover.

Defense: I thought the half-court defense wasn’t too bad, on everyone except Richard Jefferson. They did a good job closing on Vince’s penetration, and not doubling too early on Kidd’s post ups. Collins, Boone and Moore did not get to take advantage of Kidd’s and Carter’s driving and drawing defenders to them.

But far too often, Anthony Parker got held up on screens, forcing a switch (which the Raps never do) and/or leading to an open look for Jefferson. They have to do a better job at pushing through the screens and getting on the guards.

Worse, the transition defense was all but non-existent. That’s a pretty simple thing to solve so I expect the Raptors to hustle back down court better and stay in front of their man. The Raptors have the deeper bench, there’s no reason they shouldn’t have the fresher legs than the Nets.

Basically, they need to make the hustle plays they didn’t make on Saturday.

Bench: The Raptors need more production from the bench than what they got in game one. Humphries was fine, as was Calderon. But Bargnani was awful, and Dixon was a non-factor, going 2-5 and giving up way too much on defense.

I’m not entirely sure what Mitchell’s beef with MoPete is, but I believe that MoPete needs to be out there more. Joey Graham might be a little bigger physically, but MoPete’s experience and poise more than make up for it. Graham was clueless offensively Saturday (Mitchell all but blamed the aforementioned Calderon turnover on Graham running the wrong play). Dixon’s way too small to be effective and is still slumping. Honestly, what do Graham and Dixon bring to the table that outweights what MoPete brings to the table? Anything?

Of course, the need to go to the bench too much will be negated by Bosh’s ability to stay on the floor. I’ve said it before, I believe Bosh and Bargnani make each other better, and I love having the two of them out there together. Bosh going out early is a big problem, with no post player, Bargnani’s far less effective.

Like I said above, these are not difficult adjustments to make – many of them are just the things the Raps have been doing all year and for whatever reason they didn’t do them Saturday. They should be able to bounce back without much difficulty. The question is, will Vince Carter show up for the game? If he’s invisible again, I really like the Raps’ chances. If he plays like he did for the first three weeks of April, and the Raptors haven’t made any adjustments… well, that’s gonna be trouble.

Three final thoughts before lunch:

1. The fourth quarter was deafening. At one point, the Nets called for time, and the “Let's go Raptors” chant continued through the entire time-out…. never seen that before, either! Seriously, those idiots at realgm don't know what they're talking about - the crowd was great. Yeah, it was a little quiet during the third, but come on, the Raps were playing like crap - the Nets took us out of the game, just like you're supposed to do on the road. So give credit to them, but in the fourth, I can't imagine how it could get any louder.

2. For the love of God, will everyone please get over the red shirts/red uniforms thing? It’s the lamest non-controversy in Toronto sports history. It’s a non-troversey, if you will. Who cares what colour the Nets were wearing? It’s our colour too, and the colour of our flag, and besides, it has less to do with who’s wearing what on the court and more to do with doing something to help the fans unite as a group. It shouldn’t matter what colour it is, the point is doing something together to support the team. And frankly, it’s not even really one of the Nets’ colours (it’s not in their other uniforms or logo or any other team-branded materials) it’s just a shameless third jersey money grab.

So get over it, wear your red and support your team!

3. Kudos to the Sun for putting Raptors coverage on the front page four days in a row (even if one of those front pages was the tasteless Vince cartoon). You guys are doing your best to keep the city interested, informed and pumped up about the Raps, and the die-hards like myself appreciate it. Thank you!

It’s amazing to even be in this position – predicting the Raptors chances of playoff success. A few months ago I was predicting their chances of getting to the playoffs.

And here we are.

We know who we’re playing, we’ve broken down all the angles. I believe that the series hinges, more than anything else, on the Raptors depth and the Nets’ experience.

Chris Bosh matters. Vince Carter matters. Kidd, Jefferson, Ford and Calderon matter.

But I believe those two things more than anything will dictate the series. If the Raptors are jittery or anxious, or if they make the type of “rookie mistakes” that young, inexperienced teams do – force shots, don’t box out, don’t get back on defense – then the Nets will take the series.

For the Nets, if they get into any sort of foul trouble or if one of any of Kidd, Carter and Jefferson have an off game, I don’t believe they have the horses on their bench to stay in games. Particularly, if Moore and Boone get into foul trouble, Bosh will have his way with Collins, Robinson and whoever else may try to guard him. And if Bosh gets going like that and we can keep going to the bench for fresh legs when the Nets are tired, the Raptors will roll.

I think that’s what’s going to happen. I think the Nets experience will help them steal one game in Toronto. But I think the Raps bench will come up big in at least two games – big as in Humphries gets 18 rebounds or Bargnani nails five threes – and we’ll go into game six, in New Jersey, with a 3-2 lead.

And at that point, with their mere 47 fans cheering them on and the hollow echo of fake crowd noise ringing in their ears, the Nets will crumble at home.

Raptors in six!