Built Ford Tough

Huge move by Bosh. I have to wonder where the foul call was though? There was definitely more contact on that play than plenty of other calls that we have seen. I guarntee if that happened in the 2nd quarter, Bosh is headng to the frew throw line. Nice block by Bosh on Robinson as well. Too bad nobody rotated over to help the helper, which left Lee wide open for the putback. 1 point game with 10 seconds left. Just make your free throws and guard the 3 point line. You do that and the game is over.

Huge block by Bargnani. Its good to see him contributing on the defensive end despite the fact that he has nothing going for him offensively. I know that I said I wasn't expecting a win in this game, but losing tonight would really sting considering how much the Raptors have outplayed the Knicks since the 1st quarter. The only reason why this game is even close is because of turnovers. If the Raptors take care of the ball like they usually do, this is a double digit gam eright now. That is why you aren't an All-Star, David Lee. You have to finish an easy layup like that late in the game.

Does Al Harrington ever pass the ball? I don't think that I saw him pass the ball one time when he was on the floor. Every single one of Bargnani's shots are short. Absolutely no legs underneath him on the 2nd end of a back to back. Calderon has played really well today so far. Definitely the Raptors best player tonight. Him and Wright have played very well off of the bench and are the major reasons why this is a 4 point game going into half time. This was an ideal second quarter for the Raptors though. You knew that the Knicks wouldn't continue that hot shooting that they displayed in the 1st quarter. With the Raptors coming off of a tough game against the Heat and the Knicks coming off of a blowout victory against the T'Wolves, you knew that NY would come out firing and for Toronto it was all about withstanding the storm. They did a great job of that. Hopefully we don't see a 3rd quarter collapse.

He was never that great to begin with. He was an average to slightly above average player, who managed to find the perfect situation for him. He looked so much better in Orlando than what he actually is. He also doesn't seem to fit all that well in Toronto. I like that he has played with aggressiveness tonight. He actually looks like he gives a damn right now, despite the fact that he isn't really hitting any shots or doing much. Nice to see him grab actually fight for a rebound though. Predictable start to this game. Raptors come out playing well offensively, but then they start missing all of their shot short, which is expected on the 2nd end of a back to back. They need to pick it up defensively. PS: That was a sick rebound in traffic by Bosh. Too bad he couldn't finish. PPS: David Lee has come out motivated, as I expected. That was such a bull[expletive] foul on Bargnani though.

He has started 36 of the 42 games that he has played in so far this season.

Speak for yourself, I am a huge pessimist. Being a life long fan of teams like the Vancouver Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs will do that to you. As for the bolded part, I think that the Raptors will be able to create some seperation from the Bobcats because of how awful the Cats are on the road, and maybe the Bulls as well, but by the end of the season I think that the Raptors and Heat are going to be in a very tight race for the 5th seed. The Bulls are a team to look out for as well, considering how well they have played lately (8-2 in their last 10), but they are also a tough team to judge because of how inconsistent they can be. The way I see it, the Bobcats are going to fall back and finish 8th in the Conference, but it could very well be a complete toss up between the Raptors, Heat and Bulls for the 5th, 6th and 7th seeds. To be perfectly honest, I don't even really care what place the Raptors finish, as long as they are able to avoid the Celtics in the first round, and, to a lesser extent, the Hawks. I don't think that they will be able to beat any of the top 4 teams in a playoff series, but I think they would be lucky to even get a win against the Celtics and the Hawks are another bad matchup for them.

Yeah that was the plan early on in the season. The Raptors defensive motto was to "protect the house" and they were determined to make teams beat them from the outside while shutting down the interior. The problem with that, though, was the Raptors don't really have the personel to actually protect the paint like that. The best attribute that they have defensively is quickness on the perimeter with guys like DeRozan, Weems, Belinelli and, to a lesser extent, Jack and Wright. After that spanking by the Hawks they have thrown that philosophy out of the door. In regards to Iavaroni, I never really understood why he was the one in charge of the defensive schemes and what not, when he has been apart of some terrible defensive teams. When he was an assistant under D'Antoni in Phoenix, its not like they did anything to preach defense. Then when he became the head coach in Memphis, they were absolutely awful defensively. In his only full season as the coach in Memphis the Grizzlies gave up 106.9 ppg, which was 28th in the NBA, and they had the 28th worst defensive rating as well. I know that he and Colangelo are close and all, and I don't mind having him as an assistant coach because he does bring some good things to the table, but I never understood why he was their "defensive guru", considering the fact that he hasn't been a coach on a good defensive team for the majority of the decade. Oh yeah, here is the link where the numbers came from, if anybody is interested in seeing that I wasn't just talking out of my [expletive]. http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/2010/01/28/jones_tenacious_d/

Meh, everybody has their homer moments. At least your prediction isn't as bad as my one for the Raptors last year. I predicted around 45 wins and the 4th or 5th seed in the East and they ended up winning 33 games and 2nd last in their division. I liked your comments about JO during the summer though when you were predicting 18/8 for him. I just found it funny because it was basically the exact same things that I was saying the year prior and, like you, I wasn't listening to anybody try and tell me otherwise. I don't think there really are that many homers on this site though. Like I said, everybody has their homer moments, but this place is really good for the most part at keeping the homerism to a minimum.

