Built Ford Tough

Here is an update on the latest. Evans practiced with the ream for the first time in 3 months. http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/755772--evans-gets-a-real-bang-out-of-raptors-practice

He actually played really well against Wade in the first meeting at the ACC. I know that Wade scored 30 points and had 8 assists in the game, but he shot 41% from the field, which is his 12th worst shooting game of the season. I remember when DeRozan was guarding him he did a good job of forcing him into jumpers and limiting his penetration, but once Wright came into the game Wade was blowing by him off of the dribble like nothing.

I agree with you on both parts. You can't really blame Swirky, or Heinsohn, or any other commentator, for being passionate about the team that they are calling, which ultimately leads to terrible homerism. At least they show emotion, which is a hell of a lot better than some of the robotic commentators that we have out there. I'd take a homer over a guy who is clearly there just to collect a paycheck anyday of the week. Swirsky was definitely a homer and Rautins just atagonized him. He wasn't as bad with Armstrong because Jack would basically tell Swirky to shut the [expletive] up and call the game after a certain point, lol. Yeah I really enjoy listening to Chick as well. One of my favourite PBP guys out there. The Lakers are on TV here in Canada probably more than any other team, and since I haven't had League Pass up until this season, they were really the only home town broadcast that I heard more than once or twice (Phoenix being the other). I really enjoyed listening to Chick as he had really nice insight.

He hurt it coming down on Hedo Turkoglu's foot. Like I expected, he went up and landed on Turkoglu's foot which caused him to roll his ankle. He is unlikely to play tomorrow against Miami [expletive] YOU HEDO! Here's some more to the story: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/archive/2010/01/26/raptors-derozan-suffers-ankle-injury.aspx#ixzz0dke7ikwd

http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2010/01/a-little-news-on-an-injured-raptor.html Hopefully he just rolled it or something and has a bit of a sprain. Those things hurt like a [expletive] when they first happen, but they usually are fine after about a week.

It was actually a New York accent that you would've heard, as Jack Armstrong is originally from Brooklyn but moved to Canada after he stopped coaching college ball in New York. At least I think that he moved to Canada after he stopped coaching, not 100% sure on that one. Matt Devlin, the play-by-play guy, is also from New York (Syracuse). Toronto's team really isn't that bad though. Matt Devlin, they main guy, doesn't really know all that much about the game but he is hardly a homer. I think it is because he spent so much time broadcasting other teams before coming to Toronto. He was the Bobcats play-by-play guy for 3 years and the Grizzlies PBP guy for 3 years. He really hasn't been around the Raptors enough to develop that true homerism. Jack Armstrong is a great color guy. He is not a homer by any means and he is probably the most respected commentator in Canada as he has great knowledge of the game. He works well with Devlin as he compensates for the lack of knowledge that Devlin has. They have great chemistry together, as well, partially because it seems like Devlin has a man crush on Jack. Leo Rautins is awful though. He gushes over star players, especially Steve Nash, and I just can't stand him and tries to make the most basic things sound so complex. He knows the game well at least though. He isn't as bad as when Swirsky was still doing games, but he is still bad. So I'm guessing it has been about a year and a half since you watched a Raptors broadcast then? Swirsky has been doing the Chicago Bulls radio broadcasts since the beginning of last season. Had to leave Toronto for "personal reasons". The Raptors were terrible for homerism when Swirsky was around, but other than Leo, I wouldn't even say that they are homers at all. Really though, home team broadcasts are supposed to favour the home team and show some homerism. They really aren't supposed to be impartial like the broadcast crews on TNT or ABC. The ones that I can't stand though are the Cavs, Celtics and Knicks teams. The Lakers colour guy gets on my nerves after a while too. PS: Sorry for the rant, didin't realize how much I had typed.

Do you really care if Bosh starts or not? If it were up to me, Bosh wouldn't even play a single minute in the All-Star game. The game is completely meaningless and I'd rather see Bosh just take the entire week off and focus on making a push for the 5th seed. Then again, I have never really cared all that much about All-Star games. I find them pretty pointless. I'll watch them, but I don't give a damn about them.

