Built Ford Tough

Ahh, dammit. Why couldn't this game be on TSN instead of The Score? Now all we are going to hear about from Rautins is how great Kobe Bryant is. Kobe will make a basic entry pass into Gasol and Rautins will have an orgasm over it. I can't stand listening to Rautins when the Raptors play against players like Kobe, LeBron, Melo, Wade etc...

Bargnani is back in the lineup tonight, according to Devlin's Twitter. Hopefully he is actually healthy and not just forcing himself back into the lineup because of the fact that they are playing the Lakers. I'd rather see him sit out this game and see the Raptors lose (like they will with him in the lineup) to make sure his back is 100%. This is assuming that he is rushing back into the lineup, which I have no idea. Other intersting facts: Apperantly Andrew Bynum missed the teams flight to Toronto and had to pay for his own flight to Toronto. At least that is what I heard on TV. Kobe Bryant is averaging 45.1 ppg over his last 6 games against the Raptors. Watch him break out of his slump and drop at least 30+ on good percentages.

Because they are tanking for John Wall in hopes that he will be able to help lure a big time free agent to New Jersey in the summer. Anybody who says that the Nets aren't tanking are kidding theirselves. This team is definitely not the worst team in NBA history. Sure, they are bad, but they could definitely manage to win around 20 games if they weren't out there tanking games. 30 wins is definitely pushing it, but 20 is a realistic expectation. They really aren't any worse than the Kings last season and they won around 20 games in the Western Conference.

Not really. They haven't been playing poorly, but I think they are only around .500 or so in their last 10 games. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I think that they are 6-4 over their last 10 games. Not bad, but certainly not good. It is simply average, which is what the Raptors are; an average team. At least I can sleep in tomorrow and still watch the Raptors lose. I absolutely hate those stupid 9:30 AM start times on the West Coast.

I've already become a fan of his just by watching his reactions on the bench. Guy looks the ultimate team player. It doesn't hurt that he is a very similar player to one of my all time favourite Raptors, Jerome Williams. PS: How has Kapono worked out in Philly? All of the Philly games I have watched this season he hardly gets any burn, which I found kind of surprising considering the lack of outside shooting that they have on the team. I know that he is a terrible defender and can't dribble without traveling, but I would've thought that he would get some time because of his ability to stretch the floor, which nobody on Philly can really do.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64229/20100123/source_wizards_unlikely_to_trade_haywood/ If they are sure that Haywood is going to resign with the team in the offseason than this is a smart move on their behalf. I really like the way that Haywood plays, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. He is a big body who can change and alter shots, but unlike most big bodied centers he is able to actually step outside of the paint a bit and guard (although I would rather have him in the paint protecting the hoop). He is one of the few Wizard players who I actually like and would welcome on my team (assuming I had a team, lol) any day of the week. If he doesn't resign though they might look back and regret not trading him as I think that a contending team looking to add some depth to their frontcourt would be very interested in acquiring a player like Haywood.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64231/20100123/artest_cleveland_is_nothing_without_lebron/ I wouldn't say that they would be nothing without LeBron as they would be able to be like the Bobcats last season and win games with their defense, but it is definitely reasonable to think that they would not be a playoff team without LeBron. Then again, how many teams in the NBA can actually say that they would be a playoff team without their best player?

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64225/20100123/win_loss_record_will_dictate_cambys_future_with_clippers/ I think that it would be in the best interest of the Clippers to trade Camby regardless of what their record is heading into the trade deadline. Lets be realistic here, even if they do manage to somehow sneak into the playoffs, they will be lucky to win a game against the upper echelon teams in the Western Conference. Camby has very nice trade value considering his contract is expiring at the end of the season and he can be a very nice contributor to a team looking to solidfy their front court heading into the playoffs. I highly doubt that Camby would resign with the Clippers after the season anyways, so you might as well get something of value in return for him. What do you guys think? Should the Clippers trade Camby regardless of what their record is?

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/753128--evans-sets-a-target-for-return It seems reasonable to expect him back for the Raptors first game after the Al-Star break. After hearing that he was able to start doing some activity a week ago, I was thinking that he would try and come back after the All-Star break, and it seems like Reggie is thinking that too. Hopefully he can provide the Raptors with some more intensity and heart off of the bench. It will probably take him a couple of weeks to get back into game shape though, so I don't have high expectations for him.

