So, the Raptors make their first trip ever to The Place That Isn’t Seattle tonight. Thankfully, it’s their only trip there this season. Unfortunately, they have to go back next year, and every other year from now on. Sigh.

There’s only one good thing about this team’s move from Seattle to The Place That Isn’t Seattle; the time zone. That means instead of watching a Raptors game at 10:00, we get to watch it at 8:00.

Or rather, we could… IF THE GAME WAS TELEVISED IN TORONTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dammit.

You may have noticed my question in Doug Smith’s blog mailbag today, about the playoffs and TSN2; if the Raps make it, the games could very well be aired on TSN2. Is that a joke or what?

At this point I have obvious doubts about the Raptors making the playoffs, but if they do, I’d really like to be able to see them. If only those greedy bastards at TSN and Rogers would kiss and make up or those fucking morons at MLSE would step in and fix this… but the fact that it hasn’t happened by now leads me to believe it won’t be fixed, ever. I can’t even believe we’re still talking about this… how could MLSE have allowed this to happen? It blows my mind.

As for the game, well, The “Thunder” isn’t (aren’t? What a ridiculous name) very good. They’re 2-24 and have lost 8 in a row. Yikes.

But, you may recall, this team is basically the same one that beat us - and scored 123 points on us - last season. And their strong points - Sophomores Kevin Durant and Jeff Green - play the swingman spots that we can’t defend to save our lives. And we’re not exactly coming on strong, having lost 8 of 10 ourselves!

Still, you gotta believe that if the Raps can beat anyone, it’s the “Thunder.” Right? I mean, we can beat them, right? Hoo boy.

What I’d most like to see is a good game from Chris Bosh. He needs it, and we need to see it from him. I don’t necessarily need to see a 39 point, 16 rebound night. Just a solid 24 on 8-13 shooting - no three-pointers - and 8-10 from the free throw line, with 11 boards would be nice. Something to remind us that he’s an all-star level player. Because he hasn’t been playing like it lately. Come on, Chris, we know you have it in you. Bring it tonight, my friend.

I’d also like to see Kapono get back on track. He was rock solid his first two games as a starter, and disappointing the past three. He didn’t even take a triple last game, and I thought we’d worked through that phase where he thought he was allergic to the three-point line. I’d like to see him get back on track.

As for the other struggling Raptor… well, I don’t really know what to say about Andrea Bargnani. Hey, I remember he had a four-point play against the Sonics two seasons ago. Maybe he can get something like that today and that’ll be the slump buster. He’s missing three-quarters of his shots these days, and most aren’t even close… he really needs to get something going on offense. I still like his defense and shot-blocking, but his rebounding isn’t good enough for us to play 4 on 5 with him on offense.

Well, I believe that, even with their struggles, the Raptors can take this one. I’d like it to be a blowout like last Friday’s game in Jersey, but I suspect it won’t be. Raptors by 8.

Well, the Raptors are inching back closer to respectability thanks to two straight wins. No, neither opponent was a world-beater, so it doesn’t make sense to get too excited, but the Nets are above us in the standings, and as I said the other day, wins are wins!

And, as we all know, there was a little extra motivation for last night’s game.

It sure seemed to pay off, as the Raps earned their first blowout win of the year - Chris Bosh and and Jose Calderon got the fourth quarter off! I didn’t see that coming.

As for Vince, you’ve all heard the story by now - 0-13, only 3 pts on 3-4 foul shooting. Hate to blow my own horn, but didn’t I just say he was due for a bad game? Now, maybe, can we stop the “he plays so great against the Raptors!” comments.

To be honest, I was more worried about Devin Harris going into the game than Vince. Harris has been playing so well, and our perimeter defense - especially that of Jose Calderon - had been so weak, I thought Harris would go off. But, credit Jay Triano for giving Harris a multitude of looks - Calderon, the strong Joey Graham and the long Jamario Moon - to keep Harris off-balance. He finished 4-10 for 14 points.

The first half sure was a sloppy affair, with only Bosh really finding a groove; both sides missed a ton of open looks and the combined 74 points at halftime wasn’t pretty.

But Jason Kapono found his groove in the third with three threes and the Raptors sealed the deal early.

For the second straight game the Raptors held an opponent under 35% shooting. Crappy opponents, or good defense? I’d like to think it was a combo of both. I mean, you look at the Pacers and Nets; both were averaging just over 100 points per game going into their contests with the Raps (on 45% shooting) and the Raps held them to 88 and 79 respectively, on 35% and 31% shooting, respectively. So you gotta give the defense some credit.

