Built Ford Tough

Purple Conference Game 2 #1 2000-2001 Raptors vs #8 1997-1998 Raptors Results: 2000-2001 defeat 1997-1998 90-82 The 2000-2001 Raptors took game 2 behind a huge game from Vince Carter. He finished with 36 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks from the shooting guard position. The heavy favourite 2001 squad got off to a terrible start as they trailed 24-12 after the first quarter but Carter put them on his back from that moment on, a move that was necessary to pick up the victory as the other four starters combined to shoot a woeful 11-37 from the field and only contributed 26 points between themselves. The 1998 squad were led by a balanced offensive attack that featured 4 players with 10 or more points, led by Doug Christie's 20 but their poor shooting (35% for the game) and their inability to get to, and convert from the free throw line (Vince Carter got to the line more than the entire team combined) as they shot just 7-13 from the chairity stripe proved to be their downfall. The heavy underdogs fall 2 games to none and know full well that they may have blown the most winnable game of the series. Vince Carter was named Player of the Game #2 2001-2002 Raptors vs #7 2002-2003 Raptors Results: 2001-2002 defeat 2002-2003 100-91 A balanced offensive attack that saw Vince Carter score 20 points, Keon Clark score 19, Morris Peterson score 18 and Antonio Davis score 16 was too much for the 2002-2003 Raptors to handle. The 2002 Raptors also completely dominated the glass as Antonio Davis grabbed 14 rebounds while Keon Clark and Jerome Williams both hauled down 13 as the 2002 Raptors outrebounded the 2003 62-39 for the game. The 2003 squad was led by Jerome Williams 18 points and 11 rebounds and Voshon Leonard's 20 points. Ultimately, their inability to control the defensive glass was their downfall as they were outscored on 2nd chance points 24-6 for the game and ended up attempting 8 less shots overall despite only turning the ball over 7 times to the 2002 squad's 15. Antonio Davis was named Player of the Game #3 2007-2008 Raptors vs #6 2005-2006 Raptors Results: 2007-2008 defeat 2005-2006 122-87 In a game that was dominated from start to finish by the 2008 Raptors, they enetered the 4th quarter leading by 31 points (91-60) and still managed to win the 4th quarter despite coasting and resting their starters. Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani had 22 points each (Bosh added 14 rebounds and 3 blocks as well), while the 2008 supporting cast of Anthony Parker, Jose Calderon, Jamario Moon and Carlos Delfino all added double digit points from the perimeter. They shot a blistering 55% from the field, 50% from the three point line and 90% from the foul line, had 30 assists and only turned the ball over 8 times. Chris Bosh had 20 points and 9 rebounds but turned the ball over 5 times in the loss. Morris Peterson and Mike James chipped in with 16 and 14 points respectively but shot poorly from the field as both were under 42%. Chris Bosh (2008 version) was named Player of the Game #4 2003-2004 Raptors vs #5 2008-2009 Raptors Results: 2008-2009 defeat 2003-2004 108-99 In what was a tightly contested game for 3 quarters, it was the 2nd quarter where this game was won, or lost depending on your viewpoint as the 2009 team outscored the 2004 team 34-18. The rest of the 3 quarters saw the 2004 team outscore the 2009 team 81-74 but their poor performance in the 2nd was too much to overcome. Anthony Parker led the 2004's offensive attack with 22 points, but it was a group effort that got the job done as Chris Bosh had 19 points, Jermaine O'Neal had 18, Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon both had 13 points and Jason Kapono had 10. Calderon, Bargnani and O'Neal all had double doubles in the win as well, as Calderon handed out 11 assists while Bargnani and O'Neal grabbed 11 boards each. The duo also blocked 5 shots in the win. For the 2004 squad Vince Carter had 21 points, Jalen Rose had 19 points and 8 assists and Alvin Williams added 16 points and 6 assists of his own. Nobody really had a bad game, aside from Donyell Marshall's 3-9 shooting, but the 2004 team just couldn't manage to dig themselves out of the hole that they dug in the 2nd quarter. Anthony Parker was named Player of the Game.

