Built Ford Tough

Salo did get hurt (a concussion), unless you believe the conspiracy theories that the Canucks are just pretending that Salo suffered a concussion (or are pretending that a shoulder injury is a concussion) to try and make Marchand get a couple more games.

No. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul (before knee injuries) etc... are superstars. Kevin Love is an All-Star. There is a clear difference between Kevin Love and those 5 players I mentioned above. I also don't throw the word superstar or franchise player around lightly like a lot of people do.

YES!!!!!!!!!! My interest in this game has been restored! (I'll still be watching it on LP after it finishes, though, since I'll be watching the Leafs/Sabres hockey game).

I could see them being interested in Sam Mitchell if they do fire Flip. Mitchell isn't an elite coach by any means, but he has a solid track record from his time in Toronto and there were a couple of constants for him throughout his tenure there. 1. He always got his team to play hard, regardless of the talent level on the team. Sure, there were a fair amount of blowouts and all, but that could be more attributed to the general lack of talent on the roster. Even in the games that the Raptors weren't competitive in, they did play pretty hard and if they didn't, Mitchell would typically get on them. 2. He got the absolute best out of his point guards. Rafer Alston averaged a career high in points and had his 2nd highest assist average under Mitchell. Mike James averaged career highs in points, assists, rebounds, FG%, 3PT%, FTA and FT%. TJ Ford averaged a career high in assists, TS%, PER and 2nd highest scoring total. Jose Calderon had his best seasons under Mitchell in terms of impact on the floor and while his best statistical season came under Triano (the year Smitch was fired), his overall impact wasn't the same. Seeing what he got out of talently limited point guards (aside from Ford), I can definitely see a guy with as much natural talent as John Wall thriving under him. Sam has his faults as a coach such as a limited offense, questionable game management and isn't great at drawing up plays, don't get me wrong, but I do think that he could be a very capable coach if he is put n the right situation. Is that Washington? I'm not sure, but I would take a chance on him and he is certainly available.

Well, my interest in this game just got cut in half. I was looking forward to seeing another one of these legendary moments.

http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2012/01/who-does-andrea-bargnani-think-he-is-dirk/ Casey really has done a wonderful job of getting Bargnani to play up to his potential and his play through the first 9 games has been nothing short of spectacular for the Raptors. He has led them to a game under .500 when many expected them to be one of the worst teams in the league this season, myself included in that. He has been playing the best offense of his entire career, as evident by his awesome efficiency and he has also been playing the best defense of his career, which isn't saying much, but he has not looked like a complete liability out there. In fact, you can argue that he has actually looked solid in terms of man defense and slightly below average in terms of help defense. The question is, can he keep up this level of play when we get into the middle part of the season when fatigue begins to kick in or if the Raptors fall out of the playoff picture and there isn't as much to play for? Call me a homer, but as of right now you can make the argument that he has been the best power forward in the Eastern Conference to start off the season. I don't expect him to continue to play at that kind of level, but it is very, very encouraging to see how well he has played to start the year.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120109_NO@DEN

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120109_DET@CHI

http://www.foxsportsohio.com/pages/the_amico_report The source doesn't seem the most credible, but when you consider how much of a disaster his time in Washington has been combined with the pathetic play from his team this year, it makes a lot of sense that his job would be in jeopordy. He seems to have lost the locker room and, to be perfectly honest, he doesn't even really seem to care that much that he has lost it. There really needs to be a change made and it only makes sense that the change be a coaching one. Firing him won't solve their problems by any means, but it is a start in the right direction. After that, the really need to try and find a way to move some of the headcases on the team, Blatche in particular.

Probably because at this point in Walker's career, Augustin is clearly a better player. Walker really isn't that productive as he struggles with the longer, athletic defenders in the NBA. He struggles to create seperation for his jumper, isn't all that great at getting to the rim and his jumper isn't all that consistent either. He may become a good player in the future and take over the starting job from Augustin, but he is not a better option than him as of right now. Unless he is lighting it up throughout the course of a game, which he was not doing tonight as he was like 2-9 or something, it only makes sense to go with the guard who is not only more experienced, but simply a better player.

Barbosa comes into the game and the Raptors lead falls from 12 to 4 in a matter of 3 minutes. He is really becoming a cancer to this team. He needs to be dealt ASAP.

Toronto is picking apart the Wolves right now. Amir is busting his ass keeping Love off the glass. He hasn't always succeeded, but he has done as good of a job as you could hope. He has also played great defense on him. On offense, Bargnani is hitting everything right now. He is playing with so much confidence right now and everything he takes looks like it is going to fall. He is also doing a nice job using his length on defense.

DeRozan really is useless with the ball in his hands. Just runs right through Rubio without even attempting to make any sort of move. Triano did a great job of using screens and cuts to free him up, which is how he is going to be effectively offensively. This season he has been basically a glorified spot up shooter and given the ball in late clock scenarios. Both of those are areas where he does not thrive in. They really need to find a way to get him moving and utilizing screens because he clearly isn't capable of creating for himself right now.

Lmao. Wolves have taken 14 free throws in 5 minutes this quarter. And... make that 16.

J. Johnson and Davis both with some very impressive blocks on Rubio. James Johnson really is one hell of a shot blocker when you consider his size and the position he plays. If he was 6'10 or so instead of 6'7-8, I honestly think he would be one of the league leaders in blocks. His timing really is impressive. Some really soft calls have been made against the Raptors so far in this game. Barea has been gifted an And 1 already (not to mention getting away with an obvious travel) and Randolph got a very, very weak ball out call against Amir who was, at least from what I saw, completely straight up.

That is how DeRozan should play. Gets Barea in the post, establishes position, gets the ball, immediately backs him down and shoots right over him for the basket.

I think the fact that he went shoulder to shoulder with Salo about 10 seconds earlier, threw the gloved punch at the back of Salo as he skated away and then did this on the exact same play where he went shoulder to shoulder earlier made it kind of obvious that he was trying to do more than just win a puck battle there. There was intent and I think that was what made him get 5 as opposed to 3. He obviously should've been suspended, though. There is no way in hell that anybody other than a huge homer could look at that play and think that he didn't deserve a suspension.

Johnson making Love look like Bargnani on the boards. Maybe I should've asked how bad Amir will out rebound Love by? 4-1 for Amir so far including 3 offensive boards. I really don't like how passive DeRozan has been to start this game. He has touched the ball in the post twice and immediately passed it back out one time, took a few pointless dribbles the next time and then threw it out again. Bargnani ended up scoring on one play, but I still want to see him be more aggressive when he gets a mismatch. He did have a nice drive at the very start of the game, but he missed it and since then hasn't looked to attack at all. Bargnani has been very aggressive, though, which is nice to see. Almost all of his shots have been right around the hoop.

How badly does Love outrebound Bargnani tonight? 2-1? 3-1? 4-1? 5-1? I'll go with him getting 20 boards to Bargnani's 5, so 4-1. It will be difficult with him having to guard Bargs on the perimeter all night, but I have faith in him.

Agreed on DeRozan. Bargnani actually did a very solid job on the glass against the Sixers. He finished with 11 boards (I think 7 in the first half) and Spencer Hawes, who was averaging around 12 boards a game going into it, only grabbed 3 boards (granted, he only played 17 minutes) and Brand grabbed 6 in 25 minutes. Vuecivic did grab 10, but a lot came in the 4th. The Raptors were only outrebounded by 3 (51-48), which isn't great, but a major improvement compared to what happened against the Nets. The perimeter players of the Sixers were more of a problem as Iguodala, Turner, Meeks and Holiday combined for 23 boards compared to DeRozan, J. Johnson, Calderon and Butler only grabbing 13.

No Granger for the Pacers (food poisoning) and Hibbert is a game time decision. Hopefully Hibbert plays. I was really looking forward to this game but if both Granger and Hibbert don't play it will likely not be anywhere near as good as it could potentially be.

Marchand gets 5 games for his clip on Salo.

Bargnani? No, especially if he plays the entire season like he has the first 8 games. He has been awesome for them. Calderon? Possibly, depending on how Bayless plays and what they can get for him. As for the whole Calderon/Bargnani for Gasol/Fisher deal, that was just some made up BS. Some guy tweeted that using a fake John Hollinger account (John.HollingerESPN while Hollinger's actual account is John.HollingerINSIDER). Then some second rate site took it and ran with it, which caused it to spread even more. The entire thing was BS. Also, it sounded like the Lakers were the ones who were considering offering Gasol/Fisher for Bargs/Calderon, not the Raptors. I've also read something to make it sound like the Raptors offered as well, so who really knows. Not that it matters because, like I said, it is obviously fake. Lastly, in regards to your making a move comment, Colangelo has every intention of doing just that. However, he plans on doing it in the offseason either in FA or through a trade. Ever since Bosh left he was building towards the summer of 2012 to make his big move after adding two more high draft picks. He has made it very clear that he will be looking to make a huge splash this summer in hopes of getting the Raptors into the playoffs.

Second dunk was actually pretty impressive.

No worries. For future reference, the game threads are moved into the respective home teams' forums. Since the Philly game was played in Philly, it was moved into the Sixers forum. I'll answer your question here, though. In the Sixer game the biggest problem was turnovers and a lack of offensive execution. The Sixers thrive in the open court and are one of the most dangerous transitions teams because of their athleticism and versatility. Toronto did a poor job of executing offensively which resulted in a lot of turnovers, forced shots and things like that, which allowed the Sixers to immediately get on the counter attack and push the ball. In the 3rd quarter, they simply ran the Raptors out of the gym and went on a 30-8 run that blew the game wide open. The Raptors defensive effort was poor and DeRozan was completely nulified by Iguodala's defense, which completely kills the Raptors considering their lack of offensive talent, but it was turnovers and a general poor offensive execution that resulted in the Sixers being able to get out in the open court where they picked the Raps apart.