Two Games? In a Row? Does not Compute!

It's basically the end of the season now for the T-Dot Raptors and all they can do now is sit back and relax and let the season go by. Only 11 more games to go. Jay Triano should also take a hit of hard liquor or at least NyQuil to be relax. Bring out the golf clubs and the cold drinks! It's an early summer........well then you would ask why the even bother to win two games in a row. It was all a combination of having the whole team 100% healthy and playing two mediocre teams as opponents.

Villanueva Being Villanueva
With all his tweeting and inconsistency we got to see "bad" Villanueva yesterday which helped the Raptors win the game against the Bucks. 8 points and 4 rebounds in 4-11 shooting is fine by me. Take away having no Bogut or Redd and this team is pretty weak all around.

The Curious Case of Damon Jones For the past few seasons Damon Jones has just been a scrub. Up and down depending on the game and how hot his hand past the three point arch, however each time he plays the Raptors it seems that something makes him become Mr. Caliente. This season he has only played 11 games and averaged 2 points, but suddenly he scores 14 points last night with 4-7 from downtown. I'm pretty sure he went on fire last year with the Cavs against us. Wild haircut too last night.

Douby and Jawai!
Jawai went down to the D-league and was the big man on campus. Now he's back and only got to play one game and didn't even get a foul as a stat. Another scrub has been hired and this time it's Quincy Douby. The man was a scrub in a mediocre Sacramento team to say the least and probably won't stick around for too long. BC only called him up after Banks was done for the season. Well he's another shooter something definitely don't need.

What if the Raptors had played the way they did last night all season? What if Jefferson didn't intercept the pass to Chris Bosh in the sixth game of the playoffs? What ifs! they're just for dreamers and drunkards.

Isiah,Isiah,Isiah!
Isiah Thomas a great basketball player but I can't say the same thing about his coaching or team management. Apparently he's trying to get the GM job with the LA Clippers.

REAL GM WIRETAP-

Isiah Thomas is actively looking for a new job and met with Clippers' owner Donald Sterling about a front office position. The meeting was arranged by Mike Dunleavy.

Several NBA sources confirmed the February meeting to ESPN.com.

The talks were informal but substantive and there have been follow-up discussions.

Isiah Thomas ruined his reputation in New York and could turn it into dust if he gets his job. The man should only be a scout as he seems to be a good drafter at the lottery. He can't make the Clippers worse that's for sure.

Next game against the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow. Easy game? don't think so/

Have You Ever Had Deja Vu Mr.Colangelo?

Remember when we used to be better than the Bobcats? Wait didn't I just ask that in my last blog? Well this second loss to the Bobcats had an eerily familiar feeling. This losses have been so consecutive that Bryan Colangelo,Jay Triano and the whole Raptors organization think they're in the movie "Groundhog Day". Wouldn't be a bad remake of the movie if you ask me.

These back-to-back games against the same teams can show what a team is really made out of. A team can lose the first game by a large margin, but if you can beat the same team the second time then it shows how much determination and pardon my french (technically Spanish) , but cojones. This idea of having "come back" games is not something the Raptors didn't know about. Shall we take a trip down memory lane? Get the Delorean Doc. Brown.

Earlier this season....... We all remember how we got humiliated by the Knickerbockers 107-127 . Chandler, Lee and Harrington went full scene mode on the Raptors. Then the comeback came with a 111-100. The team was still playing for something back then.
07-08 season
Back-to-Back games with Washington. First an exciting overtime game which unfortunately ended up as a Raptors loss, 108-104. Even though Humps came out of the bench with 16 points it was not use because the Wizards had 4 players in double digits. The wizards having 4 players in double digits? Seems like a lifetime since that has happened.

THE COMEBACK. The difference between this team and the one that lost to the Bobcats is just how much the team wanted the win. The current Toronto Raptors were in a 24-44 record when playing the Bobcats in back to back while last years Raptors had a record of 24-21 when playing the Wizards. One team is tanking for a good draft pick while the other was trying to secure a playoff spot. Raptors had an amazing comeback in this game 112-83 and this year they lose it 102-89,

It doesn't matter how much talent you have, but if you're team is not in a winning state of mind then you will most likely lose.

Kille B's= Good. Rest of the team= Bench Burners Even though we two amazing perfomances by Bargs and Bosh it wasn't enough because the rest of the team was mediocre to say the least. Kapono,Voskhul, Graham,Banks and Parker are probably not coming back next year.

Is Ford Having Deja vu Too?
Apparently Ford is worried that the Indiana Pacers will choose back up point guard Jack Jarret over him next year. This situation might seem a little too familiar for Ford. This worrying exploded in the Pacers last game with Ford having an argument with Jarret in the third quarter.
From the Indy Star:
"The two starting arguing on the court and brought it to the huddle. Stephen Graham, Josh McRoberts and assistant coach Jay DeFruscio all went over to try and calm Jack down.....

It's unknown why the two were arguing, but I was told this had been "brewing" for some time between them.

The argument came after Ford was the only player to take a shot on three straight possessions."