Credit the Raptors bench, too, for playing well, and not just holding the lead but building it. Raps won every quarter except the ugly third, where each team scored 16. Ukic, Graham and Bargnani all scored in double figures off the pine.

Unfortunately, Bargnani’s 11 came on 10 shots and he only hit two of them (got the rest of his points at the line). He was fine defensively - 11 boards and 4 blocks - but man, he has got to get that jump shot falling. Like last year, he’s rushing everything and nothing he shoots even looks like it has a chance to go in.

Jermaine O’Neal was also a non-factor; 2-9, 2 boards, 2 blocks. Bosh made up for the scoring, at least, going 6-8. But he only had 5 boards as the Raps were once again outrebounded 50-37.

Now, once again - as with the Indy game - the Nets’ low shooting percentage contributes to that number. You miss 57 shots, there’s a lot of offensive boards to be had - and the Nets got 20 offensive boards. At the end of the day, though, a 13-rebound differential is way too high, regardless of the shooting percentages.

So, once again, a quality win. Raps led most of the way, held every Nets run in check, and won going away. A much, much tougher test comes to town tomorrow with the Hornets, but at least these wins should give the Raps some confidence going into that one.

And yes… revenge is indeed, sweet. Thanks for another memorable one, Vince! See ya Monday!

It’s the Nets again, this time in New Jersey. I won’t go over the details of the last game against Vince and the boys - it’s too painful to think about - but we all remember it was a horrific loss, one of the worst in Raptors history.

It’ll also go down as one of the games - along with the Denver Debacle - that got Sam Mitchell fired. Hearing Colangelo say that he “just can’t get the New Jersey game out of my mind” following the coaching change was very telling.

The Raps may have won Wednesday, but they’ve still dropped 7 of their last ten. Meanwhile, the Nets lost Wednesday, but they’ve actually won 7 of 10.

Perhaps not coincidentally, both of those strings started that night in Toronto.

But, the past is the past and we’ll see tonight if the Raptors can avenge that loss, and we’ll see if “The Turnaround” really is in effect.

Devin Harris has been playing out his mind. Honestly, I never thought the guy was this good… but damn. 24.8 ppg on 49% shooting? 6.2 assists? Those are some pretty unbelievable numbers. Vince is putting up his usual 22/5/5, and together they form the highest-scoring backcourt in the NBA.

The Raps, obviously, need a repeat performance by the swingmen from Wednesday if they want to win tonight. If you’ll remember last game, Chris Bosh dominated the Nets up front - they really had no idea what to do with him - but I don’t think that’ll happen tonight, because Lawrence Frank is too smart for that. And he’s got history with shutting Bosh down.

He’ll realize this time out that letting Bosh get his isn’t the way to go, and that the better strategy - played out over these past 10 games - is to double and trap Bosh, and make the wings beat you. I’m certain we’ll see the Nets moving a lot faster on the double tonight.

That should free things up a little for Jermaine O’Neal, perhaps. O’Neal struggled last game, before going down in the third quarter with the knee injury, despite the fact that he was being guarded by rookie Brook Lopez. I’d really like to see Jermaine attack Lopez, especially if the Nets are paying extra attention to Bosh like I expect.

Defensively for the Raptors, I assume Jamario Moon and Jason Kapono will get the starting nods again tonight, and I assume we’ll see Moon guarding Vince and Kapono on Bobby Simmons. Simmons isn’t nearly as big a factor in the Nets offense as Carter, obviously - less than 7 shots a game and more than half of those are from downtown. So that should minimize Kapono’s defensive deficiencies, and if Moon can play with the energy he brought last game, he should be a little more effective at slowing down Vince than Kapono.

Bosh and O’Neal should have an advantage over Yi and Lopez, the real challenge - as always - will be keeping them, and their reserves Josh Boone and Ryan Anderson off the glass. Crafty vets like Bosh and O’Neal should be able to do so. I’d like to see both of them with double-doubles tonight.

Unfortunately, I really don’t really know how Calderon is going to be able to slow down Devin Harris. Harris has shown he can take just about anybody, and Calderon has trouble keeping guys in front of him, so this spells mismatch from start to finish. I just hope Calderon continues his aggressive play from the past couple of games and makes Harris work on the other end.