Results from today as well as standings and statistical leaders: Spain beat Great Britain 86-69 Pau Gasol had 21 points, 6 rebounds on 9/12 shooting. Marc Gasol had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Spain's point guards continue to be highly unproductive. Luol Deng had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists but shot just 4-12. Serbia beat Israel 89-80 Dusko Savanovic had 24 points and 7 rebounds for Serbia Nenad Kristic had 18 points and 7 rebounds Afik Nissim led Israel with 16 points and 9 assists Poland beat Portugal 81-73 Poland scored 52 points in the 2nd half to get the comeback win. Italy beat Latvia 71-62 Andrea Bargnani had 36 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks Marco Belinelli had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals Rihards Kuksiks had 19 points and 6 rebounds for Latvia. Lithuania beat Turkey 75-68 No standout individual performances for Lithuania, but their bench outscored Turkey's bench 33-16 For Turkey, Ersan Ilyasova had 20 points and 4 rebounds Omer Asik had 11 points and 13 rebounds France beat Germany 75-65 Tony Parker had 32 points and 6 assists Nicolas Batum had 14 points and 2 rebounds Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 6 rebounds in the loss for Germany as Kaman was invisible with just 8 points and 5 boards Standings Spain and Lithuania are atop Group A both of which are 3-0 for 6 points. Turkey is right behind with a 2-1 record for 5 points. France and Serbia lead Group B with 3-0 records for 6 points. Germany is right behind with a 2-1 record for 5 points. Greece leads Group C with a 2-0 record for 4 points. Croatia is 2nd with a 1-1 record for 3 points. Russia and Solvenia lead Group D with 2-0 record for 4 points. Georgia and Bulgaria are both 1-1 for 3 points. Statistical Leaders Points 1. Tony Parker - 26 ppg 2. Pau Gasol - 23.3 ppg 3. Dirk Nowitzki - 23 ppg 4. Andrea Bargnani - 22 ppg 5. Luol Deng - 21.3 ppg Rebounds T-1. Vladimir Dasic - 13.5 rpg T-1. Chris Kaman - 13.5 rpg 3. Viktor Sanikidze - 9.5 rpg 4. Marc Gasol - 9 rpg 5. Deyan Ivanov - 8.5 rpg Assists 1. Tony Parker - 7.5 apg 2. Milos Tesodosic - 7.3 apg T-3. Mantas Kalnietis - 5.5 apg T-3. Stiven Bertt - 5.5 apg T-3. Victor Khryapa - 5.5 apg Blocks 1. Omer Asik - 2.5 bpg 2. Andrea Bargnani - 2.3 bpg 3. DJ Mbenga - 2 bpg 4. Pau Gasol - 1.7 bpg 5. Ksistof Lavrinovic - 1.5 bpg

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/sep/01/vegas-prep-shabazz-muhammad-host-ku-coaches/ I don't really know much about Muhammed but from what I read many people are now considering him to be a better prospect than Drummond and now that Drummond is playing for UCONN this upcoming season he is clearly the most sought after high school player in all of high school basketball. Does anybody know where Muhammed is leaning towards? From what I have gathered, he doesn't really seem to be leaning one way or another and I have no idea where he is likely to land.

So the issue of UCONN not having any scholarships to give to Drummond has been resolved. Michael Bradley is giving up his scholarship and applying for financial aid to pay for school so that Drummond can come to UCONN. The part that I have a problem with, though, is supposedly Calhoun went up to Bradley, a kid who he knows has had a tough upbringing financially, and asked him to give up his scholarship. http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/34880/michael-bradley-gives-up-his-scholarship According to the article, Bradley said he would've done it whether Calhoun asked him or not and that he didn't feel pressured into doing it, but it still seems kind of wrong to go up to a 19 year old kid who you know full well had a very difficult upbringing and comes from a poor financial background and ask him to give up his scholarship so that you can get a 1 and done player. A very generous move on Bradley's part to give up the scholarship, but he better get some sort of compensation from Drummond when he goes pro or something. He is giving up an awful lot in this situation.

Doornekamp hits both to ice the game. Canada ends up winning 73-72 as Garcia hits a three at the buzzer. Not exactly the way you want to see a game finish as Canada really struggled with their execution down the stretch allowing the Dominican back into the game, but at the end of the day a win is a win and, considering many people, myself included, expected this to be a blowout, I'll definitely take the win any way I can get it. Huge win for Canada.

Joseph splits a pair of free throws and it is now a 5 point Canada lead with 10.4 seconds left. Canada is really leaving the door open for Dominican Republic with all of these missed free throws down the stretch. That is 3 of the last 4 trips to the down that they have split their freebies. Timeout DR. EDIT: Garcia hits a 3 to cut the lead to 2 points off of a great play drawn up by Calipari. Excellent execution there. Doornekamp can ice the game with a pair of freebies here, though.