Alright, so the Raptors are entering what is probably the most favourable portion of their season. They play 8 of their next 10 against teams under .500 and 7 of the 10 at home (includng both games against above .500 teams). So predict how they will do over the next 10 games? Vs. Miami @ New York Vs. Indiana @ Indiana Vs. New Jersey Vs. Sacramento Vs. Philadelphia Vs. Memphis @ New Jersey Vs. Washington Back-to-backs The Memphis game is also the first game back from the All-Star game.

And you saw the comparision between individual players with the Nets example that you used? At least with the Cavs and Cats you have Parker and Bell, both solid veteran defenders who are good shooters and the Moon - Wallace comparision that you hinted on. At this stage of Shaq's career, Okafor and Shaq are much more similar than Lopez and Shaq if you ask me. I wasn't really trying to make individual comparisions though. More along the lines of a good, solid defensive team 1 through 5 with little offensive punch. Even if the Nets weren't tanking, I still don't think that they would be very good defensively. Really though, I agree with the general idea of what you are saying.

Hey, the Raptors are average, not bad! Well lets see, in the East you have LeBron James and Kevin Garnett as the starting forwards. Chris Bosh is an absolute lock to be selected as a reserve. Gerald Wallace is going to get recognized because of his play and the fact that the Bobcats are currently fighting for the 5th seed, which nobody would've expected. Lets say that those two are named as the primary backup forwards. That leaves you with the two wildcard spots. You have Paul Pierce who is probably going to get into the game more than likely based off of his play this season combined the Celtics record and his history. That leaves one spot left and I am sure that the coaches are going to give that spot to a second All-Star on one of the better teams in the East (so somebody like Josh Smith, Al Horford, Rashard Lewis etc...) based on what usually happens. Or they could give it to Danny Granger or somebody like that. Although I would give it to Jamison before Granger. Assuming they pick Bosh as the backup center, which would be valid considering he is the Raptors center, does Jamison still make it on the team? The bottom line is that his numbers warrant consideration for the All-Star game, but the fact that the Wizards are currently one of the worst teams in the league is going to keep him out of the game. Its the same story with Monta Ellis and the same story with players like Al Jefferson, Kevin Durant and any other player who has put up great stats on poor teams. Coaches don't usually pick borderline All-Stars, which is what Jamison is, who are on bottom feeding teams.

It reminds me more of: Felton - Bell - Wallace - Diaw - Okafor Obviously Wallace is better than anybody that the Cavs would have, but it doesn't change the fact that the Bobcats managed to win 35 games last season off of nothing more than their defensive ability as they were one of, if not the worst offensive teams in the league last season. The Cavs would employ the same stategy of trying to grind out low scoring wins as they would have a very similar philosophy from their coach and similar player personel. I don't know though, I could be wrong here, but I don't think that the Cavs would be any worse than a 25 win team if they didn't have LeBron. The Bobcats managed to win 35 games last season without any offense what so ever because they were so good defensively. Its not like losing LeBron takes away the Cavs defensive identity. They definitely wouldn't make the playoffs but I don't think that it would be unrealistic to say that they could possibly win 25-30 games off of their defense.

Yeah they have a better record than the Raptors do but the Raptors are 15-6 at home while the Grizzlies are only 7-14 on the road. Still, I don't consider any Raptor game a sure victory aside from New Jersey games. Bosh doesn't really seem to have much trouble with Gasol though. In the 2 games that Bosh has played against the Grizzlies with Gasol is averaging 34.5/11/2.5 on 63.2%. Gasol has also picked up a combined 9 fouls in those two games. Granted, Gasol isn't the same player he was last season, but he just doesn't have the quickness to handle Bosh. Again though, I don't consider any Raptor game a sure thing. I've said from the beginning of the season that with the offense the Raptors have they can beat anybody on any given night, but with the defense they play they can lose to anybody on any given night. PS: They also play the Heat, who aren't a team that should lose to the Raptors. They are very evenly matched.