To be honest, these teams are a pretty cool mismatch on paper - the Nets are strong in the backcourt, the Raps are strong in the frontcourt. The former won game one, which will come out on top in game two?

Not only that, but we all know Lawrence Frank has owned Sam Mitchell for the past two years, so now we get a chance to see if a new coach can make some adjustments in turn. I think this is a great test for Triano; when the teams are evenly matched, the coach can make a big difference. Let’s see if Triano earns his pay tonight!

I have decided that positivity is the way to go, especially in games where the teams appear to be evenly matched. I choose to believe that the win the other night was the start of a good thing, and I believe they’ll continue that - and build on it - tonight in New Jersey.

Raptors by 7.

That feels a little better, doesn’t it? I’d almost forgotten what it was like to see the Raptors win.

Now, obviously, you can’t put too much stock into beating the 7-win, last-place Pacers. But when you’re coming off five straight losses, any win will do and besides, beating the teams you’re “supposed to beat” is the first step to becoming a good team.

So I’d hardly call it a great win, but it’s a start.

Most important thing the Raptors did last night, in my mind, was hold the lead. We’ve seen them blow enough double-digit leads this year to never feel safe, but the Raptors actually won every quarter - first time all year they’ve done that. The Pacers made a few small runs but the Raptors never let anything get out of hand.

Coach Jay Triano - picking up his first win, congrats - has said that a defensive priority would be to pack in the middle, taking away drives and easy baskets and making opponents beat them from the outside. That strategy seemed to work last night; the Raptors tried to take away the paint any time Marquis Daniels and TJ Ford drove the lane, and the Pacers shooters couldn’t connect from long range on the kick-outs. Of course, the Pacers still scored 34 points in the paint, so there’s still some work to be done; and you can’t expect all teams to shoot as poorly from range as the Pacers did (7-25 from three). But, it appears there is a system in place, and it appears that the Raptors might be starting to “get it.” Let’s see if it carries over to the Jersey game…

Rebounding was again an issue last night; the Pacers pulled down 18 offensive boards, and outrebounded the Raps 52-47. Now, give that an asterisk because the Pacers only shot 35% and missed 62 shots - a lot more opportunities for offensive boards than the Raptors, who only missed 41 of their 81 shots. But Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster - as expected - were dominant on the glass, with a combined 32. The Raptors simply need to box out better. And that’s on everybody - I saw Bosh fail to box out, and I saw Ukic leak out too soon. Top to bottom, every single player on this team needs to improve their rebounding efforts. As they’ve proven already this season - all too often - you won’t get many wins if you don’t hit the glass.

While Murphy and Foster were bringing their usual scrappiness, I have to say, I was particularly unimpressed with Danny Granger last night. This is a guy I thought was making “the leap” this year. I thought he had taken his game to the next level with a nice mix of inside and outside stuff. But he started out settling for long jumpers, and when they weren’t dropping… he continued settling for long jumpers. I thought he’d mix it up, find another way to get into the groove, but he didn’t look at all interested in the game. In fact, he looked like Bosh has looked for the past two weeks - disinterested and unmotivated. If he’d bother to read a scouting report, he’d know Jamario Moon jumps on every head fake he sees, but only once did I see him use one. He still led the Pacers with 22, but he was only 9-25 from the field - and 3-11 from downtown - and had just two foul shots, and no assists or steals. Just an energy-less performance.

As for Bosh, well, he coasted a bit last night as he’s been doing, but I’m pretty sure I also saw some pick and rolls with him and Jose, where he got the ball at the elbow, face-up - that’s where I like to see him get it. I also saw a number of times where he fought for good post position but the Raptors didn’t get him the ball. Is it just me, or is this team terrible at making entry passes to the post? Still, when he did have the ball, Bosh had some drives and some jumpers (most straight-up, not fadeaways), and thankfully, no three-point attempts. All in all, a decent game, and hopefully, one that gets him back on track.

Now, obviously, the big story last night - aside from the win - was actual, real, tangible wing play. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! The Raptors got production from the 2 and 3 spots!

Moon started in place of Bargnani - I for one didn’t see that coming - and he played his best game of the season. 17 points on 7-12 shooting, with 8 rebounds and that monster put-back dunk that was probably a goaltend. I can’t believe how high Moon was on that play. Meanwhile, although Granger coasted most of the game, Moon deserves a little credit for Granger’s 9-25 - he was getting a hand up and not making the shots easy ones.

