The “please hold me” edition.
Banks – as badly as we played, let it be said we didn’t have to see Marcus Banks play.
Bargnani – did fine early, then the pasta went limp.
Belinelli – the energy guy had a blackout. Provided next to nothing tonight, going 2 for 9. Pitiful.
Bosh – keeping up his double double run with 18/14. That said, if a guy that can go inside only shoots 5/14, you are going to have a long night if nobody else steps up.
Calderon – six points, 8 assists, but 6 turnovers. Not acceptable. Sure, everybody has a game or two like this, but most of his turnovers tonight were silly and unforced. The tide turned on us because of these giveaways.
DeRozan – Lighthouse fared a bit better today. Got burned on two bad checks, had a turnover turn into a dunk, and he picked up 5 fouls, but he kept his head in the game.
Evans – faker.
Jack – brutal game after coming down off of what must have been a high last night. 1 of 9, 1 assist and, like Jose, 2 bonehead turnovers.
Johnson – one person seemed to care. Diving for loose balls, skying for boards, doing something unheard of by not losing his guy. Amazing stuff. Still a magnet for fouls, but I shudder to think where we would have been without him tonight.
Mensah-Bonsu – missed an easy putback slam late but did pull down 6 boards in a short amount of court time. Hasn’t been bad in games he has played in but he should never see the floor outside of garbage time. Ever.
Nesterovic – didn’t play. He’d probably need a note from his doctor after the show he put on last night, old age and all.
O’Bryant – seen being fitted for a “I Want To Be Like Tyson” tshirt before the game.
Turkoglu- our producer was producing about as well as a stud with a condom. Yes, it was a back to back, but can you at least look like you aren’t 45? 5pts, 2 assists. If you find yourself sucking, get your teammates involved…move the ball, call a play, exert some effort, TALK ON DEFENSE.
Weems – limited minutes and about as much good to us tonight as sunglasses at a planetarium.
Wright – still coming back from injury and looking every bit the part. If we weren’t hitting our shots we sure could have used some lockdown defense. Unfortunately Mr. Wright played as well as Arsenalist does at Guitar Hero.
Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh
Under The Bus: Jarrett Jack
Game Theme:
91 Raps
That was a disgrace all around. How many dunks did Charlotte have? Somebody needed to take down Wallace early and send a message that the paint will be protected, maybe it would’ve even fired this unit up a little.
I’ve always been a fan of Charlotte’s. They play hard on most nights and they don’t have a single leader, forcing the team to look within. Never be a great team as they are constructed now, but you can never discount their effort, something we as Raps fans have done quite a bit over the past few seasons.
Stack Jack’s their leader now.
Funny since Wallace outscored and outrebounded him handily tonight.
OK, well he’s their locker room leader and their emotional leader.
Scary to think of him as being the emotional leader of anything. :)
Well he was the leader of the Warriors before he left. Thats not saying much but Nelson said he was great leader last year
He played a key role on a championship winning team.
He can be a leader in production and his basketball playmaking abilities, but I’d hate to be hanging my hat on him being an emotional leader, which is the basis for my argument.
“Disgruntled Golden State star Stephen Jackson asked to relinquish his captain title during a meeting Tuesday with Warriors coach Don Nelson and general manager Larry Riley.
“Don’t try to dig into it, that’s just how I feel,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to be a role model.”
http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2009/10/13/disgruntled-warriors-star-stephen-jackson-gives-up-captain-title-following-suspension-37296/
Yup, that sure is leadership.
This team, starting from Coaching staff to almost 12-13/15 players, do not have any backbone. This was shameful all around and there is no excuse for it.
We lost to the Bobcats by 35 points, a team that can’t even score 90 on most given nights..oh man lol
I came back and I was SHOCKED. Seriously, what happened out there for us not only to lose to the Bobcats but get destroyed by 35 points. Embarrassing.
Put this house up “For Sale”
Cant anymore. We didnt protect the house and it got burned.
I know the season is still early and they are still trying to gel and learn the system etc, but I have to say this was a pathetic performance.
They made the cats looked like the suns. No passion, no energy, no hustle. Nine new players, new defensive system, new head coach, and they still play like last year’s Raptors…WTF?!?
How do we lose to the Bobcats? We are more talented than them…
Should we start booing them cuz their obviously not playing hard? (Sarcasm)
Thats the reason we hate VC isn’t it?
