The “who snuck the can of Raid into the ACC” edition
Bargnani – he has had a great shooting touch the last few games. So, what do you do? Not pass him the ball, of course. Early foul trouble took him out of his much-needed rhythm. Like the rest of the team, he turned it on late and saved some face.
Bosh – I’m beginning to think his folks used to yell “Hey Chris, don’t play in the paint” when they were painting rooms in their house…how else to explain his fear of playing in the paint as an NBA player? He had a horrible shooting night and was on the receiving end of some donwright horrible passes, but when he did have the ball, he needed to drive it. Smart move by Jay to hold him out in the fourth.
Calderon – for at least the second time this season, he failed to take advantage of a hurt defender. Common sense dictates that if you see a hobbled guy wearing a jersey that isn’t your own, you feed it to the guy he is guarding. Instead, Einstein here goes in the complete opposite direction and it ends in a horrible turnover. Can’t blame the hammy on that. Hunger and desire will take you far as an NBA PG. I’m beginning to wonder if Jose has either.
Graham – The only real spark all game long. Literally went face to face with Bonner Jr. and should be pointed to as the spark that lit the comeback fire. Keep playing like that and they’ll name a sandwich after you at Shopsy’s.
Humphries – seriously, what the hell? Did Santa come to your house and eat all your cookies or something? I have no idea what you were doing on the floor today, but I’ve seen better moves in my bathroom mirror after a shower.
Jawai – the Big Ticker needs someone to show him the way to Stitches so he can pick up some new threads. That dark jacket ensemble is just getting a bit too old.
Kapono – never let it be said he doesn’t play the game with passion. He’s never committed a foul, nor has he never not had one committed on him. I love how he looks at his arms after each faux-foul as if someone just whacked him on his million dollar arms and he will no longer be able to provide money for her.
Moon – very active today with a couple of nice blocks. Certainly made Rondo think twice a few times. It’s bizarre that you can almost tell by looking at him what kind of game he is going to have. If he has that goofy grin on his face, it’s all about the Jam Man. If, however, he cuts that crap and comes out with a game face, he can alter a game.
O’Neal – I was one of first to question why he wasn’t on the bench and now I think it’s deserving of a full-out investigation. It’s not like the $20mil mistake had surgery. If he can’t sit, he can stand in the tunnel. Where the hell is this piece of garbage? You come in preaching team and unity and nobody is bigger than the team and you pull this? All you HO jockers out there should be given an explanation.
Parker – so I heard Ray Allen was on a poor shooting streak. Amazing how that all ended by about, oh, 1pm Eastern.
Solomon – have to be honest, the way the floor was opening up in the fourth, I have to wonder if Will wouldn’t have been better suited out there than Roko. Think the smart move would have been to sub him in along with Bosh….
Ukic – ..because while Roko might get some credit for being around when we made it close, that ill advised three as well as an inability to feed the ball to an open guy on a few occasions stood out like a sore thumb.
Voskuhl – quite the line..4 minutes, 3 fouls, nothing else. Literally. Nothing. Else. Wonder how Jose feels about getting him on the roster with some of the money he deferred. Maybe Mr Slanteye has an ulcer and not a hammy injury.
Driving The Bus: Joey Graham
Under The Bus: Kris Humphries
Game Theme: Easy
30 Raps
yeah roko “gets the credit”… he was “just there”.. a rookie kid playing in the whole forth quarter. It was the same inadequate team that looked like shit the whole game, got abused for 3 quarters that somehow “magically” turned it around, pg has nothing to do in it, its all about “killer bees” making plays .
The guy took one open 3… if it went in, the crowd woulda errupted. Moon on the other hand had the open assist from roko that he had to make and raptors would have very likely won that game..
altraps you are a sad excuse for a basketball commentator. stick to comedy
Actually got to watch the game. And it was very polite of the Celtics to let it get close.
I think the fans deserve the real reason JO is not playing. A profesional athelete his age should heal in 2 weeks. If not something is not right !!
Calderon’s pylon defense is the reason the Celtics jumped to that big early lead. The game was effectively over because we’re not a team that fights back, the Celtics took it easy in the fourth quarter and the unit of Ukic, Graham, Moon, Kapono and Bargnani finally played some D to brings us back momentarily but you knew the Celtics were going to thrwart us.
You’re being too harsh on Ukic, at least the guy managed to stay in front of Eddie House and didn’t turn the ball over. He missed a few cuts but who on the Raptors doesn’t?. Was that a bad three he took? Probably but when you’re that wide open it’s hard not to fire.
BTW, Moon was one quick swing pass away from finding Bargnani on that three he missed. Joey Graham FTW. Chris Bosh’s choking against KG continues.
i agree with MoneyCarlo’s assessment of Ukic’s play. He was a big reason why the Raps had the energy they did. Moon’s blemish on the evening was that ill-advised three when Kapono was hungry and open for the 3. His defense was very good at the end of the ball game.
