Alabi: back to professional tear-aways.

Barbosa: first he seemed to be hitting the deck more often than a drug dealer at a police convention, then he pulled a hammy. Not a good thing when one of your sparks gets snuffed out.

Bargnani: as automatic and expected as your womans period on days when you are suffering from natural Viagra. You can even add in a dash of “wow” when you see him battling for boards and getting putbacks early on. A nice night that also saw him make his way to the line.

Bayless: also rhymes with careless. A poor showing on many fronts that makes you realize that he isn’t flatlining, he’s just being him.

Calderon: a double double night that, like Bayless’ evening, was exactly what you’d say was a typical Jose night: some shots that made you cringe, he always looked for Andrea first, he demanded attention, and you have to think that some teams out there are looking at calling Colangelo to add him as a piece to their playoff roster.

Davis: white headband = good night. Always happy when he makes himself be noticed and tonight he did. Fought hard in his 19 minutes and also positioned himself well on the offensive end. The future remains bright.

DeRozan: full of piss and vinegar tonight and I loved it. Being called for tickey-tack fouls on one end and being absolutely jobbed on the other, he showed some rare verbal fight and got T’d up for it. Good on him. Hell, the way the night was going at the time, I would have loved to see him get tossed. Instant cult hero situation right there.

Dorsey: Ski Hill Forehead was out on the floor. The end. He really had zero impact…kind of like a foam wall on a NASCAR oval.

Evans: he even got replaced as a carrier of Leandro. Gotta hurt the ego a bit.

Gaines: get ready young man, your time will come in less than 24 hours.

Johnson: looks like he is feeling a bit better. A lot more mobile and making himself a physical factor again under the boards. Other thing that hit me: he has become a lot less vocal and a lot more workmanlike. Love it.

Kleiza: offensively tonight he reminded me of Jamario Moon. A lot of “what the…”’s and not enough of “nice one”’s. Also like Jamario, though, he was active and made himself a factor in the game. And again like Moon, it just didn’t matter.

Stojakovic: it was Serbian night tonight. Peja chewed his best gum in appreciation.

Weems: he tweaked his back in practice. Want a hot rumour: it’s more a chemistry problem with him and the team, not his back.

Wright: he did one thing tonight that always wins my appreciation: he tried to motivate his troops. More than once he could be heard trying to wake his guys up defensively and two times specifically it seemed to translate into some good things happening. Worth its weight in gold.

Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani

Under The Bus: Jerryd Bayless

Game Theme:

A win against the Hawks would have been nice, but you have to believe that the game went a long way in helping this team mature. From what I saw, the Raptors played a great game until the final couple minutes where the Hawks experience and skill level was just too much to overcome. While the loss was a heart-breaker, the team shouldn’t hang their heads low and mope. They weathered a ridiculous 62 point outburst from Crawford and Johnson and were in it until the final seconds.

The one thing to take away from the game was that you have to always be playing for the win. Jose’s attempt to draw a foul on Horford on his last drive makes the point. From the moment he picked up his dribble, you knew nothing good was going to come of it. Horford did a great job of maintaining position and challenging the ball, while Calderon wasn’t able to draw enough contact to get the call. Would Kobe/LeBron/Wade got that call? Maybe, probably; but the Raptors don’t have that luxury. There was plenty of time from the inbound pass to run a play, and Calderon just lost his nerve and tried to force the issue.

If you want to blame anyone, lob it towards Triano for scripting a brutal out-of-bounds play that was doomed from the moment they left the huddle. There was nothing creative in the set, the Hawks switched on everything and defended with relative ease…

The last time these guys played, I had the fortune of not witnessing a 22 point embarrassment on the Raptors home floor. McGrady and Hamilton combined for 52 (seems to be a reoccurring theme of the Raptors losing when the opposing teams shooting guards go off); 17 of which coming from McGrady who seemed to have found his mojo against the Raptors and has been pretty good since.

Had a great chat about the Pistons with Patrick Hayes from Piston Powered:

Lots of drama with Kuester since day 1. I know he needed to have a loud voice with this team, and not pander to players like the whole Iverson fiasco, but it seems to be coming at a cost. What’s your assessment of this situation and Kuesters abilities? Will Kuester last, or will both Prince and Hamilton need to get traded for this team to have any chance?
John Kuester waited as long as he possibly could to bench Rip Hamilton. Michael Curry was fired after one season as coach largely because he couldn’t fix his relationship with Hamilton, so Kuester trudged on last season and most of this season with Hamilton as his starter, even as it became painfully obvious to everyone who watched the team that Hamilton just isn’t the same player he used to be. He’s in the midst of his third straight poor season, and Kuester, understandably, tried to make things work because of Joe Dumars’ reputation as an executive who will side with the players over the coach when there are conflicts.

Kuester inherited a horribly imbalanced roster with too many rotation players in the back-court to get them all sufficient minutes, no depth in the front-court and a point guard in Rodney Stuckey who might not be a point guard. There are plenty of things that aren’t his fault in that regard. But still, the team looks poorly prepared at times, the Pistons routinely give up leads in the third quarter, suggesting that halftime adjustments are a major weakness of the coaching staff and Kuester hasn’t established any type of legitimate rotation his entire tenure as coach.

