Well, that was awful. Like stepping in dog poop. You know you can wipe it off on the pavement or grass but that stink is gonna stick with you all day.

Actually that kind of sums up the whole season. Sigh.

I figured the Raps would drop last night’s game, but I thought it would be fun to watch. Instead, it was awful to watch, especially when seeing the Bobcats - the Charlotte freakin’ Bobcats, with all of 700 people in the stands - play exactly the sort of basketball this Raptors team SHOULD be playing. Moving the ball. Setting screens. Taking easy, open jumpers. Getting out in transition. Honestly, they dismantled the Raptors easily, and it’s not like they broke ground on some new basketball schemes to do it - they played fundamental ball and hit open shots and the Raptors were completely clueless.

Not much point in analyzing this one, the Raptors did nothing well, they lost badly to a team that’s 10 games under .500. It’s the latest outing, in this seemingly never-ending season, that the Raptors did not show up, did not hustle, settled for jumpers, did not defend, did not rebound, didn’t get back in transition, didn’t do much of anything. How is it possible, that a team of professionals plays like that on a regular basis? I just don’t know. You expect it to happen a handful of times in a season - every team has their off day, their slump - and you know you can get blown out by good teams, even when your team plays well. But with this team, it happens every other game it seems, and they get killed by good and bad teams alike! I just can’t understand it, I have no explanation, and it’s driving me slowly insane.

Hey, a win! A big one, too. And against that dreaded two-headed TJ Ford/Rasho Nesterovic monster!

How annoying is it that the last Raptors game, even though it was a loss, was a fantastic basketball game against a good team – but not on TV, and this game, a win, but a thoroughly boring blowout win over another underachieving team – was on CBC and probably seen by the most people? Figures, right?

Oh well. Always nice to see your team win, and even though it was a blowout, there were some exciting moments, courtesy Shawn Marion and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

Fast forward to the third quarter, Raps leading but the game is still pretty back and forth. Then Bargnani hauls in a rebound, takes one dribble, and throws a lead pass (it’s true, it happened!) to a streaking Marion. I’m assuming we’ve all seen Danny Granger get destroyed by the Matrix by now; if not, youtube it, and agree with me that it was the most sensational dunk the Raps have seen since Air Canada was patrolling the skies. I know Joey’s had a couple nice slams and even Bosh has posterized a couple guys, but man, that was an absolutely sick display of hops from Marion. He simply obliterated Granger on the play; I actually felt embarrassed for the guy.

Marion had an alley-oop on the next play and PMB kept things jumpin’ with more hustle than we’ve seen from the anyone on this team in the last 22 months, and the rout was on. All in all, the Raps outscored Indy 37-19 in the period and never looked back.

Doug Smith mentioned this morning that Pops’ play might actually be driving up his price – out of the Raptors’ pay range. He might be right. Five games, 18.6 minutes, 7.6 points, 8.6 boards? Granted, his team has a 1-4 record, he’s missed 18 of 30 shots and has notched a total of one assist. But he’s also taken charges, played hard on defense, and hustled after every ball. Naturally, you say “you can’t make a judgment on five games!” but you know how this league works. Show even an ounce of potential, and someone will offer you a million dollars. If he averages 6 and 8 the rest of the way, and keeps hustling like that, this summer someone will offer him a two-year, $5 million deal. They’ll say, “if he can develop any sort of offensive game besides cleaning up misses, and can stay out of foul trouble, he could average a double-double!” And they may be right.

Hopefully, playing for the Raps will keep his success obscure, and the economy will keep his value down. I would love for him to be here next year – he is bringing everything this team has been missing – but I really don’t want to overpay for him!

As for the rest of the team, Bosh was frustrating to watch yesterday, as he went through the motions on offense. He settled for jumper after jumper, watching each one clang off the rim; he finally went inside, got a dunk and a short jump hook… then went back to clanging jumpers. What the hell, man? Indy’s got no one that can guard you! Take it to them, especially when the J is off! Sigh. Luckily Bargnani (27, on 9-11) took up the slack. Great game from Il Mago, still recovering from the flu.