Two huge free throws from Joel Anthony to make it a 3 possession game. 69-62 with 24 seconds with Jack Michael Martinez from the DR, a poor free throw shooter, at the free throw line. EDIT: Guy is 2-7 for the game and now decides to hit both free throws. God dammit. 5 point game with Anderson heading to the stripe.

If you have TSN2 it is on right now. If not, try this. http://www.soccertvlive.net/watch/81431/1/watch-dominican-republic-vs-canada-.html The refs are doing whatever they can to get DR back in this game, though. Sosa gets away with a huge shove on CoJo that they ignore, and then they call a ticky tack foul on Rautins 3 seconds later. Bad turnover from Anderson there. Canada is falling apart a bit right now, but yet another bullshit call goes against Canada to give Sosa a three point play. Even the announces are starting to take notice of the weak calls. 6 point game with 50 seconds left.

Great 2nd half for Canada as they have continued their hot shooting and now hold an 11 point lead with 4 minutes to go. They got great contribution from Kelly Olynyk (fun fact, his dad coached my dad's baseball team when my dad was around 15 years old) early on in the half and Andy Rautins has taken over the offensive load since then with 15 points on 5-8 shooting from three. Anderson needs to take control of the team, though. Rautins decided to leave him in the game instead of putting Joseph back in due to Anderson having more experience, but right now Canada's offense is completely out of sync. Denham Brown is playing very out of control as well, so these two vets need to reel themselves in a bit and show the veteran leadership that is expected of him. Anthony with two free throws to get the Canadian lead back to 10 with 3 minutes left in the 4th. EDIT: Great read from Anderson and Anthony there. DR loaded up the strong side and Anthony rolled to the basket for the easy two.

Red Conference Game 1 #1 2006-2007 Raptors vs #8 1995-1996 Raptors Results: 1995-1996 upsets 2006-2007 92-83 Damon Stoudamire led the expansion Raptors to the huge game 1 upset by scoring 17 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 9 assists while holding TJ Ford to an abysmal 3-14 shooting and just 8 points, although he did have 8 assists. Zan Tabak chipped in with 14 points and 7 rebounds in the win. Chris Bosh led the 2006-2007 Raptors with 18 points and 7 rebounds, but he received little help as Rasho Nesterovic was the only other player in double digits with 10 points. The starting backcourt of TJ Ford and Anthony Parker combined for 15 points on 6-25 shooting. Damon Stoudamire was named Player of the Game. #2 1999-2000 Raptors vs #7 2010-2011 Raptors Results: 1999-2000 defeats 2010-2011 97-90 The 1999-2000 Raptors starting backcourt of Vince Carter (29 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists) and Doug Christie (22 points, 8 assists and 3 steals) shouldered the offensive load and led them to a huge 4th quarter comeback victory. They were trailing 71-64 heading into the fourth quarter but outscored the 2010-2011 Raptors 33-19 in the deciding frame to get a 7 point win. Carter and Christie combined for 27 of the 33 points scored in the quarter. The 2010-2011 Raptors had a balanced offensive attack that saw Andrea Bargnani (18 points), DeMar DeRozan (15 points), Jose Calderon (16 points), James Johnson (13 points) and Amir Johnson (12 points) all score in double digits and they also got 15 rebounds from Reggie Evans. Unfortunately for them, they went cold in the 4th quarter shooting just 28% from the field. Vince Carter was named Player of the Game. #3 2009-2010 Raptors vs #6 1996-1997 Raptors Results: 2009-2010 defeat 1996-1997 136-114 In a very high scoring affair, the 2009-2010 Raptors used a 42-22 point 4th quarter to pick up an easy 22 point game 1 win. They were led by Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani who put up 31 points and 13 rebounds on 12-24 shooting and 32 points and 9 rebounds on 12-17 shooting respectively. Hedo Turkoglu and Jose Calderon chipped in with 17 points each as well. Damon Stoudamire had a fantastic game in the loss as he scored 22 points and handed out 16 assists. Walt Williams also had a strong showing with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Marcus Camby was dominated in the paint, though, as he pulled down only 3 rebounds and managed only 1 block in 30 minutes. Andrea Bargnani was named Player of the Game. #4 1998-1999 Raptors vs #5 2004-2005 Raptors Results: 1998-1999 defeat 2004-2005 90-89 In a very close game that saw both star players struggle (Vince Carter was 6-20 for 14 points and Chris Bosh was 3-12 for 6 points), the 1998-1999 Raptors pulled out the 1 point victory behind Doug Christie's 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists and Kevin Willis' 14 points and 13 rebounds. Rafer Alson picked up the slack for Bosh's struggles with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists and Jalen Rose added 19 points of his own. This game was all over the place as the 2004-2005 Raptors got off to a fantastic start and led 35-15 after the 1st quarter. The 1998-1999 team answered back with a 26-13 2nd quarter to cut the lead to 7 at the half. The 1998-1999 team continued to chip away at the lead and managed to erase it completely on a Christie buzzer beating 3 to take a 1 point lead into the 4th. Rafer Alston broke down Alvin Williams and managed to dunk the ball over Kevin Willis with 10 seconds left in the 4th quarter to give his team a 1 point lead. Butch Carter took a timeout and drew up a play for Vince Carter, despite his struggles all game long. Carter received the inbound from Christie at the three point line and held the ball for 5 seconds. Kevin Willis came up and set a screen on Jalen Rose, Carter drove to his left while Willis rolled to the basket. Matt Bonner gave Rose help and doubled Carter, who found Willis on the right wing the basket for the game winning jumper as time expired. Kevin Willis was named Player of the Game. So after two days and 1 game of each series, is this worth me continuing? It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to sim the 4 games after setting up depth charts and writing my quick little recaps. I have no problem with that time as I expected as much when coming up with the idea, but I don't want to waste time if nobody is even interested in this, views the thread or anything like that. Also, if you have any suggestions as to what could make this more interesting, please let me know.

