It’s funny, I keep saying that at this point, with the season over, all I want to see are exciting games. Well, they’ve had three of those in the past week but thanks to TSNFU, I haven’t been able to see them! Such a ridiculous situation.

Sounds like it was a great game last night, with the raps clawing back in regulation, and again in OT, before falling short. No surprise there, but nice to see then hang with a team that usually kills them, to give the home crowd a show.

Sounds like Calderon finally started going to the whole last night. Where’s that been all year? Looks like PMB had another solid game, marred by a youngster mistake on the final play. That’s tough, but no one else on the team would have made that play so I’ll forgive it.

Bargnani only played a few minutes thanks to the flu bug; that’s a shame, he’d been playing so well lately. Calderon set the franchise assist record, congrats to him - too bad it couldn’t come in a winning season.

Well, now the so-called easy stretch begins. Can they finish up 8-8? 10-6? 12-4?? Hey, a guy cab dream…

Well, we’ve got another tilt in this seemingly never-ending Raptors season tonight, where our boys look to drop their seventh in a row to the Pistons…and fall 20 games below .500..

20 games. That’s a sobering number. I mean, obviously, this team is underachieving, but that really puts it into perspective. That number shocked me. Let’s take a look at it, historically, for the Raptors.

In 2005-2006, they finished 27-55, although they may well have avoided the 20-games-under stat had Chris Bosh not gotten hurt. They had the brutal 1-15 start, but then played around .500 ball the next couple months; but when Bosh went down, it was over, they lost 12 of the final 13 games, finally hitting the -20 mark at 26-46 on March 31.

That was a funny season in that expectations were, in a way, abnormally low; after all, Rob Babcock said before the season that the team would probably win less than the previous year (when they only won 33). So I don’t think you can call that record at all disappointing - it was expected.

In 2002-2003, the Raps went 24-58 in what I call “the lost season.” Everyone seems to have forgotten this season, not surprisingly; it was over quickly (-20 on January 10, when they were 8-28) and not much memorable happened. But it was a disappointing season in that, coming off three straight playoff appearances, we all expected a bounce-back season. But Vince Carter couldn’t stay on the floor, and even when he did play, he had lost the ability to put the team on his back. Antonio Davis, Jerome and Alvin Williams battled injuries, missing a combined 45 games, and the Raptors struggled just to fill the roster; they didn’t dress 12 players a single time. MoPete was the only Rap to appear in 80 games.

Going back, 1997-1998 was the low point in Raptors history; they didn’t even make it out of December before falling to -20. An unbearable 17-game losing streak had them at 2-22 on December 17th! The previous two years weren’t much better, as they hit -20 in March of 1997 and February of 1996. Those can be forgiven, as expansion years, of course, but the point I’m trying to make here, is that the current season now matches up with the worst seasons in this team’s short history.

What’s sad is that, unlike those years, there is no excuse this year. We’re not an expansion team. We didn’t lose a record number of games to injury. We didn’t start with a brand-new coach or GM and our GM didn’t lower expectations before the year started. We didn’t have a sad-sack roster without an all-star. In fact, we had, according to Bryan Colangelo, the best Raptors team ever assembled - one bona-fide all-star (Bosh), another former six-time all-star (JO), one guy on the cusp (Jose), and a number-one draft pick (Bargnani). We were expected - in fact, I think you can say we were ASSUMED - to be in the playoffs.

But we’re not. We’re about to go 20 games under .500. And given those expectations, and lack of excuses, I’m prepared to say that this might be the worst Raptors season ever.

Is there any chance the Raps can stave it off? They’ve got some easier opponents coming up, and Detroit’s not the same old Detroit, right? Well, they’re not, but that doesn’t make a difference. They’re still better than us at every position, unless Rasheed Wallace doesn’t play; even then, I think Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess will have no problem guarding Bosh and Bargnani. If they can take our two best players out of the game, what else do we have? As we’ve shown all year, not much.

I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, since as I indicated, the Pistons aren’t the same old Pistons (only 32-31), Rasheed is banged up, and Allen Iverson is on the shelf too (although I’d argue they’re better without him). But given the lack of interest the Raps have shown lately, and given that the Pistons, a team with some actual passion, are still fighting hard for playoff positioning (they’re in 6th, 2.5 back of Miami , and you better believe they want that #5 seed so they can avoid the Cavs, Celts and Magic in round one) I don’t see the Raps putting up much of a fight. Pistons by 17.

