Built Ford Tough

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120307_MEM@GS

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120307_NO@SAC

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120307_PHO@OKC

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120307_ATL@MIA

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120307_UTA@CHA

Turner playing like he did back in his OSU days. Collins hands him the reigns and makes him the primary ball handler and he puts up 26/9/2. With it sounding like Turner will be used in this role for the rest of the year, I'm expecting good things from him.

Wright hits a floater in the lane with 7.6 seconds left to give Cincy a 72-70 lead and Sims can't come through at the buzzer for the 3rd time as he misses a 3 as time expired to give Georgetown the win. Hell of a game.

Sims with the game tying layup as time expires to send it into a 2nd overtime. He has made great decisions on the Hoyas' final possession in both regulation and overtime to tie the game up.

Yancy Gates scored Cincinnati's last 10 points of the 2nd half to spark an 11 point comeback for the Bearcats. In fact, Cincy actually took a two point lead but Porter drained a jumper from about 10 feet after a nice find from Sims to tie the game back up and send it into overtime.

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/03/08/atlanta-hawks-josh-smith-still-wants-a-trade/ Guy needs to make up his mind. One minute he wants to be trade, the next he doesn't. Then he wants to be traded again, only to change his mind. How many times is this now that his name has come out in trade talk, whether it was him wanting out or the Hawks wanting to deal him? Anyways, do you think he gets dealt? If so, where do you think he will/should go and for what kind of a return?

I think I might have to eat some crow about all of my pre draft comments in regards to Biyombo. He is looking like he is going to be a very good defensive center and not a complete bust like I thought. He pretty much outplayed Howard tonight. 10 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks Also glad to see Henderson get back into the lineup (not sure if this was actually his 1st game back or not). 16 points for him and the Cats were +23 with him on the floor.

Pretty much what you would expect him to get. He likely would get $6M on the open market since he would probably be the best UFA centre. It also isn't as bad as it looks since the cap is rising and is much higher than it used to be. I'm sure if he were to have signed this deal two years ago (assuming he was the same player now as he was then) that he would've gotten $4.5-5M since that would be a comparable percentage of the cap as what this deal is. Grabo is my favourite player on this team and I love the way he plays, but this signing is about as high as can be without me actually calling it an overpayment. I'm not thrilled with it, nor do I hate it. I'm pretty neutral on it. PS: Tank Nation may have been given a gift tonight. It sounsd like Lupul wasn't moving his arm in the dressing room after taking that hit from Krejci in the 2nd. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if it was a seperated shoulder or something. Oh yeah, Armstrong probably broke his noise again after Seidenberg destroyed him in that fight. That loss obviously isn't much since he has been out of the lineup most of his time in Toronto anyways. Still sucks to see a guy hurt, especially in that sort of fashion.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t4V0SqZ8TY0/TQw61rPjFsI/AAAAAAAAA50/tyZWEvxu7ks/s1600/jose-calderon.jpg Raptor point guard Jose Calderon has been the subject of trade rumors for much of his time in Toronto When Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reported that the Toronto Raptors will be waiving seldomly used veteran point guard Anthony Carter prior to March 15th's trade deadline, it sparked a multitude of speculation. Why would Toronto decide to make the move now after Carter's salary was already guaranteed for the rest of the year? Why would Toronto release their 3rd string point guard when Jerryd Bayless has been bothered by a troublesome ankle for the majority of the season? However, the most commonly thought thing was whether or not the releasing of Carter was a precursor to another roster move. That just may be the case. It is no secret that Raptors General Manger Bryan Colangelo has been receiving offers on point guard Jose Calderon. He has been linked to teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, the Portland Trailblazers and the Utah Jazz. Basically, if a team is in the market for a point guard, there is a good bet that Calderon's name has been linked to them at one point or another. Colangelo has made it well known that he covets cap space, or “flexibility” as he likes to refer to, heading into this summer. That leads one to believe that Colangelo would love to shed the final year of Calderon's contract that would pay him $10,561,985. That would leave the Raptors with just $28,963,296 in committed salary for next season, possibly even less if they don't pick up the team option on centre Solomon Alabi or extend a Qualifying Offer to Bayless. Enter the Trailblazers. During the 2011 NBA Draft, the Trailblazers acquired Raymond Felton from the Denver Nuggets and believed that they had found their point guard of the future. Felton was coming off a breakthrough season split between the Nuggets and the New York Knicks in which he averaged career highs in points (15.5 per game), assists (8.3 per game), steals (1.7 per game) and Player Efficiency Rating (16.6). However, Felton has struggled in Portland. He is currently averaging career lows in points (9.7 per game), rebounds (2.0 per game), steals (1.2 per game) and PER (10.7). In fact, he has struggled so much that Portland coach Nate McMillan recently took him out of the starting lineup, although he has since been re-inserted into the starting five. That doesn't mean he has restored his coach's faith in him as he is averaging just 23 minutes per game over his last six games. http://mit.zenfs.com/217/2012/02/felton-raymond.jpgRaymond Felton has struggled in his lone season with Portland. A change of scenery may rejuvinate his game Speculation has come about that Portland is looking to make a trade to bolster their point guard position before the trade deadline in hopes of moving up the Western Conference standings and have contact numerous teams about trade possibilities. The Raptors make the most sense, though. Calderon will give the Blazers a reliable, steady, mistake free presence at the point. He is currently leading the league with an assist-to-turnover ratios of 4.53:1, averages 8.6 assists per game, which is good for 3rd in the NBA, and is a much more consistent shooter from the perimeter. Meanwhile, the Raptors will need a point guard in return if they move Calderon. By trading for Felton, they can give him a 20 game audition in hopes that he can get back to his near All-Star form that he showed last season. If he proves incapable of that, the Raptors will simply let his contract expire at the end of the season and enter the offseason with as much cap flexibility as they could hope for. It really is a win-win for both teams.