I agree that he was bailed out in the sense that he was out of control and usually we don't see refs call fouls on players who are out of control, like Turkoglu was. However, lets not pretend that a foul didn't actually happen (not saying that you are). Hedo sold it, I definitely agree with that, and we rarely see a foul like that called at the end of a game, but there was definitely a foul committed on that play by Gasol. At least I think it was Gasol who had his hand on Turkoglu's jersey as he went up. Personally, I was shocked to see a foul called on the play. I was watching the game with my dad and I said to him the moment that it happened that Turkoglu was bailed out and if I was a ref I wouldn't call that a foul just because of Turkoglu being so out of control on the play. There was definitely contact on the play though and its not like it can really be considered a bad call or anything. The officiating looks lopsided in the Raptors favour due to the fairly significant difference in free attempts, but when you actually watched the game I don't think that there were too many plays that could be considered blown calls. You would think that with the Lakers destroying the Raptors in the paint that they would've got more free throw attempts, but the Raptors would simply just let the Lakers score the two points rather than send them to the line. On the other hand, the Lakers weren't so content with giving up wide open looks down low, lol. Didn't know about the plantar fasciitis. Do you have a link or something that talks about it? I'd love to read it, if you have one. EDIT: Nevermind, I found it. I agree with everything that you said, but I would also like to point out that Artest isn't as good defensively as he was during his time with the Pacers. He is still a very good defensive player, but in my opinion his defensive capabilitites have been a little overrated ever since he was traded from Indiana. He has been a very good defender for the duration of his career, but I don't think that he has been worthy of the label of the best perimeter defender in the league since his time in Indiana.

