Built Ford Tough

I think Evans has scored more points in the last two games than he did the previous eleven or twelve. He has 20 points (11 tonight) in the past two games. And now he turns the ball over thinking he is Shaq or something. Just stick to rebounding the ball and stop trying to create anything offensively. This is almost why I prefer that he doesn't score because he doesn't get it in his head that he can give you something on that end of the floor other than offensive rebounding.

For a playoff spot? Absolutely. For anything else? Not a chance.

Reggie Evans sets a new Raptor record for rebounds in a half with 15. One more than Jerome Williams' previous mark of 14. Peja certainly wasn't shy. 7 points in 3 minutes to end the half, took his first shat 14 seconds after entering the game and took about 4 shots in those 3 minutes. His stroke is a thing of beauty, though, even with it deteriorating a bit due to age. Bayless was better than I expected. I thought he would come out and press way too much to try and make an impact right away, but he came in and played under control. Hit a couple of threes, threw a couple of nice passes that resulted in assists and didn't force anything other than that one fast break layup, which Johnson tipped in. Barbosa was slicing through the Sixers defense like nothing. He was absolutely blowing by whoever the Sixers put on him and was getting into the paint at will. DeRozan and Weems have both been invisible so far. I haven't noticed either one of them very much tonight outside of a couple of a floater from each of them early on in the game. Hopefully at least one of them plays better in the 2nd half.

Wow, did I really just see that? Louis Williams airballs a wide open three, Thaddeus Young gets the rebound and proceeds to miss a wde open layup. You know it is bad when Doug Collins can't do anything but laugh at the ineptitude of his own team. Probably wishing he decided to stay behind the broadcast booth.

When Bargnani is on his game, he is so much fun to watch. A guy his size who can do the things that he does is simply a joy to watch. A guy his size shouldn't be able to do things like that dribble move, step back fadeaway he put on Battie or curling of fof a screen and hitting a 25 footer all in one, fluid motion. 51 points with 5:30 still left in the 2nd quarter. Jesus, Philly has looked completely lifeless tonight (some of which can be attributed to the OT game last night, back to back etc...)

Good god, I'm glad I'm not a Philly fan. I feel sorry for Phightins, Smitty, HG etc... This team is pathetic. They don't even try to play defense, chuck up jumper after jumper on offense and look completely disinterested in the game. At least when Toronto has lost this season, they have gone down swinging.

Bayless is wearing number 5 instead of 4 like he usually wears. His choice? I was curious to see what number he would be wearing. EDIT: Wow, that might've been the easiest steal I've ever seen. The Sixer player (didn't see who) basically handed the ball off to Weems. That was pathetic. Raptors are running the Sixers into the ground right now. This team is so much more effecitve when they push the ball and get into the open floor.

Philly is so bad. They have more talent on their roster than the Raptors do, at least in my opinion, with guys like Iguodala, Williams, Holiday, Turner and Young but none of them seem to be able to play together at all. Nobody shows any sort of emotion and everybody looks like they would rather be somewhere else than on the court right now. Changes definitely need to be made with this team.

Even though I'm expecting a win tonight, which is disappointing after watching Kyrie Irving last night, I'm looking forward to this game simply to see Bayless play. I couldn't care less about Stojakovic, other than seeing him hit a few threes to move into 3rd all time, but I definitely want to see how Bayless looks. I'm not expecting much from him tonight, though. Bargnani could easily drop 30 tonight if he is on his game considering Hawes is a complete scrub. If he plays like he did on Sunday against Boston, I could see a new career high for him tonight.

The sad thing is that he is still barely gettng off of the ground, yet it is a noticeable improvement from the past year or two.

Kyrie Irving was named MVP of the CBE Classic, not that it should surprise anybody after the kind of performances that he had throughout the tournament, particularly tonight where he completely shut down and abused one of the top guards in the nation. Just thought I'd pass that along because, well, you know, Irving is awesome. :glasses:

I'm pretty stoked about the UConn/Kentucky game tomorrow night. I fully expect Kentucky to win rather easily, but the Walker/Knight matchup is going to be awesome, especially if both played like they did today. Impressive win by Duke tonight. I don't like them very much (only watch them because of Irving), but they are going to be very difficult to stop this season. They are just so damn talented and so deep, especially in the backcourt with Irving, Smith, Curry and Dawkins.

Wow, Smith is such a blackhole. The only time he passes the ball is when he knows that he is guaranteed an assist on the play. He just pounds the ball for 20 seconds, puts his head down and drives. If he can't get to the rim, he will either throw up a wild shot or bring the ball out to the top of the circle and pound the ball some more. K-State really seems to miss Clemente. Pullen is clearly not a point guard and they really miss his leadership. EDIT: Looks like Flash beat me too it.