Meanwhile, Jose Calderon had his second great game in a row, leading everyone to cry, “if only he’d been healthy all year, this team would be so much better!” Who knows if that’s true, and besides, I still see no reason why that hamstring hasn’t healed. Oh wait, I know the reason: we have the worst medical staff in the league. (I notice Jermaine O’Neal, who could barely stay on the floor for us, hasn’t missed a game and is playing 31 minutes a night for the Heat. I rest my case). If any changes are made this summer, I hope “new medical staff” is at the top of the list. Anyway. I really do enjoy watching Calderon play when he’s mixing up the drives and the jumpers. He’s so much more effective, and even if his defense is weak, he at least makes the opposing PG pay on the other end. I hope he keeps it up.

Anyway. It’s back to action tonight against the suddenly-superior Charlotte Bobcats. Larry Brown is turning that team around folks; they’re a game-and-a-half out of the playoffs and will likely break the franchise record for wins (a dubious 33). We could put a serious dent in those playoff hopes with wins tonight and Friday; but the Bobcats have strengths at many of our weakest spots. They penetrate and kick, they have some rebounders, they hustle. We don’t do those things, not often anyway, and we don’t stop other people from doing them to us.

Still, talent wise, these teams are on even ground. This could actually be an entertaining game, and lo and behold, it’s actually on TV! Prediction, hmm… well, I think the teams will split these two meetings, and Charlotte will take it tonight, by 9.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bobcats by 2.

I love the NBA, and here’s one of the main reasons why: I think the NBA, more than any other sport, allows a singular player to impose his will on the game and impact its outcome.

Yes, in baseball, football and hockey, one player can dominate a game; but they usually need help, from the pitcher, from the wide receiver, from the goalie, whatever. In basketball one player can dominate both sides of the ball.

And that’s exactly what Chris Bosh did yesterday in the fourth quarter.

Great players do it regularly. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett are the ones who do it best right now; Lebron is getting there, Chris Paul is getting there, and I think it’s possible Chris Bosh is getting there too.

The Raptors were dead yesterday, a lackluster performance much like Friday’s; no movement on offense, slow feet on defense. And then it looked like Chris Bosh said “I am not losing this game.” He put the Raptors on his back, and they rode him to a 17-0 run and eventual 10-point win.

You really can’t state the impact enough. What the stats don’t show is the intensity Bosh showed, calling for the ball, hustling down the floor, moving to help on defense. It seemed like the man was everywhere. They were down by 11 points, and they won by 10.

Yes, it’s Charlotte, they’re not very good, and the Raptors should never have been down by that much in the first place. I buy that argument. But, it happens - to every team. That’s why they play the games. The good teams have guys that can bring them out of such funks.

It was 58-47, Charlotte, with 7 minutes to go in the third. This was just after Leo Rautins noted that “the Raptors are having no trouble scoring.” I thought “Really, 47 points? No problems on offense? We watching the same game?”

Naturally, the Raptors outscored them 42-21 the rest of way - so maybe he knows what he’s talking about.

In particular, let’s take a look at that 17-0 run in detail. Toronto finally regained the lead early in the fourth, 68-67, after being down since the second. The teams traded buckets for a couple of minutes, and it was 74-72, Charlotte, with 8 minutes to go when the run started.

Bosh scored on a layup, then Bargnani blocked a Jason Richardson shot on the other end. The teams traded misses, Bosh grabbed a rebound, and on the ensuing Raptors set, Bargnani launched a three that popped out.

But Bosh grabbed the offensive board, kicked it back out, and after the ball swung around, Bargnani tried another - and nailed it. 77-74, Toronto.

Bargnani then rebounded a Charlotte miss and Bosh got a dunk; CB4 then rebounded a Ray Felton miss, then made a jumper over Okafor (after a nice shake-and-bake) from 15 feet on the left side.