Probably. My dark horse is the #4 seed in the Purple Conference, though. They were only 33-49 that year, but Carter missed time with injuries, Rose missed time and they also made the Antonio Davis/Jerome Williams for Jalen Rose/Donyell Marshall trade midway through the season so an adjustment process was needed. I'd be surprised if the two #1 seeds didn't make the finals, though. They are clearly the two best teams that the Raptors have had in their history.

Great start for Canada and they managed to hold off the DR towards the end of the quarter. They currently have a 19-16 lead and have held Horford to just 4 points. Unfortunately, I don't see them beign able to sustain this play as basically all of their offense has come from the perimeter. Outside of their first 4 points (an English layup and an Anthony hook) everything has come from beyond the arc where they are shooting 5-10 for the game. They can't really get anything inside, at least so far, so they are going to need to continue their hot shooting from three if they want to keep this game close. That flagrant called against Anthony was complete BS, though. Not only was it called about 4 seconds late, but it was hardly worth a flagrant foul anyways. That call really changed the momentum of the game as Canada was up 13-4 at that point and since then the DR has gone on a 12-6 run. Charlie Villaneuva looks like shit so far as well. Two charges already, both of which were just a matter of him trying to run right through the defense.

Joel Anthony is going to have to shut Horford down if the Raptors are to have any chances at beating the Domincan Rebpulic today. Even if Anthony manages to slow Horford down, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Canada still loses by double digits considering this is a better team than Brazil and Canada looked completely out of their element in the 4th quarter against them. Nice start for Canada so far, though. English with a nice drive and Anthony with a hook to give them an early 4-0 lead. EDIT: Interesting, Rautins doesn't even had Anthony on Horford instead choosing to use Dornekamp on him instead. I can understand wanting Anthony as more of a help defender/shot blocker.

Bautista should win the AL MVP, but I'd bet Granderson will likely end up winning it. It wouldn't surprise me if Bautista doesn't even finish in the top 3 in voting, which would be an absolute joke. Verlander is a lock for the AL Cy Young. I'll go with Halladay for the NL Cy Young, but Kershaw is right there with him. Whoever had the best September may very well end up winning it. For the NL MVP, I'd go with Matt Kemp, but I doubt he wins since the Dodgers have a poor record.

Brazil with a 9-0 run after Anderson hit that three to put them up 56-50. Canada with the timeout to try and put an end to the Brazilian run. I don't think Canada has the offense to close this game out, though. They are really labouring offensively and aren't getting any easy looks as everything is a contested jumper. I have no idea why Leo Rautins hasn't put Joseph back in the game as their offense has completely stalled since he went to the bench. 58-50 for Brazil. EDIT: About time Rautins brings back CoJo. Hopefully having him and Andy Rautins on the floor together will give the Canadians the offense that they need to get back in this game, but unfortunately I think the 10 point lead that the Brazilians have at this point is going to be too much for Canada to overcome. They just don't have the offensive firepower to come back from a lead like this.