Now, it wasn’t all great; while Moon had a couple of drives, I did feel like he settled for too many jumpers on the night. For once they were going in but until he starts hitting the 15-20 footer consistently, I’ll be cringing every time he rises up.

Kapono, meanwhile, started for an injured Anthony Parker, and played HIS best game of the season. 11-16, 3-7 from downtown, and he really mixed it up with some runners and floaters. He also pulled down eight rebounds! Yes, Marquis Daniels beat him to the rack on several occasions (finishing with 21) but Kapono was… adequate on defense. Hey, as long as he’s outscoring his counterpart, he’s doing his job!

Finally, our man Joey Graham proved yet again who is the superior Graham, with 12 points and a number of aggressive drives to the hoop. Stephen, meanwhile, didn’t score and picked up two offensive fouls in 8 minutes of play. I’d like to see Joey get more rebounds - only 2 in 25 minutes - but he played smart, under control, aggressive ball, which is exactly what we need from him.

Finally, we come to the men of the hour, Jose Calderon and TJ Ford. Ford was a non-factor; really, there just isn’t much to say. 2-8, 4 points, 4 assists. Calderon wasn’t at his best either, but he was solid - 11 points, 14 assists, and the dagger three to seal the victory.

As for the other tradees, Jermaine O’Neal and Rasho Nesterovic, Jermaine had a quiet 10-9 while Rasho had an even quieter goose egg (with 3 boards).

On the night it looks like the Raptors won the trade but really, none of the four was a big factor in the outcome. It was mainly decided by the wings. Graham, Kapono and Moon finished 22-35 for 55 points, while Granger, Daniels and Brandon Rush combined were 19-50 for 49. It’s been a long, long time since our wings outplayed anyone else’s. Lots of room for improvement, but good job, fellas.

Of course, not every Raptor got lifted by the good vibes. Andrea Bargnani had possibly his worst game of the season, notching a big fat zero in the points column. Four shots, four rebounds, four fouls, three turnovers. Looked completely lost on offense, like he had no idea where to go or what to do. Some of it’s on the coaches, no doubt; please, somebody, define this kid’s role and find some way for him to contribute! I note that he didn’t get much an opportunity to showcase his improved D last night, as he was playing against Rasho and Foster who don’t look to score much. But four fouls and four boards indicate he wasn’t exactly at the top of his game. Just really, really, disappointed in him the past couple of weeks. I really thought his improved play earlier in the year meant he was going to start finally reaching that elusive potential. Well, shame on me for believing. He fooled us all again.

Thankfully, the Raps didn’t need him last night. But overall they do need him. If he keeps having games like that, the Raptors aren’t going to win many.

So, anyway, not a great win, but a win nonetheless. The Raptors needed it. Is it the start of something special? Has “The Turnaround” begun? We’ll find out on Friday. A road win - they haven’t had a quality road win since… well, I guess maybe since the very first game of the year, at Philly? They’ve also beaten Charlotte on the road, but it’s Charlotte, and Miami, but they came thisclose to blowing that one.

Anyway, a road win in Jersey - a measure of revenge - would go a long way to restoring a little more of my faith in this team.

TJ Ford, Jermaine O’Neal, big trade, first game, Ford-Jose, blah blah blah. We know all about that and I blogged about the reception I expect TJ will get before (a likely mixture of boos and cheers, when it should be, in my opinion, all cheers) and while it makes for nice drama, it doesn’t matter one damn bit tonight.

If both teams were playing well and in the thick of it, I’d love the added drama. But both teams need a win in a big way so I really don’t give a crap about the rest. Winning is all that matters.

And besides, we all know the real matchup we want to see is Stephen Graham vs. Joey Graham!!

Seriously, looking at these two teams, you have to think that realistically the Pacers are actually better on paper than the Raptors. They’ve got a good point guard (obviously), but also a solid back-up in Jarrett Jack. There’s Danny Granger, who’s blossoming into an all-star. They’ve got Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster, who are pests around the glass (and Murphy can shoot, too). They’ve got our old friend Rasho Nesterovic, still solid in the middle, with 10 points and 5.4 boards in 25 minutes. Somehow, Marquis Daniels has resurrected his career, to the tune of 16 points and 6 boards a game as the starting 2-guard. And, they’re still missing Mike Dunleavy with some kind of knee trouble.

In other words, they’ve surrounding their budding star, Granger - who is capable of creating his own shot - with actual NBA talent. Actual NBA talent that has beaten both the Lakers and Celtics, and took the Celts to overtime last game before losing on Sunday.

