Bosh hosts the Cavs tonight at the ACC. Let’s NBA!My life just got 30% better with the season starting today. The Raptors host the Cavs, who just came off a 95-89 loss at the hands of the C**tics last night. Seeing Anthony Parker in a Cavs uniform was unsettling for me. For those of you who didn’t want the guy back, just remember, he is starting for a team that has their designs on a championship, dude can play.
A few things happened in that game that has me feeling good about the Raptors chances of winning tonight:
- First of all, the Cavs look lost offensively with LeBron on the bench. They have no one to carry the load, no one! LeBron only sat 3 minutes, dude played 45 minutes on opening night, this shouldn’t bode too well for them.
- Shaq out gunning on all cylinders, but that didn’t last too long. By the 3rd quarter, he looked old and slow(er then usual).
- No Delonte West
Matchups
Calderon vs Williams
We finally have an injury free Calderon, who looked better as the pre-season went on. With some of creating burden being passed on to Hedo, Calderon should be good to spot up for some open 3s. Williams isn’t much of a defender, and considering he played 35 minutes last night, he wont be playing as aggressively as Mike Brown would want him too. He will be attacking Calderon on offense, but the two should cancel each other out.
The Edge: Even
Parker vs DeRozan
Parker is one of my favourite Raptors of all time. It was good to see him play well along side LeBron last night, but he played 40 minutes. He didn’t shoot great from the field (3-9), but he hit some timely 3s and some solid defense on Ray Allen. He now has to chase DeRozan up and down the court on the second night of a back-to-back. DeRozan needs to attack him from the tip, and keep going at him. This could be a long night for Parker in his return to the ACC.
The Edge: Even*
Turkoglu vs LeBron
Doesn’t matter how good Turkoglu plays, LeBron is LeBron. In 45min last night, LeBron dropped 38pts 4rebs 8ast. You can’t beat that. You only hope that Turkoglu gives up more jumpers then drives. If he can keep him out of the lane, and force LeBron to shoot deep jumpers, I can live with whatever happens.
The Edge: LeBron
Bosh vs Varejao
We know how this will turn out, Bosh will win the overall match-up, but Varejao will win every single hustle play. The guy leads the league in ran down rebounds (errr, yea, he runs down rebounds more then anyone else). He isn’t a threat to score, but that doesn’t mean Bosh should ignore him. The guy is the consummate garbage man. It will be a long night for him though, Bosh looks good to start his max-year campaign tonight.
The Edge: Bosh
Bargnani vs Shaq
Shaq can’t cover Bargnani on defense, and Bargnani can’t cover Shaq either. This match-up comes down to who is going to grab more rebounds, and play better defense. Bargnani should have the advantage, as he will force Shaq out from the key on defense, opening up some space to maneuver. Should Shaq cover Bosh on defense, the same situation will happen as Bosh likes to play from 18ft in. Factor in Shaq played 30min last night, and looked worse as the game dragged on.
The Edge: Bargnani
Bench
With Delonte West not even wearing Sean John on the sidelines, the Cavs have a pretty bad bench. Amir Johnson will neutralize Ilgauskas, Jack will neutralize Boobie, Wright will own Moon. In fact, looking at the Cavs bench, I am hard-pressed to think how this is a championship calibre team, they need to get healthy quick!
The Edge: Raptors
Injury Report
Raptors
Reggie Evans
Cavaliers
Daniel Green
Leon Powe
Delonte West
The Line
The line is set at Cavs -5.5 with an over/under of 191.
Game Simulation
This is a new feature we are running with this season, our boy Jeremy Visser from That’s What I’m Saying, Guy… will drop a simulation every game-day with complete boxscores and highlights. You can hit him up on twitter @jeremy_visser. We’ll be keeping track of them here.
LeBron James led the way for Cleveland in the NBA 2k10 opener, recording a triple-double (28 points, 13 boards and 16 assists) to lead the Cavs past the Raptors 117-98. Toronto hung tough, trailing by just six points entering the fourth quarter, before King James & co. put them away with a late run.
Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 20 points and nine rebounds. Chris Bosh, limited all night by foul trouble, finished with 19 in just 19 minutes. Hedo Turkoglu struggled in his debut with Toronto, finishing with 10 points of 4-of-14 shooting.
Aside from James, the Cavs got a strong performance from all-star Mo Williams, who scored 29 and added six assists. Shaquille O’Neal scored 19 in his second game as a Cav.
BoxscoreKeys to Winning
- Hit the glass – the Cavs have an active front court, and need to be containted
- Limit LeBron – easier said then done, but if we can limit his options, and make him beat us one-on-one on every possession, will get hard to carry the load
- Pick-n-Roll – I know I don’t have to say it, cause that’s all the Raptors do, but between Shaq and Ilgauskas, the PNR defense is wanting.
Prediction
The Cavs will be tired, but pissed off. The Raptors don’t play defense like the C**tics, but if they can run the Cavs around, and not let up, it will be a long night for the LeBron et al. I called a Raptor win earlier in the summer, and unless LeBron drops 50, I like the Raptors to represent.
Catch us tonight on live chat.
104 Raps
Raps Fan… I’m not sure you watched the same Parker I did last night. He was horrible. His stat line might have been decent but thats do to the 40 minutes he played. Terrible shot selection (except the few he hit and you can thank Lebron for those), terrible passing (using the Roko jump pass and not paying attention to who was in the lane), and his defense was crap. Allen’s poor shooting last night had nothing to do with Parker… he missed a couple open shots, burned Parker constantly but couldn’t do anything in the lane with the Cavs big bodies down there.
Parker is one person I will not miss (although would have been nice off the bench), and I think is a great opportunity for Derozan to exploit tonight(drive on him constantly and hope to pick up some fouls and get to the line).
I love the 2k10 simulations… always interesting to see the results.
I miss Parker. But to think he can play that many minutes, and be effective is more poor coaching from Brown. Brown is just a bad coach. There I said it. Another COY given to the wrong coach.
COY has always been given to bad coaches.lol.A stupid achievement. A Hall of Famer coach or a coach with many rings ala Phil Jackson of the Lakers is a real achievement.
Or Jerry Sloan…it boggles my mind how that guy hasn’t won even a single COY award. Haven’t researched this but it’s almost like they keep giving it to the team which has increased its wins the most or the one that caught the league by surprise.
Adelman deserved it last year, IMO
they basically give the award to whoever coached the “Team of the Year!” which may or may not be the team with the best record that year. usually, it’s the team that produced the best feel good story of the year. since they can’t award the team, they give it to the coach. what’s why jerry sloan has had such a hard time winning the award; consistency (without championships) doesn’t really capture the league’s imagination. but i can still totally see jerry winning COY one day on the account of his past achievements rather than for an actual season at hand, kind of like Martin Scorsese’s oscar for the Departed.
COY is an over-hype since Jordan left the game. Stan Van Gundy should of gotten it, despite his over-sympathy to Jameer Nelson and costing a possible game 7 in the finals with the Lakers.
stan van gundy (and his brother) is a terrible coach, almost as bad as rafer alston is a point guard. any coach that lets his team ignore their best player (dwight howard) ten minutes at a time when you need scores shouldnt even be coaching high school ball
You go ahead and believe that. If I were a GM looking for a coach, I’d hire either one of them.
COY tends to be given to the coach of a team that is perceived to have overachieved, very seldiom to a coach of a team that is expected to do well and does do well
I agree Parker made three critical errors in the last 3 min of the game yesterday…it almost hurt to watch. Cavs need DWest to get his shit together in a bad way.
Let’s hope LeBron, Parker and Shaq are spent for tonights game.
DWest is the main wing on that team, he knows how to play. If he played yesterday, Cavs would have won.The game ended with a close score of 6 points differential. Pierce had a monster game of 23 points and 11 rebounds.Looks like the guy is unstoppable this year.