It’s hard to predict whether or not he’ll last. I’d be surprised if he’s back, based on Dumars’ belief that this was a playoff caliber team. The ownership situation further clouds things — the team is on the verge of (hopefully) being sold, and there’s no guarantee that anyone will be back right now.

Over the last 4 games Greg Monroe is averaging 13.5pts 11rebs, coinciding with his inclusion in the starting lineup. What’s changed for him and what do you think of the kid?
Monroe’s development has been the best part of the season, by far. He looked lost at the beginning of the year. He couldn’t finish in traffic (he was shooting below 40 percent his first month or so), he was not strong enough to hold position on defense and his passing, which was what he was known for in college, was rarely ever seen.

Now, he’s their best front-court player. He’s confident, he’s become craftier around the rim (a necessity since he’s not the most athletic guy) and, to everyone’s surprise, he’s consistently been the team’s best rebounder. Monroe wasn’t known for that in college, but it has been a pleasant surprise considering the Pistons are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league.

I don’t know exactly what has changed, other than he’s the one player Kuester has done a good job managing. The better Monroe has played, the more he’s been rewarded with increased minutes. Not everyone on the roster can say that.

If the Pistons/Nets/Nuggets trade goes through, and you guys land Murphy/Petro, how much will the Pistons improve?
A lot depends on how healthy Murphy is. He’s been terrible in New Jersey. But if he can return to the double-double caliber player he was in Indiana, the Pistons still have an outside shot at the eighth seed. Hamilton being gone would remove a big part of the locker room tension/chemistry issues, it would free up more playing time for Ben Gordon and Austin Daye, who are both better than Hamilton at this point even though Gordon also is having a poor season and lost his starting job just a couple weeks after being rewarded with it, and Murphy/Petro would certainly make the Pistons a bigger team.

Of course, I’m not sure getting that eighth seed will be a positive thing when it would cost a lottery pick to do it, but some team has to make the playoffs I guess, and the Pistons have as good a shot as any of the bottom feeders to string a few wins together and get in.

If Hamilton gets moved, can we expect Prince to be jettisoned as well? What is the market for him and what do you think the Pistons get back, and want, in a trade?
Again, a lot of this depends on the ownership situation. The Pistons have been in a position where they can’t add long-term salary with the team up for sale, so that’s severely limited Dumars’ trade options. I would suspect that if Hamilton is moved, they’d be more inclined to keep Prince, who also has an expiring contract, then use the money to pursue free agents in the off-season.

If Hamilton isn’t moved, then maybe they’d look at some options for Prince. He’d certainly help a contending team, and as an upcoming free agent, the investment in Prince wouldn’t be significant. He’s still a reliable fourth or fifth option-type player on a good team. He defends, he’s smart, he’s a good passer who can run an offense in a pinch, he hits shots from the perimeter and has a decent post-game. If they can’t trade Hamilton, Prince becomes basically the only chance to improve, since I can’t see any other team taking on Hamilton’s contract.

If Rip is traded, I’d be Prince stays while the Pistons pursue a smaller scale deal, possibly finding someone to take Jason Maxiell and the remaining years on his contract.

How do the Pistons match up with the Raptors, and what will be the gameplan heading into the game tonight?
In a word, poorly. The Pistons don’t defend the three particularly well. They struggle to defend athletic big men with high motors like Amir Johnson. They struggle with stretch fours like Andrea Bargnani. They struggle with athletic wings like DeMar DeRozan. And competent point guards like Jose Calderon often have their way picking apart the Pistonss’ defense. Detroit finally got some revenge with the 22-point win in Toronto in December, but before that, the Raptors had delivered three really embarrassing losses to the Pistons. And with their lineup changes — Tracy McGrady, Chris Wilcox and Greg Monroe are all starting — the team is far from a sound defensive bunch.

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Peja Stojakovic – Out
Sonny Weems – No idea
Jose Calderon – Day to day
Jerryd Bayless – Day to day

Detroit
Ben Wallace – Day to day
Chris Wilcox – Day to day

Match-ups

Point Guard
While Bibby stuck that game winning 3 like a champ, Calderon did a solid job of disrupting his flow from the perimeter up until that point; you can’t even blame him for losing Bibby through the screen, there was more than enough of that to go around. Tonight against Stuckey he has himself a different kind of beast to deal with. Rodney is more a combo guard than a traditional PG, so he’s not a natural floor leader and does very little to get people involved and execute plays; assisting on just 1 in 5 of his possessions. He does very well at getting his shot off in the short to mid-range, but struggles to get to the rim and hit long jumpers/treys.

Expect Jose to be back-pedalling most of the game. The danger will be when Rodney posts Jose/Bayless; his size and strength give him a huge advantage. Defensively, he’s going to give Jose/Bayless a tough time with his size and agility in one-on-one situations.

Offensively, off the high-screen, Calderon will pick apart the Pistons all night. I’m actually worried about Will Bynum, who’s torched us in the past with his speed, shooting and play-making. He hasn’t played a great deal over the last couple games, 4 DNP-CD, but could be a match-up that Kuester would want to roll.