Raptors more talented? One could debate that. Keep in mind that Charlotte’s offensive woes were really prior to Jackson joining the team. Once he gets more and more comfortable they are very well rounded both offensively and of course defensively. Don’t be surprised when they make the playoffs this season. There’s quite a bit of talent in Charlotte just as long as they can remain healthy.
They won’t make the playoffs…. I can guarantee that.
WOW
If you are going to fly down there and play like you only came because you had to, please please please just stay home and send 7 bench guys.
At least then our “starters” can nurse their p*##*$ at home and we have some guys off the bench playing their hearts out.
Can you forfeit games in the NBA? If so we should start doing that on games where no one really wants to play.
I am speechless.
speechless X2
what a disgraceful display by this pathetic franchise..
IF I WAS BC i would have canned the entire coaching staff right there in NC tonight and then would have fired myself for “consistently” building soft/spineless squads
I want to get hired as the raps conditioning coach, then Ima take em up to Blue Mountain and run them for 4 days straight……….this team is still outta shape and we are 16 games in……..unacceptable……case in point, look at Indiana’s effort tonight, they all looked fresh. Comon BC, wheres the accountability!!!!!
Indiana looked fresh tonight because they MAILED IT IN lasterday. Besides, they played the Clips. Everybody looks crisp against the Clips.
Indiana ain’t that much better than the Clips, besides its no excuse for being this out of shape at this juncture in the season. Bargs, Hedo, Bosh, Jose, all looked gased after the first quarter. Ridiculous.
when do we start holding triano accountable??? in my opinion alot of this is on him and his staff. getting blownout by the bobcats? the worst D in the nba? theres no excuse! the heat just beat the magic as i type this! im gonna puke!we suck! what was that team he had in there for the third? weems pops a useless marco.. there not even worth the discussion with that effort. this team has 0 backbone
wes mantooth says:
Aug 11, 2009 at 1:59 pm
”
……….. i think the raps will have the 5th seed behind atlanta or the 6th if miami gets boozer. if they play the hawks WE WILL GO TO THE 2ND ROUND!!!!! ”
riiight…
Like an assassin, Flux, you lurk in the shadows only to strike out of nowhere. lolerz
hahaha well played… but i still think that all can be true except beating the hawks, but i must admit that i did drink the defensive guru koolaid that bc was serving this summer.. what a joke! still early, but you have to admit that nobody could have predicted D this bad. if it was even passable we would be above 500.
Glad you didn’t get offended.. I’m just being a clown.
I’m not a huge “Evans will save us” fan, but it would be nice if he were available, if only to see how different things may be. I would hate to see BC get another excuse as to why the “on paper” talk never translates to something tangible. The whole 9 new players stuff is only valid to a point, because jelling has nothing to do with individual fundamental flaws.
And, I don’t think you can really blame Triano – he finds himself in the same spot as Sam – you can only work with what you are given. As much as people talk about effort, this is about ability or lack there of. It’s really Chris Bosh and the cast from Semi-Pro out there, what do people expect?
no man not offended. i think its funny.
i think triano can be blamed for allowing this to go so wrong. dont forget alot of these guys were able to win and play d elsewhere actually im sorry besides hedo and amir none of them won or played d anywhere! haha the reality check of our over hyped shittyness is giving me headache..
either way our d is on its way to become historically bad and that has to fall on the coach and his system. even though the efforts bad it could be because there just not buying into triano or the guru. triano in my opinion is bush league.
Their inconsistency astonishes me. Jay you defensive scheme sucks, deal with it, get over it and move on to a new plan.
I’m getting really friggin’ tired of guys having the best game of their season against the Raps.
Guys?? It was the largest margin of victory in Charlotte’s history. Teams are having career nights against us!
Gerald Wallace break out of his slump against the Raps, Heard it a few times this year. {insert name} break out of their slump against the Raptors. It least they are helpful.
Now I wish we could have made a TJ Wallace trade, only for the reason that he wouldn’t have to play against the raptors.
apparently, they tried, wallace nixed it. can’t imagine why…
I’ve been to Charlotte a couple of times. It isn’t really a nice city to play in.
Charlotte is one of the most beautiful cities in the States. What are you basing your ill conceived opinion on?
Yeah me too, how many guys have had their season highs against us so far? this is becoming ridiculous, everyone are looking forward to playing us because they can improve their stats guaranteed ….