Meanwhile we’ve got three quality NBA players in Bosh, O’Neal, and Calderon, and they’re all struggling. None of them can create their own shot. And the rest of our roster is a mess. We’re on a five-game losing streak with a point differential of minus-20.

All right, all right, I’ll stop taking shots at the roster, it’s getting tired. It’s not good. We all know it.

No word yet on whether or not Jay Triano switches Bargnani out of the starting lineup; I wasn’t sure yesterday if this was the right move, but today - after watching Bargnani struggle to do anything productive even in garbage time - I’m pretty damn close to calling Joey Graham’s number. In fact I may have down so this morning but I was still kinda fuming from the game and not really in my right mind. Look at the numbers it seems clear that Joey’s earned it… But I still hesitate because we’ve all seen enough “bad Joey” to know this might be a huge mistake.

Still, anyone can see that Bargnani can’t guard threes. At least it’s Graham’s natural position. No one knows what the hell Bargnani is, but it’s becoming clear, it’s not a three.

And with Humphries still sidelined, doesn’t it make sense to keep Bargnani on the bench to back up JO and Bosh? I dunno… I fully understand the “play your best five guys” mindset… but it doesn’t appear to be working right now. How long do you stick with it?

Now, I know Triano is installing his new offense, and I like a lot of the movement that we see out of guys like Parker and Kapono. But you can’t forget the pick and roll. It shouldn’t be used every play, obviously, as it was earlier this year, but you can’t deny that Chris and Jose are effective out of it. So even though we need new things on offense, I’d still like to see those two in the pick and roll a few times a game. We need to get Chris going and the pick and roll is a way to do that. The play itself was never bad, but the amount we were using it was. So don’t throw the play away “just because.”

And when you consider that Murphy isn’t a great defender, Bosh should have an advantage there.

Rebounding continues to be an issue for the Raptors. I just don’t understand why they don’t box out. I know it’s “easy to say, harder to do” but come on… this is basic basketball, and you know, basic common sense - as Jack pointed out yesterday, a long shot from the left corner is likely going to bounce long right. So be prepared on that side! (Joey wasn’t in this case yesterday). And it’s not like we’re running a small lineup out there! Box out, for fuck’s sake.

I spoke earlier of “The Turnaround.” I’m capitalizing it now because it’s that important. We need something to swing our way, and we need it to last for a decent stretch, and we need it soon. Even a four wins/two losses stretch over the next six games would do, just to give the team - and its fans - some confidence.

If The Turnaround started against TJ and the Pacers, well, that would be just a little sweeter, wouldn’t it?

You know what, fuck the negativity. We may be down, but we’re not out, right? I still have faith in my team. Not much - I’m digging down low to get it - but it’s there. I believe in the Raptors. I believe they’ll come out fired up, because it’s the Pacers, and because they need a win and they know it. I believe they’re tired of losing. I believe they’re getting Triano’s system down and that it’s gonna start coming together.

I believe! The Turnaround starts tonight!

Raptors by 10.

The Raptors head down the road to Cleveland tonight to face the Cavs in what is sure to be another road drubbing.

Now, we all know how horrendous that west coast trip was, but let’s look at some stats here. In the Raps’ past three road games, they were outscored by an average of 26 points, giving up 119 a game; they shot only 39.5%, and allowed their opponents to shoot 53.9%; they were outrebounded 50.6/37.6, a minus-13 differential.

So that’s how the Raps have been doing on the road lately. Cleveland, meanwhile, is 11-0 at home, where they shoot 50.6 per cent and score 107.5 points per game. They also happen to have the best rebounding differential in the league, and hold opponents to the lowest shooting percentage in the league. Given that we don’t rebound and we take mostly jump shots, well…

Oh, and in case you forgot, they also have that LeBron James guy. He’s, um, pretty good.

He’s no doubt salivating at the prospect of taking on Andrea Bargnani and our motley cast of small forwards. Andrea obviously can’t guard James (no one can, but LeBron will embarrass Andrea I expect) but he can’t even do anything to offset James on the other end. James is strong enough and quick enough to take away any advantage Andrea might have. The thought of the Andrea/LeBron matchup turns my stomach… expect James to have 30 by halftime.

Regardless of the matchup, Andrea, to say the least, is struggling right now. I’m really not sure what to make of him, or his role on this team. His defensive improvements are significant, and gives me hope that maybe some of his less-defensively-minded teammates might also be able to improve. I love the 1.68 blocks per game.