McGrady could start at the point as he did against Memphis, which could be bad if his shot is on. While he sees the floor well, he’s not a playmaker off the dribble. He’ll probably get whatever shot he wants, but as long as Jose doesn’t give him too much space, and doesn’t give up a lot of good looks, I can live with McGrady trying to take matters into his own hands.
Edge: Raptors

Shooting Guard
Sadly, there’s nothing satisfying about seeing a broken down T-Mac end up on a dysfunctional Pistons team; the guy had his run. At this stage in his career, Tracy should be providing spot up shooting and play-making for a contender off the bench, but dems da breaks yea? What’s hurting the Pistons is some really brutal play by Ben Gordon, and Kuester’s inability, up until recently, to manage Rip Hamilton. Don’t get it twisted, all these guys have hurt the Raptors in the past, and can go off if left unchecked.

After that beating that DeMar took at the hands of Crawford/Johnson on Wednesday, he should be looking to exact some revenge, and can get off early by taking it to a broken down McGrady, who will have to rely on his veteran savvy to deal. Off the bench, Barbosa should have no problems taking Gordon off the bounce, and has shown enough defensive resiliency to not give Ben the space needed to find his rhythm. If DeRozan rebounds from the a bad game against the Hawks, he can really put pressure on Detroit.

A quick note on Hamilton: the guy seems to have checked out, and with the trade rumours going around, his recent benching might have sucked all the drive out of him. Still, doesn’t mean that the Raptors should let up, since their defense has been known to rejuvenate guys and give them career nights.
Edge: Detroit

Small Forward
Prince has also had friction with Kuester, but unlike Hamilton, he’s hasn’t checked out and has been able to produce when he’s playing. I’m calling a big game from him since Kleiza sucks. Not only does he suck, Triano is indulging him for reasons unknown. I’d love to see Wright get 30 minutes tonight, but he won’t. My hope is that BryCo will turn Peja into a starting small forward who’s athletic and comes to play, a Wesley Matthew’s type…to dream…
Edge: Detroit

Power Forward
I don’t know a great deal about Monroe, but the Georgetown product has flipped the switch and is one of the few bright spots for this team. He’s a big boy who plays exclusively in the paint and on the glass. He has the ability to step out and hit a mid-range jumper, but if he lives out there, it will be to the Raptors advantage. Defensively, he doesn’t have the speed to keep up with Amir or Bargnani in transition, and will probably lose his fair share of 50/50 balls off the rim against Amir/Ed. However, he has had some nice games against solid front courts in the last few, so he needs to be accounted for.

Off the bench, Villanueva brings a totally different dynamic to this, and will force Amir/Bargnani to the perimeter and out of the paint. He’s averaging 17.5pts in 24min against the Raptors this season; so he’s been scoring at will and making a mess of the Raptor defense.
Edge: Even

Center
It’s getting hard to say the same thing about the majority of Bargnani’s match-ups: he can score at will, poses match-up problems, doesn’t rebound. I’m not even going to try…Bargnani for 27/8 tonight.
Edge: Toronto

Keys to the Game

Crash the Boards
The Pistons are the second worst rebounding team in the league, and with Ben Wallace injured, will have trouble dealing with the Raptors size in the front court. Both Stuckey and Prince rebound well at their positions, and with Monroe coming into his own, it wont be a cake-walk. However, the Pistons just don’t have horses to battle the Raptors for a full 48.

Post Play
Another benefit of Wallace’s injury is the lack of defense in the paint against the Raptors bigs, and hopefully, a slashing DeRozan.  While the Pistons have a couple big boys to plant in the key, none of them has the defensive chops to challenge and change shots. Bargnani could have a field day backing Wilcox into the paint, turning and shooting; leaving Amir/Ed to clean up the boards and do the dirty work.

Triano
After the loss to the Hawks, there is potential for the Raptors to come into this game deflated.  Here’s hoping that the coaching staff can keep morale up and remind the team about the 22 point loss the last time out. Also, calling some proper out-of-bound plays would be nice, whatever…

The Line

The gamblers have the Raps as 5.5 point favourites with an over/under of 207. I may not have painted a real rosy picture for the Raptors, but they definitely have what it takes to win this game. You can bet your ass that they remember that embarrassing loss and will want to exact some revenge.

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Alabi: best +/- on the team tonight. He should start.

Barbosa: the one spark on the Raptors roster tonight. He tried to carry them on his back again, but the Pistons wouldn’t let it happen. Great final game before the break from the guy who has my vote for the best addition to the roster this year.

Bargnani: you can tell he just isn’t himself and he must be ecstatic for the break. Good to hear he is staying in town too, so even more rest.  Although, if his hot piece is here….

Bayless: apparently went to Reggie’s place for some chicken and took the night off for food poisoning.

Calderon: an astonishing number of turnovers for Jose who was outplayed more than a Bieber song.

Davis: quiet but got his job done. Appears to have taken a step back athletically, though. He doesn’t seem to have that bounce he first had and I’m hoping it’s him getting his head straight as opposed to Jay telling him to pull back.

DeRozan: Started great but then faded faster than a Kid N Play haircut. The aggressiveness he shows in flashes like he did tonight is intoxicating, but the fact he can’t harness it and make it come back on a consistent basis makes him expendable.

