The five game winning streak edition.
Banks – I had totally forgotten he plays for this team.
Bargnani - Got exposed on defense, but the further away from the rim he plays, the less effective he is. Seems like every one of his shots comes at the most opportune moments, 8pts in the first quarter to steady a sloppy start to the game was huge. That block on Earl Watson man-on-man was the result of some great hustle.
Belinelli - Not sure what that was, but it wasn’t basketball, and it hasn’t been since the Lakers game.
Bosh – 26pts 15rebs 7ast 2blk … Wasn’t playing great defense either, but that dunk over Murphy was epic.
Calderon – At this point, lets close the books on this once and for all: Calderon excels off the bench, but is average as a starter. That alley-oop pass he tossed Amir at the end of the 1st quarter was insane.
DeRozan – At least he put on a proper shirt.
Evans – Looks great in an earth tone cardigan and top.
Jack – Didn’t do anything spectacular, but did a great job of tossing that entry pass to Bosh in the post. Efficient on offense, scoring 16pts on 6-8 shooting, and kept the defense honest with great ball movement. True to form, he had an ‘And-1′ situation off the hop.
The more I look at what he brings to the court, the more I see a bigger, stronger TJ Ford. Both have that same aggressive style off the hop, and shoot well enough from the perimeter to keep the defense honest.
Johnson – Was a spark off the bench, again. The only thing he didn’t do was shoot well from the line. More importantly, he had only 1 foul in 20 minutes of play.
Nesterovic – Shockingly got some play against a team that likes to run a quicker pace, even more shocking was 6 points on 3-4 shooting in only 4 minutes of play.
O’Bryant – Bet he’s looking forward to Big Love tonight.
Turkoglu - He ran into Dunleavy’s elbow and fractured his face a minute into the game. Ball.
Weems – His shooting doesn’t make me as nervous as it once did; doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather see him put it on the floor and drive to the rim more often though. His production in a limited role is great to see – 13pts 6rebs 3ast, I really couldn’t be happier with the guy.
Wright – Played solid and in-control in extended play. When he doesn’t force the action, and hits his open jumpers, we have Bruce Bowen part 2 and the guy we all thought we inherited who defended the crap out of Melo in the playoffs.
Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh
Under The Bus: Marco Belinelli
132 Raps
Hedo…Karma is a bitch.
“He ran into Dunleavy’s elbow and fractured his face a minute into the game. Ball.”
LOL
Ball.
The doc asks Hedo a few questions to see if he knows where he is:
Where are you now Hedo?
Elbow
What did you eat for supper?
Elbow
What can you see now?
Elbow
Why can’t you follow the movement of my finger?
Elbow.
Ball? elbow.
ROTD
I fractured my orbit bone in a game once. I went back in and played when I realized my face wasn’t caved in, which is what it felt like, but it took more than 6 months before I had all the feeling back in it. Nasty.
As for Calderon, I don’t know why it should be put to bed that he’s an average starter. He has this year, but he’s shown that he can also excel in the starting lineup. Basically, he’s just a very good player, no matter where he plays.
While the allyoop from Calderon to John was sweet, the play of the night, for me, was Bosh getting the very tough rebound in traffic and then, surrounded by Pacers, going up and dunking it. It was a play I don’t know if he could have done last season and it was incredibly timely.
He had every single Pacer surrounding him and still got it.
Bosh – 1
Pacers – 0
Raptors – 26-22
Err…Raps Fan is being generous. He is a poor starter due to his inability to defend, but a great 6th man.
+1 – Also, he isn’t durable enough to play typical starters minutes for 82 games.
what??? While I agree with you a 100% that Jose can not play starter minutes (somewhere around 35-40), Jose is a greater player and one of those players I would always want on my team!
I want him on my team, but cannot afford him. Need to free up money for bench players, and to groom a young PG (which we’ll hopefully acquire in the second round or discarded from another team.)
Or we could keep paying about $12 mil/year for 48 minutes of quality PG play. Not a bargain maybe but not a travesty either.
This is going to be a luxury tax paying team next year. I’d rather pay Jack 5 mil and then find a second round or discarded PG for 1-2 mil..
We can get 48 minutes of quality PG play for like 7-8 mil total.
Name that 2-3 mil pg who will bring what Jose brings. Is he a FA next year? I think Jose’s contract is a bit steep. Not one of Colangelo’s more brilliant moves but it’s not an albatross either. If he’s a valuable 6th man, pay him.
And the way things are going, if you don’t want to pay the tax in the NBA, you aren’t interested in post-season success. That will probably change (a bit) once the next CBA is in place but there are a lot of teams out there who didn’t plan on a declining cap.
Like I said, draft a second rounder or find someone discarded from a bench.
I agree we need to go into the tax…but we need to tighten our books as much as possibly in anticipation of doing so. If you can find a cheap PG who will do 80% of what Calderon does (when you take into account offense AND defense) for a couple mil who is also young, then you pretty much need to do it.
Basically a young PnR artist from here or Europe.
@Ripp “Like I said, draft a second rounder or find someone discarded from a bench.”
As if thats a guarantee they can even play close to the ability and efficiency that Jose does. Shooting 50% from the field, 40% from 3, and leading the league in Assist to Turnovers for 4 years running isn’t exaclty something you get easily. And if you feel you can or will get that, it won’t be at 1-2 mil a year I guarantee that.
I don’t give care too much about Calderon’s offensive stats. Dumping the ball to a 60% TS Bosh is a great way to pad your assist numbers, and requires very little effort or creatively.
Moreover, he cannot defend his position at all! Why do you guys keep ignoring this? In every measurable way, he is the worst defender on our team. We can’t hide him like Atlanta can hide Bibby. We don’t have 4 other all-star caliber players in our starting lineup who are good defenders, like LA. We don’t have Dwight to cleanup Calderon’s mistakes.
Defense is 50% of the game, man. And he is the worst defender at his position in the entire NBA. He is no Steve Nash; his offensive talents do not make up for his poor defense.
“the worst defender at his position in the entire NBA”
Such a well used arbitrary line. Although he may not be a good defender, calling him the worst is a stretch at best. Yet he is playing (admittedly off the bench) and our team defense is still improving. No one is asking him to start… quite the contrary… but if you think there is a PG in this league that is coming off the bench that is even remotely close to Jose Calderon you are mistaken. Please feel free to list them… I think you will understand what I (and others) are getting at.
“I don’t give care too much about Calderon’s offensive stats.”
isn’t that convient. “I could care less what his offensive #s are” and yet if defense is half the game, is offense not the other half?Has their not been a noticeable improvement with the Raps bench since Jose has been in the 2nd unit? Does Jose still not finish half the games, and we are still winning and doing a damn good job on defense in the 4th?
Our PGs, Bosh and Amir have been reliable game after game. What in the world could possible make anyone want to mess with that?
This team will almost certainly go into the luxury tax next year. It then becomes imperative to manage money as efficiently as possible. Is paying Jose 9 mil a year for the next 4 years truly the best way to allocate resources? I don’t think it will be extremely hard to find a good backup for Jack much less money. This allows us to used the freed up resources for other purposes.
See here is where we diverge:
“Is paying Jose 9 mil a year for the next 4 years truly the best way to allocate resources?”
is not the question. Its: “is paying Jack and Jose 12/13 mil a year for the next 3 years truly the best way to allocate resources”. If this year is any indication… the answer is definetely a yes!
I don’t think it makes sense to lump Jack and Calderon together. Jack is outperforming his contract…you can’t use Jack’s cheap contract to justify overpaying Calderon.
Again, is paying Jose Calderon 9 mil a year the best use of resources given the financial realities of this team?
It also doesn’t make sense to think you can get a player of Jose’s calibre from the end of some other teams bench… and yet here you are claiming its true.
Why are the two “lumped” together… because they are effectively making this team go in a time share… thats why. This team wouldn’t be at the same lvl without Jose coming off the bench or Jack starting. As Sam said you get 48 quality minutes at the PG spot… few, if any, teams can say that. If one is off, the other fills in and this team doesn’t skip a beat.
Is Jose “over paid” maybe. But he is not an albatross or a this crippling contract you are making it out to be. Sure Jack’s contract is looking like a steal right now… but that doesn’t mean we should just unload Jose (this doesn’t even touch potential injuries). Why mess with things that are working right now, and for the foreseeable future, to free up money for a complete unknown? What player would we get? Would they fit? Would they end up underproducing? Would they even come to Toronto? Will the MLSE be willing to go into the cap? Will players get injured? So many questions that could be asked and and go unanswered until later (or too late)…. and yet here we have one spot looking fantastic for 3 years to come. Don’t screw with it.
” is paying Jose Calderon 9 mil a year the best use of resources given the financial realities of this team”
I didn’t have a problem when he signed that contract, I don’t have a problem with it now. Of all the “problems” or potential problems the Raps have… PGs aren’t one of them.
At what cost…what bothers me about all of the people that want to get rid of JC because of his contract is that they never factor in his contribution to the team. If getting rid of him means we are not a better team, then I say we stay with the status quo. If we can definitely get better through a trade (as the poll says, “only if it’s heavily in our favour”),then okay. It took us too long to get where we are and I don’t feel like taking a step backwards because you’re worried about someone else’s money.
I don’t understand where this line of reasoning came. He’s been injured twice in his career, and neither is related to how many minutes he played. If we are going to say a player isn’t durable enough if he misses time to injury, then that means that Steve Nash wasn’t durable enough to ever start (well, until he was), or Shaq, or Dwayne Wade, or countless other players who have missed time to numerous injuries. The weird thing is that this argument came up before he ever got injured. It’s a complete myth that someone started and people have, for some reason, latched onto.
Err…by his own admission, he was hampered by nagging injuries all of last year.
Err, he was actually hampered by one, and if that makes him unable to withstand an entire season playing starting minutes, then that means that 98% of the league aren’t durable enough for starters minutes. If you want examples, I could pretty much fill up the page.
No, by his own admission he was not healthy all of last year. But kept playing. In other words, he was playing hurt…and it showed!
This is why he spent the entire summer off to recuperate.
Ripp…if we had a real backup PG last year, Jose could have waited until his injury healed completely as he did this year with Jack taking over starting PG duties…but with Solomon and Ukic playing PG and a team in a downward spiral, he obviously came back too soon and re-injured his hamstring…you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. And combining JJ/JC contracts is accurate since they both lend equal value to the team. Have you noticed who has been closing games lately? If JJ were to go down, JC could step right in without missing a beat. Name another PG tandem in the league that provides these qualities. If you think we are going to be able to sign/trade for a $1-$2 million PG that is going to fill the needs of Jose, not to mention alter the team chemistry , you should really get of the crack.
RIpp,
What are you disagreeing with? I never said he wasn’t healthy last year. But that doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not he’s durable enough to play starter minutes for 82 games.
Elbow.
Balls
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/Ballhandling-Two-Ball-Dribbling-Drills.html
That’s not ‘dribbling’ .. that’s ‘juggling’ against the ground and a total waste of training time. I bet that guy can’t run and dribble because his neuro-muscular system is wired to perform his act standing still.
My Lord, FAQ, do you even play ball? That drill is extremely common for improving ball handling and is widely used.
Our #1 strength is our bench production. They play an integral role in every single game. We expect it now too, so it’s not just extra energy, it’s needed.
And once again, Chris Bosh is unbelievable. He’s definitely a max contract player. ball.
But if he is neutralized again during the playoffs (i.e the Raptors go out in less than 7 games in the first round) are you still giving him max money ? . Max money will have to be earned in the playoffs not now.
Let’s hope his teammates also play better in the playoffs. One man can’t do it all, as Lebron showed in last year’s playoffs (Williams dissapeared). If his teammates show up thats important as well, but as for the playoffs which of the top 4 seeds are likely to lose anyway?
I don’t know if I can say that if the Raps don’t make it to the second round or go out in less than 7 than CB doesn’t deserve max money. Those two things are not contingent upon one another.
But if he doesn’t play like a max player and 5-6 other players are playing good play-off ball (Andrea , Hedo , Jack , Caldy have to be among them) they could be eliminated in less than 7 games .
The point I am trying to make is that he has to elevate his game a notch
during the playoffs , perhaps play him less in the last 10 games or so since we are guaranteed to make the playoffs anyway.
Since most fans think we don’t have a team to go to the second round who cares what team we play in the first round ? .
He’s been the most consistent player this year on the team. If he maintains that effort or ’steps it up a notch higher’ he’s done more than enough.
It will be up to the other players to contribute as well.
What’s playing like a max player? We could get a super human effort from Bosh and if the rest of our guys don’t play as they are capable we’ll still be out in a hurry. It’s a team game and they all need to play their respective roles for us to succeed.
If everyone plays to the best of their abilities but Bosh is neutralized by a superior defense from the other team . you want management to give him max money so that 8th spot is guaranteed for the next 5 years ? I don’t think they are that stupid.
If Bosh is neutralized by another team would mainly be becuase they are throwing 2-3 defenders at him.
That would mean 1 or 2 of our guys are open. I like those odds for us.
Everyone keeps on bringing up ‘max money’ like there s a clear definition of what a player must do to earn this. He makes max money right now and no one is complaining (within reason) and about to enter into the prime of his career.
What if he plays out of this world and his teammates don’t, do we rescind their contract or try and trade them? No, of course not. Young team with young players so there is no telling what will happen.
If they had some more vets on the team our odds of a good playoff performance increase significantly.
You are talking about something I’ve never seen happen this year. Obviously if Bosh plays poorly we have no chance of winning. But he has been our most consistent player this year.
Will this affect his max money? It depends….if he does 15/5 obviously it does. If he does 20/10 efficiently and we still lose, he will get his max money (if not here, then elsewhere.)
See the thing you have to realize…the mainstream NBA doesn’t view this roster in the same way you do. They see Bargnani as a starting NBA big who averages 6.3 rebounds a game..scores a lot of points (18), but not particularly efficiently. Basically, an Italian Channing Frye.
They see Hedo underperforming from last year, rookie SG who didn’t even make the all-rookie team, and two average starters manning the PG spot (Jack and Calderon.)
Then at PF you have a guy who is a 5 time All-star, and will add a 1st or 2nd team All-NBA this year to his resume.
I’m not saying that these portrayals are accurate…but it is simply how lots of mainstream analysts view the team. Basically a team with one star player and a bunch of average guys. So unless Bosh has an epic meltdown, he is pretty much guaranteed to get his money.
Again, understandable if MLSE doesn’t want to give him big money, but there are 29 other teams in the NBA…
First?
FREE AMIR
actually 7th..
and he is free…free to finish alley-oops and create extra possessions with his hustle.
Yeah, Belinelli has 1 good game and 5 crap games to follow, when he takes that fade away three I just get chills.
Is it me or Andrea doesn’t contest threes?
Hope Hedo is okay.
Ball.
I agree with the point on Marco. He can talk all he wants about this is his style ( fade away, quick shots and …) but until he does not get control on his game, he will never be able to take the next step and become a solid reliable guy off the bench.
The Sad part is I think he has all the tools and has to only learn and makde adjustments.
+1
there is really no reason for him to miss wide open threes. I actually prefer him taking the ball to the basket in traffic instead of him shooting open jumpers…that should not be, at all
“there is really no reason for him to miss wide open threes”
Another ridiculous comment…is there anyone in the entire league that doesn’t miss open 3’s???
I’m sure he meant not missing threes on a regular basis as he does. No need to be a smart ass.
“I’m sure he meant not missing threes on a regular basis as he does.”
Dude, I don’t even know what you’re trying to say…but then again you couldn’t even write a complete sentence to explain yourself.
Both comments are ridiculous…
007 do you have anything remotely related to basketball or the Raptors that you wish to say in response to these comments, or do you just get off on nitpicking comments…..hmmmm?
“007 do you have anything remotely related to basketball or the Raptors that you wish to say.”
Hey buddy, just scroll up if you want to see my basketball input…if you don’t agree with what I say, why don’t you respond appropriately like everybody else…also, if you’re going to make comments, don’t you think that they should make sense???
Marco is hot, Marco is cold.
Marco can win the team games, Marco can ride the pine.
A cheaper, younger version of Delfino.
Perhaps you missed the memo. lol
Who cares if Marco is streaky? We have a glut of twos with Weems, DD, and Wright all able to cover that position (as well as the dreaded, double PG combo)…
We also got him for a sack of nails and two stale boston cream donuts.
If he helps out in just 1/5 games, he’s worth it.
I really like the guy…but needs to be more consistent. I understand he doesnt want to change his style, but he needs to find a way to make it work..
Seriously,how many seven footers do you see running out to contest threes?
Dare I say with the improved play of Weems, Wright, Johnson, Calderon and occasionally Belinelli, the Raptors have the best bench in the NBA (at least in this point in time) hence they are doing fine even with Elball struggling, That is a sign of a very good team that the bench can pick up the slack even if the starters are struggling.
Next up for the 4th spot are those MF#@%@%^# from Boston who after today’s loss are only 4.5 games ahead, if they keep playing like this they have a definite shot at the 2nd seed in the east (just have to watch those pesky Bulls and Cats who are rolling as well).
Unfortunately, Boston’s still 6 games up in the loss column…it’ll be really tough to catch them… optimistically, say the Raps win 7 straight to go 33-22… we’d still be behind boston, unless they’ve managed to go pretty much winless
it’s a long road, but it’s possible (just unlikely)
Agree it’s a long shot but my attitude is never say never.
Umm, well because the chances are so low, I’m rooting for Boston, cause I don’t want to play them in the playoffs, I don’t know which Raptor fan would, they are our kryptonite, we need Orlando or the Cavs for a winnable series.
The Cavs is not a winnable series dude…
We match up with the Cavs a lot better than we do with Atlanta and Orlando. I’d rather face Shaq a lot and tire him out than face Dwight.
I’m sorry bro, but Lebron is on a mission. We could match up well with every other Cav player, but as long as they have Lebron, I do not want the Raptors facing them in the first, or even second round. Raps need to match up with Orlando period. The Hawks, Cavs and Celtics all would ruin the Raps in a 7 game series and we all know this..
Could you imagine any scenario – ANY – where Stern lets LeMealTicket get bounced by the Raps?
@Luke: I hope you know that as much as everyone wants to hound Hedo for his defense, the Magic had to get past BOTH the Celtics AND the Cavs to get to the finals last year, where he had to matchup with PP and Lebron, respectively.
Lebron has shown that he can’t win by himself.
@RaptorCowboy
Well sure Lebron can’t win by himself, but he was playing a 59 win Orlando Magic team, who created huge match up problems.
Let’s face it, the 09-10 raptors are not the 08-09 magic.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure Lebron averaged nearly 40 points against a tough Magic defense …
Imagine what he could do to our 30th ranked defense ?
Why not, we beat them at home and we could have easily won that game against them at the Q. I just don’t think LeBron is that good of a shooter or player? Hope I’m not going to get flamed here, but I’d take Kobe over LeBron any day.
I think when all is said and done KD will have more championships than Lebron.
I would actually take KD over Lebron.
KD had 45 and 11 in the Thunder win tonight.
I won’t flame you but I will school you on this. Kobe is about 7 years older than Lebron, and there is coversation and debate about either of them being the greatest current player in the world. Imagine how good Lebron will be when he is Kobe’s age. How good was Kobe when he was Lebron’s age? Lebron is probably the best 25 year old the NBA has ever seen. I believe Kobe is the better player now, as you do, but I also recognize that Lebron is a once in a generation type talent and worth all the hype he gets…
Lebron will never be as good as Kobe. Kobe has heart will and determintaion. I find Me-bron just too immature.
And I really don’t care how old Kobe is. The best player period.
@ Starfox
“Heart, will and determination” You say this as if Lebron is lacking in those qualities. Kobe is more skilled, more poised and has a larger arsenal of moves at his disposal, but you have to respect Lebron as a basketball player as well, regardless of whether you feel he’s selfish or not. He is really good. The fact that he is even in a discussion about who is better between him and Kobe should tell you something. Respect bron, even if you don’t like him.
@LukeCage.
Respect is never as issue. I totally respect him and his game, and yes the reason he is in the discussion is because of his game.
Kobe has that intangible asset that just can’t be measured. It’s a star power that many don’t have in the league. Jordan had it, and Magic had it.
Same thing with certain actors when they walk into a room. You can feel their presence.
I just don’t feel Lebron. But to each his own.
Which series is winnable without a major addition to the roster somewhere?
Agree. No way do I want the Raps to play the C**ts.
I agree. Every time I see someone mentioning that the fourth spot might be attainable, someone responds that it’s a long shot. Well, obviously. That goes without saying! But 4.5 games is far from the the biggest deficit ever made up at the halfway point in the season. The Raps play the Celtics at home one more time, a huge game. They need to win that one not just to make up ground, but to prove to themselves they can beat them. Ditto Atlanta, who the Raps play twice more.
And anyone who says it can’t be done, well sorry, that’s a loser’s mentality.
I feel you man. If the Raps keep their energy and chemistry up, beating the teams they are supposed to beat and scraping out some victories against the top teams (a la Lakers win) then there is no reason why they couldn’t be even a 2nd seed in the east. Yes it is also a long shot, but it just seems like this team has figured out how to play winning basketball. That mentality goes a long way…
I saw parts of that game and it was physical. Boston tried to do the whole intimidation thing and the Lakers (Artest mostly) pushed back…put KG on his arse. Gasol as well went forehead to forehead with Rasheed on one sequence. So, until our Raps can muster something similar I am afraid this is not likely especially in a shootout with the Cs….unless Evans comes back and passes on the recipe for large cojones to his mates.
Bynum played a very good game. He definitely stepped up and out played Perkins.
In the past Bynum has played like mush vs Perkins.
I think he has at least one extra pair to hand out. They might be Kaman’s.
LMAO!!!!
The loss column is irrelevant…we are 4.5 games behind and have a possible chance of catching whoever is in fourth.
The loss column is plenty relevant… If we had fewer losses and fewer wins, it’d be more of our destiny to make or break. But like I said above, the Raps could win 6 straight and boston would have to go 0-6 just to catch them… It’s not like we’re really 4.5 back, if that makes any sense.
29-16 is harder to catch from 26-22 than it is from say, 22-20, even though the winning percentage is better in the former… at least if you have confidence in your team to win (like the raps right now). you could potentially get to 29-20 with that 7 game winning streak.
the point is, being this much down in the loss column relies on boston to lose a ton of games, rather than toronto making up the ground by winning, since we’ve played more games. When you’re chasing sub 500 teams, the reverse logic applies, since those teams lose more often than they win. But it’s tough to reasonably expect boston to completely collapse.
“It’s not like we’re really 4.5 back, if that makes any sense.”
No, It doesn’t make any sense.
If the Raptors won the next the next 5 games and the Celtics lost the next five games, the Raps would be leading the Celts by a half a game…not that complicated. I suggest you go back to school and study arithmetic.
@Dan: Math Fail.
@007: +1
be a smartass all you want, but the basic point is correct…it’s much harder to catch a winning team when you’re up in games and down in the loss column, as opposed to catching that same team when down in games with both fewer wins and losses. as in, it would be a whole lot easier to catch boston with a 22-20 record, even though it’s worse than our current 26-22.
Really Dan…did you have to study Calculus to figure that out?
.
Dan’s point, if I may (with some correction)
If the Celtics lose 6 games, and we win 3 (Dan was mistaken using 6 losses)… we’re tied, and Boston has the nod (based on the tie-breaker rules). If Raps win the next 4, while Boston loses 7, we jump over them.
Which as I think Dan was trying to illustrate, regardless of the 4.5 math, is that the Boston C**tics have to LOSE 6 more games (to tie – or just catch up). To win, Boston must lose 7 more.
That is the real stat.
With 37 games left, Boston must lose 7 more games than the Raptors – not something one would expect to happen, even if Boston is getting older.
That being said, if the Raps play like they have, and one of Orlando, Atlanta, or Boston, falter, things could be interesting. (As I understand play-off rankings).
It could be interesting, or it could be premature.
.
.
That should have read …. “(Dan was mistaken using 6 wins)“ …. NOT 6 LOSSES).
.
hey hey, don’t ruin 007’s fun. the guy lives to rip on other people’s posts.
Dan, that’s pretty weak. All you did in your post was make an illogical statement.
“It’s not like we’re really 4.5 back, if that makes any sense.”
And then used tried to use some sort of complex logic to explain something that is very simple, wherein RapthoseLeafs stepped in and corrected your argument.
“Dan’s point, if I may (with some correction)”
So, my simple explanation which has the same result as RapthoseLeafs.
We are 4.5 games behind the Celtics and if we won 5 games and they lost 5 games, we would be leading them by a half a game. However, if we wanted to be ahead of the Celtics by the end of the season, we would have to win 2 more games than they do because of our games played differential. But since they are a good team that is unlikely…and I didn’t even use my differential calculus.
Honestly though, I would not want to be fourth seed, if it is going to be at the expense of Boston C***ics being 5th. Honestly, I think our best hope for a second round is if and only if we play Orlando in the first round. I really think we have a chance against Orlando if and only if Hedo starts showing up.
Bottom line is, in this season just look for chemistry and do not expect much. Unless we get the 3rd seed which is HIGHLY HIGHLY unlikely, this season is just about experience. We have a very very young team, and if bosh stays, we will have something special in this city. I am pretty sure MLSE is ready to go into the tax level next year (since every other team is sucking in toronto…), and DD will also be special player for years to come.. Just cross your fingers for bosh to stay, or this will all be just false hope…
1. bosh won us this game
2. our defense was shit, seemed to turn it up when they wanted though
3. they looked arrogant
4. sit out bargs he is not effective defensively, if he is hurt like this;he looks slow on rotations, less focused on the game.
5. amir johnson and sonny weenms for delphino and ukic was a giant steal .
6. hedo , karma is a bitch ,ball!
7. jack armstrong is real stand up guy
8. matt devlin is a raptors homer
9. the refs bet against the raps, all 50-50 call went to indiana
10.we need DD and hedo back asap
I think team announcers should be homers as long as they don’t go over board and Devlin does not go over board compared to most team announcers in the league.
What is bad is when you get network announcers, like ESPN some of whom are big Celtics sycophants.
i didn’t say it was a bad thing
i enjoy his passion this season
Did I say that you said “it was a bad thing”. I don’t think so.
I had no idea how you felt about it when you made the post, because you didn’t say.
I just said what I said because that is my opinion. So now we know that we agree.
I’m not a fan of Devlin. He comes off fake and forced and there is just something about him that doesn’t feel natural. I actually prefer the play-by-play of Paul Jones on the Fan590 over him, which is scary
Used car peddler…trying to pawn off a Corolla as a Ferrari.
I really hope Hedo gets fitted with the Rip Hamilton facemask, we probably won’t be seeing his trademark grin for a little while now anyways.
Also, was anyone really, really hoping that Jose opened the postgame interview with “ball”?
Amir opened his interview with Devlin with Ball lol. Pretty funny:
http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/2010/01/31/RWEB100131AMIRJOHNSON16×9-1215275/index.html
Jokes…
Anyone think that last score was unnecessary. Raps had the ball with about 12 secs. to go and double digit lead with the Pacers not really defending.
Shot clock was going to expire before the game clock. They had to take a shot. Not considered rubbing it in in that case. At least in my opinion.
Agreed…though the Pacers then came down and hoisted a shot, which to me seemed against the NBA etiquette — maybe they were pissed that we took our shot?
i think losing team always shoot, to lower the deficiet. Its disrespectful if an winning team shoots with the shot clock off (and the lead is too big for the other team to try the foul routine)
I thought they (Raps) got the ball with game clock at about 12 secs. My err if as you say.
You don’t just turn the ball over. They used the clock and didn’t show boat. Think Gerald green two years ago against the raps
yeah that was a huge dick move.
What has Greg Oden ever done to you?!?
Good win. Granger was 3-13. Keeping him quiet was important as he sparked them last game we played them in Ind.
Need to execute the same game plan and as effectively when we play them on Tues.
getting him in foul trouble was the key. Hope we can do something like that again
I think Granger sucks, he’s so streaky, the guy averages 22 points on 18 attempts with 40.7% shooting, that’s crap. I don’t know why people rave about him so much as being “good”.
I wouldn’t say Granger ’sucks’.. but he is definetely more Fantasy Basketball friendly than he is real life basketball friendly.
Every time I see him play he reminds me more and more of VC. Physically talented, tons of ability and potential. Just wants to shoot 3pts.
when granger’s career is done, he’s probably just going to go down as a great shooter, not so much a great player
I think we played their game tonight, but luckily we are better at that type of game than they are. Our switches and rotations were just awful, leaving guys wide ass open with the ball in their hands. We pushed harder on offense and have more talent straight up to overcome the turnovers. Would like to see more communication on defense, but I’ll take the win.
Ball.
Banks – I had totally forgotten he plays for this team.
ME TOO! Sometimes I just see him on the bench and I’m like “who’s that?”
Turk needs a lucha mask face protector with BALL written on each side.
he better be looking forward to Big Love, it’s probably the best show on TV until Mad Men comes back
Mad Men? We all know Dexter is the best show not on the air right now
I hope Ball is okay. I think he contributes to this team more than many people realize.
He has a small broken bone in the orbital area of the left eye…and should be fine to play with a mask of some kind. However there goes his inside game for awhile anyway.
Will the Phantom of the Turkey Ball era begin in Raptorland next week?
Turkey Balls…I think I had those at a Chinese buffet last week.
Hopefully that mask will improve his accuracy a la Hamilton.
jose to amir was one of the nastiest alley-oops i have ever seen. raps are rolling
We’re playing extremely well, but so is charlotte and chicago! How are their schedules until the break?
Both have easy schedules for February.
Sorry. Chicago has an EASY schedule. Charlotte has it kinda tough in February.
Doesn’t really matter. Raps have to beat the teams they are supposed to or Charlotte, Chicago, and Miami will pass them.
But Raps are posed for an extended win streak.
With Belinelli under the bus, can you reverse the bus and run over Belinelli again? Him not nailing open 3s while he is standing textbook-still is driving me more crazy than Turk’s ineffectiveness spans.
belli simply isn’t a spot-up shooter. not sure why everyone thinks he’s gonna knock down open 3’s when he’s planted, he likes to create a rhythm by moving with the ball, curling off screens…just feels more natural for him to shoot while in motion. think anthony parker coming off a screen, catching it & shooting while still sliding/fading…just a more comfortable shot for him.
Bargs didn’t have a great game – wasn’t interested on D. I was surprised to hear he got 17 pts.
“Jack is a bigger, stronger TJ Ford”. Maybe, skill-wise and style-wise, but the critical upgrade is the leadership and maturity Jack brings, whereas Ford was poison.
Belli was way off tonight, you could see it in the pregame.
Barg’s was fine. His d was okay, players made shots….. Very simply not much you can do when a player makes a tough shot on you…..
Elbow. haha I still dont like Triano’s substitution patterns, He kept the starters out too long thats why they came back and he used that Calderon and Jack combination that I hate very much late in the fourth. His subs are about as bad or worse than Smitch’s. But another win throws his bad coaching on the back burners once again, Hopefully it gets better before our record gets worse!
The Jack/Jose combo has not been bad as of late. It works well when the other team is running with 2 pgs, and even better when Hedo isn’t out there.
I wouldn’t rely on it being a season changer though….
hedo is shit. Maybe if he starts to wear the RIP hamilton face mask, he will play better.
trade hedo please!!