D-West is an intense player with speed and a shot. Too bad he was a Remington, and .45 caliber away from having a perfect year.
Yea, I missed last half of the 4th, but it looked to me that the whole team, other then Lebron, was terrible. Parker did a lot of good things to start the game, he was just ridden like a horse.
Not sure that Delonte will start now that he’s gone potso.
Long night for LeBron?
Have we forgotten the “Can you pass the remote control?” dunk last year?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPeOrxYvwh8
I think he had 25 dunks in the 1st half that game.
This is going to be a slaughter tonight.
Can’t wait either way. I picked the Raptors today because of the home-court thing and the Cleveland back-to-back. Let’s see if our marquee defender Wright can handle lebron.
BTW, why is it called the remote control dunk?
Hey Arse!
I hear ya…it’s been a long offseason; I’m ready for all the yapping to stop.. let’s see what this team has in store for us.
Lol.. I have no idea..It’s the first thing that came to mind.. my man looks like he’s laying on a LazyBoy asking someone to pass the chips or remote control..with one hand behind the back and the other reaching out.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_42w5-R0zz2g/ST_jSwG38KI/AAAAAAAAEMI/MXTF3G1CBr8/s1600-h/lebron+karl+malone+dunk.jpg
pass the remote so i can change the channel to Gossip Girl and end the misery
Going from a bad game to an equally bad show hardly ends the misery… but I get where you’re coming from ;)
FLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Arse …. you are such a cowardly pos ….
Okay, let’s not get out of hand here. I think we can all appreciate that you’ve been making some solid posts, FAQ. But before that you had irritated many people, and often using all caps as well.
You had your warnings (I recall the mods saying that you had used a fake email so they had to warn you by posting here, instead of a personal email). At least let yertu get his.
YERTU!! WOOOT WOOT! Ready for the season?? MAN! I’m pumped for tonight… I really have little faith in this crew.. but hoping something magical happens and these guys play with some heart. That’s all I want.. lay it all out and I got no beef.
exactly. i’m now viewed as being ‘negative’ on here. i guess some of the posters here aren’t familiar with you…
anyway, welcome back.
I dislike Lebron, but we are not the C**ts.
I really hope we can take advantage of them being in a 2nd game of a back-to-back, but somehow, I am seeing a slaughter as well.
I really hope they are burnt out, but the Dino’s tend to bend over backwards (with the oh so helpful refereeing) to teams with “super”-stars.
The only real reason why Parker is starting because Delonte West has lost what’s left of his sanity.
I thought Delonte carried that team, and he was the only one left competing against Orlando when King(of fools) James quit.
I think the Raps will win personally. This is a time for Bosh to prove himself as a fundamental player. If the Raps keep passing the ball, there will be no problems. For Lebron, I think there is not much for the Raps to do but hope he misses. Overall, the Raps have to score alot of points in order to seize the game. Hopefully Bosh will score 30. :)
Bold prediction time:
- Lebron & Co will burn is in the first half.
- If we force Lebron to beat us (more so than anyone else) we will grind out a win in the second half.
- Bosh will score 28+ points, and get a double-double.
- Bargnani and/or Turk will also light it up.
Lebron, Parker, and Shaq all played more than they should have before a back-to-back sequence of games. Hopefully we can tire them out in the first half, make a run in the third, and execute in the fourth quarter tonight.
The Raptors have had a history of failing to guard Big Z, and I don’t think 9 new faces will change that. It’s the combination of his height + shooting stroke that’s a problem. I don’t think Amir will be neutralizing him. I still agree that the Raps have the edge on the bench.
On Parker, he’s not a starting quality SG anymore. He was maybe in his first season with the Raptors. But he’s getting old and it shows. As a 7th or 8th man he’s great, but if you’re playing him for 40 minutes then you’re going to have issues.
I agree I think the raps are gonna surprise tonight and take the w…after one game watching the cavs, i think it will take them some time to gel as well…add that to the fact its the second of a back to back, plus all their injuries, and I think we eek out the Dubya.
i think we have a chance based on opening night@home adrenaline.
how’d that workout for cleveland and dallas lastnight???
