Well, I think we can all agree the Raptors got lucky last night.

Surging to a 12-point lead with 4:47 to go and getting just about anything they wanted on offense, the Raptors looked poised to cruise. But they continued to give up open 3-pointers - the Nets took 32 of them and I’m willing to wager 30 were taken without a defender in reach - and the Nets got right back in it, going on an 11-2 run in two minutes to cut the lead to 104-101.

After a solid possession that led to two Bosh free throws and a silly foul by Bobby Simmons that gave Parker a pair (though naturally, he went 1-2) the Raps stretched it back to six with 1:59 to go. Bobby Simmons then missed a three, the “crowd” quieted, and I started to feel comfortable again… silly me.

At the end of an absolutely abysmal Raptors possession that saw Bosh get the ball 20 feet from the hoop on the right wing, stand there for five seconds- literally, not even dribbling - and then pass the ball back to Jose with four seconds on the clock, Jose was forced to take a long three pointer (short, naturally), the Nets raced back and Vince Carter drained a triple. Three point game.

Bosh then pulled a weak-ass reverse move on Lopez on the baseline; there was contact, yes, and I guarantee had he taken it straight up strong he would have gotten the call - but the refs don’t (usually) reward players for going away from contact, so no call was made, and Harris walked right through the non-existent Toronto transition D to cut the lead to 1.

The next Raptors possession was virtually identical to the one two plays before - only Bosh was maybe a foot closer and the ensuing Calderon jumper was only a two. Another miss. Sigh. Nets ball.

What happened next deserves some scrutiny. First, one has to wonder why New Jersey didn’t call time out; with 19 or so seconds to go, and Lawrence Frank pretty good at drawing up end-of-game plays (alley-oop dunk to win, anyone?), you’d think they’d set something specific. Still, Frank obviously has confidence in his guys to do the right thing, and Harris’ crossover on Graham to create space was a thing of beauty. Luckily for the Raps, he simply missed the shot. There were about three seconds left when he released, it took a high rebound, Parker hauled it in and the clock expired. Game over (although according to reports, Matt Devlin thought it was going to OT - I was watching the Nets’ feed so I’m not sure, but we might have to start calling him Chris Childs).

So, the other oddity - combined with not calling a timeout - was why Harris waited so long - he didn’t really give his team a chance at a tip-in or second chance, or, if the Raps’ rebounded it, to foul right away and get the ball back after the Raptors’ free throws, down 1 or 2 with a chance at a last-second shot. Also, consider this; my memory (might be wrong) is that the Nets only had one timeout left, so when Harris didn’t call it, maybe the thought was, “we’ll save it for that last-second shot if we miss and they get the free throws, and we need to draw up a play.”

So he wasted the time AND the timeout. Clearly not the best clock management ever seen, but still… that unstoppable step-back crossover is a great move, and I’m willing to bet if he did that 10 more times, he’d hit eight of them. And of course, you can make the argument that if you make the shot, you don’t want to give the other team the chance for a last-second winner (though if you’ve watched the Raps in a close game this year, you can be pretty confident they won’t even get a shot off, let alone score.)

So yeah, the Raptors were lucky. But you know what, every team needs a break now and then. The Raptors have had a few bounces go the wrong way (like a Steve Blake three off an offensive rebound) so they deserved to have one go their way. And, I believe that good teams need a few breaks, and that such things can snowball into more good things. If I recall, the 06-07 team that made that huge run got a bunch of breaks too (like MoPete’s hail mary against Washington, or AP banking in a long jumper to seal a victory in Detroit) so maybe it’s a sign that this team is on the right track.

Still, three straight wins against sub-.500 opponents does not a season turnaround make - even if two of them are technically ahead of the Raptors. They still need to beat Milwaukee tomorrow night - and I really believe the Bucks have some Ewing Theory Potential with Redd out - and then the real test begins: Magic, Cavs in Cleveland, Lakers, Hornets in New Orleans. Can the Raps steal a couple of those? Until they prove they can beat some good teams, this team is still lottery bound in my eyes. Give me 5-3 in the remaining eight games before the all-star break and I’ll re-evaluate their chances.

Back to the game, well, I was dead wrong in my Bargnani prediction; he picked up three early fouls (at least two of them really chintzy calls) and another early in the third and never got into a rhythm. I felt like Triano left him sitting too long after he picked up #4 (I would have put him back in at the start of the fourth), but Jay said afterward the team on the floor (a smallball team of Calderon, Parker, Graham, one of Moon/Kapono and one of Bosh/O’Neal) was in a good rhythm, and he was right - when Andrea came out, with 7:38 left in the third, the Raptors were down by two, but by the end of three, were up 7, so why not stick with what was working. Hopefully Bargnani’s psyche isn’t so fragile that one game bad game will send him back into a funk like he was in earlier this year.

