Solid game last night against the T-Wolves. If they were any decent - and if they weren’t missing their best player - I’d be more impressed. As it is, an 8-point win against one of the few teams worse than the Raptors isn’t much to be impressed by.

Nor was Sunday’s win against the Knicks. Had they not been blown out by the 22-31 Knicks two days before - or had they taken it to the Knicks the same way - again, I’d feel better. As it is, they’re now 2-2 since the all-star break and batting .500 is not going to get this team into the playoffs.

But… at least the last two were entertaining. I mean, you knew they were going to lose to the Cavs last week. And I expected the Knicks to win on Friday night. But to lose by 30? And be down by 38? In the so-called mecca of basketball? Wow. That pretty much turned my stomach and made me not want to think about the Raptors for a while. I was pretty embarrassed to call myself a Raptors fan. I mean, I’ve said it a dozen times now, I don’t mind losing, I just want to be entertained. That was anything but.

Thankfully, as I said, the last two were different, and not just because the Raptors won. Both games had a good pace, and both games were close throughout. That’s enough on its own, but even better, the Raps got the win.

Last night it didn’t look good early though. I almost turned it off in disgust but stuck with it, I’m glad I did. I’m more than a little tired of all the incessant “this team is gonna run!” talk that’s been hovering around the Raps the last two weeks, because if anyone thinks this team is gonna run like the Suns or even the Warriors, they’re delusional. But what I saw from the second quarter on last night, I liked. The Raps didn’t fly up the court every possession, even when they got stops - they picked their spots and ran when it was available. Not only that, they didn’t force the issue on the break - quite a few baskets were scored on what might be called the “secondary break,” where the ball comes into the front court, slows, waits for the rest of the offensive players to catch up, then the ball goes to those players before the corresponding defensive players are set.

All in all, I felt like it was a good balance and I was very impressed at Calderon, Marion and Parker for generally making the right decision on the break opportunities. A lot of people have questioned whether Calderon is the right PG for a running team, if he plays like he did last night, then clearly he can handle it.

I was very impressed by Marion, despite his 5-15 shooting. He pulled in 8 boards handed out 3 assists and had 2 blocks. Not great numbers, but I feel like he did a lot more out there. He sure does know how to move the ball on offense, and not just in terms of swinging it; unlike every other Raptor, he didn’t wait til the defense pushed Bosh out to 15 feet to give him the ball, he actually dished to CB4 while CB4 was getting position 5 feet from the hoop. I really liked seeing that. He also moves well without the rock, and while that didn’t necessarily lead to scoring chances for him last night, it keeps the defense honest and I’m sure helped Bosh and Bargnani get to the hoop as often as they did. He also doesn’t give up on plays; he’s averaging over 3 offensive boards a game as a Raptor, and again, while that number isn’t sky-high, it’s more than we’re used to seeing around here. That can only be a good thing.

Now, it’s time for a tough stretch of games, as I alluded to last week. A three-game trip through Dallas, Phoenix, and Houston? Yikes.

Hey, beating the Suns isn’t impossible. They play the Lakers the night before, and Amare is out for the year. I’ll tell you this, if the Raptor offense runs as well as it did last night - and let’s be honest, the Suns aren’t a defensive juggernaut - that could be a high-scoring game, like in the 250-combined points range. I don’t know if the Raps have enough to come out on the high end of that one. Still, I hope it’s at least as entertaining as the last time these two teams met (when they combined for 230 in the Suns 4-point win).

Anyway, back to last night, one final concern for the Raps is that Joey Graham left the game with a bad hamstring. Now, I know it’s hard to imagine, but Joey has been a pretty key guy for the Raps the last few weeks! And since they’re essentially playing 8 guys and going “small” on a regular basis - with Joey at the 4 - this could put a cramp in their style. Will we see Marion at the four, with Kapono and Parker on the floor? We may have to if Joey is out for a long stretch. Voskuhl and O’Bryant are not going to contribute and Bosh and Bargnani can’t play 48. (Not that I, personally, have a problem with guys logging serious minutes now - after all, you gotta do what you gotta do to win, and if you don’t, you got a long, play-off-less offseason to rest. But sadly, Bosh and Jose in particular haven’t shown this year that they have the conditioning to play those kinds of minutes.)

Well, again, I’m glad the Raps gave us two entertaining games this week and I hope to see a couple more this weekend. I still feel like the playoffs are a virtual impossibility, but at the same time, I wouldn’t mind seeing them finish with 37 wins or so, which at least would be a little less embarrassing than say, 33.

Raps win! Unbelievable.

No posts for the last few days, because frankly, those were some unbelievable awful basketball games. And not just because the Raps lost. 70 points against Memphis? Ugh.

But, they managed to “gut out” a win against the Jefferson-less T-Wolves last night in what was actually a pretty entertaining game. Both teams made runs, the Raps just made the final one and that’s the key. Gotta say, I really liked they way they went inside down the stretch. Yeah, it helps that JO was being guarded by a rook (Kevin Love) so he could take advantage, but hey. At least they recognized and took advantage, something this team rarely does.

You know what else I saw there which I never see and it drives me crazy? A re-post! Seriously. This is a basic basketball play that I never, ever see the Raptors do. They throw the ball into the post, a soft double comes, JO/AB kicks the ball out, the defense relaxes. That’s the best time to get the ball right back to the post-player, because the defense is moving away. But the Raptors just don’t do that. Ever. I’m not saying it should be done every time, but you HAVE to do it sometimes to keep the defense honest. The Raps don’t. And it exposes them, because opposing teams know they’re not serious about getting the ball into the paint.

Anyway, I saw this happen twice in the fourth quarter and I was stunned. Finally! JO ended up with 22, and 10 of them came in the final four minutes.

As for the rest, well, the Raps got contributions from the 3-spot, and that’s the key. Another solid outing from Joey Graham, being his aggressive self; so nice to see him create opportunities for himself like that. Jamario had a solid game; even though he took a couple questionable Js, they dropped, and he was active on the boards. And Kapono had good shooting night, even threw in a four-point play, and you know what? I don’t think he traveled once. Amazingly enough.

Bargnani has started to cool off a bit of late, his shooting isn’t quite as hot and he’s making a few too many TOs. But still, if this is the production we can expect - 18 points, 6 boards, and a block - I can live with that. Heck, I’d be happy with 15/6 but I would like him to get that FG percentage back up a little (only 35% in the past six).

So, one more game tonight, against the Spurs, before the break. It really is a shame Chris Bosh is out, because if the Raptors were ever gonna beat the Spurs, tonight would be the night. They played last night and this is their fifth straight road game. They’ve got to be feeling tired. But without CB4? Forget about it. I actually think Andrea and JO will keep Duncan in check, but look for Manu and Tony Parker to completely shred our perimeter “defense.” I expect them each to drop 30. Actually this might be a total Spurs blowout so they may not play long enough to score that many. Sigh. Spurs by 19. Gonna be ugly to watch… oh, wait. It’s on TSN2 so no one will be watching. Nice job there, MLSE.

Sigh.

So, last game before the break. Raps clearly need the time off, as they’ve clearly been frustrated with each other lately. And maybe CB will heal up, maybe Jose can finally get to 100 per cent, and maybe they’ll actually start winning a few games! Gotta wonder though if JO and CB will be able to keep their hearts in it, now that the playoffs are out of the picture. You’d hope they both have enough pride to, you’d hope they continue to go out there and earn their big paycheques. To me, this is where Chris can really show some of those leadership abilities. Yes, the cause is hopeless and everyone knows it. But if you can inspire your teammates to keep playing hard - and it starts with leading by example - then maybe you will finally start to silence some of those “not a franchise player” critics.