Dorsey: like baking bread with no yeast, you can’t expect much..and especially nothing to your satisfaction.

Evans: see ya next year, homes. Put your leg up, relax, eat some turkey and get yourself right.

Johnson: started but looked like a Wendy’s baconator but on the way out of your system as opposed to on its way in.

Kleiza: the starting spot agrees with him. Another markedly better performance tonight that saw him aggressively try and make things happen. Really like this version of him. Hoot hoot.

Stojakovic: eating gumbo in N’awlins.

Weems: out with back spasms. Probably from carrying that ego around in his carry-on

Wright: he’s going to wake up in cold sweats tonight yelling “Must Stop McGrady”. Well, too late wingnut. 

Driving The Bus: Leandro Barbosa

Under The Bus: Jose Calderon

Game Theme:

Alabi: for the first time in weeks, he gets to stay in a hotel where he doesn’t feel the need to use a UV light.

Barbosa: you think the young guys are giving him a bit of a push? Since Jose didn’t feel the need to join the team, Leandro again assumed the role of backup PG for most of the night and looked like he was a talented Jarrett Jack. Solid game showing strong veteran leadership.

Bargnani: really impressed by that light bulb on top of his head on my HD screen. Sometime in the 3rd, he realized that an over the hill guy was making like Hakeem on his ass, so Andrea decided to rebound and fight back. Not only that, but he was giving direction on the offensive side of the floor and he had fire in his eyes. That second half was utterly jawdropping in my house.

Bayless: okay, admit it, who forwarded last nights Roll Call to Bayless’ iPad? From the jump, Bayless was aggressive and played with a chip on his shoulder. He got to the line 12 times, he was hitting shots from all over the floor and he made Stuckey look like he was playing with one leg in the second half.

Calderon: a little Grey Goose, some soft music and a current copy of the NOW classifieds. Just sayin.

Davis: you could almost hear his sphincter tighten when he saw the size of Ben Wallace. Again, Ed’s natural abilities (see: jumping and looking like a babyface) were present in all their glory, but he isn’t NBA ready yet. I’m kind of hoping Dorsey knocks him around in practice a bit.

DeRozan: started the game as confident as J.Cole in an all-girls school. As is customary, he took his foot off the gas a bit and let himself get shown up, but overall he had a nice night.

Dorsey: I still think he doubletakes when Jay calls his name. Still, mini-mountain played well. This was a team he could have seen major minutes against given his size and I’m surprised he didn’t, especially during Wallace’s off the charts run.

Evans: do you think his teeth rattle when it’s cold?

Johnson: early foul trouble, leading to the usual “how can you help us when you are on the bench” sigh from Raptorland. I’m beginning to re-jig that to say “how can you help us when you are wearing a Raptors uniform”.

Kleiza: hoot hoot. Workmanlike, stealthlike, looking like an auto worker from Flint (they still have those, right?).

Stojakovic: doctors note? Anyone? Anyone?

Weems: if this game was like, say, going to Winnipeg (first you think “hey, it’s a trip”, then you get there and get pounded with snow so you start to hate it, then the winds come, blowing said snow, meaning you really hate it, then the Blue Bomber cheerleaders show up, making it a bit better, then you find out they are all staying in the suite next to you and are planning a slumber party, so now it’s amazing, THEN you find out you have a connecting door to said suite and it’s unlocked, so now it’s historical) well Sonny is like the cop that comes to shut the slumber party down and arrest you for being an instigator. No fun.

Wright: another great performance. He helped turn the tide, he threw the reverse gear into at least neutral, and he has proven over the past few appearances that he deserves a longer look. Listening, Jay?

Driving The Bus: Jerryd Bayless

Under The Bus: Sonny Weems

Game Theme:

What a difference a day and some shame makes. It was the Raptors/Bulls game all over again, except the Raptors did the exact opposite of what they did against Chicago; aka, they played well. The day started with a guarantee for a win by Charlie Villanueva, and boy did he hear it from the pre-game tip. Matt, Jack, Rod and Leo all had a chance to rip into him for what I can only imagine was payback for Charlie banging all their wives or daughters or something equally bad.

So just to recap (cause I wasn’t clear yesterday), if:

• the Bulls lose both the next two games, Raptors are in
• the Bulls split the next two games, the Raptors need to beat the Knicks to get in
• the Bulls win both the next two games, the Raptors are in the lottery

Regardless of what the Bulls do, the Raptors have to beat the Knicks tomorrow. You want to be going into the playoffs on a mini two-game winning streak, not fall ass backwards into the post-season. It wont really matter in the grand scheme of things since the Cavs will roll over the Raptors something fierce, but you want your ducks in a row.

This game was over in the 2nd quarter, so I’ll save you the play-by-play, but a few things happened that really makes me hopeful while frustrating me at the same time, namely Bargnani. No one disputes his talent. No one disputes his abilities. We’re ok with his sub-par rebounding given his offensive talents; but when you only do one thing well (score the ball), you need to do that every single game. Guys like Jamal Crawford and Ben Gordon have made careers ($$$) doing nothing but scoring.