But I wonder about his offensive role as the starting SF. He doesn’t get many touches when he starts, since Bosh and O’Neal are - rightfully - the focal points. Even when he has a significant matchup advantage - like the other night against 6′6″ CJ Miles - the Raptors never go to him in the post. It’s hard to find enough touches with all those guys out there, and besides, the refs seem to call him for a lot of really cheap fouls in the post.

When he plays at the other forward spot or center, he’s generally quicker than most bigs but still a little awkward on his feet; he gets a lot of travel calls or offensive fouls, and doesn’t draw many fouls (he’s shooting 92% from the line but gets there less than twice a game.) He’s still got the advantage that most opposing bigs won’t come out to guard him, but his shot, sadly, isn’t falling consistently.

Here’s some stats. First 8 games of the season, off the bench:

9.4 ppg, on 54% shooting (50% from three), with 4 boards a game.

Next 5, as the starting small forward:

17 ppg, on 47% shooting (46% from three), with 5.6 boards a game.

Then after O’Neal went down he switched to starting C for three games, then moved back to starting SF the past three:

8.8 points, on 32% shooting (23% from three) with 6 boards a game.

As you can see, a sharp decline in the shooting percentages. He’s reached double-figures just once in the past five games. If he’s not scoring he’s not taking advantage of his abilities on offense, and since most of the time opposing SFs have an offensive advantage (in quickness) on him, he’s really not helping the team by starting. For all his defensive improvements, there isn’t anyone of his size and foot speed that can D up one on one against an athletic SF. His defensive abilities are much better suited to a center or PF role, where he can match speed with opposing players and be in position to help out on defense with the shot blocking.

So what’s the answer? I hate to take him out of the starting lineup because I think part of the problem last year was he was jerked around so much… but I really think he might be more effective off the bench, playing PF or C. There’s just not enough room on the floor or enough touches for him, JO and Bosh, and with his shooting slump, you wouldn’t wanna give it to him anyway. Perhaps playing against second-string centers and forwards he might get it back?

Of course, that leaves the question of who you start in his place. Moon can’t start, because, well, he’s been awful all year. He won’t drive and his defense has regressed about a million-fold. Remember that game last year where he locked down Shawn Marion and wouldn’t even let him get the ball? Now his “defense” consists of jumping at every head fake he sees.

Then there’s Kapono… at the start of the year, I thought he’d be the best starter, but that assumed he’d find his role on offense - in other words, launching jumpers. The way he’s playing, with that “dribble-off-my leg” drive and the “I don’t want to shoot unless I’ve got 10 feet” mindset, he wouldn’t provide enough on offense to make up for what he’d give up on D.

There’s only one guy who’s played his way into an increased role, and that’s Joey Graham. He’s played great as of late, being aggressive on both ends of the floor and not making too many mistakes. Problem with Joey is that there’s a 99.99 per cent chance he’ll regress back to his usual boneheaded ways and then what do you do? Make yet another lineup change? Is that really what we want?

I really don’t know the answer here… well, the real answer is “make a trade for a real wing player” but since that’s not going to happen… I guess you throw your best five guys out there and hope for the best! And that’s JO, Bosh, Parker, Jose… and Bargnani.

Tonight, that best won’t be anywhere near enough. It’s not gonna be a pretty one, folks. I almost don’t want to watch because I just know it’s gonna be ugly. Like “I want to stick a fork in my eye” ugly.

I’m sure a lot of you are thinking that the Raps might have turned things around Sunday, that they played a lot better and it might be the start of some good things. But I just can’t put much stock into a loss where they blew a 16-point lead to a West-coast team playing their final game of a five-game East-coast road trip. They did some good things, for sure, but doing them at home against a tired Blazers team is not the same as doing them on the road against the best home team in the league.

I didn’t think the Cavs would be any better this year than they were last year - all they really added was Mo Williams and I didn’t think he’d make much of an impact. But I guess he has, and perhaps a training camp with all the pieces from last year’s trade - Wally S, Delonte West and Ben Wallace - has made the chemistry better. Or maybe LeBron is just that good.

Regardless, this team has the right pieces at the right positions, they’ve got a deep bench, and they’ve put together an amazing start to this season. Since the Raptors’ roster is full of holes, they’ve got no bench and they’ve proven that they simply can’t compete with good teams, especially on the road, this will be a joke of a game and an easy Cleveland win.