Will Ford ever find a team in which he won't have to worry about a back up point guard taking over his job? Maybe Calderon has cursed him forever.

The Bad News Clippers
Next game is against the Laker's little unwanted brother, the LA Clippers. A team so sad that their only fan is Billy Crystal. A washed up team deserves a washed up actor. I expected more out of this team with the amount of talent they had, but with Kaman injured most of the season and Baron Davis not really showing any leadership it all went down south pretty quickly. If the Raptors don't win this game they don't even deserve to call themselves an NBA team. I take that back, they don't deserve to call themselves an NBA right now.

Remember When the Raptors Used to Better than the Bobcats?

So this is what the good old day have become? A time in which the Raptors could beat the Charlotte Bobcats? An expansion team that has had four miserable seasons in which they weren't nearly close to make the playoffs. Yes those were the good times.

Even though the Bobcats are eleven games under the 500. mark (29-38) they are still very much in the race for the 8th spot in a weak Eastern conference (at least after the 4th place). Now how did Michael Jordan do this? First he got Larry Brown. I know he coached the Pistons into an NBA, but I never really had respect for him. Might be because of his public feuds with Marbury back in his New York stint or his very dry attitude. Anyhow he has brought a winning attitude to the youngsters in the team. Jordan then trades away Jason Richardson for Bell and Diaw and Adam Morrison for Radmanovic , suddenly you have a pretty decent NBA team. I want to see the Bobcats get the 8th spot this year.

I tried to talk about anything but the Raptors last game, but I know I would eventually have to say something about it. The Raptors were terrible. There's no doubt about it. They took away that smile I had in my face after the win on Sunday afternoon. 48 hours haven't even passed. Suddenly the green jerseys start to look like that unappealing colour that a NyQuil bottle has, then again this team makes me want to drink a whole bottle of NyQuil. I blame the Raptors for this addiction!

Wallace or Marion?
The man was putting up numbers in all stat categories 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. To think that Bryan Colangelo didn't trade T.J Ford for Wallace last year because Charlotte didn't add a secpund round pick is mindbottling. He's been better than O'neal and Marion this whole season. The "what if" situation just keep popping into my head!

Remember the New York Game?
Anybody else remember those two back-to-back games we had against New York? One humiliating game in the road for the Raptors and then a Redemption song for the Raptors. I don't this what will happen in this next game, but we usually bounce back after this types of games.

Not that Mad for March Madness
I know most basketball fan are excited about the NCAA basketball playoff, but I have never really been into College basketball. Not sure who the final four will be, but Memphis is looking pretty good. The finals will be better than any upcoming Raptors game that's for sure.

Those were the Celtics? Right?

How about them Celtics with a 23 point win against the Indiana Pacers. *note is handed to me* I've just been informed that those were just the Toronto Raptors wearing green St.Patrick's day jerseys. It felt nice to break a 7 game losing streak, if they only had been playing like this all season. "If what" statements are useless though, all we can do know is look forward to the future. When a team get into the line like the Raptors did yesterday (36 free throw attempts) then they have more variety in their game and so they don't need to depend on their outside game to win. Add 18 offensive rebounds and there's no way you can lose.

Pops, The Man, The Legend!
21 points and 8 rebounds coming off the bench. Enough said. He is definitely ahead of Nate Jawai. Jake The Snake, Humphries and Patrick O'I don't care in big men returning to the roster next year. He knows that he is a role player unlike Humps and will play with intensity in every play. He is not another Jamario Moon or Loren Woods. I can guarantee you do that.

Bosh Who?
Yesterday it was all Bargnani ball. Not only was he hot from the outside, but he also was rebounding. In the last two months he has been amazing while Bosh has just been unimpressive. Rasho and Ford were also not big factors last night.
THE DUNK!


Poor Granger. That dunk was just sick,wicked and nasty. When I heard that Marion was coming to the Raptors, this is what I imagined.
The Nathan Jawai Radar
Jawai has been pretty impressive in the last two games with the Idaho Stampede. 15 points and 9 rebounds in a win against Los Angeles; however, Jawai did foul out of the game. Something he really need to work on. Then in a game against Rio Grande Valley he got a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Next Game tonight the Charlotte Bobcats, they've been on a tear ever since they traded Jason Richardson to Pheonix. Diaw and Bell have both been winners in Pheonix and have passed this on to their team. I didn't think much of Larry Brown before this season. I was completely wrong. This will be a tough one.

Could Iavaroni be our next coach? be From Doug Smith's Blog:

This ought to get the cobwebs out of the early morning heads.

Marc Iavaroni’s coming.

Seriously, he is. To Toronto. Like, tomorrow. And he was with the Raptors last week in Philly but went unnoticed.

The deal is he’s on some “coach and idea sharing” mission or some such; unemployed coaches come and hang around teams for a few days, offer their insight.

This, of course, is the first time the Raptors have ever done anything like this and of all the unemployed coaches to pick in all the world, they had to get Iavaroni, former head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, former long-time assistant in Phoenix – where that Colangelo guy held sway – and the apple of the eye of a lot of Raptors fans.

Gotta give effort all 48 minutes of the game!

What differentiates a playoff team like the Utah Jazz from a mediocre 14th placed team like the Raptors (in a week conference). One could easily answer this question by saying the amount of talent or coaching of the team. Both answers would be completely valid and there would be no way of me to say that Jay Triano is a better coach than Jerry Sloan or that Jason Kapono is a better player coming off the bench than Kyle Korver.....for god's sake even than Matt Harpring. Setting this aside the Raptors were ahead of the Jazz at the end of the third quarter on Sunday. 87-81.... For any NBA team that is a good lead coming out of the third quarter. Only 12 more minutes of playing time right? Well l not for our beloved Toronto Raptors. The painful final score 109-101. A difference of 28-14 in the 4th quarter. The main reason for this was the Raptors suddenly loosening the defense and not playing "smart" basketball on the offensive end. Completely unacceptable. That 48 minutes of effort is what differentiates the mediocre from the good.

In other words that game was a fail, sort of like Zack Randolph shooting a three point shot.


On Bargnani and Marion
No love for Bargnani! He was doing great against the Jazz,with twenty points, but only got 13 shots in the whole game. Triano should make more plays specifically made for Bargs. Now lets talk about Marion. When Marion left Pheonix he was trying to prove to the whole league that he didn't need Steve Nash to be an All-Star, but so far he has show that he's just a limited. I think that without a fast paced game and a point guard that can run the fast break Marion is uneffective. That unorthadox shot of his doesn't help either.

Now let's try to forget about the past 5 loses. How many have we had this season???? The next game is against the Philadelphia 76ers. Ever since Elton Brand has been injured they have been striving by using that fast paced system that got them into the playoffs last year. Now that we are just playing for the ping pong balls at the NBA lottery we should give our bench guys a little more burn. Pops will show the 76ers what he is made of. Bargnani is game time decision. So who knows he might even start.

I don't want to see what Andre Miller will do to Calderon inside the paint and the offensive boards that the 76ers will get. Make this nightmare stop!

I'll bet anything that Matt Devlin will make a reference or a joke about Philly Cheese steaks while commenting about the game. I'm starting to miss Chuck.

Jawai D-League Radar!
Only 2 points and 5 rebounds in 105-100 win against the Utah Flash. Luke Jackson played well with 29 points,8 rebounds and 6 assists. Get er' done BC. The Idaho Stampedes next game is tonight against Anaheim at 9 pm.

Same Old Story with a "Pop" Twist

40th lost of the season. Raptors got that lose in the 80th game last season in a close game against the Pistons (In April!). This just shows you how bad the Raptors doing. Oh how I miss the good old days. The days in which the team had amazing ball rotation and chemistry. The days in which had Garbajosa or even when we had "Gangsta".

Well enough reminiscing about the past seasons and let's talk about the nightmare which we like to call the present. Every day I just ask myself how many more games do we have to watch until the Raptors have no mathematical probability of making the playoffs.

The return of Jermaine O'neal and Moon
Now this was suppose to be the "big" return of Moon and O'neal to Toronto three weeks after they had been traded for Marion to the Heat. To tell you the truth it was a pretty quite game for the two former Raptors. O'neal had 8 points and 8 rebounds, while Moon had 5 points and 4 boards (1-4 from the three point line). I remember closing my eyes each time that Moon shot a three back in his Toronto day ,but now it's fun seeing him jack up the threes like there is no tomorrow .Kidding aside I think these two guys showed that they're class acts by going over to the Raptors bench before tip off to say hi to their former teammates. I don't exactly agree with Leo Rautins old school philosophy of being cold with former teammates unless the players didn't want to be in the team like Vince Carter.

The Dwayne Wade Show
Nobody on the team could stop Wade in this game. Anthony Parker tried his best but Wade is in the that elite category along with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Every time he touched the ball he either got a clear path to the basket or a wide open shot for one his teammates. I was actually surprised that he only got 42 points instead of 50 since he shot 17-23 from the floor. He certainly got the crowd quiet with some of his killer plays.

The Toronto Scrubs
Well that was probably one of the worst games for Jose Calderon this season. He shot 1-6 from the floor and was inefficient with 6 assists. We also had the pleasure of having "Bad" Joey came back to visit the team.

In the other hand we saw a good game from the killer B's . 57 points but only 9 rebounds together. The name calling and negativity should towards them should disappear in my opinion. I especially liked that move in which Andrea faked out O'neal and Joel Anthony.


That "Pop" Twist
The new Raptor Nana Papa Yaw Dwene Mensah-Bonsu or for short Pops had a positive impact in this game.The man has been everywhere ( NBA,D-league and Euroleauge) and I think he has found his home with the Raptors. He is a slightly younger version of Jamario Moon without the wacky three point shooting. Now I can talk about his past another time but now I will just talk about how he played today. At first I was quite surprised that he was our first man coming off the bench (just show you how weak our bench really is) and started contributing with his aggressiveness and tough defence. 4 points and 10 rebounds in only 15 minutes sounds good to me. I think he will be sticking around.

Next game against the Utah Jazz. This will be an entertaining game, but a hard one to win.