You know when Bargnani is going to have a good game. He takes his shots in rhythm; he keeps those lame shot fakes to a minimum; he scores from the post and drives the ball. His scoring fuels his defense (and rebounding), and when he’s doing more than just popping J’s, he’s a pretty good all around player.

Amir came through with a career scoring night; 26pts on 10-12 from the field and 6-7 from the line. Where was the rebounding though? I know I know, I can’t be happy with a win, and always need to pick at things….but Amir’s job is to rebound and bang in the blocks. He took good shots and made them, but only grabbed 2 rebounds? Detroit missed 42 shots, and grabbed only 11 offensive boards, that’s a lot of rebounds that Amir could have grabbed, but he didn’t. Just don’t want him to get used to scoring at the expense of his rebounding, scorers the Raptors have enough of.

The Pistons protected the ball better, grabbed more offensive boards and got to the line more (hitting more free throws than the Raptors actually attempted), but the Raptors shot the crap out of the ball. Wasn’t even a matter of being on, it was all about ball movement and playmaking. Calderon and Jack dished out 23 dimes with only 4 turnovers between the two. That’s an almost 6:1 ratio, ridiculous.

Playing Weems 40 minutes in a blowout was about the only thing Triano did that pissed me off (other than the post-game, those interviews insult and anger me). Hopefully the injury isn’t too serious, I didn’t catch any news yet.

At the end of it all, does it really matter if this team makes the playoffs or not? You make the playoffs and get swept by the Cavs, are you better for it? You go to the draft, and take someone at 14, does that make you better? I’m of the belief that going to the playoffs is always better, but only if the future of this team includes Bosh.

At the least, we can all enjoy a win over the Pistons.

I was very excited about the game yesterday, so much so that when an opportunity to get some tickets came by, I threw my newborn at her mother and said, “I’m outta here”. At that moment I also remembered this video made by an Arsenal fan before a big game this year. It’s an amateur video which shows what going to a big Arsenal game might be like. Foolish me, I revved by Canon DSLR Rebel T1i, deleted my newborn’s pics from it so I could make use of the full 16GB and headed out the door trying to make my own version of what a classic Raptors home game might be like. Stupid. Me.

I should’ve realized that this team has the backbone of a snail and the fighting spirit of a fat gimpy panda. Needless to say, my enthusiasm for movie-making quickly came to an end when we were down 15 in the second quarter and down 21 by the third. Fact is that I was more “ready” for this game than the Raptors. Watching the post-game interviews you saw Triano lie to himself and Andrea Bargnani reveal that he was hardly surprised that they lost. Talk about a confident attitude, eh? It was a disappointing night all around, the game-management by Triano was poor, Belinelli’s cameo was disappointing (had he hit a couple of those threes, who knows, could’ve got him going) and generally speaking, the Raptors weren’t ready to play save Hedo Turkoglu, who despite a stellar rebounding game struggled mightily on offense. I was calling for Banks to guard Rose in the first quarter, it only made sense but Triano’s narrow-minded approach to the game never even entertained that thought.

The crowd was solid last night, they were there to support the team and were looking to cheer anything and everything early. But as is the case with most Raptor games, the home team did little to spur them on and it ended up being a frustrating evening with the Bulls scoring too easily and the Raptors taking low-percentage shots. Whenever a Sonny Weems 18-footer is considered a decent look, you’re in trouble. As nice as he’s been this year for us, he’s being asked to perform above and beyond his pay-grade as our two main guns have been deathly silent. There was a spattering of boos in the second quarter which I didn’t partake in because it was way too early. When the Bulls stepped on our throats in the third quarter, the boos got louder and the ACC started to empty. I didn’t boo but I sure felt like it, problem was that I didn’t want to boo all 12 players, I wanted to boo maybe 5 or 6 players plus the coaching staff and couldn’t figure out a way to do it. And just when things appeared they couldn’t get any worse, the ACC decided to have contests where we guessed Rasho’s favorite celebrity and everybody got crazy over free t-shirts being shot out of a cannon. It served as a good reminder of why I despise going to games – your team’s getting smoked in the biggest game of the year and we’re jumping around like fools over t-shirts. *&#% off.

We have the tie-breaker over the Bulls which means that with two more games to go, we need to win one more game than them. It’s not a lost cause just yet, if you don’t believe me, believe Hollinger. Tonight we’re in Detroit where the Pistons have won 3 of 4 after dropping 11 straight. Rodney Stuckey missed the game against Charlotte on Saturday where they gave the Bobcats a pretty good run; he’s questionable for tonight with bruised ribs and I don’t see the Pistons risking him but you never know.

The Bulls are at home to Boston tomorrow and depending on whether Atlanta beats Milwaukee tonight, that game could be completely meaningless for the C**tics. See, Atlanta holds the tie-breaker over Boston (4-0) and if they win tonight, the best the C**tics can do is tie which does them no good. So if you’re scoreboard watching at home, we want the Bucks to win so that Boston has motivation to climb into the third spot. And there is plenty of motivation to go around. The injury-riddled Bucks are very likely to finish as the sixth seed even though they’re tied with Miami for fifth right now, their remaining games are against Atlanta and Boston, while Miami plays Philadelphia and NJ. Think about it, if you’re Atlanta or Boston, who do you want to play? A Bogut-less inexperienced Bucks team or Dwayne Wade and the refs?

