Built Ford Tough

LMAO at Jarret Jack tying his shoe with the ball on his hip in the middle of play. The best part was that Luol Deng didn't even try to do anything about it and was just standing there like "WTF?) lol.

I was excited at first, but then I heard that it was just a hip flexor and is nothing to talk about really. On a serious note though, Calderon has played much better over the past couple of games and looks to be getting his shot back. More importantly, he has also went to the rim a lot more as well. His defense is still terrible, but at least he has started to come around offensively.

Its good to see the Raptors put the hammer down in the 3rd here. Normally they get very complacent when they get a big lead and it allows the other team to get back into the game. By extending the lead it will allow the Raps to give Chris Bosh a much deserved rest.

DeRozan with the huge slam over Brad Miller. Loving the aggressiveness that he is playing with right now. He is playing with a lot of confidence right now and it is showing in his game. If he gives the Raptors this element all of the time it will be huge for the Raptors as they really don't have anybody who can attack the rim like he is capable of.

Its because the Raptors have a lot of low IQ players. I thought that the Raptors would have a great offensive IQ this season, but if there is one thing that I would complain about in regards to the Raptors offense, it is that they don't have a very good collective IQ (and they shoot too many jumpers). I was at a hockey game so I missed the overtime. Luckily for me, I got home just in time to watch the OT on TSN2.

I don't think so. I was busy watching the Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary thing so I missed the first couple of minutes, but unless somebody got subbed out really quickly, the starting lineup was the same as usual. Doesn't surprise me. I didn't really think that there would be any sort of significant changes to it.

Tyreke Evans has something to say about that. Jennings is obviously the favourite right now, but from what I have seen he has started to slow down a bit. He got off to an amazing start, but I don't think that it was realistic for him to keep up that kind of play all season long and he has started to slow down, like expected. His points are at 21 a game now (they were at 24 a little while ago if I recall correctly), his FG% has dropped from 48% to 42%, he hasn't scored above 20 ppg in his last 6 games and during those 6 games he has shot below 30% 3 times and below 40% 3 times as well. Jennings is still the leading candidate for ROY as of now and he has a very strong chance of winning it, but Tyreke Evans is closing the gap very quickly. As for Griffin though, this sucks to hear. I was really looking forward to seeing him play.

The change will probably be nothing more than starting Wright in place of DeRozan and nothing more. Maybe they will start Jack over Calderon, which I highly doubt, but there is no way that Colangelo will let his golden boy come off of the bench. I would honestly expect Bosh to come off of the bench before Bargnani. I don't think that Colangelo will allow Bargs to come off of the bench, and I don't think that Triano has the backbone to do it.

They are on the road. I would be completely shocked if they didn't give up 120.

Calderon doesn't drive and kick becausee he simply doesn't have the skill set to do this. He is 100% reliant on a screen to get his offense. He isn't a creative enough ball handler nor does he really have good enough speed to break his man down off of the bounce. This is why he was such a great fit on the team back when Ford was here. Ford was all about driving and kicking and was the far superior creator in one on one situations. Calderon was the better shooter and his efficient, low risk, pick and roll style was a great contrast to Ford's game. As for whether or not I miss Ford, I can't really say that I miss him per say, but I would much rather have him on the team over Calderon just because his playing style is much better suited for this team than Calderon's, and Ford is on the better contract as well. Ford hasn't really played all that well in Indiana since he got traded there but his game is better suited to this Raptors team than Calderon's is and I like him more as a player.

To be perfectly honest, I would rather be a Nets fan right now than a Raptors. At least the Nets have something to look forward to with guys like Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, along with a great draft pick which could very well end up being John Wall. All the Raptors have to look forward to right now is constantly giving up 120 points a game, having Chris Bosh leave the team and have a core of Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu heading forward, all of which are overpaid and players that you can't build around. As for the Raptors offense, I think the problem is more along the lines of them being strictly jump shot oriented. Aside from Bosh nobody on the team can consistently get to the rim or the free throw line. Even then, Bosh is starting to shoot more and more jumpers as the season goes along and, from what I have seen, looks like he is about ready to give up on this team. When you rely as heavily on jump shots as the Raptors do, you are going to be a very inconsistent team because there is simply no way that your shots are going to fall every night, especially on the tail end of back to backs, which the Raptors have been destroyed on. Other problems are obviously there, like them relying too much on Calderon to make players (which is pretty pathetic considering Calderon isn't even that good of a playmaker) and Bosh being somewhat of a black hole offensively, but the biggest thing with them is that they are way too reliant on jump shots. Jump shooting teams are always going to be inconsistent and the Raptors are basically the definition of a jump shooting team. At least I think that this is the biggest problem with them offensively. Even then, I am not going to complain for a second about their offense because even when they have an off night, it will most likely still result in an 85-90 point night, which is enough to win a game if you actually play some defense.

Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure?

Man, just when I thought that the Raptors couldn't get any worse defensively, they go and have the worst defensive game that I have ever watched as a Raptors fan. I have watched some horrific defense being played by the Raptors since I started following them, but tonights display of efense (there was no "d") was by far the worst that I have ever see. The performance that they gave against the Duncan and Parker less Spurs wasn't even this bad. What a joke this team is. I would be ashamed of myself if I was Bryan Colangelo. I would be embarassed if I built a team that couldn't stop somebody if they played 5-1 (and the 1 person was a parapalegic).

Yeah it was. I've known about it for around a month. I didn't want to mention anything in case some people were still holding out hope that Kimbo would get another TUF fight and didn't want to spoil it. They are fighting at a catchweight of 215 pounds which I like because I just don't think that Kimbo has the size to fight at HW. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he will ever be anything special, but if he can improve his ground game and tighten up his stand up, he could be a decent mid card fighter at LHW (assuming he doesn't look like [expletive] at 215 lol) that the UFC could use on free Ultimate Fight night cards or throw on a weaker PPV card to help boost buy-rates. The UFC are really trying to give Kimbo the best chance possible to come out with a victory, without giving him a "gimme fight", on this one though. Houston Alexander is a powerfull striker, but he has a suspect chin and absolutely no ground game at all. I am sure that Joe Silva looked at fighters that would not even think about taking this fight to the ground and somebody that would stand and bang with Kimbo. I can't really think of a better fighter than Houston Alexander for that. If you are a fan of slug fests, I imagine that you will love this fight. I would be completely shocked if somebody didn't get knocked out in this one (probably Kimbo). Don't tell me that you actually believed that crap Dana was spewing out of his [expletive] after Kimbo lost to Petruzelli. If you thought that Kimbo wouldn't fight at the finale, win or lose, I almost feel sorry for you. After how much they hyped TUF 10, or "The Kimbo Show", did you not think that they would milk Kimbo for every single penny? I mean you can't blame them, the UFC is a business and Kimbo is a huge money maker. They would be fools not to milk him for every cent. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing Marcus Jones fight again. That guy has some sick jitz and looks like he has a lot of potential. I am looking forward to seeing how much he has improved on his stand up and other areas of his game since the show is over. He was probably my favourite fighter this season (not like there was much to choose from lol) and I hope to see an improved fighter. He was one of the few guys this season that looked like they have some actual potential as fighters (Schaub being the other). Nelson is already a good fighter, but I don't think that he will get any better and as he is right now, he will be nothing more than a gatekeeper in the Heavyweight division. Also so stoked on seeing Jon "Bones" Jones fight. He is a very entertaining, unorthodox fighter. If you haven't watched him fight before, you are in for a treat, especially if this fight is anything like his fight with Stephan Bonnar. Should be a pretty good Ultimate Finale card.

Something is wrong if Teague isn't getting significant minutes considering this game was over at about 15 minutes of play.

Awesome, the Raptors give up 114 points at the end of the third quarter. This team is an embrassment. I'm past the point of frusturation. I just can't help but laugh at how completely inept this team is defensively.

Atlanta is going to drop 110 before the 3rd quarter is even over. How [expletive]ing pathetic is that?

So I guess the Raptors are only going to play the Hawks tough for the first quarter. They are starting their usual self destruction a quarter earlier than usual. God this team is pathetic. I don't understand Triano though. You are down by 20 points and you have a lineup of Calderon/Jack/DeRozan/Mensah-Bonsu/Nesterovic out there? Who exactly do you plan on scoring the ball? I understand that Bosh and Bargnani are both in foul trouble, but if you don't cut into this lead by the half this game is all but over anyways. At the very least, have Belinelli or Turkoglu out there. EDIT: He just put Turkoglu and Bargnani back in. Do any other Raptor fans find it funny how the Raptors defensive philosophy is all about "protecting the house", yet the Raptors routinely get dominated inside? Its pretty pathetic when the thing that your defense is designed to stop is the your biggest weakness defensively. This team is pathetic. I actually don't even enjoy watching them at all, which I haven't said about a Raptors team in a long, long time. Even when they were [expletive], at least they played with heart and passion. This team is garbage and play like they are completely fine with that. Its disguisting.