The Wizards/Mavs game showed us yet again just how much Jason Kidd has fallen. The guy will turn 37 this season and I can’t understand Mark Cuban insisting on him being the PG. I think it’s a matter of pride for him, he gave up Devin Harris, knows it was a mistake and won’t admit to it by playing Kidd well past his prime.
Dallas should’ve blown everything up last summer starting with Josh Howard.
not good, but we will have that same adrenaline or maybe more considering the 9 new faces and the anticipation from everyone at the ACC tonight, we just have to channel it into a win.
From watching the Celtics and the Cavs I saw the value early on having last year’s core intact on opening night (i.e. the fluidity in Boston’s game throughout the game) and the problem of integrating major new faces (Shaq and LeBron and Parker in starting minutes just never jived).
The Cavs will work it out. I don’t have a doubt. Parker will move back to the bench and will do well there. Shaq is intelligent enough of a big man to work with a dynamic wing, as he has done in the past. But it will be rough for them in the early going against good teams.
So, if the Cavs struggled in their first game, won’t the Raps? We have a completely new bench, and two new starters.
As long as we are in the game of predicting an outcome:
Raps lose tonight to a hungry Cleveland team who will see losing 2 straight as a serious blow to their ego and will play a gritty game. Cavs win 98-89
If the raps win, the cleveland media is gonna have a fit, not to mention the Cavs bloggers and posters!
I think the raps have a chance, but it all depends on LBJ. Yeah he played big minutes but he’s built to play 48 x 82 so I don’t put a lot of stock in that. Even despite his aging teammates LBJ can beat good teams on his own (nearly did the Celtics) and we don’t even know if this Raps team is mediocre yet.
That being said, Sideshow tends to always look pretty good against Bosh, LeBron is gonna tear the raps a collective new one, and if they can’t throw it in the ocean the bench will look nearly as bad as Clevelands. Toronto is going to have to channel that home opener energy and pray that The Cavs are worn out.
I agree on all accounts. The only thing is that there is a difference between playing X number of minutes, and executing at a high level for X minutes.
The Cavs came out on fire last night, because they were pumped up and had fresh legs. By the fourth quarter they were passing up shots, missing shots, and overall struggling on offense (even Lebron in the 4th quarter).
Had Lebron made that last 3 pointer he tried (with roughly 2 minutes, I think), they might have won the game. But he was too tired at that point for his shot to fall so easily.
If the raps can tire out the Cavs in the first half, and have the score at least close (5-9 points) going into the fourth, I think the game will be ours to win.
Raps will lose tonight…….. I drink the Kool aid more then anybody else I know, but the CAVS will spank us…. Toronto is not Boston, Lebron is going to expose us…..
Raps need time to Gel……. We have a chance against lower echlon teams, but Cavs have LEBRON…..
It’s over….
Cavs without Lebron are a last place team in the league…..They look flat out horrible…. Mo Williams is only an Allstar in the D League..
Cavs are disintegrating slowly, based on their Celtic loss at home too. They have two old and slow centres in Shaq and Ilgauskas … and LeBron looked lost and he degenerated into playing one-on-one … while the rest of the team got iced. The Cavs are slowing down …!!!
If the Raps miraculously play steady ball on offense and defense, they could pull off a surprise win on a struggling Cavs team.
Holy mother of… did FAQ just sound like a tribal honking fan?!?
Just kidding FAQ. I have to agree, it would be a small miracle, but after last night (and the minutes assigned to key players on their team), it sounds at least a little possible.
Man, that would be terrific for the Raptors’ confidence, wouldn’t it?
Yupper …. not only for the players, but also for the coaching staff trying mightily to explain the intricacies of their playing strategy plans.
Watching and listening to the few snippets of Rap’s practice sessions on RapsTV and Triano explaining the rationale of the coaches new System; a win over the Cavs would give the coaches more credibility with the reluctant players.