I tuned in late because I was out but I did catch Calderon picking up a call for illegal defense. As he is jawing at the ref I’m thinking, if he was smart he would say: “Hey Ref! You can’t call me for illegal defense! I don’t play any defense, legal or otherwise. So by definition your call is bogus!
Bosh is an ass, jump shots and 3 pointers, WTF
Superstar MVP baby!
I think calling Bosh as ass is a little hard considering his overall effort this season, but yeah, the 3 point shot has to go. If he wants to add a new dimension to his game he should consider this crazy new skill called “passing”. So many times I’ve seen Barg’s defender cheat off him to double Bosh. Bosh will look at a wide open Bargs and then crash into the two defenders to draw the fowl.
On one hand you have to love the willingness to take the contact – as opposed to last year. But on the other hand pass the fuckin ball once in a while. I think that could make Bosh pretty much unstoppable if he keeps the opposing defenses guessing.
It seems the only guy he’ll pass to is Jose since he’ll probably get the ball back.
No, you guys don’t get it. The Raps team plane was grounded for repairs. They couldn’t fly down there so they hired some impersonators to fill in. Naturally, the impersonators got wiped out.
It has nothing to do with scemes. These guys don’t get back at all. 41 fast break points to the lowest scoring team in the NBA. Intensity is none existent bar Amir. I would be pissed giving it alone. Bosh was a joke on D for the 2nd game straight.
Ok this is really really getting tired, I dont care about the 35 points so much or that fact the we scored under 90 points, but giving up 116 is just f***** stupid. 16 games into the season and not a single decent defensive game, like WTF?!
And why is it that guys like wallace and just about every player in the league gets career highs against us, even kobe has one against us, and I don’t think any of you have forgettin it, seriously I have bad feeling this will never work unless Bosh or Barganni leave, we need a freakin big man who can defend and rebound AT THE SAME TIME!!! and why is derozan still starting?! this kid hasn’t show much yet so unless he pulls a Jennings , sits his a$$ down Coach!!! I mean is it asking too much to bring at least a subpar performance,
Huge game to lose. Needed a road win to get to 500 before Celts and Suns, now could easily be 7-11 by Sunday nite. This team has no intestinal fortitude and toughness, not much of a surprise.
Triano may want to try coaching for a change. The atrocious D has already been addressed above and that was his pet project.
But how about tonite. Jose was terrible, so while you are still in the game, maybe have Turkolou play point. That would accomplish two things, get the worst defensive guard in the NBA off the floor but maybe wake up Turk and get him involved in the game. His contract is looking very Vernon Wells ish so far this year.
Then sit DD and leave him there, he is so overmatched in every way and has no clue what he is doing.
Bosh was absolutely pathetic shooting tonite, maybe Jay could wisper in his ear that Bargs in hot and maybe tonie he should stay inside, just a thought
Then the use of Bargnani. He was in zone in first half and in 2nd half the first time he touched the ball Calderon led him under basket so he could not do anything and the 2nd time he drove ball past his man and missed a five footer. That was it for his playing time. He played maybe 5 min in the 2nd half other then a cameo in the 4th. Why are you sitting the only guy who was scoring?
This team is looking very 38 and 44 and better get the D turned around in short order
The use of Bargnani is baffling to me. He has a higher FG%, EFG%, and TS% percentage than Bosh and yet there’s almost no effort to involve him in the offense.
Before tonight’s game Andrea was ranked 34th in PPG. Only 3 of the players ahead of him had a higher EFG%, only one averaged less FGAs.
Even in games where he’s blazing hot, scoring in bunches on high percentages…. he still only receives 12-14 shots during a game.
Good teams always look to exploit the biggest mismatch on the floor… hell even the bad teams do it. On most nights Bargnani is going to have that mismatch, but game after game after game we go away from it.
New Jersey Nets’ first win will be vs our Raptors. Bets anyone?
I’d be surprised if this team made the playoffs. Barring changes, they’ll lose most games against good teams, half of the games against bad ones, and a lot of games against average ones, which adds up to something <= 35 wins. Is that enough?
Yeah, I think Nets are looking forward to that one :) You have got to wonder about coaching of this team. Mitchell was fired after loss to Nuggets (by 40 or something like that, as far as I remember). What happened last night is 3 times worse. I guess, Jay still wants to stick to his defense. Pathetic.