I came across these stats on another message board and found them pretty surprising. Since the Raptors 7-13 start they have the NBA's best 3PT defense at 31.1%, the 7th best opponent FG% at 44.6% and the 5th best record in the NBA at 17-9. The record doesn't surprise me as I knew that they have been one of the better teams in the league from mid December until now, but the defensive stats are a very pleasent surprise, I just found these numbers interesting and quite a surprise. I haven't actually checked up on them to prove their accuracy, so don't blame me if they are wrong. The poster who originally posted them is a very good poster, so I trust that they are right. I can't be the only one surprised about this, though, can I?

This is the game that I am the most worried about from a Raptors perspective over the next 9 or so. I figured that they would go 1-1 during this back to back stretch against the Heat and the Knicks, so at least they will be meeting my expectations even if they get a loss here. The Raps have 2 more back to backs during this stretch, but the 2nd end of each one is at home against an inferior team (New Jersey and Washington) so they aren't as worring considering how much better the Raptors play at home. I'm not saying that the Knicks aren't an inferior team, because they are, but they are definitely playing better basketball than the Nets or Wizards. He actually played more than Calderon did last night. 25 minutes to 23 minutes. This is what I like about having two dependable players at the same position though. It really helps keep the minutes down in back to back situations. I am expecting a dud from Bargnani though, after player 37 minutes last night and taking his history of crappy play on the tail end of B2B's into consideration. EDIT: I expect David Lee to come out motivated after being snubbed from the All-Star game. He definitely deserved the backup center spot, if you ask me. His season has been more impressive than Horford's.

Well it has worked twice so far already this season. Once against the Sixers when Bosh took Dalembert off of the bounce for an And 1 and against the Spurs when they sent a double at him and he kicked it out to Bagnani for a dagger 3 pointer. Granted neither of these were last second shots, they were down the stretch with under a minute to go regardless.

Send him after himself.

Figured that I would update this thread with the latest reason for optimism. The Raptors are currently a half game up on the Heat and 1 game up on both the Bobcats and Bulls. The Raptors are entering what is probably the most forgiving part of their schedule while both the Heat and the Bobcats are going to be playing quite a few games on the road over the next little while. This is particularly bad for the Cats who are 4-17 away from Charlotte which is tied for 2nd worst in the Eastern Conference Anyways, here are the Raptors, Heat, Bobcats and Bulls upcoming schedules with the winning percentage of each team in brackets and the combined winning percentage at the end. Toronto: @ New York (0.409) Vs. Indiana (0.348) @ Indiana (0.348) Vs. New Jersey (0.091) Vs. Sacramento (0.364) Vs. Philadelphia (0.333) Vs. Memphis (0.568) @ New Jersey (0.091) Vs. Washington (0.318) Combined winning percentage = 31.8% Miami: @ Detroit (0.341) @ Milwaukee (0.432) vs Milwaukee (0.432) @ Boston (0.690) @ Cleveland (0.766) @ Chicago (0.500) vs Houston (0.545) @ Atlanta (0.674) @ Philadelphia (0.333) Combined winning percentage = 52.4% Chicago: @ New Orleans (0.545) vs LA Clippers (0.444) @ Philadelphia (0.333) @ Atlanta (0.674) vs Miami (0.511) @ Indiana (0.348) vs Orlando (0.644) vs New York (0.409) @ New York (0.409) Combined winning percentage = 48% Charlotte: @ Golden State(0.302) @ Sacramento (0.364) @ Portland (0.587) @ LA Lakers (0.761) vs New Orleans (0.545) vs Washington (0.318) @ Minnesota (0.191) vs New Jersey (0.091) vs Cleveland (0.766) Combined winning percentage = 43.6% Just by looking at the schedule and nothing more, if the Raptors are going to make a move and create some seperation between theirselves and the Heat, Bobcats and Bulls, this upcoming stretch is without a doubt the best time to do so. This stretch of games can really help the Raptors create some seperation between theirselves and the competition. I'm not counting my eggs before they hatch though, as I am well aware that the Raptors need to take care of business and pick up the W's, which is by no means a guarntee.

Could you imagine how badly Lopez and Gasol would dominate this game if it was played like an actual game, and not a glorified pick up game? Lopez and Gasol would absoutely go to work on Blair and Gibson down low. The rookies "bigs" would have absolutely no chance at stopping Lopez or Gasol down low, particularly Lopez with his nice offensive game. The rookies team has absolutely no chance of winning this game. If they run with the Sophomore team they will get blown out of the water as the 2nd years have players like Rose, Mayo, Beasley, Westbrook, Gordon and Gallinari that would absolutely thrive in a fast paced game with their athleticism and/or shooting ability. The rookies don't have the personel to slow the game down and play a half court game either. I definitely think that this is going to be one of the more lopsided Rookie Challenges that we have seen in a while. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see the Sophomores win by 40 points.

Yeah it is his career high. It was actually a pretty weird game for Duncan tonight. He sets a career high in rebounds with 27. He has one of the worst FG% of his career at 25% (5-20) He has probably one of the best FT shooting games of his career at 11-11.