While I don't deny that there have been some questionable calls that have went against K-State, that is hardly the reason why they are losing this game. They are simply getting outplayed and their backcourt has absolutely no answer for Irving and Smith (at least in the first half, he has been a huge blackhole in the 2nd). Irving with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists (could easily be 8 or 9) so far tonight. Oh and Dicky V, as if Irving won't be entering the draft this year. Lockout or not, he is going to be in the draft considering he is a lock for a top 3 pick and could easily go number 1 if he continues to play like he has to start off the season.

I've been really impressed with Curry tonight as well. This is the first time that I've actually seen him play, but I really like what I see from him defensively. Everybody knows about his shooting ability, but what I've liked the most is how he had played defensively. He has really quick hands, plays passing lanes well and reads the play very well. And Irving forces Pullen to put up an airball from three, then turns around and hits a nasty bank shot on him on the other end of the floor (which should've been an And 1). He has made Pullen his [expletive] tonight. Making him look absolutely silly on both ends of the floor. EDIT: I think I may commit suicide if Irving doesn't become a Raptor. I've completely fallen in love with his game. He is just everything that I want from my point guard, and, mor importantly, is everything that the Raptors need. Guy is just unreal.

He had a very good game, but he has a long, long way to go in terms of understanding how to truly be a point guard. He has a lot of offensive talent, a great jumper, very good size but he definitely needs to improve his decision making and overall understanding of how to run an offense. The talent is definitely there, though. There is no doubt about that.

Stupid foul by Overton there. The extra shove with the off arm after calling the timeout wasn't needed and could've cost Washington a lot more had Knight knocked down both free throws and UK converted on the possession afterwards. Luckily for them, they got a turnover. Also, very dangerous play by Lamb undercutting Holiday like that. This game is definitely getting chippy over the past few minutes. EDIT: Now Overton eats an elbow from Knight when he was trying to clear space. I love the chippiness that these two teams have played with as of late.

I was watching this game earlier, but changed it to the Duke game when that started. It is halftime there so I switched back to this one and it looks like a great game. Very impressive brust of speed to get by his man and even better body control to avoid the charge by Knight there. 16 points from him so far and Jones has another double double as well. 4 point UK lead.

Back-to-back turnovers by Pullen because of Irving's pressure. Irving is making him look like complete garbage so far. It's not like he is getting good looks or anything and just missing, he can't get any good looks or do anything offensively with Irving's constant pressure. I don't watch K-State often, but this is by far the worst half I've ever seen from Pullen.

Irving is making Pullen look like a scrub right now on both ends of the floor. Offensively, he is driving by him like he isn't even there. He has blown by Pullen at least 5 times in the first half so far and is getting anywhere he wants on the floor. He has 10 points and 4 or 5 assists right now (could have around 8 if some teammates finished down low, hit an open jumper or weren't fouled). Defensively, he has also looked great so far. Pullen has yet to score a point and it has been Irving who has been on him quite a bit (although Smith has covered him at times as well). Pullen has looked completely invisible so far tonight on offense and has stood out like a sore thumb defensively with Irving constantly blowing by him. One thing that Irving needs to improve on is finishing in traffic. He has great quickness and can get to the rim whenever he wants, but he has struggled a bit finishing. Outside of that, he has been superb, though. Duke's backcourt in general has been great. Smith has 10 points or something and Curry has 4 off of the bench, to go along with Irving's production. That has been the difference in the game so far and it why Duke is up by 11.

Just started, Duke is up 5-2. A great early season game between two potential National Champions. It isn't too often that you get a matchup like this so early on in the season. The main reason why you should watch? Kyrie Irving.

How impressive has he been so far this season? After seeing his 42 point explosion against Vermont, I didn't think he would be able to top that game, but I think he may have just done that tonight. Check out his line against the 2nd ranked Spartans tonight: 30 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals on 10-19 shooting to lead unranked UConn to a 3 point win over Michigan State. He is averaging 30.3 ppg/5.3 rpg/2.7 apg/2 spg on 50.9 FG% and 35.3 3PT% with only 1.3 turnovers per game. As great as those numbers are, if you take away his poor first game of the season, he is averaging: 34.3 ppg/4.3 rpg/2.3 apg/2.3 spg on 55.9 FG% And Chad Ford said that Chris Singleton has been the best player in college basketball so far this season? Yeah, right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJc_3fXivsY&feature=player_embedded#! Interviewer: "Dennis, are you getting it on in the car right now?" Rodman: "I'm in my, uhh, bedroom." Interviewer: "Oh, we know exactly what is going on in the bedroom" This whole interview was just awesome. He sounds drunk or high or something for the entire interview, puts together a few coherent sentences and then sounds like he starts getting a BJ or something. Gotta love Rodman.

The latest is that he may be out for the entire year http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=5843177

Here are Jay Triano's comments from practice earlier today: http://blogs.thescore.com/raptorblog/2010/11/23/were-talking-practice-and-bayless-and-peja/ There are also comments from Calderon, Barbosa and a more detailed recap of the interviews that I posted above.