So in summary, cheer for the Bucks and Heat to win tonight so Boston can beat Milwaukee on Wednesday night and hope Atlanta loses in Cleveland; this would seal a first-round matchup between Boston and Milwaukee. Got that? Good.

Back to the Raptors. You get the impression that these guys expect to lose every time they step on the floor, the swagger that is needed to compete in a playoff battle is definitely missing. The only Raptors that I think are playing with a winning attitude are Jarrett Jack, Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson (contract year). The rest of the bunch are playing Game 80 with the same sense of urgency they played Game 6 with. Just look at the tip-off, look at how excited and ready to go Noah is, do you see that sense of urgency from any of the Raptors? Give the Bulls credit, they were focused and ready to compete which speaks off their terrible head-coach, Vinny Del Negro, who actually managed to out-motivate the Raptors and Jay Triano.

Defensively, we’re a disaster everywhere. Our team defense doesn’t hide our individual flaws and our individual flaws put too much pressure on our team defense, it’s a vicious cycle that can only lead to being the worst team in the league and that’s what we are. You can blame the players and you should, but I find it hard to believe that a team with Weems, Wright, Jack and Bosh came to be so bad. No doubt the players need to be held accountable, but ask yourself if the coaching has done anything, and I mean anything, to mitigate our defensive problems. Answer is a resounding, booming no. Other than some obvious switches like hiding Calderon once in a while, there’s nothing Marc Iavaroni or Jay Triano have brought to this team.

I want the Raptors to make the playoffs, but if we can’t even compete against the Bulls at home what are we going to do against a rested Cleveland side? I don’t know, but I want to find out. It’s like twisting the knife in a wound, it hurts like hell but you want to know what your pain threshold is.

The first 4 game winning streak of this season was a hard fought one against the Pistons. All things considered it was a quality win. You can pick at nuances of the game, which I will, but you have to be happy with the result, which I am. It used to be the Heat we could always count on for a win against, but this Pistons team has been a God-send this season. I thought yesterday was the last time we played them this season, but it turns out we get another shot at sweeping the season series against them on the second last game of the year (which will probably have playoff implications).

Two different distinct Raptor teams played yesterday. In the first half, we saw a team that shared the ball, got good shots and knocked them down. They rotated on defense, kept there man in front of them, and played a full 24 minutes of quality ball. The second half saw a team that had no energy. No one played defense, rotations weren’t there, they couldn’t score and looked like the Nets (for the 3rd). They got back their scoring touch in the 4th, but the movement wasn’t the same as the first half.

Rebounding was miserable for the whole game, lets get that out of the way now. The Pistons grabbed 10 offensive boards in the 1st quarter. TEN! Perspective: the Raptors grabbed 7 total boards (6 defensive). The Pistons have not been able to get good shots off against the Raptors for some reason. We have enough athleticism and quickness to keep their guards/wings out of their comfort zones for long enough stretches to build big leads, but their bigs rebound the crap out of the ball and kept them within reach throughout the whole game.

You know who is a good positional forward who does nothing but stand between his man and backboard? Rasho. The guy who got a DNP-COACHES DECISION. Blows me away. I’m not saying to play him the whole game, but how about long enough to keep the Detroit bigs out of the key to give a breather from the relentless attack on the boards? I can’t put all the rebounding burden on the Bosh/Bargnani, they pulled down 22 of the teams 36. No other Raptors grabbed more then 3 rebounds last night. It can’t all be on these two, everyone needs to chip in.

Rebounding aside, the offense sputtered magnificently in the 3rd to the tune of 14 points after the Raptors scored 60 in the 1st half. The whole team came out of the half flat. Aside from Bargnani who was trying to score inside of 8 feet, it was all jumpers. There was no attempt to get in the paint for a layup/dunk, or to draw a foul and get to the line. The Raptors actually only got to the line at the end of the 3rd when Bargnani/Banks hit 4 of 6.

So this is what I don’t get. the Pistons open the 3rd on a 9-2 run, and instead of putting in Belinelli or Weems who can score some, Wright gets the call. Defense wasn’t what was needed. I threw Belinelli under the bus, but he did score a few yesterday. Weems slashes and gets to the rack. These are qualities you need when you are in a shooting funk, Wright doesn’t have any of this. All this bumbling resulted in about 8 scoreless minutes in the 3rd.

I actually liked what I saw in the 4th. The Pistons closed the gap to 2, but the Raptors didn’t fold. They responded shot for shot, and made key defenisve rotations down the stretch. The Pistons attack was still relentless, but Jack/Weems/Turkoglu were all active on the wing, Bargnani was contesting shots and Bosh was rotating down low. Nothing came super easy which is what you want to see. On the other end, the last 10 Raptor points were at the line, or a Weems dunk aka everything was inside. It broke the Pistons back because they couldn’t make a stop when they needed too.

The refs did have a hand in this game, but the Raptors went to the line 44 times last night. You can’t tell me that we didn’t benefit from the poor officiating. Sure it helped the Pistons get back into the game, but hitting 32 of 44 was the difference in this game.