I think that I just saw more hustle, passion and heart from the Hawks on that one loose ball situation, as well as getting back on defense, than I have from any Raptor not named Amir Johnson in the past week. I really can't stand how basically every single Raptors just looks like they don't give a [expletive] at all out there.

My bad, read the wrong box score. Congratulations for holding the Raptors 2.2 points under their season average. You really locked them down. And did I not say that Brendan Haywood played good defense on more than one occasion in tht post? Was it not Brendan Haywood who was guarding Bosh for the majority of the game?

Last I heard was that he was seeing a foot specialist and that they figured he would be back sometime later this month (mid-December I think it was). I haven't really been paying a whole lot of attention to the NBA/Raptors over the last week or so, so I could've missed something.

You allowed them to score more than their average points per game. They scored 106 and are averaging 104.8 on the season. Besides, even then, I wouldn't be bragging about holding a team to "only" 106 points, regardless of how high scoring they are. From what I saw of last nights game, there was no defense being played at all by anybody aside from Brendan Haywood. Even during the fourth quarter when the Raptors went on that cold streak, it wasn't because of some great defense being played by the Wizards. Not trying to hate on the Wizards because they deserved the, just stating my opinion because from what I saw the only player playing any defense last night was Brendan Haywood.

This will be the first full Raptors game that I have watched in a while, so hopefully the Raptors don't lay yet another egg, but I am not going to hold my breath. This is the second end of a back to back for the Raptors though, which is basically a guarntee that the Raptors will lose the game. I have a feeling that this game will follow the Raptors usual course of action in which they play the Hawks tough for the first half and keep it close, but once the second half starts their legs will start to go and their shots will start to become flat, which will lead to the Hawks pulling away from them. I've started to lose faith in this team. Yeah, they have had a very hard schedule thus far and, yeah, they are still developing chemistry, but the fact of the matter is that this team has played like crap and in my mind, have gotten worse as the season has went along. They have yet to beat a real good team, aside from Cleveland on opening night, and play soft, uninspired and with a complete lack of passion. I don't expect any of this to change tonight. To make matters worse, they are playing on the road where they average 112 points per game against. They are even worse defensively on the road than they are at home, which is sad to say. Hawks are going to win a blowout, in my opinion.

I'm not throwing the dirty label on him just yet, but he has a shady past and is right at that line between dirty and not. Some of the stuff that he has pulled, like this knee on knee (and the one against Gonchar in the playoffs), the couple of slew-foots that he has done and that incident with Briere back when Briere was in Buffalo, can definitely give him the dirty label if it continues. I'm not going to label him as dirty just yet, but he is definitely walking a fine line and a couple of more incidents like this than I don't think that you can not call him dirty. I find it funny how Ovechkin only got 2 games for his knee yet Georges Laraque got 5 for basically the exact same thing. I know that Laraque has more of a history, but the double standard for star players is on full display here. As far the Carolina player (it was actually Corvo, not Cullen), last I heard he was supposed to be out 8-12 weeks with a leg laceration. It wasn't his achillies, at least I don't think, but he did have to have surgery on his leg immediately.

Tonight was just a really bad night for injuries. You have this incident with Ballard hitting Vokoun in the head with his stick. Ovechkin delievered a knee on knee to Gleason and both players were shaken up from hit, although I'm pretty sure that Gleason wasn't injured, just hurt, as Ovechkin was the one that got injured. Koleta (sp? plays for Columbus) went down with a leg injury tonight. I'm not sure if he came back or not or what the extent of the injury was, but I do know that he got hurt. Another Carolina player (I want to say Cullen but I'm not sure) got a skate to his leg from Alzner and had to go to hospital for examinations (last I heard they feared it might be his achillies. Just a terrible night for injuries, although, it serves Ovechkin right. He has been running around doing [expletive] like this for too long and it is a little bit of karma to see him get injured on one of his own dirty plays. I like Ovechkin and he is one of the funnest players to watch, but it was only a matter of time that something like this happened to him.