I haven't posted something at the end of a game detailing my thoughts on the game in a while, so I figured this would be a good game to bring it back. I'll try to do this more frequently again, if I remember to and feel like it, lol. - Jarrett Jack's game tonight was undoubtedly the best game that he has played as a Raptor. He wasn't settling for jumpers and was continuously putting the pressure on the Bucks' defense. The fourth quarter that he played was definitely the best quarter by a Raptor point guard this season and he simply took over the game with his aggressiveness. What I liked to see the most was not the offense that he gave the team though, it was the defense that he provided them with. He did a great job of playing passing lanes and just being active, which led to some turnovers by the Bucks. Loved the way the Jack played. - Chris Bosh didn't have a very good game through the first 3 quarters, but he really turned it up in the 4th. You could tell that he was absolutely gassed after playing a combined 85 minutes against the Cavs and Bucks on Tuesday and Wednsday. The Cavs played him really physically and he absolutely carried the Raptors on Wednsday, but he fought through fatigue and came up big when the Raptors needed him in the 4th. The old knocks on Bosh of him being "soft", "mentally weak" and "unclutch" really don't apply to him anymore with the way that he has played this season. Dude has been awesome all year and only Nowitzki has played better than him this season at the power forward spot. - Andrew Bogut is a very nice player. He has nice touch around the basket, has a high basketball IQ, has some good mvoes in the post and plays with an edge that I really like. He isn't afraid to mix it up down low and get nasty. I definitely think that he is going to be an All-Star very soon. He just needs to learn to be able to stay on the court as he seems to pick up a lot of fouls and is also prone to injuries. He gets overlooked considering Chris Paul and Deron Williams were both drafted ahead of him, but he has developed into a very good player in his own right. - Antoine Wright is awful. His shot selection is absolutely terribly and he can't dribble the ball without turning it over or committing an offensive foul. He is an absolute chemistry killer on the offensive end of the floor. Being a ball stopper is one thing, but being a ball stopper when you absolutely suck offensively is just inexcusable. I look forward to the end of the season when I don't ever have to watch him as a Raptor again. - Luke Ridnour is awesome. I have always liked him as a backup point guard and these past two games against the Raptors have made me appreciate him even more. He was the best player in the 4th quarter in both of these past two games and single handedly kept his team in the game today. Dude played his heart out in the 4th quarter and put his team on his back. If I was Skiles I would reward him with a start or two because of his excellent play. Hopefully that would light a fire under Jennings and motivate him as well. It really is a win-win if you ask me. - Marco Belinelli also played one of his best games of the season tonight (aside from that awful foul late in the 4th). He was aggressive with the dribble and looked to get into the paint. He really is fearless when attacking the paint, it is a shame that he doesn't do it more often. That pass he threw to Bosh towards the end of the 4th was absolutely beautiful. He has been plauged with inconsistency for his entire career and this season has been no different, but once he finds a way to become a consistent player, he could be a very nice weapon off of the bench for any team. Good to see him bounce back with one of his best games of the season after being benched in Milwaukee. - DeMar DeRozan played well tonight with 12 points, and his mid range game is coming along nicely, but whenever he is in the game, opposing defenses are starting to back right off of him and collapse on Bosh because of the limited range on his jumper. The same thing can be said about Weems. These two have very good chemistry together in transition, but having the two of them in the game together in a half court situation is a liability with the lack of range on their jumpers. Hopefully both of them can add some range to their jumpers for next season. - Brandon Jennings doesn't impress me. He got off to a great start and played amazing for the first month or two of the season, but he has looked pretty awful in every game I have seen of him since. He is complacent on the floor, settles for jumpers, doesn't play with any aggressivness and takes bad, low percentage shots. He has a very bright future ahead of him but the flaws in his game are really starting to show as the season goes along. He just looks too comfortable out there and seems like he thinks he is entitled to a starting spot. - This was definitely the best game Triano has coached that I can remember. He made some very nice adjustments that really turned the tide of the game. The single biggest move of the game was him switching to a zone as the Bucks struggled to hit outside jumpers all game long and Bogut was going to work down low. After the Bucks started to figure out the zone, he did a nice job of switching up from zone to man coverages to keep the Bucks off guard. Another move of his that I liked was him going with the two point guard lineup. Normally I hate this lineup but the Bucks tend to roll with 3 small guards (Jennings, Ridnour and Bell) so he was able to get away with it tonight. Going to this lineup forced the Bucks to but Bogut on Bosh, and Bosh exploited the matchup late in the 4th. Definitely one of the best coached games from Triano since taking over last season. - Hedo Turkoglu still sucks. Well, that should be enough. Definitely got a little carried away here, lol.