On top of that, looks like some of our main boys (Turk, Jose and Andrea) are quite happy with their big contracts. Colangelo should have never given them kind of money he gave. Never, ever.
Unjelled …???!!!!
No !!!!!
Unhinged …??????
Undressed.
Thank god I was driving to Montreal instead of watching this mess. I’d likely be curled up in the corner whimpering right now.
So much for thinking that playing the Bobcats was our best chance at keeping a team under 100 points. :(
“I’d likely be curled up in the corner whimpering right now.”
You and Jay “broken clipboards solve everything” Triano.
I think the Raps are going to need a new first-time head coach paid $4.25/hr soon.
LOL … something has to stop the bleeding sooner or later. :(
BTW, correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Iavaroni hired for his defensive prowess as a coach?
No, Iavaroni was hired to be the coach-in-waiting in case Triano, who was hired to be the coach-in-waiting in case Sam Mitchell…lost my train of thought…
haha … well, if this experiment doesn’t pan out the only option is to clean house and start with a clean slate consisting of an entirely new coaching staff. Coaching philosophies have a tendency of being passed down from coach to assistant, so promoting Iavaroni will just continue the inevitable beating of that dead horse.
I’ve had a few seasons to thing about this and I don’t want to seem like I’m bashing them because today they are down and out but my two biggest concerns over the past 2/3 seasons have been simply Calderon and Bargnani. I think the biggest DISADVANTAGE which I can tell you for the longest I thought was our ace of spades had been Bargnani. Sure he can go off for 30 on any given night but the biggest thing with him is he really is he is a big that plays small on both ends of the floor. He’s defence hasn’t really improved and he is still primarily a 3point specialist. Yeah, he does a few things in the lane especially this season but he is more comfortable at the 3 point line. In the paint he still looks like a tourist not to familiar with his surroundings. So his game is outside in, which is low % no matter how great of a shooter you are. He will give you say 35% ave from deep a season which is about 35of82 he will shoot well in let’s say. So roughly 28 solid outings he may put us in a position to win. He does nothing else, at 7foot he does average a lot of rebounds and does play enough D. So basically we are stuck with a 7 footer or really plays like a shooting guard. Joke is Sam Mitchell tried to teach Andrea the right way to play. To really be a nightmare matchup like Dirk. Rebound, D, post up, finish. Triano baby’s him now and let’s him shoot 3s and drive when he feels like it. On Calderon, my opinion is next season draft a PG who can play D and shoot, he cannot contain any first or second string PG in this league and he isn’t a Nash on the offence end either so he gets burned and does burn himself. We need to upgrade PG if we ever are going to be a respectable team in the league. Just my opinions anyway…
“Joke is Sam Mitchell tried to teach Andrea the right way to play. ”
That the biggest pcs of bu…it I have EVER heard
sam mitchell, former coach of the year, is not working now…what does that means?
Where exactly did Mitchell try to teach him properly? On the bench..at small forward..back to the bench…starting center..back to the bench..at power forward..back to the bench? You obviously have watched very few games or have no comprehension of the game. I’ve watched every game and Mitchell is an ass and one of the major reasons the Raps play like this including why Bosh has an ego bigger than Vince Carter and forces the ball every time he touches it. Also your shooting percentages look like you pulled them out of your ass. The stats are readily available for anyone who looks so again you obviously just started watching basketball. Even this year Bargnani’s stats are second to none on this team in percentages but the team looks him off and does’nt get him the shots he deserves.
.
Driving the Bus? …. I can’t imagine anyone for that spot. And certainly not Bosh. Were we watching the same game? It was shortly after Bosh bumped his total to 11 points that things started to unravel. Not that I’m blaming him, because everyone pretty much played like shit. Thing is though, Bosh is supposed to lead/will this team to better things. And that he did not. Which is why I totally disagree with him Driving the Bus.
I also wanted to comment on my earlier post, for “Gameday: Raptors vs Bobcats”, where I made the following points:
1) “It’ll depend on our Bench – we need another good game from them.”
The Bench played like shit. That’ll happen – just too bad it coincided with everyone else playing like that.
2) “Turk will be tested, so hopefully the CalderJack experience shows some moxie once again.”
Well … Jack played like Jackshit. And Jose – wtf. At least he got a point for every turnover.
Turk – No turnovers, No rebounds, 5 points. If anything, Hedo should’ve been tested for elevated nitrous oxide levels.
3) “I think this game will be closer than we think (or hope).”
