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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yep, slight mismatch there. Sigh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hawks by 15.

Oh, boy. And I thought the defense played poorly Wednesday night? I don’t think there are words to describe how awful the Raptors played on D last night.

Basically, everything I said the Raptors needed to do, they didn’t. Keep them out of transition? Nope. They were fast-breaking all night. Hold Johnson or Bibby in check? Nope, they combined for 36 on 13-22 shooting (and 7-10 from 3).

Even after Josh Smith got hurt, you’d think the Raptors might take advantage but nope. There was Bibby, the Raptor killer, hitting 4 straight threes in an 18-4 Hawks run in the second that all but ended the game.

Bosh had another solid game, and O’Neal wasn’t too shabby either. But when the Hawks are beating you down the floor every posession, it’s gonna be hard to keep up.

Jamario Moon was awful yet again, securing only two boards as Hawks scrubs scored at will. Kapono wasn’t much better - 15 shots, none of them threes? I think it’s possible they are in fact the worst SF rotation in the league. Neither one does what their supposed specialty is!

Sigh. You know you hate to say it, it’s only game six, but tomorrow’s tilt in Charlotte is a must-win. They can’t go into Boston 3-3… They just can’t.

Toronto Raptors (3-1) at Atlanta Hawks (3-0)

Look out, folks, the Hawks are undefeated! Seriously, this team has played some solid basketball so far. They beat the hornets on Wednesday! Held one of the West favourites to 79 points! For the Raptors, coming off a tough home loss, this will not be an easy win.

Now, the Raps have had a lot of success against the Hawks in the past. Well, when the Hawks scorekeepers don’t actually, you know, steal the game from them and give it to the Hawks…

However, this is a different team now; sure, Josh Childress is backpacking around Europe, but I was never that impressed with him. And clearly they’re not missing him.

What concerns me is Mike Bibby. Yeah, maybe he’s lost a step. But if you’re not aware, Mike Bibby is an absolute Raptor killer. I don’t have stats on him, but I know that there’ve been any number of games where he’s just either destroyed the Raptors with great all-around production, or simply hit a clutch shot that drives the dagger in. He managed to do both last April in Toronto; he hit a game-tying three at the buzzer, sending the game into OT, where he hit another three with a minute left to give the Hawks the final lead. He finished with a 26-12-6. Yep. Raptor killer, through and through.

Then you’ve got Joe Johnson, who’s also had success against Toronto, and, given the Raptors, ahem, less than stellar wing play, will probably continue to do so.

Throw in Josh Smith, the improving Marvin Williams and the impressive Al Horford, and they’ve got a decent team. To be honest, I’m actually really looking forward to seeing them, and how they all mesh, now that Bibby’s had time to settle in.

It’s an athletic team, no doubt. Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon are gonna have their hands full. I’m sure Parker will harass Johnson as much as he can, but if Moon lets Smith get off the way he let Tayshaun Prince get off, it’s going to be a long night.

Still, I have to believe the Raptors have the advantage up front; Williams and Horford can’t match up with Bosh and O’Neal. If Bosh continues to play at a high level, no one on the Hawks can stop him. And if Bargnani can get it going, he’s a matchup nightmare for them as well.

Much has been made in the press the past couple days about O’Neal’s poor offensive production. Personally, I’m OK with him not scoring - it’s his defense that really matters, and he’s been huge in that regard. Foul trouble limited him on Wednesday and led to that Detroit layup line in the second, and he didn’t get as many boards as I’d like. But you know he’s altering shots, making guys think twice about penetrating, and occupying rebounders so Bosh can hit the glass.

On offense, yeah, he’s missed a lot of shots, and he’s forced a couple. I would like to see the Raptors change up how they get him the ball a little bit. Right now, they give it to Bosh in a variety of ways; off screen-roll, iso’d at the elbow, in the post. With O’Neal, they’re only dumping it to him when he’s on the block. Sure, his turnaround used to be solid from there, if not great; but clearly, it’s not there at all right now, due to some combination of rust, age, declining skill, whatever. He doesn’t have the lift or the touch to hit it consistently.

So why not get him the ball elsewhere? Why not on screen and roll? Get him some open fifteen-footers. He can shoot from there, and it’ll likely do him some good to be able to put up a shot or two without a defender all over his back. And if he hits one or two, well, that’ll open things up a little more down low for him.

That’s my suggestion, anyway.

As for tonight, as long as the Raptors don’t let the Hawks get out in transition (where Smith is a killer) and they hold at least one of Bibby or Johnson in check, they should come away with a victory; I hope they’re sufficiently disappointed in themselves from Wednesday that it gives them extra motivation and it’s a 16-point final.

Final not, the next two games are very important for the Raptors; they’ve got Hawks, then the Bobcats, before the big matchup with the Celtics on Monday (a back-to-back with the Bobcats on Sunday). That’s a tough one - going into Boston at the end of a three-game trip - so it’s important to go in there on a winning note. You definitely don’t want to go in there at 3-3, because let’s be honest… you won’t be coming out 4-3. Winning tonight is going to ease the pressure on that game in a big way.