Incidentally, I just want to say, again, for the record, I will not be calling for Bryan Colangelo’s head in this space; yes, he’s made some bad moves, yes, this team has gotten worse the past two years. But if you seriously believe there is someone else out there available who could do better, please, let me know. In fact, if you think it’s all doom and gloom, I’m going to mention this:

In the past 10 years, including this one, the Raptors have been to the playoffs five times. Take a look at the rest of the league:

Cleveland: 4, including this year.
Boston: 6, including this year.
Orlando: 6, including this year.
Atlanta: 2, including this year.
Miami: 7, including this year.
Detroit: 9, including this year.
Philly: 7, including this year.
Milwaukee: 6, including this year.
Chicago: 3
New Jersey: 6
Charlotte: 0, in 5 seasons
Indiana: 7
New York: 3
Washington: 4

LA Lakers: 9, including this year.
San Antonio: 10, including this year.
Houston: 5, including this year.
Utah: 7, including this year.
New Orleans/Charlotte: 7, including this year.
Portland: 5, including this year.
Denver: 6, including this year.
Dallas: 9, including this year.
Phoenix: 7
Golden State: 1
Minnesota: 5
Seattle/OKC: 3
Memphis: 3
LA Clippers: 1
Sacramento: 7

The Raptors are tied for 16th in playoff appearances in the past 10 years. So middle of the pack. Is that good enough? Of course not. The fact that four of them were first-round exits hurts, a lot. But it could be worse - much, much worse. Reading some of the crap out there makes it sound like this is the end of the world or that Colangelo should be fired or the entire roster traded or whatever. You know what? Building a successful NBA team is not easy. It just isn’t. And, it takes time. Those “consistently good” teams are rare. Only one team has made the playoffs every year in the past 10: San Antonio. 3 more have 9 appearances. The next highest is seven. All that should tell you one thing: in a 30-team league, with a salary cap and free agency, it’s hard to maintain that high level of play. When the entire system is DESIGNED to keep teams “on an even ground,” those that have success are the exception, not the norm.

And you know what? We have a GM who’s still respected around the league (and has past success - unlike players, most GMs don’t get worse with age), we have a great arena, we have an ownership that has been willing to do everything except spend the luxury tax (which I think is reasonable). And we have the most passionate fans around. Would you rather we were just shaving salary without regards to wins, like Memphis (or even Phoenix)? Would you rather we had owners and GMs who don’t care/are incompetent, like the Clippers or T-Wolves? Would you rather our fans didn’t give a crap, like New Jersey or Atlanta?

I’m not saying that we, or the team, should be satisfied with what we’ve got. I’m not - I want more, absolutely. But when things get rough like this season has been, you can’t just focus on the negative. Looking at the bigger picture - which you simply must do when the smaller picture (this season) is so ugly - you can see this team still has things going for it, and that things could, in fact, be a lot worse.

I didn’t see yesterday’s game. I didn’t listen to it on the radio, nor did I catch the game in an hour. I checked the score once during the game on my iPhone, (29-28 Detroit at the time) and at about 11:00 to see the final score. I didn’t read the box score, didn’t watch Raptors Post-up or even Sportscentre.

All I did was skim Doug Smith’s blog coverage and his game story this morning. It seems pretty clear: I didn’t miss much, did I?

Looks like the Raps hung tough in the first half before completely imploding in the third, then leading to extended garbage time in the fourth. So, they couldn’t even make it exciting for those that did watch… that’s disappointing. Overall it sounds like a dud of a game.

All thoughts of the two teams’ respective records and success (or lack thereof) aside, you know you’re gonna see games like this around this time of year - boring, no flow, missed shots, bad defense… the league always bogs down a bit in the month or so before the all-star break. Unfortunately, if you’re the Raptors and desperate for a win, that sort of game is the opposite of what you need right now… but it’s true what they say, that losing breeds losing. Sigh.

The Raptors desperately need a win right now, just in terms of their psyche. They won’t continue to play hard if things keep going south like this; it’s just human nature, no matter how much money you get paid or how “professional” you are: in a poisonous work atmosphere, success becomes that much more difficult.

Basically, the Raptors need to catch a break or two to help them snap this skid. Will it come Friday in Chicago, or will we have to wait until Sunday… or even longer?

Again, it doesn’t “matter” in the long-term scheme of things - the season is essentially over - it only matters in the short term, in terms of keeping the games fun and the fans entertained.