Quick thoughts:

• I thought DeRozan/Weems/Belinelli/Wright did a great job by committee on Hamilton and Gordon.
• The Raptors do seem to be gelling. They aren’t there yet, but you heard them talking to each other during the game yesterday.
• I think Antoine Wright has a contribution to make to this team, but only on defense. If he only worries about stopping his man, and hitting OPEN shot attempts, I can live with that.
• I also wont complain about Bargnani if he ups his rebounding to 8 or so a game. He’s at 6.1 right now, so it’s not out of the realm of impossibility, is it?
• Even though Turkoglu disappeared in the 2nd half, him and Jack have great chemistry when running the offense. I love the constant charge towards the rim.
• We need to handle Charlotte because once January hits, we have @Boston, San Antonio, @Orlando, @Philly and Boston in a row, not a great way to ring in the new year.
• The next game against the Pistons is going to be a tough one, and may have huge seeding implications for both Toronto and Detroit.

Sorry this got up so late, Rogers was not doing me any favours this morning, happy Monday.

Banks – Bynum crossed him over so bad, no one wanted to sit with him on the bench.

Bargnani – Hit a few timely shots, a timely block and a few boards. Had some lapses on defense and was on the bench during key defensive possessions at the end of the game, but that’s who this big lug is.

Belinelli – Oh so close to that double-double: 9pts 6fls. Apparently got into Hamiltons head, but all I saw was poor defense and and embarassing flops.

Bosh – Shouts of MVP were drowned out by cheers for pizza. The franchise had a big game AND the Raptors won, weird how that worked put. His defense was suspect at times, but none of the bigs were great in the paint today.

Calderon – His suit looked a bit baggy, gotta get the slim-fit stuff man.

DeRozan – Hopefully he took some notes from Rip on how an NBA shooting guard should play. Weems played the important minutes, ’nuff said.

Evans – At least he got to the game in time (see O’Bryant, Patrick).

Jack – I’m getting used to our point guard driving to the rack so much, opens up the floor for others to do their thing.

Johnson – Makes me cringe when he shoots jumpers, a free Amir is one who lives in the paint, not one who wanders on the perimeter.

Mensah-Bonsu – Hustled, put down some dunks, and was all over the glass – all during warm-ups.

Nesterovic – I swear I saw him nod-off a few times planted at the end of the bench. The team could have used his size on Big Ben down low, but Triano was coaching so we opted to let Wallace do what he wanted instead.

O’Bryant – Didn’t show up until the 1st intermission, way to support your team.

Turkoglu- Disappeared in the second half, but had a good game considering. Great dish to a slashing Weems for a dunk in crunch time.

Weems – The kid needs to slash more and shoot less, but he has emerged as the front runner at the 2. Great hustle today.

Wright – Got burn during crunch time of a close game, must have dug up some sketchy pics of Triano and that barista.

Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh

Under The Bus: Marco Belinelli

Game Theme: Coming as soon as I get to a computer

There is a lot riding on this game. The Raptors are barely in 6th place in the East, they are on a 3 winning streak, and can sweep the season series with the Pistons if they have another solid showing. They were able to solidify the Nets win with follow up victories over the Hornets and Pistons, and if they win on Sunday, they will give themselves in an opportunity to finish 2009 on a 5 game winning streak (and close to within 1 game of .500).

Even though the Pistons are injury ridden, they can’t be taken lightly. There is a lot of fight in these guys. I checked in with Dan Feldman of PistonPowered.com to get his take on this matchup and what he thinks about the Pistons season so far:

What you think about the first two times the Pistons/Raptors played this season?

Both times, the Pistons had played the night before and the Raptors were on two days rest. Yes, Toronto has looked excellent in those games. But both teams are on three days rest this time. I’m not ready to concede the Raptors are so much better than the Pistons until we see this third game — and maybe not even then if Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon return from injury, but look rusty.

How are the signings of Gordon/Villanueva working out?

When healthy, both have looked pretty good. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been often. I’m cautiously optimistic at this point, but that’s a little more pessimistic than the start of the season. (Note: He provides a great scouting report on Charlie V here, great read)

Are the Pistons a playoff team?

If they were healthy all year, I have little doubt they would be. It just depends how quickly Hamilton, Gordon, Tayshaun Prince and Villanueva can get healthy. Detroit may be too far back at that point. As of now, my guess is yes, but I’m hardly confident.

Do Hamilton and/or Prince get traded this year?

Probably not. I certainly think Joe Dumars would be willing, but I don’t think he wants to give them away. With so many teams either in financial trouble or saving their cap space for the summer, I doubt he’d find a taker.

The Raptors did catch the Pistons twice when they were playing the second night of a back-to-back, but they took advantage. Both times, they weathered the early storm, and cruised to a win. Tomorrow, the Pistons will be well rested, so they wont need to push so hard from the tip in hopes the Raptors will fold early. That being said, they have nagging injury problems (Hamilton, Gordon (questionable) and Prince) and regardless of how well rested they are, they just don’t have the horses.