Bosh didn’t have a great game either, and he must have had a big bag of movie popcorn before the game - with extra butter. Four turnovers, only six boards? Sheesh. Why can’t he hang on to the ball all of a sudden? O’Neal had a decent contribution of 8 and 4, though I don’t know how he picked up 5 fouls in 20 minutes.

The Raptors got most of their production from the 1-2-3 spots. Shocking, I know. Calderon’s shooting finally cooled off and he committed two turnovers, but he still scored 17 and added 11 assists. Anthony Parker continued his great all-around play, scoring 21 with 7 boards and 6 assists. Kapono wasn’t completely awful - he even took a couple of threes! - and Graham and Moon each made their presence felt (combined 25 on 8-11 shooting, 9 boards, 3 blocks).

In fact I have to give Joey extra props here. In the fourth quarter as the Nets made a run, you had to be feeling that the Raps would sink back into their habit of shooting long jumpers. But not Joey - he was aggressive and attacking every chance he got, getting to the line nine times.

For the Nets, Harris is definitely the engine powering that team. The Raptors could not stop his penetration and he kicked it out for open threes from Vince, Dooling and Simmons, multiple times. He finished with 25 and 10 (though naturally, all anyone will remember is the miss) and he impacts the game whenever he has the ball. The entire defense has to react to him, he is that fast and that slippery in the lane. I have no doubt that he’s an all-star this season, and I suspect the coaches see that too.

Carter looked like he was gonna have one of “those” games - you know, the ones where he scores 40 - early on. He hit four threes in the first four minutes of the game! He ended up with 27, 10 and 5, on 9-21 shooting (I predicted 26, 7 and 5 on 10-18. I think I got this science down!). Simmons and Dooling hit 8-14 from downtown. 8-14! That’s crazy. Ryan Anderson was a non-factor as the Nets went small most of the night, but Brook Lopez made the most of his 35 minutes, going 7-10 and playing some decent D. Only four boards, though, and the Raptors - despite only getting 7 total boards from the “killer B’s” - outrebounded the Nets by 3.

It’s still a little hard to believe the Raptors have won three in a row. First time since the first week of the season… that’s insane. It’s nice to see though. Even if it doesn’t last, it was nice to get a couple quality wins and catch a break down the stretch of one. Let’s hope they can keep it up!

Tags: Chris Bosh, Devin Harris, Jose Calderon, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But not much of one.

Bulls by 11.

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

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

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

Tags: Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Jose Calderon, NBA All-Star Game, Toronto Raptors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Allen Iverson, Chris Bosh, Detroit Pistons, Rasheed Wallace, Toronto Raptors

Well, looks like another entertaining game, and another blown win for the Raps. Sigh. You realize they’ve lost the last six games by an average of five a night? That in three of those losses, they were winning at the end of the third quarter?

If I can’t make it any more obvious: This team just can’t finish.

You know what’s interesting, is that over the past few years, we’ve all derided Sam Mitchell’s Xs and Os as the reason the Raps never seemed to score at the end of quarters or out of timeouts, and never seemed to execute when the game was close.

Yet here we’ve got a new coach and nothing’s changed.

Now, it’s possible Jay’s Xs and Os aren’t very good either. But I think it’s more likely that Sam’s assertion - “we draw up the plays, it’s up to the guys to execute them,” implying the guys on the floor simply don’t execute in the clutch - is actually the truth.

Look at the end of quarters 1-3 against Atlanta:

1: Raps get ball back with 23 seconds to go; Roko dribbles the ball off his foot, right to Flip Murray with 2 seconds to go. Can’t blame Jay for that one.

2: Raps get ball back with seven seconds to go; Bargnani turns it over, Moon fouls Joe Johnson with a second left, he hits both free throws and the quarter ends. Can’t blame Jay for that one.

3: Raps get ball back with 10 seconds left; Roko doesn’t attack, so the Hawks don’t have to use their foul to give until the three second mark. And somehow, Jake freakin’ Voskuhl ends up with the ensuing inbounds (and not surprisingly, misses a 17-footer). Might be on Jay for designing a play where Voskuhl end ups with the ball or even has Voskuhl in the game… but Roko needs to be aware of the clock and the foul situation.