On the injury front, Jermaine O’Neal played last night. Looks like he finished with 11 points and one mere rebound… I guess he’s still getting his legs back. Jose missed ANOTHER game with The Hamstring That Won’t Heal (that’s nine of the last 10 now; what is he, the Rocco Baldelli of the NBA?), and now more bad news: Hump’s got a fracture fibula. That’ll be a good six weeks of recovery, I’d imagine. Sigh.

As for the trade front, still nothing happening, although supposedly, the Raps and Heat exchanged medical records yesterday. Yay for Internet rumours. Sigh. Wake me up when the deal goes down, eh? This has been the longest transaction in the history of sports.

Honestly, there doesn’t really seem to be much point anymore, anyway, except for the bottom line. MLSE gets to save a few bucks next season because Marion’s deal comes off the books and surely the team won’t sign any big money players this summer. Even with Marcus Banks on the roster, Will Solomon, Jamario Moon, Joey Graham and Anthony Parker will be gone, so replace them with Delfino and add a couple more minimum salary scrubs and the team payroll is about $10 million cheaper next year. MLSE executives rejoice! We’ll miss the playoffs but save a few bucks - two years in a row!! Sigh.

From a basketball standpoint, it doesn’t mean squat, not for this year (not for the Raps - if JO can stay on the court, he’ll be a huge help for the Heat). Marion makes the Raptors better, I don’t doubt that… but at this point, it’s just too late. Unless he helps the team go 28-10 the rest of the way the season is a failure, and there’s no way Marion makes that much difference, especially with Calderon on the shelf.

Then next year, well, Marion’s gone, and assuming all goes according to plan, your roster next year is Bosh, Bargnani, Kapono, Delfino, Calderon, Humphries, Banks, Jawai, and Ukic, as well as some more of those euro-scrubs that BC likes so much. Yeah, that’s probably good for 33-35 wins, right? Sigh.

OK, so maybe even MLSE can see you need at least one more decent player there, and with a payroll of ~$55 million, that’s possible, but it’s certainly not someone who’s gonna help them make any noise in the playoffs. Matt Barnes? Ben Gordon? Marvin Williams? Ron Artest!? (shudder). Williams would seem to be the best fit as he’s a natural SF but will he ever reach his potential?

Anyway, it’s all just speculation. But I will say this: The trust that the Raptors fan community has in BC is starting to erode, big-time. For me personally, I hope he stays in the job for many years to come, because regardless of what goes on between now and summer 2010, I still believe he’s the right guy for the job. But I know others are already seriously starting to doubt him. He doesn’t need to hit a home run right now, but he needs to do something between now and the start of the 09/10 season to start rebuilding that trust.

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.

Unfortunately, the Raptors couldn’t capture the best start in franchise history. They fell 100-93 after a pretty good fourth quarter effort to get back in the game; they just couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Allen Iverson didn’t play, but I have to say, watching how well Detroit moved the ball and how smoothly they worked on offense… I’d be more concerned than ever about how he’s going to fit in there. Leo Rautins said it best, after a play in which the Pistons swung the ball from one side to the other then back, getting an open look with the Raptors scrambling: that ball would have stopped at Allen Iverson. They’re a well-oiled machine now, Iverson may just be the gunk that slows the cogs.

As for the Raptors, well, let’s be honest - they’re just not in Detroit’s class yet. I think what’s disappointing about this loss is that Toronto’s defense really let them down. They played solid defense in the first three games, but for stretches of the second and third last night… well, they looked like last year’s Raptors: slow rotations, turning their backs on cuts (leading to easy buckets for the Pistons), giving up open threes (that score could have been a lot worse if the Pistons hadn’t been 3-12 from downtown), and missing key rebounds.

That bad D led to a couple of key Detroit runs, and then it was “climb out of the hole we just dug ourselves” time for Toronto. They almost did it, too, closing it to within one several times in the fourth after being down 16 in the third. But, the defense just couldn’t get those one or two more stops they needed to put them over the top. A good effort in the fourth, but you gotta play that way the whole game to beat Detroit.

They do play the game well, don’t they? They remind me a lot of the Spurs, in the way that they always pick the right moments to run and the right moments to slow the tempo. And they slow it waaay down at times. It’s frustrating to watch, but sometimes, they cross the half-court line and then it’s like they just stand around for a second and catch their breath - and lull the defense to sleep - before getting the offense going. Not much fun to watch, but man, they work it well. Credit to them for being this good for this long.