Even a decent close loss would be acceptable … but t.h. fans demand nothing less than a win … or else their lives cave …!!!!
If you’re optimistic, then I, as a fan will also be (slightly more) optimistic.
Shaq is going to eat Bargnani.
I don’t think so. If you look at the big game Shaq had against us last year he didn’t dominate Bargnani, not saying Bargnani shut him down but it was evenly matched for the most part. The key as always will be whether Bargnani can use his advantage to pick up a couple fouls against Shaq. If that happens, it changes the complexion of the game. Well, at least until Big Z checks in.
Yeah, Shaq really struggles with his conditioning in back to backs, so this could be a night where Shaq could play 20 min. But Big Z didn’t do a lot last night, so he could pose some problems for Bargs. He is still decent center in this league
I like Bargnani against Z, he wasn’t moving at all last night.
what’s the over/under on number of bullshit ’shaq’ fouls called against VL in the 1st Q? 2.5?
i really can’t imagine LBJ letting his team start 0-2, especially against the raps. they put up a good fight with a limited roster against a championship-calibre team; i don’t foresee conditioning or ‘fatigue’ to be an issue for them tonight, so the back-2-back is meaningless. ‘bron loves killing TO, especially in TO, so he’ll be bringing it, and unfortunately, no one on the raps that will play have had their nuts drop yet, so it’ll be LBJ and his band of merry men laying the smack down, with bosh et al left to dole out over-respectful man-hugs at the end. 106-92 cavs.
‘If you look at the big game Shaq had against us last year he didn’t dominate Bargnani’
Didn’t he drop 45 on an assortment of dunks and lay-ups???
Wow, Barg’s only held him to 45 but didn’t get dominated!
I know the evidence is against me here but Bargnani’s one-on-one play wasn’t terrible. Bosh is the one who was guarding him and complaining about his illegal clearouts.
Not saying Shaq wasn’t dominant, just saying Bargnani wasn’t his bitch that night as the comment by Lu Galasso stated.
‘Bosh is the one who was guarding him and complaining about his illegal clearouts.’
If I’m mistaken who is the Centre on this team?
When all fails blame Bosh right, lol. Barg’s should be guarding him cause thats his position and if he can’t then he failed. It shouldn’t be Bosh’s responsibility to defend centres when he guards 4’s.
Dude, that was the RuPaul game, Bosh was guarding him for the majority of the game. Period. There’s no slant here.
AB did start on him I believe but was in foul trouble most of the game. Bosh ended up covering Shaq for the majority of the game.
Shaq did clearout and camp in the lane (so many missed 3 sec calls), but the Raps were also playing illegal defense 75% of the time so it kind of evened out.
Arse is right, AB did do a decent job on Shaq… its just that the minutes were limited.
Are you forgetting that Bargnani and Bosh absolutely can not guard Shaq? Like, at all.
Lebron is very angry now, I think it is good and bad depending on how we take advantage of it. Good if he hogs the ball and screws up the ball movement for his team, or bad if he dunks 30 times on us.
I love the raps I really do, but this is the CAVS! And this is a raps team that lost to the timberwolves a few days back minus Love and big Al.
We lose this game I think.
If Powe and D. West are on the floor tonight, I’d say we are done for. I wish Reggie were on the floor tonight, so he can steal a couple of balls from Shaq (whichever way you want to interpret that).
The game today will determine if the Raps can rise to the challenge of playing against 2 former players, Parker and Moon … and if they can take advantage of a Cavs team that is having chemistry problems with Parker and Shaq in their starting lineup.
Tough, lockdown defense on LeBron and holding off the rest of the team with decent defense that Triano & Staff have been hammering in the pre-season. Of course the Raps will have to shoot the lights out too … good luck because they’ll need it …!!!!!
There wont be any tough lock-down defense on LeBron, but if we could limit the rest of the cast…
…they might keep it within double-digits?
lol
The stars are aligned (back2back + emotional game for Cavs) for a sweet Raptor win. Our boys by 12!