Damn hallucinogens. I kept dreaming that I was watching a volleyball game. All that spiking.
4) ” … I’m guessing Andrea will have an off night. After listening to his post game interview [about getting over the flu], and taking into account this is a back-to-back situation, I suspect his energy level will not be there. …… It’s possible he sucks it up, like he did in the 4th last night, but I wouldn’t bet the farm just yet.”
Wrong on that one. Hell, he only played 2 minutes in the 4th.
Now … not that I think Andrea deserves to Drive the Bus, but he was 6 of 12, while CB was 5 for 14. And that doesn’t include those times when CB was stripped of the ball, or out-muscled. Bosh filled in his points when it didn’t matter. I guess I expect more from Chris, especially after a 5 of 19 result the night before. “MVP” guys need to step up. Will us to win more often, and I’ll gladly endorse a Max contract.
As for the Bargnani roll call:
“did fine early, then the pasta went limp”
In the 2nd Quarter, Andrea put up 11 points in a span of 6 & 1/2 minutes. Then he proceeded to attempt only 3 more shots. That’s ALL. For some reason, we have this insane capacity of avoiding AB when he gets hot … which I can’t figure out. As for going limp, we were only down 9 points half-way through the 3rd quarter when Bargs checked out. That was followed by a gigantic 2 more minutes in the 4th.
All in all though – this was a thorough ass kicking. One where NO ONE deserves significant admiration. And certainly not for Driving the Bus. Maybe Miss Daisy. Just no bus drivers …. please.
.
I like Andrea but why when anyone tries to compare him to Bosh, and really whats the point of that anyway cause they are teammates and Bosh is clearly a better all around player, you guys bring up scoring???
Scoring is not a problem for this team. Talk about rebounding, shot blocking, help defense, and rotations. Yes Andrea was 6-12 and shot a better percentage than Bosh (5-14) but how many rebounds did both accumulate and how many trips to the line did both players take?
Don’t get so blinded by your Barg’s love. It’s a team effort out there.
Raptors are still a work in progress, and they should not be judged so harshly until say January, when they have completed 33 games of the schedule. It’s futile to judge them on each game when the team is still in flux, and Triano still doesn’t have any established lineups because he’s still experimenting with players … players who are still trying to find each other.
So let’s all sit back and enjoy the evolution of this Raptor team and stop all this caterwauling over something nobody has any control.
.
FAQ,
I totally agree. And it has been fun – notwithstanding the Charlotte type games.
That being said, my psychiatrist says it’s healthy to let off a little steam. Shake a few trees.
Whatta I know.
The thing about being a Raptor fan is, those highs can only be achieved with all those lows. Take out the valleys and you have no reference for the peaks.
Then again, that might have been some Freud idea that my psychiatrist was reading to me. To think I’m paying 160 bucks an hour for a bookreader.
No matter, I think your post puts it right.
.
FAQ, sometimes you come up with such a gem that I honestly think you’re schizophrenic. Gel-time is good, but 33 games? Some of the things I see out there don’t have anything to do with gelling or not trusting your teammates, it’s just being lazy and unaware of what’s going on on the court. My disappointment isn’t even with this game in specific, I can’t believe how porous we are on defense. Players who I thought would hold their own defensively aren’t doing it and the system Triano’s got in place is so help-intensive that it seemingly requires too much physical exertion from the players and I’m not sure they’re capable of it.
Bryan Colangelo is not waiting 33 games, that’s for damn sure. He’s publicly stated that he will have a pretty good idea what he has by the end of November which is after 18 games.
F#ck 2012…now I know the world is coming to an end. When Faq is the voice of reason on this blog, that’s a pretty scary thought…Goodbye Ma’…I love you!
I know you are trying to make some sort of sense from the nonsense that you have been posting here all summer about gelling and…. But here is the news for you buddy; it does not work like that.
It is true that a team needs to gel. However, this is not like you go 30-33 game and suddenly everything is rosy.
There is process involved; one should be able to see the improvements. This is what people here are talking about. This team is showing same weaknesses that it showed from first night till tonight and nothing has been fixed or changed. This is alarming and has nothing to do with 9 new players or gelling or…
If we win on Friday, will your thoughts change?
If we beat the Celtics on Friday after getting massacred tonight, I’ll be more confused than a baby at a strip club. :(
Babies in strip clubs are hungry, not confused. All they know are boobies!