- Andrea Bargnani played what was, in my opinion, the most impressive game of his NBA career tonight. Sure, he didn't have the best numbers statistically or anything like that, but I don't think that I have ever come away from watching a Raptors game more impressed with the play of Bargnani. 22 points and 8 boards on 7/17 shooting is hardly anything special, but the way that he fought through his shooting woes and came up huge in the 4th for the Raptors was very nice to see. Normally when Bargnani's shot is off it screws up his whole game as he is so heavily reliant on his jumper to get his offense off. I don't think that I have ever seen him utilize pump fakes so well and I know for a fact that I have never seen him drive to the hoop so many times. This was the best game that Bargnani has ever played as far as I am concerned. Maybe I am still hyped about the win but I honestly think that. - For the 2nd straight game, Marco Belinelli came into the game and completely changed the complextion of the game. He was aggressive on offense which is something that the Raptors lack from their perimeter players. His shot was on tonight (4-5 I believe) and that is basically what makes him click. If his shot isn't falling his entire game suffers because of it, much like his fellow Italian Andrea Bargnani. He actually played surprisingly well defensively as well. I know that Kobe had a great game and all, but for most of the 2nd half the Raptors, Belli and DeRozan mainly, did a pretty good job of getting a hand in his face on every shot attempt. Loved the way that Belinelli played for the 2nd straight game. If he continues to play like this off of hte bench it gives the Raptors a whole different dimension to the team. - Kobe Bryant played one of his better all around games of the season, at least offensively, from what I have seen so far this year (granted it is only about 5 or 6 games). He did little to nothing defensively as the Lakers hid him on DeRozan whenever he was on the game, but offensively you couldn't have asked for anything more from him. 29 points on around 46% (I think), a career high 16 rebounds and 9 assists. In the first half he seemingly made the right decision every single time he had the ball in his hands. He mixed up facilitating and looking for his own shot flawlessly and got Gasol and Bynum some really good looks down low. Its too bad that he got little to no help from Artest, Odom and Fisher. - Chris Bosh quietly had a very strong game. If you just look at his numbers (18/13 on 53%) you wouldn't be blown away, but I actually think that he played really well. At the beginning of the game he was giving up post position to Gasol and Bynum way too easily, but during the 2nd half he started to fight for position a lot harder, which limited the amount of easy baskets these two got. I didn't expect him to go off offensively tonight considering the Lakers have two long 7 footers in Gasol and Bynum down low, which would make it very difficult to get anything inside, but he did a fine job of absorbing the Lakers defense. He still needs to work on his passing out of doubles but his presence on the floor is what allowed players like Bargnani, Belinelli and Jack to have the room that they needed to operate. I know some people have complained about his game tonight (not on this forum) but I actually thought he played very well, despite the pedestrian numbers that he put up. - Ron Artest looked awful tonight. I don't know if it is a regular occurance, but he looked terrible defensively, and I have never liked his offensive game. I honestly think that if Turkoglu didn't suck so bad he Artest would've got lit up tonight. He really needs to lose some weight as the extra beef on him seems to really be slowing him down which hurts him defensively. Was very unimpressed by Artest tonight and thought that he looked awful. - Jarrett Jack was huge in the 3rd quarter. I said at halftime that the Raptors point guards needed to exploit Fisher's lack of quickness on defense and just as the Lakers were making that mini run at the beginning of the 3rd quarter is seemed like something clicked in Jack's head. He started to get really aggressive with the dribble and looked to get to the rim on every possession. I like the way that he has played over the last two games. They need him to be constantly in attack mode. He is so much better when he is attacking rather than settling for jumpers. The Raptors have Calderon, Belinelli, Bargnani and Turkoglu (lol) who are all perimeter oriented. They need Jack to be attacking as he is the only player, aside from Bosh, who can get to the rim consistently. - Jordan Farmar played surprisingly well today. He gave the Lakers some good energy off of the bench and even though he got lit up defensively as well, he did a better job than Fisher of containing Jack off of the dribble. He chipped in offensively as well, which was desperately needed considering Artest, Fisher and Odom decided not to show up. I really don't like Farmar's game, but he deserves props for his play tonight. - I was very dissapointed in DeRozan tonight. It seemed like he was trying to prove something because he was playing against Kobe Bryant, who he idolizes. He was forcing things offensively that he normally doesn't and was out of control far too often. I liked that he came out and wanted to make a statement, but he was just too out of control tonight, whether it was because he was trying to overcompensate due to nerves or something else, I don't know. I like aggressiveness from him, but he was reckless during this game. - The Lakers blew this game by thinking that they could turn it on whenever they wanted and the Raptors would roll over and die (to be honest, I thought the same thing). They easily could've crushed the Raptors early as they were completely dominating them inside during the first quarter. The score should not have only been 24-21 after the 1st as the Lakers should've just come out and threw a knockout blow right away. They could've crushed the Raptors confidence if they would've actually played at the beginning of the game. This team is very confidenet, but that confidence is bordering on cockiness if you ask me, and that is something that you do not want to see from a team. - Phil Jackson needs to give this team a kick in the [expletive] if you ask me. He seems content with them deciding to turn it on whenever they want to. I know that Jackson has long term goals, aka the NBA Championship, in mind and he trying to build the confidence of his bench players, but if I was him, I would be more worried about securing home court advantage throughout the playoffs. I do think that they can win a Game 7 on the road against anybody, but I know that I would feel much better if I was playing it at the Staples rather than the Q or the Garden. - Turkoglu still sucks.

Just so you know, you still suck Turkoglu. Raptors need to D it up here. Nursing a 1 point lead on the defensive end of the floor is more nerve racking trying to come with with a basket on the offensive end, that is for sure. Especially considering the 3 buzzer beaters from Kobe this season. Raptors better use that foul immediately. Good god, I thought that shot was in. What a huge win for the Raptors tonight. I thought that they woudl get blown out but they came through in the clutch. This team has more heart than I give them credit for.

[expletive]ing bail out call right there. What an awful final possession. My heart is in my throat right now though. Just go 1 of 2 at least Turkoglu. That is all I ask

Shouldn't you worry about scoring the ball before talking about icing the game from the foul line? And there you go, the game is a 1 point game with the Raptors in possession of the ball. This could easily end up not being decided from the foul line. PS: Guess I was wrong about Kobe icing the game on that possession. Once he got that look in the corner I thought for sure it was going in. It was a tough shot, but that still didn't make me think it wasn't going in.

Mr. 4th Quarter strikes again. He is really living up to his nickname. Too bad it is the other team that he is helping win the game. Nice move by Bargnani there. He has played really well considering his jumper has been off for the majority of the game. Kobe is going to ice the game right here. Short clock scenario with the game in the balance against a poor defensive team? Yeah, Kobe is going to ice the game, lol.