Kings are up 3 and Thornton fouls Afflalo on a 3 with 0.6 seconds left in the game. Afflalo drains all 3 and the Nuggets go on and win in OT by 3. Marcus Thornton: A) Is an absolute idiot B) Is an awesome tank commander C) Loves the number 3 D) All of the above

I guess playing the Wizards is the ultimate cure for a sputtering offense. In the 4 games they played since the All-Star break they scored: 78 on 34% and 14% from 3 85 on 41% and 8% from 3 83 on 40% and 28% from 3 75 on 36% and 21% from 3 In this game they scored: 120 on 54% and 65% from 3 They made more 3's in this game (15) than they did in the past 4 (13).

And now its over. Nice job of bouncing back from the late 4th collapse by St. Mary's to pick up the 4 point win in overtime.

So, I take back what I said above. Down 5, Gonzaga gets a two. They then force a tie up on the inbound play with the possession arrow in their favour. They call a timeout and draw up a play, and Harris drains a 3 to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Pangos' shot has been completely off tonight. He is something like 2-14 after missing two jumpers there. Harris and Sacre played well, but it doesn't look like Gonzaga will be able to overcome Pangos' poor shooting as they are down 5 with 20 seconds left. Looks like St. Mary's will take the WCC Championship this season and make it 2 a piece for these two teams in the past 4 years.

Tuukka Rask will be out for the next 4-6 weeks and Boston signed Marty Turco for goaltender insurance. Not a great time to hear this if you are a B's fan considering their lackluster play as of late.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/05/courtside-triano-next-capt-canada Hopefully both of these things come true. Triano is by far the best coach out there for the Canadian national team and is a much, much better choice than Leo Rautins, no offense to Leo. The team experienced its most success under the guidance of Triano and he has a great relationship with a lot of the up and coming Canadian talent such as Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Myck Kabono, Kris Joseph, Kevin Pangos and Robert Sacre. He is easily the logical choice and, quite frankly, never should've been fired in the 1st place. As for Nash, I'm a bit skeptical on that part, but then again, its not like being the GM would be all that difficult. It wouldn't be for a few years anyways, since I don't see him doing it while he is still playing. I also think having him involved would be a great way of ensuring that all of the top players play every summer, not like what happened this past summer when guys like Thompson turned down the offer to play. I mean, who is going to turn down an offer to play for Canada if it is extended by Steve Nash? Would be a nice step in the development of Canadian basketball.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ys-syracuse_basketball_investigation_drug_violation_030512

St. Mary's played some awesome defense to end the 1st half. Gonzaga had 1 shot clock violation and 2 other possessions where the Zags were forced to throw up a poor shot to beat the buzzer. That defense allowed them to go on a 10-2 run to close the half and tie it up. Should be a great 2nd half.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120304_SAC@PHO

Refing down the stretch has been questionable at best. However, you can argue that the Raptors being screwed over by the refs has worked in their favour as Howard has gone 1-8 from the line in this quarter and has wen 0-4 on two very questionable calls. Of course, the Raptors have blown the opportunity to capitalize. DeRozan misses a semi-contested layup (should've made it, though) and then Johnson throws the ball out of bounds off the offensive rebound so they can't really complain about the calls. Nice corner three from Redick to make it a 90-85 lead after Bayless cut it to two after making a pair of freebies.

DeRozan with a nice 1st half. His shooting numbers look worse than they actually were as well. He was 6-12 in the half, but 3 of those misses were him receiving the ball 2-3 feet behind the 3 point line with under 4 seconds on the shot clock. He isn't exactly the type to bail you out in short clock scenarios at this point in his career. He had a couple of nice drives where he was able to just explode by his man and get to the rim. He also had a nice post up on Richardson and an impressive spin in the lane to avoid Big Baby's help after he got by Redick. Also very impressed by Gray in that half. Did an excellent job battling Howard down low. James Johnson also had a nice half distributing the ball and filling up the stat sheet, like he normally does.