Cavs by 37.

What is it that comes after panic mode? Acceptance? I guess that’s it. I’ve kind of accepted that this Raptors team, regardless of who’s coaching it, just doesn’t have it this year. The roster is simply missing too many ingredients and there’s no way to add them to the mix. The playoffs seem like a pipe dream and I’m just hoping for some entertainment the rest of the way.

At least I got that yesterday; it was a very enjoyable game to watch. Both teams made runs, both teams had double digit leads, both teams hit big shots. There were blocked shots, hustling for loose balls, even a bloodied Chris Bosh. It was a hard-fought game all the way.

Naturally, the Raptors’ Achilles heels were exposed at the end of the game, and Portland fired their arrows right in there. Rebounding and point guard defense killed the Raps’ on Portland’s final possession, and then on the final play, not having a wing player who can create offense proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Amazingly enough, Achilles Heel #4 - wing defense - wasn’t apparent in yesterday’s loss. Yes, Brandon Roy hit a big jumper late, but he was really a non-factor all game, scoring 15 on 6-16 and not really being a factor. Kudos to Anthony Parker for the job he did on Roy.

I still can’t get over that final play. Why would Bosh get the ball 30 feet from the rim? And if that was a busted play, as Triano hinted, you’d think Jose Calderon would sprint to Bosh and take over. But if you watched the play, you saw that Calderon did not move an inch from his spot in the far corner. Seriously, watch it. His feet never move.

Calderon is the only guy who even has a hint of ability to take a guy off the dribble (well, maybe Joey Graham does, but we’re not putting the ball in his hands, obviously). The pick and roll, amazingly enough, had been working all game - Calderon went to the rim for the first time in about three weeks, and he did it more than once. Why not go back to that? Was having Chris Bosh create off the bounce from beyond the three-point-line the best idea? I think not.

(Also not impressed with Triano’s “explanation” - “I’m not gonna tell you what was supposed to happen as we want to use it again sometime.” First of all, you wanna use that AGAIN? Yikes. And second, that sounds an awful lot like an excuse. I mean all he had to say was “we wanted to do this,” you didn’t have to explain the intricacies of it. So it makes me wonder just what it was they wanted to do, if he couldn’t even put it into words? Fishy.)

Of course, it should never have come to that; the Raps should have corralled the rebound on the previous play, or on Oden’s missed foul shot, or about a dozen other times. Say what you will about Oden - that he looks slow, that he travels every time he catches the ball (Seriously, watch his feet. He picks up his dribble, THEN hop-steps, then shoots. But since he looks like a 12-year vet, he gets 12-year vet calls. That’s the only way I can explain it), that he had about 14 three-second violations that weren’t called… but, the man knows how to box out. Even when he didn’t get boards, our guys simply couldn’t get around him.

A -17 on the rebounds, and outrebounded 18-4 on the offensive end. Ugh. Combined 17 boards from Bosh, O’Neal and Bargnani in 96 minutes. Woeful.

So, it’s a four-game skid, with a trip to red-hot Cleveland tomorrow night. It’s not good folks. They’re last in their division, and on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.

But, if you wanna look at the bright side, here’s some thoughts…

They were 7-12 two years ago, and would go to 7-14, before going 40-21 the rest of the way.

They’re only a half-game out of a playoff spot

As the TV crew pointed out yesterday about 1,173 times, the Raptors had the second-toughest early-season schedule in the NBA.

We appear to be healthy (yep, I’m reaching here).

Joey Graham is opening some eyes (really reaching).

We almost won without our star Kris Humphries! (OK, I’m done).

I gather people think yesterday was something to build on but to me, it was more of the same. Outrebounded again. Another blown lead. Another opposing PG comes up big against us. The usual roster holes exposed. Unable to execute down the stretch.

Just another day in Raptorland.

If you wanted an entertaining game, you got that, and that’s an improvement over the last week. But at this point, I wouldn’t expect much else from these Raptors.

Well, it was another disheartening loss for the Raptors in the coaching debut of Jay Triano, a 114-87 drubbing at the hands of the Utah Jazz.

I really though they’d be inspired and play with energy, and the energy would carry them to a win. Instead they looked like they didn’t care.

Offensively, we saw some new things and while they missed a lot of shots, they got some good shots - open shots - they hadn’t been getting before. Hopefully as everyone gets comfortable in the offense those shots will drop.

