Live blog tells the whole story…
They started it…
Bosh: 8 Took him a while to figure out that Okafor can be had for cheap. Took care of the “robot” in the third by owning him on the boards and the block. The three in the face was nice but the part about hustling for boards and inspiring his teammates with his effort was better. I get a feeling Chandler would’ve done a better job, never understood that trade. 8-11 FT again, he’s not just getting calls, he’s earning them.
Bargnani: 7 Huge third quarter with three threes. Was invisible before that passing up good shots for bad ones. Went inside early but when he didn’t find success, drifted to the perimeter, good thing it paid off in the third. I suppose when a shooter’s misfiring, he should keep on shooting and he followed that rule tonight. Sometimes it blows in your face, sometimes you get a 7 in the RRR. 14/9 overall, his defense suffered early but picked it up as the game went long. Chased a few rebounds, so not everything fell in his lap, helped others as best he could.
Calderon: 8 And you thought Paul was going to burn him? He did, in the second Paul was unstoppable but after that Jose asserted himself, took some ballsy shots and made them. Demanded it for a deep three and knocked it down. Ran the pick ‘n roll with Bosh and made the right pass at the right time. Snuck to the wing when Hedo had the ball and made the clean look. Paul got the better of him early but Jose stuck it to him in the third, causing a key turnover which made the NO fans be like WTF. Easily his best game this season. My favorite was the drive to find Jack in the corner and then another fourth quarter drive to find Wright at the wing – both for threes. 16/8 with zero turnovers and 6-11FG. Questions have been answered.
DeRozan: 6 Started off strong with two made hoops but then got mysteriously benched for no good reason. We saw him again in the third where he made good passes when trapped, one of them leading to a Calderon three. Good, expected game by the rook. He’s predictably decent.
Turkoglu: 7 A shooter shoots, doesn’t matter how much he’s been missing which is what he was doing early. Was a huge part of the charge in the third where the Raptors outscored them 34-14. Ran some great PNRs with Bosh and had two step-back threes that reminded you of the Orlando days. Both our playmakers were on tonight and we were hitting our threes, there were the Raptors as dangerous as they could be. 16/4/4.
Da Bench
Jack: 5 Pardon the low rating but his defense in the second was atrocious. I think the Hornets got all their points off of him in some sort of way in that frame. Missed some shots he needs to make, we’re not seeing any sort of consistency with that mid-range game. For once the lineup with Jose worked, but that was mostly because of Jose’s hot shooting. He gets credit for spreading the floor in the third quarter and going turnover free in 25 minutes.
Belinelli: 4 Came in early to not do much, then reappeared in garbage time to score some inconsequential hoops. Meh.
Johnson: 6 6 rebounds in 21 minutes and a key steal in that third quarter leading to a dunk. Very active on the boards and in boxing out, the 4 fouls is a concern but at least he’s trying. Give him that. Appears to be slowly coming out of his funk by, you know, trying.
Wright: 5 I thought we should’ve asked him to cover Paul and see what he could bring, maybe play off of him to concede the jumper while contesting it. Did a decent job on Peja/Wright but his night was easy since the Hornets don’t have a three who can do any damage in 1v1 situations.
Nesterovic: 1 Came in, missed a layup. Got benched.
O’Bryant: N/A Came in, played 2 minutes, picked up 2 fouls. Playa.
Weems: N/A His line 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -2 0.
Collecting da cheque
Everybody came to work.
The Payout
Pimp: Chris Bosh.
Ho: Rasho Nesterovic.
What we learned: Calderon has a pulse. Live blogging is hard. I should make a living betting on games.
The Verdict: When the jumper’s falling, life is good.
94 Raps
8/10 for a night when Bosh is perfect from the field, grabbing boards, pumping energy into the team and leading by example? I’d love to see the game where he gets 10/10.
How good would the raptors look if they had just managed to kill memphis.. *sigh*
It took him a while to figure out Okafor sucks. Can’t be handing out 9s and 10s so easily, there’d be nothing to shoot for then.
Alright, I can get behind that. Still though, I’m hoping for a 10 game to come soon.