Triano, enough is enough. Put Jack in the game. Just noticed him report to the scorekeepers bench. Its about damn time. And here we go, Lakers are start to stop [expletive]ing around and actually playing defense. Raptors are going to actually need to work for their shots now. Enough with the damn jumpers. Give the ball to Bosh. This team is just as bad as the Magic at ignoring their star big man and chucking up jumpers.

Fisher clipped him with an elbow down low during that little fight for the semi-loose ball. Good run for the Raptors to close out the 3rd. DeRozan made a nice defensive play on Bryant to strip the ball, its just too bad it was turned over on the outlet pass as Jack would've had a good opportunity to tie the game up or potentially take the lead. I'm content with the way that the Raptors have played though. I thought that at the start of the third the Lakers would stop [expletive]ing around and put an end to the game, but the Raptors fought back.

What do you know, attacking Fisher off of the bounce actually works. Who woulda thunk it?

And here we go with the Raptors typical 3rd quarter collapse. Oh well, at least they were somewhat competitive for the first 24 minutes. You could tell from watching that first half that once the Lakers decided to actually turn it on and play that they could easily get a double digit lead in a matter of minutes. When they are actually putting in effort, they are simply too good defensively and too good offensively for the Raptors to compete with.

Well it doesn't help that they are throwing a rookie on an island and asking him to guard the best shooting guard, and aruguably player, in the NBA. Even if he fights through all of the screens, the Raptors are giving him absolutely no help when he gets beat off of the dribble by Kobe. Its also pretty hard to fight through a screen like that when you have Kobe Bryant 30 feet away from the hoop getting a full head of steam. Its a little too much to ask DeRozan to guard Kobe Bryant on an island. I'm not trying to make excuses for him because I already commented that he has not looked good today at all, but I'm not going to complain about him defensively on those 3 possessions. - I'm pretty dissapointed that the Raptors aren't looking to exploit Fisher more. Everybody knows that Fisher is the weakest link for the Lakers starting lineup. With the way that the Lakers have packed the paint in order to try and limit Bosh, Jack and Calderon should've attacked Fisher off of the bounce all half long. All they needed to do was take one or two hard dribbles (in Jose's case off of a screen) and pull up for the jumper. Fisher doesn't have the quickness to recover. They need to look to exploit this matchup more in the 2nd half because the Lakers aren't going to let Bosh beat them (although Bosh has played well considering he hs very little room to operate). - Bargnani's shot has been off all half long, but he has played aggressively on offense and has had a couple of nice drives to the hoop. Gasol and Bynum don't stand a chance at guarding him off of the bounce when he is out at the three point line. Hopefully he can knock down a couple of jumpers to keep the defense honst, whcih will continue to give him those driving lanes. He needs to give Bosh some more help on the glass though. Bosh has basically been forced to try and keep both Bynum and Gasol off of the glass, which is simply impossible to do. - It would also be nice to see Turkoglu do something productive. He is completely invisible out there. He better get his [expletive] together after the All-Star break because he is [expletive]ing useless right now. 7/12 I think. I actually haven't even noticed him miss anything. He played basically a perfect half of basketball as far as I am concerned. He has done a fantastic job of facilitating and looking for his own shot when the opportunity presents itself it. I would be surprised if he didn't end up with a triple double tonight.

Triano's done [expletive]ing around, Rasho's in the game. Did you see that pick he just set for Belinelli? An absolute thing of beauty.

Lol, have the Lakers made a shot that outside of the paint yet? They are absolutely abusing the Raptors in the paint. I think that they have only made 1 shot outside of the paint. Raptors are lucky that this lead is only 3 points right now. With the way that they have played inside and on the glass, they are lucky the lead isn't in double digits already. DeRozan looked completely rattled in the 1st. I've never seen him so out of control and make so many poor decisions. One thing that I have really liked about him is that for a rookie he is actually very smart with the ball and doesn't force things all that often, but today he has been awful. Raptors definitely need to play better if they hope to keep this thing close. The Lakers aren't going to continue to shoot 43% if they keep on getting these kinds of looks.