The “holding serve” edition.
Banks – didn’t need his stonewall defence tonight, so saw quick garbage time duty.
Bargnani – Bogart in Casablanca. Monroe in Some Like It Hot. Costner in Field of Dreams. Willis in Die Hard. Bargnani in Detroit. All amazing performances. Tonight Andrea played out of his mind. 33 points on 13/22, 5 3pointers, 7 boards, no fouls, and he made anybody that covered him look like a joke. He was playing like he had unlocked his own personal cheat code.
Belinelli – 17 minutes of Marco on an empty stomach was almost too much for me to bear, but because I love you, I held on. He certainly had one of his better games in recent memory and added a bit of flair with a 3ball that looked like it was being shot into a wind tunnel. Antoine can’t come back quick enough.
Bosh – people are all wound up about how he hasn’t said anything or appeared anywhere. The man’s face is broken. Think about it. His. Face. Is. Broken. He’ll be there on Wednesday either behind the scenes or in the public eye, but no need to crap on him for being quiet.
Calderon – looking to create tonight and feed the beasts known as Amir and Andrea. He played the part of the floor general to a T and lived up to his trait of less than stellar defence. Face it, that will never change, but any time he can give us 11 assists and no turnovers, we need to take it, embrace it and love it.
DeRozan – I don’t know if Alvin threw DeMar against the wall in the meeting today or what, but DeMar looked like…like…like…a basketball player tonight. He fought for position, he made himself available for the pass, he shot well…the only thing he didn’t do was hand out towels in the huddle. The way he played tonight was a long time coming.
Evans – limited minutes for a guy with limited talent. Jay is finally coming around.
Jack – remember those “Super Balls” you used to have as a kid? You’d toss them against the wall and they’d bounce all over the place, almost uncontrollably? Jack reminds me of one of those. He’s been attacking the paint with abandon, he’s stood his ground taking charges, he’s moved well with the ball to create opportunities for his teammates, and he’s been doing all of this consistently. Tonight he provided 15 points, 12 assists. He did commit 4 turnovers, though, and more than a few times he looked off some open opportunities. Still, a great night from both our point guards.
Johnson – know how you can tell he used to be a Piston? Career high 26 points, 10/12 shooting and an unheard of 6/7 from the free throw line. By his standards, he was unconscious. You are more likely to see Colangelo in a thong, a fedora and nipple clamps standing courtside on Wednesday than to see an offensive outburst like this again from Amir.
Nesterovic – you could almost hear him audibly groan “oh, alright” tonight when Jay called his name to enter the game. He’s just counting down the days until his pension.
O’Bryant – perfect from the floor and a beast on the bench. 1/1 in 1 minute. Stellar.
Turkoglu- he came out with one purpose tonight: make sure that we, as Raptors fans, know that last night’s performance from him was not to be counted on night in and night out. We should treat in like it was a night of binging in a year long diet. A blip, as it were. How to do that? Well, committing some silly fouls helps, pepper in some ill-advised 3s, and some swiss cheese defence and we are back to reality. With a thud.
Weems – carried off late in the 4th, but he wasn’t a huge factor in this blowout. It was nice to see him corral his shots, though. He took way too many last night and hoisted just 7 tonight, hitting 3. He had been playing with his usual hops up until he was knocked out. Have to question him being on the floor for 40 minutes, but Jay knows best.
Wright – still out with a sprain. If that is all that is standing between us and less Marco, I’d like to suggest Antoine stick some IcyHot on that thing and get out there and play Willis Reed style.
Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani
Under The Bus: Hedo Turkoglu
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