Hmmmmm ….. maybe triple overtime … and Raps by one (1) … ya think ???
I’ve got that … excited feeeeeeling … hope the Raps can surprise us all …!!!!
uh, weren’t you predicting a 3-30 start to the season? are you hoping for a win tonight, or predicting one?
After watching the Cavs shitting between the bedsheets against the Celtics, I suddenly found some hope for the Raps … just a glimmer of hope, but hope nevertheless … HOPE …!!!!
(I hope Arse doesn’t delete this because I used caps … sheesh)
It’s true that nether Bosh or Bargnani can guard Shaq, who exactly is Shaq going to guard? Is he going to stand out by the three point line to guard Bargnani, or is he going to guard Bosh a little closer to the basket, but leaving him open to fouls as Bosh drives by him. While I’m not a big fan of the Bosh-Bargnani pairing (because of the rebounding and defensive liabilities), this is the type of game where they actually could have an advantage.
A lot will actually depend on DeRozan and Calderon. If Bosh and Bargnani can keep the lane clear, those two need to drive the lane. Bargnani is the biggest key for the Raptors, however. He needs to try and keep Shaq off the boards as much as possible, while also trying to keep him from dominating inside. Then on the offensive end, he needs to take advantage of Shaq immobility and inability to guard the perimeter.
Oh, and that box score loses credibility with Bargnani’s 9 rebounds. In 78 games last season, he only grabbed 9 or more rebounds 11 times. That’s 3 more than Rajon Rondo, who’s a foot shorter, had during the regular season last year.
great point – shaq can’t guard the PnP to save his life, i can see hedo/bosh, hedo/bargs, jose/bosh, jose/hedo & jose/bargs running it to death. ’cause, y’know, it’s not like they have an overwhelming # of options anyway. still think raps lose significantly…but hope for, at the very least, a solid, consistent effort; if they get beaten by the cavs, i can live with that. if they don’t show up, or fold in the face of early adversity, or if conditioning/fatigue is a factor…yikes.
Yeah, that box score is so wrong in so many areas. Does anyone really believe that Bosh would get only 4 rebounds while Hedu gets 8, Bargnani gets 9 and Rasho gets 5? To top it off, it has Banks playing 4 minutes and actually doing something.
If that is the sort of thing that the generator is going to spit out, we shouldn’t bother with it.
Post deleted for typing in caps, nobody likes that shit. -Arse
Arse … don’t be such an asshat … and reinstate the deleted posting which was intended to be shouted out like a t.h. fan …!!!!!
I won’t even be mad if the Raptors lose. It’s just been way too long since Basketball has been on. Anyone know if it is televised?
The game is on TSN2, always check the sidebar on this site for TV information for upcoming games.
Thanks Arse, will do
Parker is where he belongs — as a role player on a good team. When West comes back, don’t expect to hear any complaining about PT on Parker’s part. Love how he stepped up last year at PG and did everything we needed. True team player.
Absolutely, dude is a pro.
I get the Raps could win tonight scenario…I believe it. The question is, or should be, do they. Regardless of the advantages we rack up against Cleveland, (and the fact that the Raps all sat together and watched the Cavs should help) will the Raps psych themselves out of a winnable game.
The year after a dismal season. The first game out of the gate, against the team that had the best record the previous year, and the MVP.
The psychological hurdle is huge and might ultimately be what damns them tonight.
Parker sucked. Bad shots, crunch time turnovers, and generally being afraid of lebron yelling at him. Wish him the best, but glad he’s gone.
is it me or are do the Cavs have the most uninspired gameplan in the L. It really is give it to lebron and stand in the corners, at least in the 4th. Maybe it was just the Celtics D, but they look like they are in trouble. Has anyone registered firemikebrown.com yet?
Having said that Lebron could beat the Raptors by himself on most nights. The Raps need at least 3 guys to have big games (20+ points).
Hope Bosh dunks on Shaq. He’s a fat, team destroyer–albeit a pretty good swimmer.
Excited the season is back. Here’s hoping the Raps are at least fun to watch.
Anthony Parker was the one Rap that left that I wanted back. But if Cleveland is going to play him a lot of minutes – someone should send them the memo that he’s 34 years old!
Also, playing Parker and Moon together will get Cleveland the same lockdown defense that Toronto had last last!
Figure this may be the Raptors best chance against the Cavs this season and it still isn’t a sure thing!
Totally agree about Parker. I think he’s a great addition, but he should NOT be playing 34 minutes, although that probably had more to do with West being out than it being his regular minutes. Ideally, I’d have him start and play 25 mpg and West come off the bench and play the same amount.
“Also, playing Parker and Moon together will get Cleveland the same lockdown defense that Toronto had last last!”
Ha, ha. Great point.
I’m actually quite surprised by the Rap-friendly line of only -5.5. I honestly feel that an optomistic line would be -7 to -9 in favour of the Cavs. If I were a betting man that would be my first pick of the night forsure (in favour of the Cavs covering of course).
Let’s see, Lebron has repeatedly destroyed us (along with most of the league). Shaq had a monster game against us last time he played, whether or not he fouled most of the time. Cleveland might not be awesome but I have yet to see someone questioning their title contender status. Oh yeah, this one is ripe for the taking!
If I can figure out a way to watch the game from this developing country I’m in all I want to see is a team with some balls. Miss shots, screw up the offence, screw up the defence but don’t just give up like most versions of the Raptors have for the past 4 years. Who cares if they win this one. Are they still pussies?
Rehashing the old debate:
Is it much better now that TSN2 is on Rogers Digital Cable, given that it is still not on analog cable? I have analog cable, yet I can watch 99% of Leafs Games, my local hockey team. I can;t even watch hockey because of the shit-product put out year after year. Now, my local basketball team has 1/2 of their games (practically all the month of October) only on TSN2? Give me a damn break. Man up TSN, MLSE. Broadcast my local sports team on analog cable. And I am NOT the only one who has not or cannot switch to digital cable or satellite.
By October, I mean February.
Well Verb, by the lack of responses to this it’s clear that you’re the only one without digital cable here. I agree with you in essence but in a world with 1080p, Blue Ray, HD etc, I’m not holding it against MLSE that the games are on Digital TV. Yes, ideally they should be viewable by anybody with a black and white TV and an aluminum rod but somebody’s got to pay Hedo’s salary. Last year’s TSN2 bullshit was unacceptable but this I find is OK (even though it does suck, for you :)
I fully acknowledge i am behind the times with analog. But I have a hard time believing that Raps fans, many working class fans, have digital cable. Of course a lot do, but do I have no one who is my situation that posts here?
Possibility: maybe people who post here are sports people: they watch not only the Raps, but other teams and other sports. Hence, they spend more to get sports packs. This site is not representative of all fans, just more hardcore ones. Just a thought.
Last sentence is very true so you might not get many people sharing your pain. I know that people in rural areas (Barrie, London) and a lot of students in dorms etc. still only have analog.
don’t cry about not having digital cable spend the 20 bucks a month and get it, and if you really cant afford 20 bucks a month go get a paper route and make it happen.
It’s 2009 dude.
Raps can’t out draw a three legged horse race…until that changes they will not get prime placement from the networks or broadcasters.
I watch only basketball, but I still get pretty much all the sports channels. At least the ones that show Raptor games. I literally watch no other sports, and in fact, basketball is one of the few things I watch on television, period. Despite that, I have pretty much every channel available. I’m not quite sure why.
how is turk’s health?
i’m guessing he’s a little tired…
Has anyone seen this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/10/28/tanking/index.html?xid=CBSsports
It is a proposal from the Nuggets’ VP to help reduce tanking by bad teams.
I like it, but I don’t think it will reduce tanking for a couple of reasons:
1) A team that grabs the 8th seed still keeps its lottery chances & pick.
2) Even if #1 above was not true, a team tank “just in case” they don’t win the mini-playoff for the 8th seed.