I don’t advise anyone to take their babies to strip clubs.
isn’t that all anyone at a strip club ‘knows?’
They’re confused because there are so many options. ;)
I wouldn’t. I will change my mind, if this team can put together a series of games ( win or loss) in which they show all the things that we have been talking about : Hussle, energy, defence,good rebounding, going inside and ….
A bit of correction to the post.
Driving the bus: No one
Under the bus: Toronto Raptors.
If you want to have a player driving the bus, then Amir is the only option. He was only one who can get a passable on this game.
Bosh was plain bad. He had ok stats, but mostly put them up at garbage time. Thats not what you expect from you best player. He couldnt hit a shot or take it hard to the rim when it mattered and was totally as bad as everyone else on coming back.
Bargs had a good night offensively in the first half. He didnt see much PT in the second half which explains why he didnt get any points during it. Although the low PT was probably due to our problems getting back. AB aint one of those guys who is first back in defense.
We got killed because our offense was just horrible. They either stole the ball, blocked a shot or just grabbed a defensive rebound (we couldnt hit a shot or even a layup) and run a fastbreak. Our guys just stood there and let it happen. We werent going to offensive rebounds or getting back. In my opinion you cant even give a grade to our defense in this game, because we didnt get a chance to play any. They had scored before our guys were back in defensive end.
I think “Toones the driving cat” was driving the bus…. right off the cliff.
Jane WTF, make a cup of tea basketball is not my sport today
i luuuv when the team plays like total shyte, and the andrea excuse-hounds come bounding out to defend him. ‘he only took 3 shots.’ ‘they don’t look for him on offense.’ ‘jose looks him off 1865 times each game!!’ it’s not as though these aren’t valid, but let’s tone down the rhetoric, and look at why. does he actively involve himself? does he check in & out of games mentally? does he seem focused on playing ball when on the court? how often do you see him, on offense & defense, simply ‘drift?’ it’s one thing to bitch & moan that he needs more touches, but it also has to be recognized that touches aren’t some god-given right, they have to be earned. at this stage of his career, andrea simply hasn’t ‘earned’ the automatic touches some feel are his birthright. whether that’s ‘right’ or not is irrelevent. but i can guaran-damn-tee that if he engaged himself fully on both ends of the floor, the ball would miraculously find it’s way into his hands.
I will admit I am somewhat of an Andrea apologist, but it really pisses me off to see him haul in so few rebounds, especially now that he has shown that he can at a reasonable rate. The lowest amount of rebounds he should be getting in a game is 6, maybe a 5 rebound game every couple of months or so
I agree Andrea didn’t look great out there… especially on D… but he still looked a hell of a lot better than anyone else. Getting Andrea more touches may not have won the Raps the game last night, but it sure could only have helped considering what everyone else was doing.
Everyone was ineffective other than Johnson, Bosh, and Bargnani in the first half.
How many break away layups were a results of Calderon, jack, or Hedo turnovers? This is what lost the game.
can we finally get a stud for the backcourt. how can back to back games be an excuse. there professionals, and that’s what there paid to do. play games. let’s trade for Monta Ellis!!!!
At least the Leafs won…
What’s with the hate on Pops, and what has Marc Ivoroni done to be the raptos defensive coach? All can think of is Pheonix and Memphis and we all know how well those teams played defense.
Iavaroni is Colangelo’s boy. Brilliant defense strategist, with proven record from Memphis and Phoenix.
Here is the good quote from Grange where he suggests new ball term:
“In fact I’m thinking of introducing a new term to the local basketball lexicon: When an opposing player pulls a rebound off the defensive glass and dribbles the length of the floor for an uncontested fast-break layup; having to neither think of passing or even changing direction, it should be called A Raptor. As of now Gerald Wallace leads the NBA in Raptors though I think it’s a safe bet that Rajon Rondo will challenge for the lead by the time the Celtics are finished with Toronto on Friday.”
News flash Chris Bosh needs someone else to step up and help. All teams will do on nights like that is focus more on him because if nobody else is doing anything why not double him and take the ball out of his hands because the rest of the raptos are not going to beat you. Three can beat five but not one and I can’t remember the last time somone created some offense for hime where he has a easy dunk or lay-up.
Altraps, I feel the exact opposite — I want Jacks to be my team’s emotional leader but I’m terrified by him being my leader talent wise/stats wise/playmaking wise.