Maybe he didn’t come out of the gates on fire. However, he single-handedly destroyed the hornets will. I think he deserves a nine for that.
LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!LEAFS win!
i dunno man. i can maybe justify not giving a 10, but 27 points on 9-9 shooting??? and they were *tough* shots man….i shudder to think what he must to do earn a 9 or a 10…..and this is coming from a (former?) bosh critic…
I don’t think there’s any doubt that if Amir Johnson put in the same performance that Bosh did, he would get a 10. Then again, in a game where Bosh gets less rebounds than “the worst rebounding centre in the history of basketball”, even 8 is too good for him.
Yeah Bosh was a monster, and maybe deserved a higher rating. I also thought the ratings for Belinelli and Jack were a tad harsh, but whatever. The frontcourt is looking deadly, producing around 60 points and 25-30 rebounds is huge. The defence looked solid and I’m happy to see that Calderon had a good bounce back game, hopefully he can build off that.
Whoever still thinks Calderon isn’t a starting pg in the nba…they can suck it. Probably the same people who were all over Bargnani,Bosh and BC during the summer and pre-season.
I will admitt i was begining to doubt Jose from what i saw so far, but people on this site are generally quick to pass judgement. Lets hope they can continue to gel and silence the critics.
I always said that the fans and (stupid) media should give teams at least a month or 2 before they pass judgment. Chris Paul played well, but the team really stepped up in stopping everyone else.
Chris Paul played well in the first half (17pts), but disapeared with the rest of the Hornets when the Rap’s (Jose/Jack/Wright) turned up the heat in the 3rd/4th (4pts).
he also spent alot of time on the bench… which I don’t understand in the least
Congrats Rap fans. Remember that I said it few days ago, we were going to beat the Hornets. You all though I was being foolish. It is a Chris Paul and mediocre players team. So far, Raps have been able to beat the one-man teams they have faced(Cavs, Hornets). Spurs prepare for a loss(RJ is the weak link, Turk going to eat him alive). The Dallas game can be won or lost, I don’t care. What will make this a win against Dallas, is if Bosh can d Nowitzki well and Turkoglu somehow keeps Marion off the boards.
Nice win. At least we will be “fresh” for tomorrows game since our main players didnt play a lot.
Man, this was their best game so far… Except bargnani, everyone else were on their game tonight..If this continues 4th seed will not be that unlikely..
Bargnani had 14 pts, 9 rbs and 1 blk…you’re right he was the worst Raptor on the floor…get a life!
I saw a noticeable improvement in Bargnani’s help defense. It deserves recognition.
bargs went 14 and 9 i believe. wouldve had more if he didnt get looked off so much after he got hot.
bosh is an absolute monster right now! ive seen almost every bosh game in the nba and ive never seen him play like this…wow
turk just classes up the joint. love him.
easily the top 5 front court in the league.
Yup, lest just hope that becomes consistend, hate getting excited after just one game, but i cant help it tonight… REALLY enjoyed the game.
His “Show-me-the-money year” is off to an amazing start. He is an absolute beast!
His added weight and muscle is really showing. Definately does not get pushed around. This guy is hungry. Imagine him in the next few years which will be his prime years. If we trade him there’s no way we’re getting equal talent in return.
Is it just me, or I am starting to think Bosh might be able to finally deserve to be called a franchise player. I think this was his first game, that I could actually call him a franchise player. JUST NO ONE COULD TOUCH HIM TONIGHT. It was like he gets the ball, you expect to go in somehow. Man, he was feeling it tonight!!!!!
He certainly looked great tonight, and has all season. I have been thoroughly impressed so far and he may in fact be a franchise player, but I will reserve judgement on that for now. Lets see how the season plays out before we’re willing to throw someone 100+ million. Its still has only been 5 games.
You know a player’s playing well when he gets 27 pts and you (as a fan) feel that he could easily get more. Bosh is playing great! and hopefully he’ll be a monster against his hometown’s team.
“Easily his best game as a Raptor.”
NO.
Otherwise I agree… but it will be tough for the 2nd unit to earn high marks if they’re graded on an absolute, not relative, basis.