Jarrett Jack has been huge for the Raptors in the 4th. Being aggressive on offense and has been active on defense which has resulted in some turnovers off of deflections. These turnovers have enabled the Raptors to get out in transition where they have been really effective so far. Triano made a very nice adjustment when he went to zone earlier in the 4th as well. They have done a fantastic job of mixing up zone and man to man which has kept the Bucks off balance and allowed them to get back into the game.

He has no problems embarassing Bogut though. That up and under move was the greatest post move in NBA history. From this point on, the up and under move will be known as the "Rasho Shake". PS: Turkoglu sucks.

Bargnani isn't paying tonight due to a back injury. You know what this means don't you? More of this guy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Rasho_Nesterovic.JPG/248px-Rasho_Nesterovic.JPG Let's NBA!

Lol, he dropped a career high 44 on the Bucks but it didn't make a difference with Hedo and Wright chucking up jumpers down the stretch. Getting your hopes up as a Raptor fan leads to nothing but disapointment. I've learned that the hard way.

Its like I said before, I really don't know the history of the site and things like that, so I am only speaking on what I have noticed since becoming a regular poster here (so in other words, since the season started mainly). I completely agree with what you are saying as well. I am not pro or anti Laker by any stretch of the imagination. The only two teams who I actually do not like in the NBA are the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks (mainly from posting at ISH as the Knick fans over there are just awful). Despite the fact that I hate the Celtics, I don't go into game threads where they lose games just to rub it in their faces. I hope that nobody gets the wrong opinion from this post as I am not trying to build anybody up to be the "good guy" and anybody up to the the "bad guy". If the roles were reversed and the Lakers won the game and a Cavs fan made posts making excuses for the loss or trying to diminish the Lakers win, I would be saying the same thing. I mean, you know me, I am not the kind of poster that would wait until a loss to speak my mind. If I have something to say, positive or negative, about a particular team, fanbase, member or whatever, I am going to be straight with you and say it regardless of the circumstance. So again, I hope that nobody gets the wrong impression from the two (now three) posts that I have made in this thread. Anyways, I've said my peace. Looking forward to seeing the Lakers dominate the Raptors on Sunday. I'm sure that this discussion will pick right back up in that thread.

This is what I meant with my first post in this thread. Its posts like these that make so many people get heated with Laker fans. Did the Lakers not celebrate their huge wins over Boston last season just as much as the Cavs did against the two wins against the Lakers this season? I am sure that you remember how excited they were after beating the Celtics in overtime last year. The Cavs just swept the season series with the defending NBA Champions and the team with the best record in the NBA. It doesn't matter if the game happened in January, March or November. It is a huge win for the Cavs and this win means that the Cavs no longer have to outright beat the Lakers record if they want homecourt in the Finals, if these two teams were to meet. I don't know, it may just be me, but that sounds like a pretty legit reason for a team to get excited about.

Lol, can you blame him though? No offense to all Laker fans and this isn't directed towards you all as a whole, but some Laker fans on here talk a lot of smack which will obviously get under some peoples skin and will make them want to see the Lakers lose. I don't know if he has a history of dislike for the Lakers or anything either, so forgive me if this happens a lot. I am still relatively new here and don't know the tendancies of posters. I didn't really care who won the game. I was just hoping for a great finish to the game and I got that. Sucks for Laker fans that Pau missed those two free throws that would've tied the game up with 24 seconds left, or whatever it was. That and the loose ball foul on Artest after the missed free throw by LeBron just killed the Lakers tonight. When you have a player like Bryant on your team all you ask is that you are in a position to tie or win the game during the final seconds, and if the Lakers would've capitalized on their opportunities, they would've got that. Props to the Cavs though. They came up big without their second best player in Mo Williams and Jamario Moon, who played really well against the Lakers back on Christmas. It was a good game and once again showed how evenly matched these two teams are.