Detroit was able to stay in the last game with an incredible effort on the offensive glass, where they grabbed 23 offensive rebounds that resulted in 30 second chance points. Bosh and Bargnani will have to battle on the glass from the get go. I can’t even stress this enough, if we win the battle of the boards, the Pistons have no chance. Zero.

I came down hard on Bosh for not scoring enough last game, and I still stand by that. He dropped 12 points last game, and regardless of how much we won by, that production wont cut it against better teams. It can be argued that he didn’t need to produce as much since the Raptors had the game early, but he did play 33 minutes, so he was out there for a significant period of time. The Raptors need a balanced attack where Bosh/Bargnani are both contributing 17+ points a game, with Jack and Turkolgu running the show.

Jack and Turkoglu played masterful games on Wednesday creating for everyone. Seems like Triano is on to something with his usage of Hedo, I must say that I’m liking it. Still not a Triano fan, but he is learning his lessons, late as they may be.

I’m calling another Raptor win Sunday, too much has to go right for the Pistons to beat them.

On another note, we are very pleased to announce the newest addition to The Republic: Arsenalist and his family welcomed Alia to the world on Christmas day – a Festivus miracle! The kid is damn cute, Arse did well on this one.

Banks – The positive press got to his head. Came in and promptly turned it over twice, once on a childish double-dribble. Somebody check with Doug Smith and see if he still considers him a “trade asset”.

Bargnani – The jumper was on, hence the game was on. All his shots were in rhythm and he looked to break a sweat on offense. Needed to get more mixed up in on the boards, the Pistons’ +18 offensive rebounding edge speaks to their superior physical presence in the paint, but when you have an offensive game like he had, it makes up for a lot of things. Great shooting display, his shot-chart‘s all over the place, don’t miss out on the reverse-dunk off the baseline drive, an almost patented move.

Belinelli – Amazing what happens when you start off by driving instead of stepping back for a three behind two screens. He admitted the early layup got his confidence going and from there he just let his instinct take over. Triano should test him early and see what he has in him for that night, chances are if he misses his first couple shots he’s a write-off for the whole game, if he’s on, great. Either way, with Weems in the wings he won’t be playing 25 minutes of 0-9 ball anymore.

Bosh – Let Wallace dictate his offensive game too much for my liking, wasn’t as aggressive as he needed to be against the laterally challenged Wallace. Lucky for us we didn’t need his offense tonight. Good effort on the glass and on the PnR with Turkoglu and Jack.

Calderon – Desde españa, a 6-3 G, numero ocho, Jose Cal-deron!! You’ve heard the last of those words from Herbie Coon.

DeRozan – He needs to get a grip on his handle, it’s too loose for him to be making the moves he tried early. Dribbled it off his foot the first time and right into traffic the second, the defensive work early was poor but took a nice charge against Stuckey in the third. Pushed it in transition but couldn’t supply the finish, he recognized the back-to-back weary Pistons defense and tried to exploit. I’m buying his jersey, just for wanting to play defense.

Evans – Part-times as Santa at Albion Mall.

Jack – Give him the corner three, he’ll nail it. Give him the paint, he’ll drive right through it. Pressure him up-top, he’ll make the right pass. Best part, he doesn’t concede on D what he provides on O. He played like a true PG early and when Turkoglu took over the playmaking, nicely transitioned into a SG who spaces the floor and D’s up his check. Liking the headband too.

Johnson – I finally get it. He’s playing for a contract. BC Beware: Do not overpay him! Now that that’s out of the way, another good aggressive defensive game. Had four swats and was the only guy who could get a handle on Jason Maxiell and Ben Wallace, happens when you face old practice buddies. The energy was great and something we’re almost taking for granted. Keep it up Amir, at this rate you’ll have a 6yr/55M contract by June.

Mensah-Bonsu – I liked him. Then I found out he’s a Tottenham supporter. He can burn in hell.

Nesterovic – The only Raptor that drinks Labatt 50. Or knows what it is.

O’Bryant – One thing about him is that he’s consistent, he’s even a healthy scratch in NBA2K. Respect.

Turkoglu- You’re telling me if we give him the ball early in the shot-clock and have him create by setting screens for him, he can be effective? What a shock? What we saw tonight should’ve been happening from Day One. Of Training Camp. It’s inexcusable how bad of a job Triano has done in integrating Turkoglu into the team. Having a player with his offensive skill-set might be the easiest thing to coach, yet Triano has managed to screw it up thus far. Here’s hoping this game signals the Big Turk’s return as playmaker. Him and Jack showed great chemistry tonight and the PnRs with Bosh all led to something positive. Even D’d up his man 30 feet out. No joke.

Weems – 8 rebs in 22 minutes, guard rebounding isn’t talked about enough. Best thing it does is that it helps your transition game since the pass from the big who rebounded the ball to the ball handler is eliminated. As long as he keeps the energy coming, he’ll get enough playing time to secure himself a place in the L. The Pistons’ 28% shooting can be attributed to our guard defense. Young Guns take a bow.

Wright – We have no use for him. Never did. Those of you who thought he should be starting instead of DeRozan, where are you? Show your face! Cowards!

Driving The Bus: Hedo Turkoglu

Under The Bus: Marcus Banks

Game Theme: