The “hold me close, hold me tight, make me forget about all the bad things” edition:
Alabi: how to make friends and influence your coach: in consecutive plays, you travel while basically not pressured in the paint then you commit a goaltend. When it comes to a roster spot, Solomon is more of a waste than 72.7% of the stuff Matt Devlin says on air.
Barbosa: his game tonight was akin to buying chili hoping it would warm you up only to find it’s just a lukewarm ground beef soup. After a while you can’t blame the guy. If your teammates look like they would rather be playing euchre on a sinking ship on Lake Ontario, why should you care?
Bayless: the one bright spot offensively tonight and, with that said, it was as bright as a flashlight on dying batteries. Mighty Mouse 2.0 brought some spark to the floor in the first half and ended up being one of just two Raptor players in double digit scoring. You’ll be surprised at the other.
Butler: perfect!! A mere 24 hours after looking a career ending injury in the eye and making it buckle, Rasual comes out and excites his fanclub (based in Moose Jaw) by going 2 of 2 from 3. Perspective? That’s like a virgin going to a school dance and ending up under the bleachers with that hot 24 year old English teacher.
Calderon: this guy is single handedly torpedoing his trade possibilities, or at least the fact that we can get value in return. He’s our new Vince Carter. The crying Jose has returned, though, which adds some fun to these types of games (and is just begging for a drinking game to go along with it) but he checked out mentally mid-2nd quarter.
Carter: meaningless minutes in a game that blew more than Rob Ford doing a lap at the Rogers Centre.
Davis: shhh. shhhhh….. hear that? That clicking? That’s 100s of Toronto fans quickly adding him back to their fantasy teams. Second double double in a row compiling 10 and 12. Just as impressive is the fact he went 50% from the free throw line which is pretty much his kryptonite.
DeRozan: this guy is sleepwalking through most of the games this year and it’s getting pretty embarrassing. He started off on fire tonight, attacking the hoop, almost decapitating Ray Allen, just all over the joint. Then, like Calderon, it was like somebody hit him with a dart from the upper deck and he turned into an elephant fighting off sleep.
Forbes: 2 of 8 in 15 minutes for the poster child of this Raptors team to some people. A guy bubbling under that has a lot of upside that is being untapped. Yeah, right. That and Blake Murphy brings the Raptors fantastic luck every game he covers them for RR. 1-16.
Gray: got the start and performed well. 4/6, 8 pts, 9 rebounds, and he even had his hair do the Bieber a few trips down the floor.
A. Johnson: I have seen happier looking Goths than what Amir looks like every game. I don’t know if he’s getting stuck beside Alabi on the team charter every flight or if his girlfriend left him to knock boots with Chris Kaman, but I fear he needs to be watched 24/7 to ensure he doesn’t slice his fingers off.
J. Johnson: the only thing faster than the rate at which he was picking up fouls tonight is the rate at which Colangelo is performing facepalms this season. Not that he was anything special while on the floor when you consider he went 3/11, but in a game like this it wasn’t like he needed to play tight D or charge recklessly to the hoop.
Driving the bus: Ed Davis
Under the bus: Amir Johnson
Theme of the Game:
