Built Ford Tough

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/7370035/peja-stojakovic-decides-retirement-dallas-mavericks-championship-run I loved watching Peja play in his prime. A lot of people seem to forget just how good he was for those early 2000 Kings teams and think he was just a spot up shooter but he was much more than that. Glad to see him be able to get a ring before his body completely failed him and forced him to retire. Probably my favourite Peja memory was this pass to Bobby Jackson. I actually remember watching that game and couldn't believe that he pulled something like that off. Absolutely sick: Absolutely sick.

Liles was flying in that 1st period. Very impressed by him throughout that period, both offensively and defensively. Reimer was steady as well. He didn't have to make any real difficult saves but he made the ones he had to. You can't blame him for the goal since it was an absolute fluke bounce.

If we are talking strictly offense I like it. I don't see Rubio coming anywhere close to the defender that Rondo is, though. He may be able to play the passing lanes as well as Rajon does, but I highly doubt he is able to play the lockdown man-to-man defense that Rondo can play when he sets his mind to it.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4682204/sources-mavericks-to-sign-sean-williams So.... When do the Mavs trade Marion for Jefferson and find Jason Collins on the unemployment line?

I really like Afflalo so I would be fine with this deal if I were a Nugget fan. He is one of the best defenders in the league and is starting to branch out into more than just a spot up shooter offensively. He will never be a star but he is one of those invaluable glue guys that every great team needs. It isn't a great deal by any means, but I don't really have any complaints about it either.

I love this guy. The rumor I read a few weaks ago is that it is going to take a significant contract in terms of both length and dollars in order to get him to leave CSKA. He is supposedly loving his time over there and is in no hurry to return to the NBA.

So any concerns I might have had about not getting a top pick completely evaporated after watching this game. I saw some good things from some Raptor players, but at the end of the day, the Celtics 3rd unit consisting of guys like E'Twan Moore, JaJuan Johnson and some random white dude who looked like he should be playing soccer not basketball, ended up getting the Celtics the victory despite the fact that the Raptors had their best players on the court down the stretch. It was just good to see Raptors basketball again, even if it was some ugly, ugly ball.

I am absolutely loving Bargnani's PnR defense right now. He is doing an awesome job of hedging and then quickly rotating back to his man to prevent an easy layup. I just hope he can do this against teams starting lineups as opposed to the end of the bench scrubs that Boston has on the floor right now.

Drummond with his breakout game today, even though it was against Holy Cross. 24 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks on 11-12 shooting in 30 minutes. Hopefully this is the game that gets him going as he is way too talented to continue having these disappointing games. Although it may be better if he doesn't go nuts as it would increase the chance sof the Raptors being able to draft him without having to get the 1st overall pick.

I like what I have seen from Forbes so far. I thought he was another chucker who just came in and did nothing but look for his own shot, but he has actually played a solid game. He has done a nice job of making decisions with the ball and not just forcing his own offense. He has had 3 occasions this game where he could've easily took a fairly open shot but instead passed it a teammate for an even better shot. He has also played well defensively. Him and JJ are a nice compliment to each other at the small forward spot. Neither one are likely to be the long term answer, but I like what I have seen from both of them today. Johnson (on Boston) with a nice forearm to Amir's throat on the clear out when going to the hoop. Glad Amir is fine as that was pretty dirty.

They said yes to Baron. http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/217646/Baron_Davis_Will_Join_Knicks#ixzz1gv2jkxmE

Raptors blow a defensive assignment leading to a wide open Celtic for an easy layup. Camera zooms in on Casey just in time for everybody to see him yell: "[expletive]ing god dammit!" I think it might be more entertaining seeing Casey's reactions to the Raptors lousy defense than watching the actual games this year. Davis is doing a great job on the offensive glass in this game. Three put backs and he has 10 points and 8 boards now.

You can try watching it here: http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/98703/1/watch-toronto-raptors-vs-boston-celtics.html

Beautiful pass from Bayless to Davis underneath. That was an absolute bullet between two Celtics to find Davis. He wasn't able to finish off the pass so Bayless didn't get the assist, but Davis managed to tip in his own miss. I really wish that they would give him more opportunities on offense. I get that he doesn't exactly have a refined post game or reliable jumper, but he has a nice touch around the rim and does a great job of getting himself into great positions to score. He just never gets the ball unless it is on a broken play or offensive rebound. Hopefully as the season starts and the team gets more comfortable with Casey's system he will see his role offensively increase. I'm really liking what I have seen from Bargnani in this game, though. He has been battling for rebounds, showing energy defensive by showing hard on picks and then rotating back to his man underneath. He has gottent to the line 7 times and isn't just settling for jump shots on offense. He has 14 points and 8 rebounds, 2 of which are offensive. I really hope he plays with this kind of energy all season long. You know that Casey will constantly be on him and won't put up with lapses in energy like Triano did.

Garnett trying to get into Bargs' head with trash talk, but Bargnani isn't backing down. Nice to see him not letting it bother him and just playing his game. The funny part is that Bargnani is actually getting whatever he wants when Garnett is guarding him. I know he only has 5 points in the quarter, but he has beat Garnett off the dribble 2 or 3 times, drew a foul and hit a three over him. Meanwhile, Garnett has scored 4 of his 6 points in the quarter when the Raptors switched on the pick and had Calderon on him. Of course, Garnett could get lit up for 60 points and he would still be yapping.

Bargnani gets an offensive rebound and then draws the foul to get to the line. On the next possession he draws an offensive foul on Daniels. I don't think that sequence happened one time last season. DeRozan with his 2nd corner three of the half as well. Hopefully he can stick that shot consistently as it would really help the team with its spacing as Bargnani is really the only 3 point threat on the team and you don't want him settling.

Raptors offense looks putrid right now. You can really tell that around 80-90% of training camp was focused on the defensive end of the floor because the Raptors look completely out of sync offensively. Barbosa is the only one who is really able to create anything right now. That is likely because he is the only Raptor who was playing competitive ball during the summer.

Bayless not looking very good to start the game. He is playing a bit out of control and forcing things which is leading to wild shots and poor passes. He need to keep it simple like he just did on that final possession where he drove past his man and found an open Amir for the easy bounce pass. That is how he is going to get minutes and stay on the floor, not forcing wild layups like he was doing earlier. Speaking of Amir, he definitely looks a lot bigger than last season. He is still a power forward and by no means a legit center, but he is no longer a noticeably undersized. Raptors team defense is looking good, but they are still struggling at guarding their own man. That is still an improvement over last season when they were abysmal both team and man. Of course it is just 1 quarter of a preseason game following a shortened training camp, so I'm not going to read too much into anything that I see all day, let alone just the 1st quarter.

The Raptors new court design is UGLY. Especially those ridiculous 3-D Raptor signs on the baseline. I like how they are playing defensively to start the game. DeRozan and Bargnani had a nice trap on Allen in the corner to cause a turnover, James Johnson with a nice help side block on JO and Bargnani had grabbed 2 boards already, although he just completely lost KG underneath the basket for a wide open dunk. DeRozan with the corner 3. Very pleased to see that from him.

No worries. I would've made the other ones, but I figured you would be on before they tipped off. I only made this one because the game was about to start. I'm actually really looking forward to this game, even if it is preseason and going to be some ugly, ugly basketball. My bad on the C's starting lineup. I read that Pierce was starting when in fact Marquis Daniels is starting. Pierce didn't make the trip due to a minor injury.

I had a frost dragon and another one show up at the same time when I fast travelled to some place. I died really fast. Thanks. I'll do that whenever I play it again.

Since Real Deal hasn't created a game thread for the games today, and I can't make threads in the Gameday forum, I figured I'd throw this in the Raptors forum right now. Game starts in 10 minutes or so and is on Sportsnet. Raptors starting lineup: C: Jamaal Magloire PF: Andrea Bargnani SF: James Johnson SG: DeMar DeRozan PG: Jose Calderon Celtics starting lineup C: Jermaine O'Neal PF: Kevin Garnett SF: Marquis Daniels SG: Ray Allen PG: Rajon Rondo

http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/warriors-talk/post/Report-Warriors-trading-Amundson?blockID=614398&feedID=5882 I really like this for the Warriors. They had a bit of a log jam at the bigs after signing Kwame and they were able to address that by picking up a very solid shooting guard.

Perry Jones is really impressing me this season. I still have questions about whether or not he can actually play the 3 or if he is really just a face up 4 in the mold of a Chris Bosh (I think the latter is true), but he has looked great since coming back from his suspension. Today he torched BYU for 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals on 11-16 shooting including 2-2 from 3 to lead the Bears to an 86-83 win. If he continues to develop his perimeter skills and shows that he can in fact play the 3, I think he may be at the top of my draft board, or at the very least right there with Davis and Drummond. He is just so talented and physically gifted. With Barnes not really taking his game to the next level and Quincy Miller disappointing (whether it is from his ACL injury, I don't know), the options at SF are starting to look not quite as good as they were hyped up to be.

One hell of a first period. That was easily the most entertaining period of hockey I have watched this season from the Leafs. Fantastic end to end action, some outstanding goaltending from both Lu and Gus, some excellent display of skill from Lupul, Kessel, Phanuef, Burrows and the Sedins, some physical play from Franson, Weise and Armstrong and even had two disallowed goals. Hopefully the rest of the game is this good because that was an outstanding period.