Also, as the article suggests, a half-decent team could play without most of its starters to tank (thereby improving their draft pick), only to play with all starters in the mini-playoffs to grab the 8th seed. Mind you, that will still get them a date with the 1st seed, but the possibility is there.
Regardless of these shortcomings, I think the idea is great. It will keep teams focused and wanting to improve all season long, meaning that the intensity of games near the end should match that of mid-season. The weaker teams would still want to improve their position for the mini-tournament.
The solution to tanking is relegation and reward systems – pyramid style. Unfortunately, none of the leagues here have the balls to pull that off, although it would make North American sports twice as good instantly.
Relegation I understand (and even like the idea), even if we don’t really have a B-league that teams can be relegated to (making this idea impossible to implement, at this time).
Unless, of course, you mean relegation to the D-league, but I think the discrepancy between the NBA and the D-league is too big for that to work (in all terms: talent, income, fan-base… everything).
What do you mean by reward systems (pyramid style)? I must be misunderstanding, because I read it as the higher your ranking at the end of the season, the greater a reward you get (financially?).
That could work if the reward at the bottom of the pyramid is still quite good. For instance, if there was a cash reward for position at season’s end ranging from:
1st – $2 million
15th – $0.5 million
The only problem with such a system is that it would help the status quo as much as anything else (the rich will just get richer).
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Maybe there can be a reward system for lottery teams only. That way there is a reason to fight for the 9th spot, for instance.
The problem you would have if you had different “classes” of leagues is that the same teams would stay in the same leagues year after year (you can look to soccer for this). Sure a team would move up, and sumarrily be beaten down the following yera dropping back a class. Its not an effective system into todays elite sports leagues.
Why would player X want to stay with a team in the “D-League” and not play and get noticed in the A-league. The good players would constantly stay with the good teams, keeping things constant (again look at soccer… for as long as basketball has had ‘dysanties’, soccer is absolutely ridiculous).
It works in beer league baseball because of the drastic changes to teams and players year after year… at the elite level it doesn’t work.
Amir Johnson vs Cavs
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2008-09
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Games – 6
MPG – 9.2
PPG – 2.7
RPG – 3.7
BPG – 0.3
FPG – 1.8
Best Game
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Min 22
Points 10
Rebounds 9
Blocks 1
Fouls 3
2007-08
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Games – 4
MPG – 10.7
PPG – 2.8
RPG – 3.0
BPG – 2.0
FPG – 1.8
Best Game
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Min 22
Points 4
Rebounds 8
Blocks 4
Fouls 5
Not much change between the two years except his blocks per game fell way off last season and his rebounding was up slightly.
One fairly decent statistical game a year when he was able to get over 20 minutes in each of those two games.
Im pumped for the game tonight. I agree that i think the Raptors should be able to pull out a win, and at least now we dont have to worry about Bosh’s girlfriend pissing LeBron off and in turn making him go off..
anybody know what the status is on the Reggie Evans injury?
i can’t wait for that guy to be back in uniform.
According to the schedule , the Score channel is carrying the Raptors game
to-night ,I don’t know if TSN2 carry it since I don’t have that channel.
That is good news. I heard that too and was just trying to verify that. I wonder if there will be more games shown on both channels.
Bargnani is gonna get destroyed by Shaq inside. Hope he stays in there and doesn’t pick up too many fouls to start.
Parker + Moon —> Wow! I feel sorry for Cleveland fans. I know what you are gonna have to endure. Well, Parker is okay, but shot selection is pretty horrible most of the time.
Rupaul is still angry at Shaq, so let’s see what he does.
Lebron, please take it easy on us this time.
Peter you’re a fucking idiot because not only did Bargnani destroy Shaq, even when the switched Lebron on him he schooled him in the post. 28 points on 15 shots and it would have been more if it wasnt for those 2 BS offensive fouls.
Its a good thing the score took over the Raptor’s game because TSN2 suck balls and most people may not want to shell the extra bucks just to see less then 20 Rap games.
So who’s planing the parade. WOOT.