4: With 50 seconds to go, trailing by one, Bosh loses the ball to Josh Smith - not Jay’s fault. Evans blows a crazy layup the other way - lucky break for the Raps. Parker pushes the ball ahead, but before anyone even gets down to set up the offense… Jamario Moon LAUNCHES A THREE. With 20 seconds on the shot clock and 35 on the game clock. Urgh. But definitely not Jay’s fault.

After Johnson hits a fadeaway to make the lead three, Raps get the ball back with 12 seconds to go. After a scramble, Kapono attempts an off-balance pass to Bargnani, or maybe it’s a shot, I’m really not sure. Either way, it’s deflected, but Kapono gets it back and launches an off-balance three with two seconds left. Airball. Game over.

In summary, the Hawks scored the final points of each quarter, and ended the game on a 7-2 run. They won by three. That tell you how important it is to finish quarters? And just how bad the Raps are at finishing? Sigh. But the point is, I don’t think you can blame Jay for the turnovers, or Moon and Kapono’s bad decision making. At the most, the blame is equal, but I’m starting to think more and more that Mitchell was right all along.

The end of the fourth was particularly hard on Moon. Bosh apparently chewed him out after Moon gave up a drive and a foul to Joe Johnson that cut the Raps lead to one with just over a minute left. Moon proceeded to bite on a Bibby pump fake on the next Hawks possession, which gave the Hawks the lead after Bibby hit the foul shots. That led to the final 50 seconds described above. Moon’s definitely the goat today, although Bosh’s last-minute turnover, Roko’s 5 turnovers, and Andrea’s 2-8 second half shooting didn’t help.

In the post-game, Bosh continued to talk about making the playoffs and playing with a sense of urgency. It’s entirely possible he’s just delusional, but on the other hand, maybe he really believes it, and it’s great to see that passion. I’m happy he hasn’t quit on the team or season, because, let’s be honest, he could. He has limited teammates around him, his point guard is injured, his coach was fired, his “genius” GM seems shockingly ineffectual at the moment… you know there are a lot of NBA players out there who would quit in this situation or just play out the string without caring. But Bosh is still battling, still playing hard, still getting upset about losses. I like to see that.

As for Bosh’s role in clutch situations… well, I agree completely with Doug Smith on the point that it’s not a good thing that your power forward is the only guy capable of stepping up to make big shots. Power forwards in general are not creators, they need someone to get them the ball in a good position to score. They aren’t generally asked to create off the dribble and break their man down to get a clutch basket, which is what you need in end of game situations - just ask Joe Johnson.

Unfortunately, there’s nobody on this team capable of doing that and as the best all-around player, the task falls to Bosh. He’s proven the past few games that he’s not really up to that task, and that’s unfortunate… but he shouldn’t be taking the heat for it that he is, because it shouldn’t be his role. Yes, absolutely, he could do a better job than he’s done; he’s proven in the past his best move is to take the ball and attack with zero hesitation because he’s pretty damn quick. If the defense recovers, he generally works the spin pretty well or should be able to kick out. He didn’t do that against Chicago, and last night he moved quick but dribbled the ball of his hip - Josh Smith is actually one of the few defenders who can stay with him.

It would be nice if Triano could come up with a play call to get Bosh the ball in a better position to score; but, that would require the other four players to execute screens and cuts and get the ball to him. If Triano doesn’t trust them to do that (especially with Jose out), well, I can’t really blame him… can you? Hell, half the time they can barely even get the ball inbounds!

What it comes down to is this: Bosh is a great player, a fantastic all-around talent that you can, in fact, build a team around. But one of the pieces he needs is a small forward or shooting guard that can create his own shot. The Raptors have not had that since Vince Carter was here. That’s why you always saw TJ Ford taking the end-of-quarter shots - he could break ankles, unfortunately, he was a terrible finisher and didn’t usually hit the shots he created. Until the Raps have someone like that to at least be a threat to finish then Bosh will continue to be ineffective in the role.

As for the non-trade talk, it would appear nothing is happening on the Jermaine O’Neal front, including JO spending time with his teammates. I can’t believe this isn’t a bigger issue to our “sports media.” Look, I appreciate how hard the guy has played when he has played. There’s no question he gives his best effort on the court. But why on earth can’t he sit on the bench with his teammates? Please, please, stop with the lame-ass “treatment” excuses. There’s no way in hell he was in the visitor’s locker room in Atlanta receiving treatment all game long. You don’t go on road trips to get “treatment.” This is just weird and getting weirder.

Anyway, for the trade itself, it seems to be in some holding pattern, we’ll see if it goes down today or what. I still don’t know if Marion is the right guy - as I just said, it’s clearly evident this team needs someone who can create their own shot and that’s not Marion - but he is a huge upgrade over Moon or Graham at SF, and he, you know, plays, unlike O’Neal.

Ultimately, though, Marion is only here until the end of this year (his contract is up and no way in hell does he resign here) so he won’t be making much difference for the Raps. Even if he was the player they need or if they make a trade for a scorer, it won’t help this season. For whatever reason, Colangelo waited far, far too long to make a trade and now it’s too late. This should have happened by the end of December when there was still time to turn it around; it was obvious to all of us the Raps needed a trade (see my Raptors-Mavericks preview from December 17: I thought a trade would be made that week). Why wasn’t it obvious to Colangelo? Why did he wait?

I guess we’ll never know, but we know he waited too long.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hawks by six.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Atlanta Hawks, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, Toronto Raptors

Well, last night’s lacklustre effort hardly seems worth writing about. Yeah, they teased us with a fun comeback before Jason “Travelin’ Man” Kapono walked away with it, but to get down 24 after three quarters? Pathetic.

As the Raptors have struggled this season, I’ve wrestled with one question in my mind. Actually, there’ve been many questions, but one key one is this:

When does “there’s still time to turn it around” become “it’s too late to turn it around?”

You can never say never in pro sports, that’s for sure. Plenty of strange things have happened.

But barring something miraculous, unexpected, divine, whatever you want to call it, I think this moment, right now - the halfway point of the season, with the Raptors nine games under .500 - we have officially reached the “it’s too late” point.

It’s over.

Think about it. 16-25, with 41 games to go. That means a 24-17 record just to get to 40 wins, which is probably what will be required of the 8th playoff seed.

Given the Raptors’ play this season, do you - does anyone - think that is possible? Again, “anything is possible” but don’t forget another saying: “you are what your record says you are.” The Raps are a sub-par eastern conference team. They have one three-game winning streak all season, and four streaks of three or more losses. There’s simply zero evidence to suggest that this team can go on the sort of winning streak it requires to climb out of a nine-game hole. The team is too inconsistent, doesn’t defend or rebound well enough, to string wins together.

The Raptors won’t win 40 games and they won’t make the playoffs. Heck, even if they do win 40 and sneak in, by all accounts this season is an abject failure. The expectations, I believe, were 48 wins and a playoff round victory. So 40 wins and a playoff loss are still a failure.

For whatever reason - whether it was his own stubbornness or the lack of a good offer - Bryan Colangelo did not make a deal that could push the team to the next level. It was clear after Triano lost 8 of his first 10 games that Sam Mitchell wasn’t the issue - it was the talent on the roster. Yet Colangelo didn’t make a move to fix it. You can claim “patience” if you like, but you’d think a “basketball genius” like Colangelo would realize that a roster whose four best players are three power forwards and a point guard - along with the worst collection of wing players in the NBA - wasn’t going to win many games.

I know, hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take 40 games to realize the roster isn’t good enough - after 24 it was clear, and a move should have been made right away.

Now, it’s too late. Even a JO for Shawn Marion trade - which, even though I don’t like Marion in general, looks it would be perfect for both teams - would be too little too late.

Nine games under .500! I still can’t believe it’s gotten this bad. And the thing is, the schedule doesn’t really get better until after the all-star break. Before then, the Raps play Phoenix, Altanta, Detroit, Chicago, Sacramento, Jersey, Milwaukee, Orlando, Cleveland, the Lakers, New Orleans, Memphis, Minnesota, and San Antonio. That stretch encompasses two three-game road trips. How many of those are realisitically winnable? Four, maybe five? Even if we go 6-8 that leaves us a record of 22-33. 11 games under at the all-star break? Yeah, this thing just isn’t happening.

It’s a shame because all of this only makes Chris Bosh’s decision in 2010 a lot easier. In fact, he basically gets off scott-free - he may decide to bolt but no one will blame him, as the team didn’t add any talent around him. This isn’t a McGrady situation, where he leaves just as the team is getting good because he wants to get his own. This isn’t a Carter situation, where the team signed all the guys he wanted and then he complained it wasn’t good enough. This is Colangelo’s team, and Bosh signed his last extension with the understanding Colangelo would improve the roster. He hasn’t; all he’s done is add players that play the same position! So who can blame Bosh for leaving? Not me.

So, we get to struggle through, will miss the playoffs and end up picking, what, 10th, in a weak draft? A no-impact player who’s gonna sit on our roster taking up cap space. Great.

Meanwhile, without an O’Neal trade, we’ll still be over the cap in the summer, with a huge hole at shooting guard (Parker, Graham and Moon will all be free agents, although Graham has a team option). There’ll be about an 8-million dollar gap between the payroll level (about $64 mil) and the luxury tax (probably around $72 million), so the Raptors can use their MLE on someone, but are they going to get a starting two-guard for that, and fill out the bench (Solomon and Voskuhl will also be gone). Now, I believe we can bring Delfino back (as a restricted free agent, we can sign him to whatever and still have the full MLE) but either way, the team won’t go over the cap level, so… replace Parker with Delfino, the minimum salary scrubs with other minimum salary scrubs… and essentially, you’ve got the same team next year that you have this year.

Here’s some Report Cards on how they’ve done and what we can hope to see going forward:

Andrea Bargnani: C
Has been awesome this month. But, was completely awful in December, after being average in November. So, overall, just average. Big question is, can he stay on track and improve and not backslide? Right now, he looks like the starting center of the future, no doubt about it. Please, Andrea, keep it up.

Chris Bosh: C+
Unbelievable first month, underwhelming second month, great third month. Regardless of play, not producing wins, and that’s what franchise players do. Needs to develop some sort of go-to move if we’re going to keep giving him the ball down by 2 with 10 seconds left.

Jose Calderon: C
Still takes care of the ball exceptionally well and gives it to guys in good position to succeed. But overall, has not performed at the same level he was at last year. His shooting percentages are down and he is not as aggressive, doesn’t turn the corner on the PNR the way he did last year. Hopefully that’s due to his injury problems, and it’ll come around. He’s potentially the second-best offensive player on the team, he needs to assert himself more on that end - especially if he continues to be a liability on the defensive end.

Jermaine O’Neal: B
When he’s been out there, Jermaine has been pretty solid. Other than a few instances where he’s forced his offense unnecessarily, his shots have been decent, and defensively, he’s done, well, about as well as anyone can when the perimeter is a giant sieve. You certainly can’t question his effort or passion when he’s on the floor. If only he could STAY on the floor! Mr. Glass just gets injured way too easily. If it’s true that he’s been helping Andrea out in practice, and that he’ll come off the bench (for now) as was reported this week, then I have even more respect for him. Still don’t understand why he can’t sit with the team on the bench, though.

Jamario Moon, Joey Graham, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono: F
Collectively, the worst corps of swingmen in the NBA. Moon is a slasher who settles for jumpers, Kapono is a shooter who tries to slash. Joey has had good flashes, but still makes too many mistakes. Parker gives his all but has clearly lost a step; he’d be a great sixth or seventh man, the James Posey type role, only he’s the only capable guy in the whole group so he’s got to start, and is asked to do more than what is reasonable for a player his age and caliber. Thankfully, only Kapono is under contract next year, but can they find anyone decent to replace the rest? This has been the Raptors’ Achilles heel the past two-and-a-half years.

Kris Humphries, Jake Voskuhl: D
Everyone keeps expecting Hump to embrace his role as board-crasher / body banger, but he seems insistent that he’s got more offensive game than he really does. Hopefully, Voskuhl is teaching him that effort and scrappiness will get you the PT. Hump will be back next year; will he get it by then? Until he does, he’ll be 10th man. If he embraces the role, and plays within himself, he could be a solid contributor. Voskuhl has committed some hard fouls, and, um, well… that’s about it. But, that’s his role, he knows it, and plays it well.

Roko Ukic: A
The most (only?) pleasant surprise on the team. I expected very little from him this season, but he’s exceeded those expectations 100-fold. He still can’t shoot and he’s gotta learn some tricks for finishing at the rim. But he’s fast, tall, has good defensive fundamentals, and, most important for a young PG, has confidence in himself and his abilities - he’s not intimidated and doesn’t back down from anyone. He’s the only Raptor who consistently takes the ball strong to the hoop - even though the only scouting report out there on him is “lay off and make him shoot,” he still finds a way to get there. Another thing that’s impressed me, he doesn’t pick up his dribble under pressure and he never stops moving, which are two regular rookie PG mistakes - they get pushed into traps when they slow up. If he develops that jumper, he’ll be, at the least, a very good backup PG in the NBA. If he develops range, puts on strength to finish at the hoop, and continues to develop his court sense? Well then the sky’s the limit.

Will Solomon: D
Has been marginally better the past three games, which amounts to “not making me want to stick my head in the oven,” but hey, progress is progress. The problem is that he regularly makes the wrong decision - drives when he should shoot, shoots when he should pass, picks up his dribble, misses the open man, waits too long for the entry, passes to the wrong man… etc. Even that ridiculous haircut is a terrible decision. Hey, for about the same price we could have had the original NBA fauxhawk, Damon Jones, and he would have been much better. Alas.

Hassan Adams: F
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. He won’t be missed.

Nathan Jawai: N/A
Obviously, you can never expect too much from a second-round pick, but it would be nice to see him play. Also, would have been nice for the Raptors to give him a physical before signing him to a two-year contract… sigh. But that’s not his fault, and he gets credit for being with the team every day (unlike say, Jermaine O’Neal) and, from all accounts, working hard to get into shape. Here’s hoping he gets some garbage time minutes in the final two months of the season.

Overall, those grades are low and maybe the individual performances aren’t that bad. But this is a team and the only thing that really matters is winning, and this team isn’t doing that so everyone has to be held accountable.

So, yes, I’m very disappointed in the team’s play this season and not too optimistic about the future. The next 41 games might be a real drag, at least without a trade to spice things up.

But, at the end of the day, as always, I’ll support the team through thick and thin! And I’ll never support tanking; winning is the only thing that matters. So, let’s go Raps! Get out there and win some more games!

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, Indiana Pacers, Jermaine O'Neal, Toronto Raptors

Ugh. I don’t even know where to begin with this game.

I had a feeling the Raptors would come out slow, based on my perception of the way they’ve responded to tough losses in the past. They took their own crowd right out of the game by giving up second chance points, by not getting back in transition, and by settling for jump shots.

But I’ll give them credit for playing a six-minute stretch to finish the second quarter. Trailing by 8, we witnessed one of the most pathetic displays of basketball you’ll ever see - a Bulls possession in which, with a lineup of Deng, Gordon, Nocioni, Noah and Rose (not a single player over 6′9″ except Noah who I can’t believe is any larger than Deng), they grabbed FOUR offensive rebounds before Deng finally scored.

You can believe the crowd was upset, and the boos rained down. It was embarrassing. And now the Raps were down 10.

But then something unexpected happened. The Raptors actually responded to the fans! I almost didn’t believe it as it was happening, but the Raps went on a 20-6 run, highlighted by stellar defense and punctuated by a Solomon-to-Moon alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. Naturally, the Raps couldn’t hold off a Hinrich three at the end of the quarter, but they’d turned a 14-point deficit into a one-point lead.

The Raps continued to play solid ball to start the third, with Bargnani and Bosh eating up the Bulls. They combined for the Raps’ first 14 points of the quarter as the lead stretched to seven, and the Bulls were reeling. But then, instead of dropping the hammer and closing the door, the defense relaxed a little and let the Bulls back in.

And come the fourth quarter, it was Derrick Rose time.

I’m just gonna say this. This Bulls team might have guys in their primes like Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Loul Deng, up and comers like Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah, plus vets like Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes… but Derrick Rose is the best player on that team and it’s not even close. He is that good. Granted the Raps D isn’t exactly stellar, but Rose was doing whatever the heck he wanted out there and I swear he didn’t even break a sweat. It was all completely effortless.

The beauty of it was, he saved it all for the fourth. He had 8 points and 8 assists at the end of three and finished with 25 and 10. In other words, he spent the first three quarters setting up his teammates and took the game over in the final frame. This is a skill that usually takes players a couple of seasons to learn (and usually takes teammates a couple of seasons to buy into) but it was a flawless display. His teammates put the ball in his hands, gave him picks, and got out of the way.

The Bulls scored 34 in the quarter. 34! The Raps simply could not get a stop. And why they switched on every screen-roll, I don’t really understand; Rose wasn’t shooting it, he was driving (and easily beating Bosh or whichever big switched to him) so why not mix up the look? Why not try going under a screen and see if he can hit the long J? Sigh. Defense was way too passive in the fourth.

Still, despite Rose’s heroics and the awful defense, the Raps were still in it thanks to Bargnani’s hot shooting. 10-14 for 31 points, plus 2-4 from three, 9-10 from the line and 10 boards. Easily his best game as a pro. The Bulls had no idea what to do with the guy, and he was in the zone - everything was going in, even shots that bounced off the rim three times dropped through.

Naturally, in typical Raptor fashion, he didn’t take a single shot in the final 6:13. He only got the ball once in scoring position, and he traveled on a post move. He wasn’t a factor at all in the offense.

Don’t get me wrong, Bosh was having a good game as well, but the two of them work better when they’re working together, you know?

So, Bosh gets the ball down four with a minute to go, and botches a drive. Tough play, lotta contact, but you won’t often get that call in a close game. After a Nocioni miss Anthony Parker - who was solid - scored on a driving, aggressive layup and it was a two-point game.

After the Raps fouled (about 10 seconds too late) the Bulls proceeded to turn the ball over on the inbounds! I couldn’t believe it. The crowd went nuts. 14 seconds to go, Raps have the ball and a chance to tie or win.

You know what happened next.

Bosh executed an extremely sloppy drive and spin, rose up and got his shot blocked back in his face by Noah, who had played all of 13 seconds in the entire second half.

Mr. Un-Clutch strikes again. Sigh.

I don’t understand the play call, to be honest. I get the idea of putting the ball in the hands of your best player. But an iso? For a power forward? Bosh is many things but he’s not Paul Pierce, you know? Compared to other PFs, yes, he is fairly adept at creating his own shot, but still… you can’t be relying on that at the end of the game. Why not get him the ball on a cut through the paint? Why not a simple pick and roll, try and get him matched up on someone smaller? Why not anything with some movement where he can kick out to a teammate who happens to be on fire (like Bargnani)? Anything where all he has to do is score, not create.

Argh. I agree Bosh should be the first option. But as far as I can tell there was no other option on that play. The Raptors have the most success when they move the ball and just dumping it into Bosh and saying “do it yourself” does not strike me as the best play call.

At the end of the day, it was an exciting game and I’m glad to have seen it in person. Few other random observations:

• Kapono hit a couple of shots but was predictably awful on defense, getting out of position and forcing the entire Raps team to scramble. Joey Graham can no longer call himself the Hulk; in fact, if there’s a super-hero name to describe his performance last night, I’d say it was the Invisible Woman. 0-1, two boards, two fouls, two turnovers in 12 minutes? Yikes.
• Moon had a couple nice plays but as usual, settled for WAY too many jumpers. You realize the guy is shooting 8-38 from downtown in his past 14 games? That’s a Roko Ukic-like 21 per cent. Please, stop shooting, Jamario.
• Parker was solid. 7-11, 15 points, held Gordon to 10 points on 4-13 shooting.
• Will Solomon shot two threes, both times the crowd held their breath. Only one dropped. He wasn’t terrible, he wasn’t great, Ukic was the same. Although everything Ukic did was going to the basket, which is good, he’s still struggling to finish in there. It’ll come. I think the kid’s going to be good. He’s not intimidated and he has gotten about 1000 times better at handling pressure than he was at the start of the year.
• You knew it was going to be “one of those nights” when the Raptor missed both of his trampoline dunks during the second-quarter timeout! Yikes.
• Chuck Swirsky got a plaque of recognition and a nice round of applause at halftime. We were sitting 10 rows up, right behind he and Bill Wennington, and if we’d arrived a few minutes earlier I would have gone down and said hello. As it was he was chatting with several fans and I knew there wouldn’t have been time to get a handshake before he had to be in his seat.
• Matt Devlin is quite tall. Wonder if he ever played?
• Decent sized crowd, but it’s true what they say - it’s dead in the lower bowl and it makes you feel uncomfortable to cheer too loud. Nobody in my section got in on the “de-fense” chant except me and my buddy. I don’t know how you could not get excited during the final two minutes of that game… unless you’re not a basketball fan. And I guess that’s the problem with the corporate seats. Too many of these people are just there to be there, not because they’re fans. Real shame.
• Jermaine O’Neal: MIA. Jose Calderon? On the bench. Drew Gooden, injured for the Bulls? On the bench. Nathan Jawai? Inactive all year but has been on the bench every single game. This is getting ridiculous. My buddy speculated that maybe he has a stipulation in his contract that says if he’s hurt he gets to stay at home or something. Which is fine, but why not just say so? Why the smokescreen about treatment? It’s BS. Give us the true story here!

Well, another tough loss in a season full of them. I’ll have a half-way report this weekend, after game #41… let’s just say whatever optimism I had left is all but gone.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors

As I’ve said before, if I’m going to watch my team lose, I at least hope the game is entertaining.

Last night’s game was nothing if not entertaining.

Really, it was a very enjoyable game, and obviously, I’d have enjoyed it more had the Raptors won, but at least I didn’t walk away saying “there’s three hours of my life I’ll never get back.” And it was so much better than the Raps-Nets OT game because the Celtics are good, and we know we’re supposed to lose to them. And, you know, Vince Carter wasn’t involved….

The Raptors played fairly well, I’ll give them credit. They hung tough for 50 minutes against the defending NBA champs, a team that’s beaten them three straight times. But in the end, talent wins out and the Celtics just have more, especially at the wing spots. The Raptors simply have no answer for Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and they hit the big buckets in overtime that put it away. Pierce got two easy, open looks that just killed the Raps. I don’t know what happened to the Raptors D in OT, I guess they just ran out of steam, because the Celtics scored 22 - after only scoring 19 in the fourth.

KG once again bitch-slapped Chris Bosh, but obviously I expected nothing less. I don’t understand why Bosh was allowing KG to get all up on him like that. Jack Armstrong said he should swing an elbow through KG’s grill, and as much as I’d love to see that, Chris doesn’t have it in him. But he could at least lower the shoulder, keep the center of gravity low, and get into some semblance of a triple threat position. Bosh could barely keep his balance with KG bodying him.

And yeah, he should have simply attacked. I know that’s not easy, but come on, if you drive when someone is that tight on you, you should be able to beat them or at least get a foul. Then again this is KG, the man every ref is scared of, so Bosh probably wouldn’t have gotten the calls…

According to Doug Smith, people are questioning the jump-ball call after KG blocked Joey Graham’s layup attempt with a minute left. KG made a sensational (and clean) block, no doubt about that. The thing was, I don’t think they were both locked on to the ball - not enough to justify the jump ball. And most importantly, the whistle blew well after the ball came loose! Anyway, tough call, but there were a lot of tough calls in that game, some that went our way, some that went theirs. I don’t have any real complaints about the officiating.

Andrea Bargnani had a pretty solid game. The Celtics did a good job switching and giving him different looks; Scalabrine, Powe, Davis and KG all guarded him. He missed a couple of chip shots that he might have rushed a bit, but he finished 9-20 for 23 points with 8 boards. Unfortunately, his usual solid D wasn’t quite up to snuff, or maybe he just doesn’t like guarding bigs on the outside, because he lost Scalabrine at the three-point line a number of times and Scalabrine burned us for three triples (and missed at least two more wide open looks).

Still, give the big man credit for nailing the clutch three. Credit to Kapono also, the best three-point shooter in the biz, for dishing it off the guy who’s been lights-out as of late (19 of his last 29 heading into last night’s game). Hopefully a solid game against the champs, and that huge shot, will help keep his confidence high going forward. What is that, now, 8 straight solid games for Bargnani? I’m not declaring him ready for primetime,

Parker did a better job on Allen last night, and he hit some shots of his own, including the three in OT that cut the lead to four - and he followed that up with a steal and dish to Kapono that would have cut the lead to one. I thought for sure that ball was dropping! Alas, it bounced out, and the game was over (although not before the Celtics pulled off some not-at-all-surprising-from-this-bunch-of-assholes bush league antics, alley-oop dunking the basketball with a second left. Wow. Talk about disrespect. Shame on them; Red Auerbach must be rolling in his grave. Big, big kudos to Jay Triano for calling that timeout following that incredibly juvenile play.)

You know, if there’s one thing this coaching staff should be preaching over and over in every practice and team meeting… it has to be “stop jumping at pump fakes!” I mean, seriously. How many times did Pierce get Moon and Parker in the air? Five? Eight?? Ridiculous. I just can’t understand why our players don’t get this. Sigh. Pierce finished with 39 but if Jamario could stay on his damn feet it would have been less.

Graham played hard again, but didn’t quite have the same energy as Sunday. Hump got a few minutes and played well, finally.

And then we come to the point guards. I will give Will Solomon credit, he was adequate tonight. I thought he and Roko both played OK, not great; both of them made key drives, and both took three-pointers that made every Raps fan cringe in agony… until they went in. Neither made bad turnovers and both played Rondo fairly well (he finished with 9 and 8). I give Jay Triano some credit for managing their subs, too; Roko played the start of the fourth and I assumed he’d finish, but he started to look a little tired, and missed a couple shots. Will came in and nailed a couple, and he stayed on until the halfway mark of OT when he got tired - a bad pass and carrying the ball on consecutive plays. So in came Roko, which turned out to be a great move - like Will, Rondo had been on since halfway through the fourth and was looking tired, so rested Roko’s energy was just what the Raps needed to stay alive as he blew by Rondo for consecutive layups (he ended up scoring nine of his 16 in OT). Unfortunately, it was too little too late, and the Raps ran out of time.

So, the Celtics complete the four-game sweep and we don’t have to worry about them again this season. The real question is: How do the Raptors respond? Do they get down on themselves for losing two tough ones in a row? Or do they feel good and confident, knowing they hung with the champs? In other words, do they let the losses get to them or do they build off the good things they did?

I’ve said before that this Raptors team appears mentally weak. They haven’t bounced back from tough losses well at all this year. But the fact that they played the Celtics so well on the second night of a back-to-back after clawing their way back into the first game… well, maybe they’ve turned that mental corner?

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Toronto Raptors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Toronto Raptors

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.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, Jason Kapono, Toronto Raptors