That’s a typo, sorry.
Wow at John Hollinger from his twitter feed
John Hollinger:Congrats to the other 11 Hornets for producing a total of 10 baskets without CP3’s help, at home, against an awful D. Way to pitch in guys
That guy hasn’t watched an NBA game in four years. He reads box scores and then inputs them into his stupid little Excel file and out pops the PER. Then he beats off to that PER for the rest of the night, writes an Insider article, beats off again.
Harsh and funny.
and true
John Hollinger aka Stats Boy is a fat douchebag. I hate him and his stupid PER bull, his stupid spreadsheet, which is like porn to him. I swear he jizzes in his pants every time he sees a plus sign.
He’s a wus. They asked him to comment on the Raps in the summer and he said something like….”this team can be great or this team can be terrible”. That’s his level of analysis, unless the stats aren’t telling him something obvious he pleads the 5th and doesn’t say anything. Cant believe ESPN pays him.
Raps fan need to ignore him, more attention you shine on him, more BS he’ll talk because it’ll get his articles more clicks.
He said that the Raptors can be either terrible or great and since it does not look like they are terrible , they will be a great team. Thank you Mr Hollinger.
Hilarious!
HAHAHAHA
LOL!!
Whatever man, let that cunt talk all he wants, we got the W, thats all that matters.
I was feeling less and less inclined to read his drivel before I read this. Now, I probably won’t bother.
What a F***ING douche-bag! He clearly does not watch any Raptors games and basis his analysis solely on stats (which can be interpreted in many different ways).
Why is anyone surprised? Do any of these so called experts at ESPN ever make an informed remark regarding the raptors? Its always the same nonsense, where they use the same old simplistic generalizations to define the Raps or their players. The PER is given way to much credit, and he isnt the only one who beats off to it. (see Khandor)
Is the Raps’ D good now?
I just hope it isn’t the same inconsistency from last year. This was definitely a thrill. They did this every game last year, then collapsed. It seems like Hedo is preventing the collapse. D looked better tonight, too, but then, NO is terrible, like Cleveland, at O.
Hedo is a rock. He is King Consistency.
agreed-
I think I have a man crush…
Hedo is this team’s Garbo.
The Glue guy at both ends except Hedo can make shots!
Absolutely. Hedo’s skill with the ball is huge b/c he allows us to choose whatever matchups we want at the defensive end b/c we don’t need a PG when he’s out there. Not saying Calderon should sit, just saying that Hedo allows us to field backcourts that don’t include Calderon or Jack without losing too much on the offensive side of the ball.
Thought the effort was there all night from Bargnani. Shot wasn’t falling but was working hard on the other end in the first half. His and Turkoglu’s three’s in the third broke it open.
5 games in to judge but sure looks like Bosh wants his money. The extra muscle looks good on him and hasn’t slowed him down.
Hornets look messed up. Nice to get this win early, Raptors are 3-2, honestly didn’t think we’d be over 500 til mid December. Starting unit looked good tonight, especially in the third.
I know its one game but you Calderon bashers can take a break for a while.
That’s the thing. Is it just NO playing like shit, ARE they shit, or are we actually pretty decent? These sorts of games, where we come in expecting to lose but end up blowing fools out – give you all sorts of hope. Dallas and San Antonio? I feel like those games are winnable now.
We will need to execute far better on offence to have a shot against those teams. The Hornets cannot guard the PnR to save their lives, and we were on fire from downtown. The former is not true of Dallas and SA, and the latter might not remain true (but here is hoping).
And we will need to show the same defensive intensity and composure (I thought that our rotations were solid) to have a shot of winning those guys. Unless, of course, we get lucky in some significant manner.
Calderon made Chris Paul stop his dribble as many times as he can in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, which really fucked up the offense for New Orleans and it trickled down to their defense. I was surprised how different Jose was this game besides his obvious offense. Also Okafor really disappeared and totally looked badly fitted in the Chris Paul system. The big bonus was that our 3 balls were falling by the dozen giving us a victorious garbage time and POB victory cigar.
Yeah… What is up with the hornets? I know we played really good, but the hornets look MESSED UP? I mean they have the players (almost an all-star line-up)… but they just looked awful!
I thought Belinelli was decent. i would rate him at least a 6.
Hollinger talks out of his ass, i wouldn’t worry about him. I think they (that guy from yahoo, Charlie Rosen et al) all have an agenda against Shinn (NO owner) and thats what he is driving at. Inciting Chris Paul.
Good game, good win.
I just hope that bargs is sitting on the bench (or watching on floor) and seeing what bosh is doing and realizes that it’s the f@cking bomb. if he (bargs) adds that to his game – you know, the crazy hard ass down low play – the sweet shooting 3’s would be absolutely and devastatingly unstoppable.
here’s to hoping.
“Good, expected game by the rook. He’s predictably decent.”
This makes me happy. I’m glad that we can expect a good, decent game from our rookie. (A luxury we haven’t always had!) He’s been a pleasure to watch, and seems to be getting a little bit better as his experience grows. I love his poise – haven’t seen many panicked “got to do something” reactions from him. Also seems to have a good BBIQ. I’ll enjoy watching his development this year.
Bosh made an interesting comment in the post-game interview … about not always taking jump shots, but instead moving the ball around, passing quickly to find the open shooter … and slashing to the basket. Finally, the coaches and players have figured out that passing, playing aggressive offense and playing defense make an effective team … not only watching Bosh going one-on-one and taking monotonous jump shots like last year.
The Hornets looked disjointed, out of sync, like the Cavs did in the first game. Wonder what’s happening to these top teams from last year.
Also I wonder why the Rap’s foul shooting is not to last year’s standards. Perhaps it’s because they are working so hard on offense and defense and that extra fatigue is messing up their foul shooting. Last season they played comfortable bball and could go to the foul line nicely rested and softly lob the ball in … but now they are going to the line puffed out … ya think ???
Jeez .. if they keep going at this rate, I’ll have to revise my first 33 game forecast from 3-30 to 4-29 .. and now 5-28 .. sheesh …!!!!
What will it take you to get on the horn? 12-12? They’ll do it.
Why are you still posting here?
The entire off season you’re ripping the team and making retarded claims of them going 3-30 in their first 33. ”Nothing but a disparate group of players! 9 new faces! They’re going to suck the big one all season! You watch you honkers! omg shit my pants!”
And then you would keep going on calling the rest of us ”tribal honking fans” for having even the least bit of faith in this roster.
Go find another team to cheer for. One that really does suck, like the nets or the warriors.
Im not entirely convinced that was him in the offseason… Maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist but FAQ has been here for a while, and I found him more fluxland like.. than normal during the summer…
If it wasn’t him, Arse et al would know from the email you need to provide.
Sure it would have been caught at some point, especially considering the hate he was stirring up.
Watch you mouth, son, when you speak my name. : ) J/K.
Sorry to break it to ya, FAQ and myself are not the same guy.
Prolly the extra bulk in his arms is messing the Mechanics a bit?
Revise? So I guess all your talk was mere speculation as well, eh?
Stop with the revising and stick by your 3-30 prediction if you put any value in your opinions. Better hope they lose the next 28.
I’m guessing FAQ is back on his meds…so obvious.
Where’s the “like” button when you need it?
He’s admitting that he was wrong.
Re. FT shooting, I agree re. the fatigue in Bosh’s case but not Jose. Jose’s fucked up this year. Barg’s has been great at the FT line. The rest is a product of having a different team and some guys (Jack) not shooting well from the FT line.
Honestly if I were you, I would start posting with a different name…
As far as Jose goes, I like how Doug Smith put it today (referring to an in-blog comment by a “fan”):
Okay, I’ve got one already that says Raps need to “trade Jose for a PG who can guard Paul.” When they find that guy, 28 other teams will want to trade for him, too.
While Jose REALLY needed to step up his game (offensively, in particular, because he looked like he was trying on defence, even when he failed), that quote sums up the mass hysteria of the whole situation.
I mean, he dropped 22 and 8 on 70% shooting on Rondo and the Celtics. If a guy as quick as Rondo (and who is widely regarded as a solid defender) in one of the top defensive teams in the game, cannot keep him in check, who can?
parker just hurt his ankle, SA looks ripe if we run with our headz cut off like portland is right now. Peja and Mo are either done or had the worst game thus far in the season! Qow, when a team can’t shoot the raps look incredible.
great game!
Those “inconsequential hoops” Belinelli scored helped keep the latter-half of the fourth garbage time, as intended.
With the caveat that this is only five games in, Bosh has passed the threshold of great player/all-star into transcendental player/MVP/Hall-of-Famer/Top 50 all-time. The things I’ve been seeing from Bosh so far are the kinds of things only Olajuwon could do. He’s doing things that would have been out of reach for Bird and McHale.
I just hope it isn’t contract-year heroics.
The Raps can beat anybody playing like they did tonight.
Let’s not get out of hand here.
The Hornets sucked. Big time.
The Raps are 3-2 when most people probably thought they would be 1-4.
Thank godness, there are a few reasonable people left on here.
Bosh “goes off” on some scrub and we are handing out MVP awards. Call me when he has a game like this vs a real opponent. OOhh, I dunno… say a KG, or any other player that abused him last year. Not some scrub. Okafor. Phaleazze.
===
Now Bosh is being called The Dream. *bangs head against desk* WTF is wrong with people?!!! TOP 50 all time… for what? O K A F O R! OUT OF REACH FOR BIRD? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
I swear, Nunya would have an EPIC meltdown over this.
Yo! RR… you need to start a dumbest rap of the day/century!
I agree that Bosh has been looking phenomenal so far this year (and it’s been a joy to see!). I’m not yet ready to put him in the Olajuwan/Bird/McHale category, but I’m sure the next 76 games will help us put his performance into perspective.
Everyone loves Bosh, but uh.. you’re nuts.
That is ridiculous, bosh isnt even close to that level of player. Those guys played at this level for 5-6 years, 5 games isnt enough to judge anyone on. Remember flip murray 4 years ago? Averaged 20 pts a game for seattle when Allen went down for 20 games. Its sustaining a level of excellence that is what separates the special players.
WHOA Brandon…
Take it easy there… I think you’re getting too excited and prematuring.
There’s no way you can compare Bosh to the Dream and say he’s beyond Bird and McHale. Let’s wait a bit longer… see what he does against Garnett/Wallace and Duncan.
It’s still quite early, but it looks like we could be the barometer team for the league. For instance, Cleveland and NO lost, there’s ‘clearly something wrong with them’ while Orlando destroyed us ‘because they’re elite’ and Detroit ‘is going to be inconsistent’. These quotations are generalizations based on media reports and “expert” opinions. It seems we never play well, other teams either play poorly or beat us as expected.
Thats always the way with ‘underdog’ teams (maybe unnoticed team would be more applicable). Look at the 06/07 season… even when the Raps were consistently winning they got overlooked.
I expect nothing less this year… unless they have a ridiculous record by the all-star break
I agree with that, Saadles. I just watched NBA Game Time with the ever-detestable Steve Smith (I do dislike that prick, immensely) and it was one thing waiting all the way to the end of the show for the Raps/Hornets game-highlights, but it was another (though, not surprising) to hear the commentators spend the extra moments gushing about Chris Paul while talking about the rest of the Hornets like they were sad sacks of shit … because, after all (unspoken, but what they might as well have said) they let the Toronto Raptors come in and lay a beating on them. Well … maybe Chris Bosh IS in the early stages of the monster year that some of us around here predicted … and maybe JT’s defensive schemes ARE starting to come together and pay off, the way they did right on opening night and a few times during some games since and like much of the game last night … and maybe tomorrow we go into Dallas and not only give them a good game, but maybe take the son-of-a-bitch – and maybe we then go into San Antonio Monday and beat the absolute CRAP out of the Spurs … (ya, I’ll call that one). Getting carried away, you say? Well, MAYBE I AM … but what I do know is that with what I’m seeing with this Raptors team, it’s not unfeasible … and I also know that if they do, those c-suckers at NBA Game Time will have their collective tongues up CB4s butt so far they’ll be licking his tonsils … and all the while be talking all about how good he’s gonna look in a Knicks jersey … or some other likewise bullshit. Ya, they got me riled. Cuztheyreallysuck. Go Raps!
it’s annoying, i’ll concede that, but remember…these asshats don’t actually watch the games (& they certainly don’t watch the raps). they go by boxscores, 30-seconds of highlights, and media recaps. the most important thing for them is to play up their ‘angle.’ chris paul is a superstar. he’s their angle. that’s what they talk about. they know that hardly anyone watching them gives two poops about the raptors, so as little time wasted talking about them, the better.
i agree completely with your last point re. bosh – all these fucking airheads who’s only interest in the raptors is ‘where bosh will go,’ like it’s some forgone fucking conclusion he’s leaving. i guess these arseholes get the ‘real’ inside info, and us stupid fans have to rely on watching every game, listening/watching pressers, and the local media for our info.
asshats. I like it, but I had to look it up to be sure. a picture’s worth a thousand words …
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=asshat
yeah … that’s about right
Hot-diggity-Daaaamn!!!
BOSH simply manhandled the NO Bigs tonight yoo0o0o000o
Solid win boys now lets take down Dallas and San Antonio next
I don’t want to toot my own horn (okay, I enjoy doing that, especially when I’m alone and the wife is working late), but I did say that Calderon has played well against Paul.
And while I’ve been a defender of Bosh, the comment about him being on the same level as Olajuwon, I’m assuming, was a joke. He’s playing at an MVP level, but even if he continues at this level and the Raptors win 50 games (I’m not making that prediction), he’d still be a dark horse candidate.
My game analysis:
http://www.wearingfilm.com/picketfence/2009/11/its-raining-in-new-orleans/
Bosh is taking smarter shots in these few games now, and not being forced to drive from 18 feet from the basket. Also the Turk is keeping double teams and SF defender switches off of him because of the Turk’s shooting abilities and his passing abilities to the right people. That new weight on Bosh is making him think he can hang around 5 ft from the hoop, it looks like it is establishing the new dimension to his skill set.
If I was Chris Paul and I keep seeing Bryon Scott do that annoying ass arm crossing thing, I’d want to deck him to floor. But as an opposing fan, I’ll laugh at how stupid it looks.
I remember when Byron Scott was a great coach. What happened?
The Killer Bs are back and better than last year. Bosh and Bargnani now averaging 50 points and 19 boards combined over the first 5 games.
And Jose loves to play in New Orleans. His 16 point, 8 assist, 4 board night is just what he’s done every trip to the Big Easy! 4 year average in NO is 15.5, 8.3, & 3.8.
Nice to see his found his shot again. Still not sure why anyone doubted him?
+1
Things that change with time … ?
I don’t miss Chuck at all, anymore. Devlin has actually kind of grown on me.
I don’t cringe from head-to-toe anymore, when I see (or hear) “Killer Bs”. (I still cringe a bit, though. But not as much.)
It doesn’t bother me that the fine folks at RR haven’t yet changed their clocks on the comment post-times. Not that much, anyway.
And when Beli will have a great shooting game (it will happen sooner or latter) he will say ‘it is a swarm of Bees out there).
Totally agree on the Devlin comment and not missing Chuck.
If this team can keep opponents around 90 pts we are in for a special ride.It means everyone has less pressure on offence and that is when it gets fun. Lets see how many good teams with multiple offensive weapons we can cause problems for.
I be the first to admit that i was wrong about Calderon today, I predicted that Paul would eat him alive but that wasn’t the case. IMO bosh’s to best games came against the hornets and Cavs, why because in both games he didn’t dominate the ball and the other raptors just stood around (like most of the magic game). Still he could improve his passing out of the double team. Arse I think you are judging the bench to harshly, Wright and johnson both did their job and performed well. If Amir can cut down on the fouls and still be aggressive on the boards, then we might have found our perfect “first big of the bench” player.
Paul hasn’t eaten Jose alive in NO in 4 tries.
This time was no different.