Unfortunately, Jermaine O’Neal is going to get a lot of blame for this loss, because he struggled on offense and was in foul trouble. But also keep in mind, O’Neal held Rasheed Wallace to 4-12 shooting. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh - who finished with a nice-looking 26 and 13 - won’t get any blame, but who was settling for long jumpers and awful-looking fadeaways whenever Wallace was near him? Honestly, Bosh seems like he’s genuinely afraid of Wallace. He won’t go anywhere near the hoop when Wallace is on him. He finished 11-24 and a couple of those misses were unbelievably awful shots. He also let Jason Maxiell manhandle him on a couple of loose balls. So please, spread the blame for the bigs equally, won’t you?

Bargnani also deserves some disappointed glances. He was fine on offense, going 5-6 and hitting both his three-point attempts (and that smooth stroke I loved in his first year - that was absent last year - is back!), but he blew a couple of rotations on defense and got lazy on a couple of rebounds. He did have one nice block, however - like the O’Neal block of Maggette against Golden State - the ball went straight to Rasheed, who nailed an open three. Sigh.

Jose Calderon was magnificent on offense again, but Rodney Stuckey showed how vulnerable Jose is when a strong guard goes right at him. Calderon backpedals too quickly sometimes, and a player like Stuckey - who can score, no doubt about that - will take advantage.

Anthony Parker didn’t do much on offense, but I’ll never complain about that, as it’s his defense we need. He did the best he could last night, but chasing Rip Hamilton is never easy - especially when, and this bothers me because it’s so cheap, Rip pushes him into the screener when running through the off-the ball screens. I’m serious. You think Rip is so great at getting open, but I wonder how great he’d be if he ran off screens without pushing off?

The biggest Raptor killer last night was Tayshaun Prince. 27 points on 10-13 shooting. And most of those 13 shots were wide open looks. You know, it’s a good thing we have Jamario Moon in our starting lineup for his defense! Sigh. At least he got four rebounds, more than doubling his season total.

The rest of bench, outside of Bargnani, was invisible. Will Solomon played some decent backup minutes for Jose - and I assume his strength made him the better option than the rail-thin Roko Ukic, who hasn’t seen the floor since the first half in Milwaukee - but Sam may have left him in a couple minutes too long in the fourth. Kapono was 0-6 from the field; not exactly his best night. Kapono does a little too much with the ball; he needs to take a lesson from Rip, if you’re open of a screen, just shoot. Don’t try and dribble to create more space, just shoot.

Couple of other thoughts:

• What was all the hype for Amir Johnson a year or so ago? Man, did he ever look awful, and not just on D (where you knew Bosh would be too much for him). His jump shot looked awful and he boxes out about as well as Bargnani. You know it’s bad when you’re giving minutes to Kwame Brown.
• O’Neal got his second tech of the year. He spends a lot of time arguing with the refs I’ve noticed; I don’t mind that per se, some edge is good - and I grant the Pistons get away with a lot, and that’s frustrating - but Jermaine should know to wait until a stoppage to voice his concerns. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by the refs while the play is still going on!
• Outrebounded once again! This time by five. Sigh.
• Jose Calderon’s numbers through four games: 19.5 points, on 52% shooting (54% from downtown), 9.25 assists, 2.25 turnovers, 4 rebounds. Those are some “wow” numbers. Of course, he’s averaging 38.5 minutes a night and ideally, it should be about 36, but clearly, they need him out there - not just as the floor leader, but because he’s the second best offensive option behind Bosh. I’d like to see Sam recognize that he can’t have Bosh and Jose on the bench at the same time. Yes, they play well together and have great chemistry. No doubt. But you need at least one of your primetime scorers in the game at all times, and Bosh and Jose are the only two you’ve got: O’Neal is not there anymore, and Bargnani is not there yet (if ever).

Detroit Pistons (3-0) at Toronto Raptors (3-0)

Allen Iverson is now a Detroit Piston. And he’ll (most likely) make his debut tonight in Toronto.

Wow. I did not see that one coming… at all. This trade pretty much stunned me. I know Joe Dumars said he was going to shake things up, but that was five months ago! And they brought in a new coach, so I thought that was it.

But to trade your team leader for one of the most non-team-oriented players in the sport… only three games into the season? Wow.

