Built Ford Tough

I imagine all of the Raptor fans on here would be watching the Canada-Russia hockey game instead of this, but if anybody has been watching this game how has it been so far? I haven't even watched one minute of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wx4tUwo_8c How soon before we see Dwight Howard one upping Vince Carters one upping of him (is that worded right? )?

Nah. At first people were scared that Lesnar would have to retire because of it, but that was shot down a while ago. He has actually been training for a while now. He is hoping to return to the UFC in the summer (most likely to fight the winner of Mir-Carwin). ESPN But yeah, there isn't any worry about Lesnar having to retire and there hasn't been for a while now.

There is a very good chance that he will fight Brock Lesnar again. In fact, I would be absolutely shocked if the two of them don't finish of their trilogy of fights. The UFC absolutely loves having rubber matches like this as they have had trilogies of Liddel-Couture, Arlovski-Sylvia, GSP-Hugues, Ortiz-Shamrock and Wanderlei-Rampage (although the first 2 fights took place in Pride). Fights like these are huge money makers, especially when you factor in that Mir and Lesnar both have won 1 fight each and the amount of trash talk that has gone on between the two of them in the past. I'm not 100% sure but I would imagine that the winner of the UFC 111 fight between Shane Carwin and Frank Mir is going to fight Brock Lesnar afterwards, considering the fact that the UFC 111 fight is for the Interm Heavyweight Championship. So if Mir wins against Carwin next month I would definitely expect to see a 3rd fight between the two, with the winner of that fight fighting Cain Valasquez to determine an undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Sooner or later though these two are going to fight again. There is absolutely no way that the UFC doesn't cash in on this rivalry.

You are leaving out the fact that plenty of Canadians wanted Luongo to start the game against the Americans in the first place. Brodeur was shaky as hell in the month leading up to the Olympics and really didn't look all that good against the Swiss either. And I really doubt that anybody is going to say that Brodeur should've started against Germany or Russia based on how he played against the USA. Basically everybody that I know has said that Luongo should be Canada's goalie from here on out regardless of how he plays. But I imagine the entire Canadian fan base will be judged off of the select few individuals who make up ridiculous excuses as to why Canada lost (if they so happen to lose) just like they always are when it comes to hockey. But god forbid if a Canadian makes a generlization like that about any other country in the world.

Only because Stackhouse was dumb enough to say publicly that he was just going to get bought out and return back to the Mavs (was it Dallas? I can't remember for sure). I think his words were something like "a 30 day vacation". Even though everybody knows that Ilgauskas was planning on going back to the Cavs after being bought out, there was never any actual public comment or written agreement saying so, so technically the league can't do anything about it as there isn't any proof that this was planned all along (at least as far as I know). Its the same thing with McDyess going back to Detroit after Denver bought him out. Everybody knew it would happen but they can't prove it.

Stick any player on an island without help against any superstar player and they are going to get shot on or taken off of the dribble. It doesn't matter how good of a defender you are, there is not one single player in the NBA today that can stop a superstar player like LeBron or Kobe without help. The defensive player might be able to get 2 or 3 stops out of maybe 10 possessions, but more often than not the guy is going to get scored on or will commit a foul.

This game can be summed up with one word. Goaltending. Miller stood on his head for the Americans while Broduer was shaky as can be for the Canadians. Credit to the Americans for playing a prototypical road game and capitalizing on their chances, but make no mistake about it, Ryan Miller was the reason why USA won. Canada dominated this game but simply couldn't beat the brick wall that is Ryan Miller.

Bosh isn't playing tonight either and Rasho will start in his place again. Even though this is the 2nd end of a back-to-back, where the Raptors have struggled this season, I don't think it will play as much of a factor this time considering how well Triano managed the minutes last night. Bargnani was the only player on the team who played above 30 minutes (33) so hopefully fatigue won't be an issue tonight. Speaking of Bargnani, does anybody know if he has a minor injury that he playing through? I just got home from work a little while ago so I haven't read or heard anything. I noticed that he also came up wincing on that Bosh block (when he sprained his ankel) and last night he didn't really look right. He didin't have a bad game or anything but something about him looked off.

I was reading RealGM and came across a thread that said that Hedo Turkoglu's mom had to have emergancy heart surgery according to the New Jersey Nets announcers (talked about it during the 3rd quarter I guess). This clearly is a reason why Turkoglu looked like he didn't even want to be on the court against the Grizzlies on Wedsnday and is definitely a legitimate excuse for why he played so poorly against them as well.

Notice how above the Heats record is a picture of their logo? Well look at what is above the Grizzlies record, a picture of Shaquille O'Neal. And on the Randolph one, there is a picture of Shaq where the Grizzlies' logo should be (right side underneath the drop down bar and beside Randolph's stats).

What are your thoughts on the Grizzlies new logo? Personally, I think it is awesome. http://i50.tinypic.com/2mouqky.jpg http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2010021929 http://i48.tinypic.com/rssi28.png

Well now it is obvious why the Warriors declined this trade. They want nothing to do with Thabeet or Haddadi (you know, with them being above 7 feet and all). I bet if the Grizzlies would've offered Mayo, Williams and Hudson for Ellis the Warriors would've been all over that. Seriously though, if this is actually true the Warriors management is absolutely retarded for not making this trade without hesitation. Trading Ellis for Mayo straight up would be a good deal as far as I am concerned, nevermind getting two legit 7 footers with potential. If this is true, it is just another example of the ineptitude of the Warriors management.