As for your basketball commentary – people may disagree, but usually there is some truth behind what you say. You are probably wrong about the Solomon thing though, but you are 100% right about HO.
I was also being hard on HO to begin the year and look where that ended up. You still supporting him? If you are, you need to re-evaluate your fandom.
Ukic will amount to nothing without playing time. You said it yourself. If you want to try and make a fourth quarter comeback (handed to you or not) and your cutting PG isn’t cutting, put the guy in who can actually shoot and make the odd outside shot.
Bosh didn’t choke defensively on KG. Neither did Andrea the odd time he was on him. Both deserve credit for shutting him down.
Odd Stat Of The Day – 38 minutes into the game, Calderon had a +/- of -14 in 17 minutes. The Raptors in non-Calderon minutes the Raps had played Boston to a stand still.
Calderon shouldn’t have played today, he wasn’t ready and he hurt the team in a large way.
I liked that the team made two runs to get it close after falling down 17 points in the second, and 20 points to end the third. I liked seeing that, it hasn’t happened anywhere near enough this year, way too many occasions this season where the Raptors have been down big and just gave up on the game.
Boston is a tough matchup for this Raptors team. I don’t think Boston is a team that the Raptors can beat unless they shoot the ball brilliantly and/or the C’s have an abysmal performance. When neither of those two things happen it always looks like being a comfortable Celtics win.
Anyone else sick of Bosh asking the fans to cheer more and be louder? The ACC was absolutely dead for 3 quarters today but the PLAYERS are supposed to make the FANS cheer! I don’t get paid to show up to a game to encourage you Chris, I pay to have you give me a reason to cheer.
This is the real Robert Archibald, either you are actually stealing my name or you actually have reason to use the big Scot’s moniker.
I have a very good reason. If Jake Voskuhl thinks he can replace me he can think again. There is only one Robert “6 Fouls” Archibald.
If anyone has a link to that Moon missed 3 – I would love to see it again. Were Bargs and Kap really wide open?
This one really comes down to Jose. Maybe they could have gotten away with his lack of lateral movement against other PG’s in the league (although I doubt it) but Rondo was probably the worst matchup possible. He needs to sit until he’s 100% healthy. In the meantime they should start Kill Will but give Roko more minutes than they’ve been giving him (at least 20).
Joey G. should get at least 30 minutes tomorrow night. He brought his A game from the second he checked in. A la his 4th quarter D on Dwight Howard, the Hulk played solid D on KG in the 4th.
I think its time for the Raps to start giving more PT to guys who could conceivably be part of their future (Hump over Jake, Roko over Will, JG over AP, Bargs over a healthy JO). Raps can start developing this team for the future without sacrificing much at all.
Kevin Garnett is what 32, 33? Has played hard for 14 fucking years…has already won a championship..and you cunts are accepting the fact that a 24 year old ’superstar” with everything to prove (soon to be gifted with a 100 million dollar contract by a city with the dumbest fucking fanbase in the NBA) can’t manage to get tough enough to have a great game??
This complacent pussy said in his post game interview that he “makes it tough” for Garnett too….
Another card carrying member of the All NBA Choke team….along with McGrady and Nowitzki….
You just keep deluding yourselves that this is another Tim Duncan or LeBron James….keep nitpicking with stupid plays by minimum contract scrubs and rookies and willfully ignore the fact that great players make great plays in tough games and your fucking hero has never shown he is capable of doing that. You build a team around a fucking weakling, you shouldn’t be surprised when that team is fucking weak….
Barg’s was wide open at the top of the key when Moon jacked up that shot.
I don’t understand why the Raptors cannot figure out that they don’t need to be all up in Rondo’s face on defence. I don’t know if it’s just Jose, but give the guy some space and take away his lane. The Celtic’s whole offence (besides screen plays for Ray Ray…more rant on that in a minute) is based on dribble penetration and then easy kickouts to shooters or big men. Especially when the second unit is out there. Every Leon Powe/Big Baby dunk is the result of Rondo beating his man, yet the Rap’s still take away his shot!!! Do you know how the Suns defended Tony Parker when he would torch them? They put Sean Marion on him! Even one of the Knicks said it this week, put a bigger man on him and make him shoot over you. Maybe the Raptor’s will wake up.