Financially, the trade makes perfect sense for Detroit. They’ve now got Iverson’s contract and Rasheed Wallace’s contract of the books this summer; that’s like $35 million. Now, it would be better if they had that money in 2010, but if they manage the money well this summer, they’ll be players in the LeBron-Wade-Bosh sweepstakes.

Does it make sense on the floor? Well… I’m not sure. Is Rodney Stuckey ready to be a full time point guard? Or are they just gonna leave Iverson as PG (because that’s always worked). Unlike Billups, who had good instincts to know when to pick his shots, Iverson is a volume shooter; how are there gonna be enough shots for him, Hamilton, Rasheed and the rest? They’ve got the firepower, that’s for sure… but can they manage the personalities?

For the Nuggets, the trade looks good on the basketball court; I think Billups and Carmelo Anthony will play well together. They’ll still miss Camby, but, with those two and JR Smith, they’ve still got the scorers, and hopefully, a real game manager.

But financially? I’m not sure about that. Billups has three years left on his contract, and even if they buy out McDyess, they’ll still have to pay him a big chunk of change (for no return). Not that I care about the Nuggets finances either way, but for a team that dumped its best defensive player (Camby) because they couldn’t afford him, this seems like a strange move.

Oh well. How does this affect the Raptors? They now have to face Iverson three or four times a year, and Iverson has had, um, some success against us in the past - he’s got a higher scoring average against the Raps than any other player.

It might also mean Detroit changes its style to a more up-tempo, running/scoring team, rather than the half-court team they’ve been recently; the Raptors, with their short bench and somewhat unathletic roster, aren’t a run-and-gun team. Though of course, they’ve done OK so far against supposed high-scoring teams in the Warriors and Bucks.

For tonight specifically, assuming Iverson plays, it could be a problem for the Raptors. The emotion of having a new face oftentimes carries teams a long away in the first game together; everyone’s just excited to be playing with the new guys.

However, that’s usually in a situation where a team is struggling, or stuck in a rut, or having chemistry problems. Fortunately for Toronto, that’s not the case here - Detroit was playing fine and had some of the best chemistry in the NBA. If anything, Detroit players might be unhappy - Rip Hamilton hasn’t spoken to the press since the trade happened - and that might lead to chemistry issues on the court.

Those issues aside, how do the players match up? Well, if Iverson starts at point guard, he could cause all kinds of problems for Jose Calderon. He’s simply too fast for Jose to guard, and Parker will have his hands full guarding Richard Hamilton. Rip has destroyed the Raptors in the past; hopefully, the fact that he’s got better defense behind him means Parker will play Hamilton tighter more on the perimeter.

Tayshaun Prince has developed an excellent offensive game to accompany his solid defense, and he’ll be a handful for Jamario Moon. Moon’s got a very similar body type to Prince, they’re both tremendously athletic, but Prince has a much higher basketball IQ - he’s one of those guys who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Hopefully Moon remembers what rebounding is tonight.

Up front, the Pistons have Rasheed Wallace and will presumably go with Amir Johnson. This will be the matchup to watch in my mind. Rasheed Wallace has absolutely abused Chris Bosh in the past; he’s used his size to get inside and his touch to get Bosh away from the basket. So will the Raptors put O’Neal on Wallace? That might prevent Wallace from getting too much inside but it’ll also pull Jermaine away from the hoop. Still, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have Wallace launching threes - and being 22 feet away from the offensive glass - than scoring in the lane.

Johnson is an up and coming player, with a similar game to Bosh - although maybe more of a high-flyer. Bosh should be able to check him no problem.

At the other end, Johnson will have to guard one of the two - and whoever it is had better take advantage of their size and experience advantage. I would imagine Wallace will guard Bosh, if only because, again, he’s given Bosh fits in the past. Besides, O’Neal hasn’t proven his offense is all there yet - why not stick the young guy on him and make O’Neal beat you, instead of Bosh?

The Pistons bring Jason Maxiell and Walter Hermann off the bench, and Maxiell’s tweener size has given the Raptors problems in the past. Hopefully Bargnani’s improved physical play will offset that, and hopefully, either he or Kapono will have the offensive game going tonight.

Rodney Stuckey could be the big x-factor. The Raps had some trouble with him last year, he’s got size and speed that they can’t really match. Then again, the defense is much improved over last year.

In case you can’t tell, I’m really not sure how this one’s gonna go. I’m just gonna hope that the home crowd works in favour of the Raptors, and that the trade has a negative effect on Detroit’s chemistry, and that these things lead the Raptors to victory. Raps by 10.