Atlanta - Joe Johnson Boston - Ray Allen (run him off some screens) Charlotte - Stephen Jackson Chicago - Derrick Rose (would've been Deng earlier in the year) Cleveland - LeBron James Dallas - Dirk Nowitzki Denver - Carmelo Anthony Detroit - Ben Gordon Golden State - Monta Ellis Houston - Aaron Brooks Indiana - Danny Granger LA Lakers - Kobe Bryant LA Clippers - Eric Gordon Memphis - Rudy Gay Miami - Dwyane Wade Milwaukee - Luke Ridnour Minnesota - Jonny Flynn New Jersey - Who are we kidding, they will never be in this situations. New Orleans - Chris Paul New York - Al Harrington Okla City - Kevin Durant Orlando - Vince Carter Philadelphia - Allen Iverson Phoenix - Steve Nash Portland - Brandon Roy Sacramento - Kevin Martin San Antonio - Manu Ginobili Toronto - Chris Bosh (Bargnani would be my choice if he could be relied on to create his own shot, and Turkoglu has been awful this season) Utah - Mehmet Okur Washington - Randy Foye

Congrats on 5 years. I don't really have much to say considering I never started visiting/posting here regularly since the hack occured. Like ATDI, I heard about OTR when you guys affiliated with NBAD back in 07 or 08 (can't remember which) and I joined, but I think I only had about 150 posts before the hack happened. So yeah, congratulations.

Well then, where the [expletive] is my ring!?!

On the first point, I just think that Triano figured that the lineup he had out on the floor was working, so why change anything up? The Calderon-Wright-Turkoglu-Bargnani-Bosh lineup played well in the 4th quarter (even Turkoglu was invisible, which is an improvement from his usual "I want to gauge my eyes out" awful) and was the lineup that created some seperation between theirselves and the Heat. With Alston struggling with his jumper all game long and not really being all that effective off of the bounce, there really was no need to take Jose out as his defense wasn't getting exploited and his superior shooting opened up the inside more for Bosh. Good move on his behalf as the lineup was working. As for your second point, Triano really isn't as bad as many people make him out to be. He obviously has his flaws (doesn't use timeouts very well and he doesn't seem like the greatest motivator), but he is fantastic at drawing up plays in short clock scenarios, isn't afraid to make changes in his defensive schemes (like switching up between zone and man, which has worked well for the Raptors over the last few games) and his rotations really aren't as bad as people make them out to be. Yeah, I would like to see him limit the "Cack" lineup but he seems to have stopped going to that lineup aside from when the Raptors play teams like the Bucks who have two small guards. Sadly, 85.7% of those rebounds came from one of those big men. On a serious note though, Bargnani played a fantastic game. He was the difference for the Raptors in the 3rd quarter. Whenever he gets it going he is so tough to stop, and he showed the Heat that today.

At least he tries to actually explain something rather than just whine like a little [expletive]. Whatever though, the Raptors won what was a very exciting game to watch. The Raptors were the better team tonight no matter what you say. I'm leaving it at that. Whine and cry all you want about Mario Chalmers, but 5 [expletive]ing minutes doesn't define a 48 minute game. The Raptors were clearly the better team from the beginning of the 2nd quarter to the end of the game.

Where did I say that I "owned" anybody in this thread? I said that I have made enough smart [expletive] comments in this thread and you, not knowing how to read and all, take that very easy to understand statement, and turn it into something completely different. So what is your excuse for the 2nd half of the game then? You know, where Chalmers didn't play one single minute? Did he [expletive] up your team from the bench? Was he the reason why the Raptors outscored the Heat by 11 in the 2nd half? Was he the reason why they shot something like 35% in the 2nd half of the game? Was he the reason why the Heat let Andrea Bargnani go off in the 3rd quarter? Its so funny how a player who played 5 minutes the entire game lost it for you. Whatever though, continue to make up excuses for why the Heat lost tonight. Whatever makes you feel better. The fact of the matter is that the Raptors were the better team tonight and Mario [expletive]ing Chalmers had absolutely nothing to do with the reason why the Heat lost the game. 5 minutes do not define a 48 minute basketball game, no matter how hard you want to try and believe it.

No, the disagreement was about you guys not giving the Raptors any credit what so ever and blaming it strictly on "The Chalmer's Effect". Not giving the opposing team credit and making excuses for your favourite team. That sure sounds like a homer to me.

I would make a smart [expletive] comment to annoy the Heat fans in here, but I think I've made enough of them in this thread. Raptors still unbeaten since 1996 when wearing the Huskie uniforms.

HUGE block by O'Neal right there. That was a major 4 point swing as Wright looked to have a wide open layup, but instead it turns into a wide open layup for Wade at the other end. Absolutely terrible possession from the Raptors right there. Wright bailed out Jose's overhandeling of the ball with a huge 3 though. Definitely not the guy I would want taking a huge 3 with the shot clock running out, but I'll take it. Heat did a nice job of taking away Bosh on both of those screens.

Am I the only one that sees the irony in this?