I just found it interesting on how so many of the Raptors players performances are vastly different depending on how many days rest they have in between games and I thought that I would share it. Andrea Bargnani 0 Days - 13.1 ppg/6.6 rpg/1.2 bpg on 40.2 FG% and 30.6 3PT% 1 Day - 17.1 ppg/6.4 rpg/1.5 bpg on 46.4 FG% and 40.4 3PT% 2 Days - 20.3 ppg/5.9 rpg/1.3 bpg on 48.7 FG% and 32.4 3PT% 3+ Days - 22.7 ppg/7.7 rpg/1.0 bpg on 65.9 FG% and 70.0 3PT% Hedo Turkoglu 0 Days - 10.1 ppg/3.0 rpg/3.1 apg on 37.3 FG% and 39.3 3PT% 1 Day - 13.8 ppg/4.6 rpg/4.5 apg on 42.8 FG% and 40.2 3PT% 2 Days - 11.3 ppg/5.5 rpg/6.2 apg on 35.7 FG% and 30.0 3PT% 3+ Days - 14.0 ppg/5.5 rpg/4.5 apg on 43.2 FG% and 42.9 3PT% Jose Calderon 0 Days - 11.1 ppg/5.4 apg on 45.8 FG% and 42.9 3PT% 1 Day - 12.7 ppg/6.3 apg on 54.9 FG% and 38.6 3PT% 2 Days - 9.0 ppg/1.0 apg on 36.4 FG% and 33.3 3PT% (only 1 game) 3+ Days - 8.3ppg/6.8 apg on 48.2 FG% and 50.0 3PT% I'm going to go and watch the Toronto Maple Leafs games so I am not going to post the stats of others, but I will just say that Chris Bosh is pretty much consistent right across the board in every catagor. DeRozan is fairly consistent as well, but he does play better with 3+ days. Jack sucks with 0 days rest, is solid with 1 and 2 days rest and is pretty bad with 3+ days rest (shooting below 40%). If you want to look at the stats for yourself, just go here: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3948/splits;_ylt=AimwVuS5rUkZYfTB1SPlGD4rPaB4 Anyways, I just found it interesting how aside from Bosh, and to a lesser extent DeRozan, it seems like almost every other Raptor player plays significantly worse or better depending on how many days rest they have. It really is a telling tale about the mental state of this team as aside from Bosh, nobody seems to be able to fight through fatigue.

Yeah LeBron and Pierce are tough assignments, but we all know that the real challenge he will face is when he is forced to guard Hedo "Turkish MJ" Turkoglu on Sunday. That is where we will really see his true worth defensively.

If looks could kill, Turkoglu and Bargnani would've dropped dead instantly from that look Bosh gave them. He is absolutely pissed off at the rest of the team, and he damn well should be. Turkoglu is a joke. Hopefully he pulls an Arenas and the Raptors are able to void his contract.

Rebounding kills the Raptors yet again. Well, rebounding combined with the Raptors being idiots and chucking up long range jumpers and completely ignoring your franchise player who just so happens to have tied his career high tonight. And the Raptors take another 3 without Bosh getting a touch. What a joke. Lol, Raptors fail to get the defensive rebound AGAIN. What a pathetic performance from every single Raptor not named Chris Bosh or Amir Johnson (he sucked, but at least he hustled).

I've got some good news for you. The Raptors are having another typical 3rd quarter meltdown and look like they are going to blow yet another game that they should win. At least Toronto won't be taking advantage of this brutal showing of yours.

Chris Bosh - 10/14 Rest of Raptors - 15/51 And, surprise surprise the Raptors have blown their half time lead, yet again.

What the hell was Turkoglu doing there? Holds the ball behind the 3 point line for 10 seconds, takes a sloppy dribble, gets the ball poked away and takes a fadeaway 3 pointer. Congratulations Turkoglu, you are officialy a bigger waste of money than Jason Kapono was for Toronto.

Wow, am I the only one that was shocked to see that Bosh has 22 points on 8/11 shooting? I admit to not paying a whole lot of attention to this game, but it definitely doesn't feel like he has scored 22 points already.