And that brings us to Ray Ray…as if the guy hasn’t beaten us this way before…yet we still go under every screen and lose this fantastic shooter. Khandor exposed the Rap’s PNR defence a while ago. The raptor who is supposed to be defending the screener must help/hedge to prevent wide open looks. Yet Ray Ray got wide open looks. Besides Ray Ray, the Raptors did a decent job of defending today. Ray Ray was the diffrence.
i think the C’s did have an abysmal performance. the only reason they won is because calderone didnt play any defense in the 1st quarter which led to open 3s for jesus shuttlesworth and an extra foul on bargs. i dont know one person who knows anything about the raps that thought numero oucho should have been anywhere near rondo today!! terrible decision to let him play. i live in la so i watch the games on league pass which means i usually get the other teams feed and the boston commentators couldnt believe the defense from the spanish spock either… and kappono’s allen iverson impersonation at the top of the key was funnier than that “dick in a box video”
i think today was there chance to split. watch paul p or KG get 27 tommorow
glad to hear that Jose is staying back in TO tomorrow – according to his post-game comments. He is clearly not in game shape yet.
As for Bosh: just because a player is not like LeBron or Kobe, does not mean they are not superstars. Dirk is certainly a superstar, but he needs talent around him. That is fine. Bosh is very talented, but he needs talent around him as well. He does not do for a team what LeBron does: i.e. make the rest of the team better by drawing all five of the opposing players to him. I would build a team around Dirk or Bosh any day – they are a hell of a lot better than other players out there: Dirk led his team to a 67-win season. Yes, the Mavs bowed out of the playoffs, but to blame Dirk is a little excessive – try the whole team.
Players like LeBron or Kobe are one in a blue moon – but they can be beaten by teams that are overall more talented. This means Bosh plus other great players. Pierce, one of the best in the game couldn’t dig Boston out of mediocrity until joined by Ray and KG. Surround Bosh with other stars, and I bet his ‘choke’ performances diminish, because he does not feel the responsibility to take every shot. Sure, he isn’t like Kobe, who relishes in the last shots of games. Does he need to be like Kobe in order to be a superstar or a franchise player? Who is the franchise of Boston? Could any one of the big three do it without the other two? No way.
Bosh can play better, yes. But, let’s face it: without him, the Raps are D-League team. Miami of last year would make us look bad.
No further comment on the caldy experiment.
I don’t understand why they didn’t play Moon on Rondo and Will on RayRay.
Jose isn’t even 75% so he shouldn’t have played at all today. Even if he did, I think Jose on Ray would still be better, if you shut down Rondo with Moon their defence becomes much more stagnant.
Hope they consider it tomorrow.
nice roll call alt.
brutally honest as usual, and why the fuck shouldnt you be?
lol @ the big ticker.
did no else catch that gem bargnani offered during the half-time special about what happened after bosh cussed him out a couple seasons ago during the golden state game when biedrins took a couple boards off him, and i quote:
” in the shower we were really cool ”
…
also…wtf was moon effign doing shooting two treys in the last two minutes with the game on the line? seriously??? why do i feel like i’m taking crazy pills and am the only person this bothers? the guy sucks big time!
credit where it is due though: he played well except for those boneheaded moves.
yea, he played well until it really mattered then potentially cost us the game. not saying someone else would have hit a three or a shot, just that-that wasn’t what triano had in mind when he drew up those plays.
You’re not the only one. That’s why Joey should have been in there in the final 2 minutes over Moon, because Joey has much better shot selection than Jumpshotorio Moon.
Hilarious roll call as usual, but I feel completely the opposite on Roko getting to play the fourth. I actually thought he should’ve gotten some court time earlier – yes that three may not have been the best shot but Ukic played really solid I thought. Also, why doesn’t Triano put a bigger defender on Rondo as other teams have been doing to disrups the Celtics offense as it takes away Rondo’s penetration?
Chris Bosh is amazing, one hell of a player – I just wish he’d raise his mentality to the next level and attack KG instead of whimpering away and settling for jump shots. In the fourth when he finally drove by KG for the dunk, did anyone else laugh at Devlin screaming out (from Bosh’s point of view) “I’M NOT SETTLING!!!”
I guess the real question is did Roko have a hand in the Celtics playing so poor in the fourth. I say no. If he was driving to the hoop and getting denied, I’d be all for giving him the rock to try and win the game. Instead he took a silly shot and didn’t do an overly amazing job of finding his teammates for easy hoops. Let me be clear though: Will would have been a crapshoot too, but for some strange reason I feel more comfortable with him running the show in that situation.
That and Jose sucks.
Thank you.
J.O. in jail ?
The thing that kills me is that we passed up on Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Danny Granger in back to back drafts!
it kills us all. i get cursed out when i bring it up, but appreciate it when others do ;)
I bet Jose is not even injured. He learned from JO.. when getting worked by opponent, just fake injury and run to locker room. And he probably only played cuz Roko is making him paranoid.
wow nunya, tell us how you really feel.
WTF is with you bro?
blah