Defensively, unfortunately, it was the same old garbage. Terrible rotations. Non-existent weakside help. Matodor defense. Getting burned by the same things over and over and over. Really, watching that game, you felt like the Jazz could do whatever the heck they wanted, when they wanted.

Can coaching change that? I really don’t know. I hope so. But it better happen fast.

One extremely disappointing thing to note, Chris Bosh was manhandled by Paul Millsap. Why the heck wasn’t Bosh on Okur and O’Neal on Millsap? And why didn’t Bosh use his quickness on Millsap, instead of settling for fadeaway jumpers? He was the least aggressive Raptor on the floor last night.

Overall, just incredibly disappointed in this Raptors team for not playing with more energy and aggression for the new coach. Bosh said the other day, “we’re still 8-9,” implying the season is far from over. But as I’ve been saying all along, if you don’t correct the things that aren’t working, quickly, then 8-9 becomes 8-12, and 12-22, and 22-40, and so on. Take a look at the schedule, Chris. This season is slipping away and you better start playing with some urgency if you want that to change.

Well, finally I was right in one of my predictions! Lakers by 13.Tough loss, but an expected one. Man, the Lakers are good. Like, real good. Overall, while it may have looked like the Raptors stayed in it, I never really believed they were; the Lakers looked like they could just put it away at any time. Oh well, at least it was entertaining!

It really is unfortunate that Jermaine O’Neal couldn’t play last night; his absence meant Andrew Bynum was guarding Bosh, and he’s just too physical for Bosh. Had the matchup been Gasol/Bosh and Bynum/O’Neal, I guarantee Bosh would not have had the sub-par game he did. Bosh just couldn’t get it going with the bigger Bynum on him.

Bynum really used his size well, too. He gave just enough space that he could get a hand up on Bosh’s jumper, but also to take away the drive. He moves his feet well and he knows how to use that wide upper body. I’m disappointed Bosh didn’t have a bigger impact on the game, sure, but I give credit to Bynum and I place some of the blame on O’Neal’s absence.

As for the rest of the Raps, well, there’s not a whole lot to say. Anthony Parker had a solid shooting night, and did a decent job on Kobe Bryant… well, actually, I can’t really say that. For one, Parker had two early fouls and so Joey Graham and Jamario Moon guarded him for much of the first half. And Kobe didn’t even play in the fourth, so the 23 total points is a little misleading. On top of that, well, it’s Kobe … he made every basket he made look so easy, and he clearly knows he doesn’t have to score a bunch for the team to win. To be honest, I was more impressed with Kobe’s performance in this game than I’ve been in him in a while. He looked like part of a team, not just like a guy with some teammates.

Anyway, back to the Raps, Kapono, Jose, Moon and Bargnani all reached double figures; you have to figure if Bosh had a better game maybe it would have been closer? (Though then Kobe likely would have taken over the fourth).

Although Bargnani was a little off (took him 14 shots to get his 14 points), he had another solid defensive game, with 11 boards and four blocks; in fact, he should be working on putting together an instructional video for Jamario Moon called “How to not leave your feet on pump fakes.”

I’m actually really fascinated with the way this has turned out. Last year, both of them jumped at fakes and shooters constantly. Jamario is athletic enough to not pick up so many fouls, but Andrea’s not - he got a lot of pine time from foul trouble of this sort.

Over the summer, by all accounts, Bargnani worked his ass off; meanwhile Jamario was getting busy making babies and not practicing.

This year, Bargnani’s defense has improved about a thousandfold (and after 15 games - some at PF, some at SF, some at C, some starting, some off the bench, and solid defense in all of them - I’m willing to officially call it an improvement and not an early-season anomaly) while Moon’s has stayed the same (if not gotten worse). It’s a veritable billboard for offseason training.

While Joey Graham missed getting a third straight double-figure game, I thought he played with good energy again, enough to keep him in the rotation, anyway.

Overall, I really can’t complain about the way the Raptors played; you don’t expect them to win games against teams like LA and Boston, but you expect them to come to play, to give it 100 percent, to compete. Last Sunday against Boston, they didn’t do any of those things, and they got blown out in the first quarter, never made a run, and got booed.

Last night they didn’t get blown away, they played hard, made runs several times to stay in the game - even if they never really made it “close,” they provided the fans with some entertainment. I don’t have any complaints about that.

Hopefully we’ll be back tomorrow talking about the return of Jermaine O’Neal. Come on, big guy, we need you out there!

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.