After Jamario Moon made a sensational athletic play, blocking a DJ Augustin floater, tapping it to himself, then tapping it to Anthony Parker as he fell out of bounds (this is the reason he starts, only wish we’d see more of it) Bosh hit another jumper, this from the right side. 83-74 Toronto.

After Jason Richardson missed an awkward 3-pointer, Jose Calderon found Bosh all alone under the hoop, for the layup-and-one. Augustin then missed a three, and on the next possession, Andrea Bargnani grabbed an offensive board patiently waited for the rock to come back to him, and hit the run-capping three pointer. 89-74, 1:30 to go, and it’s over - the benches clear for garbage time.

For those of you keeping score, Bosh had 11 points (on 5-5) with three boards during the run; that is big-time production from the franchise player.

Bargnani complemented it with 6 points (2-3 from downtown) with 2 boards and a block. He finished with 18 on 6-10 shooting, with five blocks and another 3 blocks. We all like to bash Bargnani, I’ve done my share of it, but I’m impressed with what he’s done this year. He just needs to start doing it consistently! No more of these zero-point games, please. But give him credit - look at the stats: 23.6 minutes a game, 9.6 points on .561 shooting, 4.5 boards and 1.8 blocks. I think those are pretty good. As indicated, they don’t reflect the two goose eggs, but as I noted at the time, he still contributed in both of those games, with 5 boards and 2 blocks in each.

What I love is the field goal percentage. That will go down, of course, that’s an unrealistic early-season percentage. But it notes the reversal of that annoying trend last year, where he forced so many bad shots, and where even his open looks didn’t seem in rhythm. This year, he’s taking smaller guys down low, working his mid-range pull-up, and his three-point stroke is a thing of beauty.

Furthermore, when he’s on, you can’t overstate the impact his mismatch makes. Emeka Okafor simply didn’t want to come out and guard him at the three-point line; he hit 3-5. When Okafor did wander out, it opened things up for Bosh down below.

That, my friends, is why Bryan Colangelo won’t give up on Bargnani (yet) - if that shot is back on track (after the awful performance last year), and if the post game develops (which it looks like it is), and if he’s passable on defense (which he is so far), Bargnani creates huge mismatch problems for the opposition, which only serve to make things easier on Bosh, and O’Neal for that matter. Yep, that’s a lot of ifs. And it’s way too early to say if he’s on track. But at least the signs of development are there.

As for the rest:

Jose Calderon continues to be solid. Yeah, he was only 2-10 in Atlanta and Mike Bibby absolutely abused him. But he had 12 assists and bounced back with a quiet 13 (on 6-10) with another 7 assists last night. And although he did let up a couple of blow-bys by Felton and Augustin, both finished below 50% shooting.

Will Solomon had arguably his best game of the year, notching 6 assists and only one turnover. Maybe he will be a capable backup after all. No knock on Ukic, who I thought played well in the first two, but Solomon’s experience and size make him a better option now. I hope though, that the Raptors can get a few big leads and let Roko get some serious court time in - I think the kid has a ton of potential.

Jamario Moon doubled his rebounding stats again, grabbing 9 boards in his best performance yesterday. Keep hitting that glass, Jamario, we need you.

Jermaine O’Neal had a zero-impact game, on offense, but still grabbed 9 boards and a block. Besides, I don’t mind that he comes into tonight’s showdown with the Celtics having only played 20 minutes. The rest should do him good against Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins.

That offensive foul call on Bosh? Quite possibly the worst call I’ve ever seen in a Raptors game. Well, maybe MoPete getting tossed for the friendly slap of Vince Carter was worse. But man, that was an unbelievably awful call. Just awful. Okafor had not established position; Bosh clearly had established his drive. And even then, Bosh barely brushed him. How is that a foul? Furthermore, why didn’t the refs huddle up and overrule it? Surely the other two saw it was the wrong call. We see it all the time on the block charge - the refs get together and one says to the other, “nope, his feet were in the circle” or whatever. Why not this time? Brutal.