Who needs Chris Bosh when you have this guy? http://raptorsrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/raso_nesterovic_01-480x318.jpg Side note, Triano did a great job with his rotations tonight. Raptors were on the front end of a back-to-back and only one Raptor played above 30 minutes tonight.

Rasho is on triple double watch. 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the 1st half. The only reason why he doesn't already have a triple double is because he pities the Nets already and doesn't want to inflict further embarassment on them. What a great guy.

This is why I love Rasho (in a slightly homosexual way). He hasn't played since the 3rd and he gets called upon to fill in for Bosh. He comes in and puts up 6 points (3-3 FG), 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the first 6 minutes of the game.

I would imagine that Rasho will start at center and Bargnani will move down to the power forward spot. Rasho is the best option to guard Lopez between him, Johnson and Evans, and starting Rasho will have the least impact on how the rest of the team plays. By this I mean Johnson will continue to come off of the bench and continue to play the role that he has all season long and Evans will give the Raptors the energy off of the bench that they expect from him. Having Evans off of the bench will offset the Nets bringing Humphries off of the bench as well, as they play very similar roles for their respective teams. Johnson will obviously see more minutes than usual and will probably play the most out of any big other than Bargnani, but I think it makes the most sense to start Rasho. Remember that Triano started Rasho when Bargnani missed time because of the reasons that I stated above. I imagine he will have the same mindset without Bosh. Also, found this on another forum. Apperantly the Raptors are the underdog in this game because of the absence of Bosh. http://i49.tinypic.com/kegiz7.jpg I realize that Bosh isn't playing but come on? How exactly are the Nets now the favourites in this game? Either ESPN thinks very highly of Bosh or they think very little of the rest of the Raptors.

Is anybody else pretty interested in seeing how the Raptors play over the next two games without Bosh in the lineup (assuming Bosh misses tomorrows game against Washington)? It sucks to lose Bosh and obviously I would much rather see Bosh play in all 82 games this season, but the Raptors got lucky (well, as lucky as you can be when losing your franchise player to an injury) that Bosh got hurt when he did. They play the worst team in the NBA tonight and the 3rd worst team in the NBA tomorrow night (at home). Anyways, I am actually pretty interested in seeing how the team plays without Bosh, particularly in seeing how Andrea Bargnani will fare as the number one option on offense (I would assume he will be the number one option at least). Bargnani has really stepped his game up on the offensive end of the floor this season and has done a great job of mixing it up. Tonight will be the first time that he will be the focal point of the offense, in fact, I think it might be the first time in his career that he will be the focal point of the offense. I know that the Nets and Wizards aren't good teams, but it will still be a nice indicator of where Bargnani is at as a player. Another thing that I am looking forward to is how Turkoglu is going to play (did I really just say that? ). He has complained about the lack of touches he has received this season, his role on the team and what not, but over the next two games he will get the touches that he wants, for better or for worse. I'm interested in seeing how he plays with an increased offensive role. Will he step up and assume a leadership role without Bosh or will he continue to jack up ill-advised jumpers and generally be a waste of space? Like I said above, in a perfect world the Raptors would have Chris Bosh for all 82 games, but despite the fact that the Raptors are going to be missing their best player for the next game or two, I am surprisngly positive and just generally interested in seeing how the team plays without Bosh. Anybody else feel the same way? If so, what is it that you are looking forward to seeing without Bosh in the lineup?

Is there really a need for this though? Its not like any of the boards are overflowing with new threads that it is difficult to keep track of everything. I really don't see why this would be necessary to be honest with you. If each forum was getting an absurd amount of new topics daily, sure it wouldn't be a bad idea, but when most forums get around 3 new topics each day it would be rather pointless if you ask me.

After the Raptors resign Bosh in the summer they are going to trade Jose Caleron and DeMar DeRozan for Deron Williams. :glasses: Seriously though, I get that Williams is upset that one of his best friends on the team was traded but this is a business and stuff like this happens all of the time. Moves are made and sometimes those moves involve a close personal friend. I'm sure that his anger will wear off eventually. However, if I was a Jazz fan this would be very worrisome. Hearing these kinds of comments from your star player would not be very enjoyable. He does have a point though. This trade wasn't good for the Jazz despite what I posted in that other thread in the Grizzlies forum. They aren't as good of a team today as they were two days ago. I speculated that something must've been going on behind the scenes with Brewer that we were unaware of, but there always is the possibility that the Jazz owners were simply looking to cut salary with this move, which is pretty disapointing to see from a team that could have some success in the playoffs (not that I think they will). It sends a pretty bad message if you ask me. Everything is purely speculative on my part, but the one thing that is for certain is that the Utah Jazz better do whatever it takes to appease Deron Williams because they can't afford to lose him.

Only to get one of Chris Bosh's best friends (as if this would actually convince Bosh to stay or something lol), while dumping an equally terrible contract in Marcus Banks. I know you are joking, but there is a huge difference between the scenarios (thought you are well aware of).

For those of you who are interested and haven't heard, the draft pick is a 2016 2nd rounder.

I like this sentence. As if a playoff team would be interested in Mike James.

Lmao how does that make it worse? I'm done with this though. It is absolutely ridiculous that people are blowing this so out of proportion. Its like travesy said. People complain that the players are too friendly during and after a hard fought game yet when somebody is pissed off and disapointed after losing a tough game and missing the potential game winning shot he gets criticized for it. You can't win.

It was a damn regular season game. It happens all of the time. Don't act like LeBron is the only star player that has ever walked off of the court after missing a last second shot in a hard fought game. If it was the playoffs I would agree with you but its the regular season and therefore a non issue except for the fact that it was LeBron James who people go out of their way to hate on.