I'm very impressed with Canada's defense so far. With Andy Rautins, Denham Brown and Carl English playing like crap offensively I would expect this game to be a cake walk for Brazil but it is only a 1 point lead heading into the 4th for the Brazilians. Canada is doing a fantastic job of controlling the pace and not allowing Brazil to get out and run by not turning the ball over (only 6 turnovers for them so far). I hope Corey Joseph looks for his own offense a bit more in this 4th quarter considering Rautins and Brown are both struggling to get theirs. Joseph is the only player on the team who can consistently create his own offense and he shoudl look to take advantage of his quickness advantage. Anderson hits a 3 to put Canada up 50-47.

Oh Jo-Jo Reyes, how I miss thee.... Jays are winning 13-0 right now. Bautista hit a 2 run bomg, Encarnacion is a triple away from the cycle, Kelly Johnson hit a 3 run homer, Jose Molina chased Reyes out of the game in the 2nd with a solo shot and Adam Lind has 2 RBI's but was literally inches away from hitting a home run on two seperate occasions (a double off the very top of the wall and one was brought back into the park by an O's outfielder).

The Canada-Brazil game has been pretty chippy. Neither team is playing very well offensively but both are playing well defensively. There have been a lot of physical play and about 3 technicals have been handed out already. The score is currently 40-39 for Brazil with 4:26 left in the 3rd quarter.

Purple Conference Game 1 #1 2000-2001 Raptors vs #8 1997-1998 Raptors Results: 2000-2001 Raptors defeat 1997-1998 Raptors 111-89 The 2000-2001 Raptors dominated the paint in this game as Antonio Davis put up 21 points and 13 rebounds and Charles Oakley put up 14 points and 18 rebounds to lead the 2000-2001 team to an easy 22 point game 1 win. Damon Stoudamire led the 1997-1998 squad with 14 points and 8 assists. Charles Oakley was named Player of the Game. #2 2001-2002 Raptors vs #7 2002-2003 Raptors Results: 2001-2002 defeat 2002-2003 99-90 Vince Carter led the 2001-2002 Raptors with 29 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists while Keon Clark chipped in with 18 points and 14 rebounds. The difference in this game was the 2nd quarter where the 2001-2002 Raptors outscored their opponent by 9 points as the other three quarters were played to a draw. Morris Peterson had 23 points and 6 rebounds in the loss. Vince Carter was named Player of the Game. #3 2007-2008 Raptors vs #6 2005-2006 Raptors Results: 2007-2008 defeat 2005-2006 112-98 The 2007-2008 version of Chris Bosh put on a monster performance with 30 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks on 11-18 shooting. Anthony Parker chipped in with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists as well. Morris Peterson led the 2005-2006 Raptors with 19 points while Chris Bosh had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the loss. 2007-2008 version of Chris Bosh was named Player of the Game #4 2003-2004 Raptors vs #5 2008-2009 Raptors Results: 2003-2004 defeat 2008-2009 103-101 In an expected close game that came down to the wire, the 2003-2004 Raptors depth proved to be the deciding factor. Vince Carter led a balanced offensive attack with 22 points and 8 assists. Morris Peterson had 21 points in 22 minutes, Jalen Rose had 20 points and Donyell had 16 points and 11 rebounds. For the 2003-2004 team, Jose Calderon led the way with 20 points and 15 assists while Chris Bosh chipped in with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Chris Bosh hit a fadeaway jumper over two defenders off of a nice pass from Calderon with 5 seconds left in the game to tie it at 101-101. The 2003-2004 Raptors called a timeout and inbounded the ball at the top of the circle to Vince Carter. He drove by Anthony Parker and was fouled by Jermaine O'Neal with 1 second left on the clock. He hit both free throws and Calderon's 3 quarter court heave at the buzzer was no good. Vince Carter was named Player of the Game. I'll do game 1's for the Red Conference either later tonight or tomorrow.

There is no link available right now, but if you go to the Toronto Sun website (www.torontosun.com) it is on the main page under a breaking news banner. Terrible news as Belak seemed like he was an absolutely awesome guy. That makes three NHL enforcers who have passed away this summer in Derek Boogard, Rick Rypien and now Wade Belak. With these three deaths, Marc Savard's career likely over and Sidney Crosby still suffering from concussion symptoms from the concussion that he suffered on January 1st, there needs to be some serious changes to the NHL in order to protect the players from head trauma. EDIT: Here is a screenshot of the Toronto Sun. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/strived/belak.jpg

Newport is notorious for drawing out their contract negotiations for their RFA players. Basically all of their notable RFA clients still have yet to sign a contract. They have Drew Doughty, Luke Schenn, Zach Bogosian, Brad Marchand and Josh Bailey who all are still unsigned and it took nearly a month to get Stamkos' deal done as well. I realize what they are doing with the three defenseman as they are likely waiting for one of them to get signed and then negotiating with the others from there. If Schenn signs first they will likely turn to Winnipeg and demand the same contract for Bogosian and then use those contracts to demand more money from the Kings for Doughty. If they get a deal done with the Kings for Doughty first they will try to use that to get Schenn and Bogosian more money. I don't get the hold up with Marchand and Bailey, though. The Couture signing should pretty much set the market for these two and took away most of their leverage. I realize that Couture signed for a discount but I don't see either the Bruins or Islanders being very open to paying either Marchand or Bailey more than Couture considering he is clearly a better player than the both of them. A deal is going to get done for all of these players, that is for sure (Bogo is likely going to be the toughest as I doubt he wants to go to Winnipeg), but I do agree that it is kind of annoying at how long it is taking. In other news, Marc Savard won't play next season and by all accounts, his NHL career is likely over. Terrible news as it always sucks to see a player like Savard have his career cut short due to injuries.

Ahh, gotcha. It may not be a popular opinion, but I actually really liked the Raptors purple uniforms and I liked their home with the purple trim more than I like their home with the red trim. They tried too hard to market the Raptors as Canada's team with the change from purple to red and putting the Maple Leaf on the jerseys. As for the original purpose of this thread, I'll like sim games later today when I am watching the Canada-Brazli game.

Some of the notable performances from the first day of action: Andrea Bargnani got off to a slow start against Serbia but played well late to make things interesting, at least for a little bit. He finished with a respectable 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks on 8-15 shooting, but Serbia is clearly the better team and it showed in the game. Danilo Gallinari put up 15 points and 3 steals on 6-9 shooting, but other than him and Bargnani nobody scored in double digits. Enes Kanter put up 14 points and 7 boards in 22 minutes. It was against Portugal so it was hardly impressive competition, their starting center was 6'8 I think, but I figured I'd mention it anyways. He had 11 points and 5 boards in the first half, so he did most of his damage then. He only played 22 minutes in the game as Turkey won by nearly 30 points. Luol Deng played great through 3 quarters to keep Great Britain close to Lithuania but tired down the stretch as he played every minute and shouldered a huge load offensive and defensively. He finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, but only shot 8-22 from the floor. Tony Parker lit up Latvia. He put up 31 points and 7 assists on 11-18 shooting. Diaw had 14/5, Noah had 10/7 and Batum had 10/4. The score was fairly close (89-78), but only because Latvia was lights out from downtown shooting 11-22 including 6-9 from Janis Blums (finished with 32 points on 12-18 shooting). Andrei Kirilenko had 20 points, 11 rebonds and 4 steals in Russia's win against Ukraine. Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points on 10-14 shooting in 27 minutes while Chris Kaman put up 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8-12 shooting in 21 minutes in Germany's 27 point win over Israel. Pau Gasol had 29 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks on 8-12 shooting, Marc Gasol had 16 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes and Juan Carlos Navarro had 23 points on 5-11 shooting. In another notable performance, but for all the wrong reasons, Spain's point guards had an abysmal day. Jose Calderon had 0 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 12 minutes Victor Sada had 0 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 13 minutes And, best of all, Ricky Rubio had 0 points, 0 rebounds and 0 assists on 0-5 shooting in 16 minutes. Just goes to show Spain's depth when you get a combined 0 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists from your three point guards and still manage to win, granted it was against Poland. If anybody wants to check out box scores, here is a link to the offical EuroBasket 2011 site. http://www.eurobasket2011.com/en/default.asp

Umm, no duh. I had purple and red because they were the two predominant colors in the Raptors 16 year history. I thought that was pretty obvious. How is it an "epic fail"? The point is that there is absolutely nothing going on in the NBA right now so I figured I'd do something to get some posts in the forum.

Or Brett Lawrie. :glasses: (Minus about 420 plate apperances and add a year)