Well, that was a nice win. Not without its ups and downs, but it’s always nice to win your first game, at home, against a good team.

Of course, I thought the Raptors were gonna blow it in the second half and the refs sure didn’t help, but they toughed it out. A 21-point lead evaporated midway through the third quarter, but after settling for jumper after jumper the Raps finally settled down, rebuilt a 7-point lead by the end of third and built on it in the fourth. The Cavs kept it close down the stretch before Jose Calderon sealed it on his only bucket of the night, and and-1 layup with less than a minute to go.

Biggest thing to note on the box score is the Cavs’ 35% shooting. I don’t want to say the defense was great, since the Cavs were on the second night of a back-to-back (and hey, they let the Cavs score 32 in the third), but it was definitely a better effort than they gave at any time last year. Other than a raft of open threes in the third and the occasional slow rotation, the defense was generally where it needed to be.

Offensively, during the second quarter the draw-and-kick was working really well, and the pick-and-roll worked well, and the high-low with Bosh and Bargnani worked well. But way too much settling for Js in the second half – in the third, I don’t think they pick-and-rolled once! Still. It appears there are plenty of scorers on this team, and I liked the way Jay mixed in the starters and subs ensuring there was always some firepower on the floor.

And while the rebounds were ultimately pretty even (Cavs won the battle 49-48) the 13 offensive boards the Cavs pulled down are disappointingly familiar. I know it’s expected that a team that misses 65% of their shots has more opportunities to get offensive boards, but nevertheless, there were a few that the Cavs simply outworked the Raps on.

I have to say, I hate watching the Cavs. Honestly, there is nothing at all enjoyable about watching LeBron barrel to the hoop and get foul calls as soon as he’s breathed on (that offensive foul call on Bosh was just unbelievable. I half-expected people to start throwing beers on the court – and frankly I would have encouraged it). But seriously, that’s their go-to offense? Didn’t they learn from the Orlando series that they need a few more options? I mean in the third they went small and started swinging the ball on the perimeter, and got back into the game… but then it was back to LeBron-on-five. Bo-ring.

Other thoughts…

Bargnani was amazing. I know we won’t see that every night, but he looked so smooth on everything he did. Some awful foul calls “limited” him too… but inside, outside, mid-range, solid D, 28 points on 15 shots in less than 30 minutes. Only five boards (and he got seriously outplayed on a couple that he should have had) but I think we’re just going to have to accept that that’s who he is.

Bosh was OK. Still with that awful habit of standing there thinking about it, then settling for fade-aways instead of using his quickness. When he catches it and goes, no big man outside of KG has the quickness to stay with him… still, the 16 boards were nice, and he, Bargnani and Rasho outscored/outrebounded Shaq, Z and Varejao 48/23 to 26/14.

Calderon: Actually got out and ran on the break! So used to seeing him take it slow, it was nice to see. Last year I got annoyed that he didn’t shoot/score enough, maybe this year he won’t have to. Though I couldn’t believe he missed two free throws!

Turk: Wanted him to have the ball a little more in the fourth, given his “clutchness,” but ultimately it didn’t matter. He didn’t have a great game, stats-wise, but overall I liked what I saw from him. He moves well, knows where he should be and where the ball should go. The “high basketball IQ” we heard about all summer is evident. And he managed to stay in front of LeBron when called upon.

DeRozan: Really liked what I saw from the rookie. LOVED that he blocked Shaq’s shot, and buried the jumper on LeBron… good confidence builders. Got lost on D a couple times, but that’s to be expected. Great start for the kid. Didn’t try to do too much, and performed when needed.

Bellinelli: Surprisingly effective! Wasn’t expecting that, to be honest. He’s like the anti-Kapono - he can actually handle the ball when he puts it on the floor, and he’s not afraid to jack it when he’s open.

Jack: Only real disappointment on the night. Missed way too many shots, and lost his man on D too many times. Then pulled the Anthony Parker “make one of two free throws when we really need both” routine at the end…

Wright: Didn’t particularly think that 3 he took in the fourth was a good shot, but hey. It went in. What’d he take, 3 charges? That’s about as many as the whole team took last year. Picked up 5 fouls but at least one of them was a bad call; he certainly gave 100 per cent on the defensive end. If he can develop the three as a weapon he should have a good future in the league.

Overall, nice to see a win against a quality opponent, nice to see them weather a run and hang on. Overall it’s just great to have basketball back again (well, other than the same old brutally bad officiating. Sigh. Some things never change…).

No update yesterday as I was sick, but not much to say. The Raps gave a good effort in Cleveland through quarters 2-4, but a 22-point hole after one? Yeah, good luck coming back from that when the Cavs are 23-0 at home.

I didn’t figure they’d have much chance against the Lakers either; the only hope the Raptors had was that the Lakers were A) unprepared for the frigid temperatures and B) looking ahead to Boston.

And hey, maybe they were, because the Raps played them tough for three-and-a-half quarters! (At least that’s what I’ve heard, since the game wasn’t on TV. I’m really glad Leafs fans got to see their team get blown out while Raptors fans missed one of the best games of the year. Fuck you, TSN.)

So, in the final minutes, you expected Kobe to take over and he did, draining a couple tough jumpers over Joey Graham. Without Jose Calderon (who didn’t play, and I’m officially renaming “The Hamstring that Won’t Heal” the “Weakest Hamstring in the History of Hamstrings”) and Chris Bosh (who left halfway through the fourth with a sprained knee), when the Lakers buckled down on D, the Raps couldn’t respond. Raps always have a tough time scoring in key situations, but it’s even tougher without your two best players.

Gotta give a lot of credit, though, to Parker, for running the show; to Graham, for perhaps his best game as a Raptor (24 points and from all accounts, tough D on Kobe - most of Bryant’s 36 were hard fought points); Bargnani, for 21 and 9; and Jermaine O’Neal, for 22 and 9 - and 9 blocks!! Some of them VERY impressive, from what I saw on the highlights. OK, maybe trash talking a scrub like Josh Powell comes across as bullying, but whatever. JO protected the paint against the Lakers like Oliver Miller protected his Big Mac lunch against team nutritionists. And this team desperately needs all the passion it can get.

I’m a little concerned about Bosh. Obviously, any injury to him greatly impacts our team, but also, given all that’s happened recently - the rumours, the booing and complaining, the team struggling - I have to wonder if his heart’s really in it. I mean, I don’t like to question anyone’s effort when they’re hurt because you never know how bad it really is, but to see him moving all right - and walking off under his own - it’s not a stretch to wonder why he couldn’t gut it out and help his team in what would have been the biggest win of the year. (Although “big” only counts for pride now, as the Raps are all but officially cooked.)

Oh well, at least it wasn’t a blowout. After those two non-efforts against the Bucks and Magic, the Raps have responded fairly well against two of the best teams in the league. You have to wonder why they’re so inconsistent in terms of effort - it really does concern me. I mean obviously even the best teams have a few “letdown” games a year, and some nights the breaks just don’t go your way. But the number of times the Raptors have seemingly not shown up at all is very, very disappointing. Imagine if they played as hard as they played last night against the Bucks? They would have blown Milwaukee out easily.

There have simply been way too many letdown games this year. I mean, think about this: If the Raps had taken care of business against Milwaukee (twice), the “Thunder,” and the Warriors - three teams they should have beaten - they’d be what, 23-28? With the soft part of the schedule coming, 42 wins would be a definite possibility.

As it is, even if they go 19-12 to finish up as Doug Smith still believes they can, they’ll still only be 38-42, and I don’t believe that’s good enough for the final playoff spot. I mean, if 38 wins is all it takes, all Milwaukee has to do is go 14-16 to hang on to that playoff spot! New Jersey, 15-17. And I’m willing to bet both of those teams can manage that.

Nope, in my mind, Toronto needs to go 23-8. Um, yeah. That’s not happening. Even with the lowered competition in the final few weeks, this team has delivered below expectations all year, so how can you give them a high expectation and expect results. I even said I’d be willing to change my mind about this team if they went a modest 5-3 before the All-star break… and they’re 0-4 since I said that.

I would really like to believe this team can make the playoffs in the crappy east. I really want to. Even Bryan Colangelo said on the radio this morning :(I paraphrase) they’re only a couple games back and this team is better than their record.

But unfortunately, reality has to set in at some point; eventually you have to admit: You are what your record says you are.

Bryan, it’s time to admit it. No matter what our roster looks like on paper, our record says it: We are not a playoff team. Case (unfortunately) closed.

Well, another loss upcoming for the Raps tonight. They’ve lost 10 in a row in Cleveland or something insane like that.

Still, it’s another chance to watch LeBron James; whether you like the guy or not, he is amazing to watch. That SI story on him came out last week, and what’s amazing is how big he’s gotten. Word is - Bron, the Cavs and the NBA won’t officially confirm it - that he’s up to 275 lbs. 275! He’s 6′8″!!

It’s amazing to me that anyone can think there is a better athlete in the world than James. People say Dwight Howard is the best athlete in the NBA because of what he does with his size. But I say James does even more with his size. Given his strength and the length of his stride, I’m willing to bet he’s faster than anyone right now except maybe Devin Harris. He’s probably physically stronger than anyone except Howard and Shaq. I bet he can jump higher than anyone.

His footwork is markedly improved, and here’s why I think he’s the better athlete than Howard - Howard can jump out of the gym but still isn’t smooth or graceful. I used to think LeBron looked sort of mechanical at times, but over the past couple of years he’s become real smooth with the ball. I’ve never seen a combination of grace and power like that. Remember that commercial where he jokes about joining the Browns? I’m sure he could! There’s probably five positions he could play - and be dominant. Wide receiver? He’d haul in anything and be impossible to bring down. Safety? He’d be killing guys if they went over the middle. Corner? How could you throw the ball past him? Linebacker? He’d cover more field than Ray Lewis and if he came on the blitz, who would be able to block him? And as long as he could learn to throw a football, he’d be the most athletic QB of all time.

The scary thing for the rest of the NBA is, he’s still rounding into form as a basketball player. He’s only going to get better! And to think, now that he’s got a decent team around him, he doesn’t even have to do as much. I’m willing to wager if he was on a “worse” team he could average 40 points and 12 rebounds a game - as long as his desire was there (I sometimes wonder how engaged he is in the game). Who could stop him, besides himself?

Certainly not anyone on the Raptors. Here’s a scary thought. Kobe scored 61 points last night; James and Kobe are considered the MVP front-runners. I think it’s possible James tries to out-score Kobe tonight, and James is no dummy - he knows just how weak the Raptors D is, and if there’s a good time to score 75, tonight is it.

With Zydrunas Ilgauskas out, you’d think the Raps would have an advantage up front, but if you’ve ever watched these two teams play then you’d know that Sideshow Bob simply owns Chris Bosh whenever they meet. And given Bargnani’s struggles the past couple, well, I’m not counting on him to do much. I think he’s reverting to his December form. Great. Well, maybe JO will have a big game.

As for the rest, well, you’re got Jose Calderon, still apparently dealing with The Hamstring that Won’t Heal (I mean, seriously!?); look for a big night by Mo Williams. Mo’s got the strength advantage and his and LeBron’s dribble penetration will wreak havoc on the Raptors’ D. I admit I was wrong about Williams, I didn’t think he’d have much impact in Cleveland, but he’s been very impressive. If Jameer Nelson is hurt and has to miss the all-star game, I expect Mo to get the nod.

As for the two-guards, Pavlovic and Parker, well, I’d take Parker over Sasha on my team anyday, but that dribble penetration is gonna force Parker to help and give Sasha plenty of open looks from downtown. Of course, AP will get time on James too, as will Moon, Joey and probably even Kapono. Joey might have the best chance at slowing LeBron down; he’s the only Raptor who comes close to being physically strong enough for James to even notice when he runs them over.

Sigh. It’s not going to be a pretty game, I can guarantee you that. In fact, the only reason I foresee the Raptors “holding” James under 40 is that the Cavs are gonna be winning by such a huge margin, he’ll sit most of the second half. Cavs by 30.

PS For what I hope are the final words on the ridiculous Stephen A Smith story, I direct you to Scott Carefoot’s Raptorblog and Michael Grange’s From Deep Blog, both of whom said it better than I. And let us not speak of it again.

It was to be expected, I suppose, the floundering Raptors getting blown out by the undefeated-at-home Cavs. But still… there’s a part of you that hopes your team will at least make a game of it. I guess that was foolish of me. Like Eomer said in The Two Towers, “Do not trust to hope… it has forsaken these lands.”

Much has been said of Bosh in all the post-game reports, so I don’t need to go into the details. Besides, you’d have to be blind not to see it: He’s just not bringing it right now. I don’t know what the problem is, and I don’t really care - it simply needs to be solved. This team is absolutely nothing if Chris Bosh is not involved. He needs to get his head on straight, the coaches and guards need to get him the ball in spots where he can succeed, and he needs to get back to averaging 25 and 10. Anything less and this team won’t win another game for a long, long time.

It would appear Bargnani has fully regressed to his 2007-08 form on offense. He can barely get involved (only seven shots) and can’t hit what he takes (3 makes, and of the four misses, “not even close” would be generous). He couldn’t even get it going in garbage time! And only three rebounds? Not acceptable. Not only that, but as I mentioned yesterday, playing at the SF spot is taking away some of his defensive improvements. Of course he can’t guard SFs. Get him back to coming off the bench and playing against bigs. Joey Graham (leading scorer last night) deserves to start.

Incidentally, and nothing against Joey Graham, but when he’s your leading scorer you know your team is in trouble. And if Joey being high man doesn’t tell you something, how about this stat: only one - one! - Raptors starter scored in double figures, and that was Jose’s 14. 48 points combined from five starters… that’s just brutal. Especially considering how crappy the bench is. Not gonna win many games like that.

Jermaine O’Neal, six turnovers… that’s not right. Some of the blame to the guards for not getting him the ball in the right spots, but geez… gotta take care of the rock, guys.

I really like Jack Armstrong, but he was giving the Cavs too much credit for their “defensive intensity” in the third quarter. They weren’t “playing the passing lanes to perfection” - they were just playing the basic deny man-to-man defense that you learn in high school. It was simply that the Raptors threw about four straight incredibly lazy passes. A ninth-grade team could have intercepted those passes. It was a disgusting display.

Ukic played some good ball, though shame on Delonte West and Mo Williams for being all up in his grill; I realize there probably isn’t much of a scouting report on him yet, but the one thing the report should say is “can’t shoot.” So why crowd him? Even marginal NBA players can score a layup. Ah well, I won’t complain, a game like that, even if it is garbage time, can only help his confidence.

While I’m still making up my mind on Triano as a head coach, he’s losing a lot of respect every time he puts Will Solomon in the game. He can’t play. It’s as simple as that. He’s a shorter Hassan Adams, and if Adams can’t get off the bench, Solomon shouldn’t either.

Triano’s now had three games and the Raptors have played a total of three good quarters (the second last night, and the first and fourth on Sunday). I know that’s an incredibly small sample size, and it’s against good teams… but of the remaining nine quarters, I’d say about three were average or slightly below, and two were garbage time. The other four? First and third last night, first and second against Utah? Some of the most pathetic efforts I’ve ever seen. I can accept average, but I can’t accept that piss-poor lack of effort.

A few more quarters like that, and it’s going to be apparent that a lot of people - myself included - were wrong, and Sam Mitchell had nothing to do with the team’s lack of effort this year. It’s going to start falling on the players, and on the GM who brought them here (and who, thanks to his own short-sightedness, can’t get them out)

It should at least be clear now - Sunday’s game was not the start of something good, it was catching a good team when they were tired. And they still beat us.

It’s not looking good. I thought the Raps would go 7-9 this month, leaving them at 15-17 on January 1 - still in the thick of things, with time to get better. But that’s looking far-fetched, isn’t it? 4-12 seems more likely at this point…

A 12-20 mark heading into January? The playoffs are getting farther and farther away. I mentioned it on November 25 - the Raptors were in danger of missing the playoffs - and that feeling has only gotten worse in the past two weeks. I’m now wondering if they’ll win 30 games.

I keep footnoting those statements with disclaimers like “they can still turn it around, it’s sports, anything can happen, it’s why we watch,” etc. But if that turnaround doesn’t come soon, I fear I’m going to have to stop putting those disclaimers on.

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.