Alabi: two things remind me of Alabi: a jigsaw puzzle that is missing pieces and the frustration of standing behind a construction guy ordering coffee for the whole job site at Timmy’s when all you want is a large double double.

Barbosa: no doubt reaching out to Peja’s (achem) “doctor” hoping to extend his time on the sideline during this farce of a season.

Bargnani: lately he appears and disappears more than herpes. One game he plays like he has no passion, the next he spends half the game looking like it’s preseason and then nights like this he exudes about as much emotion on the floor as a plastic surgeon doing a nose job on a dog. Yes Andrea pulled it together in the second half, and for about 30seconds to start the game he looked like he wanted to show Bosh he had been replaced. In between? Squat.

Bayless: he seemed to like attacking Howard and then chatting him up a bit. It was cute. Almost like “Say Anything”. Not much of a line, but he was a little spark for the Raptors tonight and helped turn the tide a bit.

Calderon: double double that came courtesy of a second half that saw him directing traffic like he was on the tarmac at Pearson.  Factor in the poor bastard had to cover LeBron from time to time and he must be in icewater until midnight.

Davis: odd that he seemed to be the reverse of his teammates. He had a good first half and, in the second half, he seemed to turtle like Rob Ford walking toward a Weight Watchers clinic.

DeRozan: another fine night where he wanted to step up and show people he can hang with the big boys. Not many nights that I think I could say I was more impressed with DeMar’s game than LeBron James’, but this was one of them. Spectacular offensively.

Dorsey: unable to go. Kind of like RapsFan in a public restroom.

Evans: February soon come.

Gaines: Jay had to ride Jose the way he was playing and with Bayless providing some spark, Sundiata got squeezed out like lettuce at a biker bar.

Johnson: he gave off a vibe early that he would be all over this game, but he seemed to fade away. He didn’t cost us much and he kept his fouls in check, but he lacked the quiet passion he had been showing the past 5-10 games.

Kleiza: the owl is hibernating.

Weems: went to check out some local ball in Toronto today. Probably felt horrible that 3/4 of the talent there could take him off the dribble.

Wright: one of the few games where he genuinely looked lost and frustrated. Maybe he got whiplash from watching all those Mike Miller shots go flying over his head and into the bucket.

Driving The Bus: DeMar DeRozan

Under The Bus: Julian Wright

Game Theme:

Alabi: got on the floor for the most anticipated 18seconds in Raptors (or his) history. Compelling stuff.

Andersen: courtesy of Devlin, a phrase that those fat guys at MaxDeal Technologies never want to hear again: “Andersen blows by Bosh”.

Banks: Mimosa. That is all.

Barbosa: the only thing blurry about him lately is his return date.

Bargnani: horrible start just shows Raptor fans that even though many have crowned him the king of this team, he is leap years behind the ability that the greatest Raptor of all time took with him to South Beach.

Calderon: at least the right head of our two headed monster showed up to play tonight. Shot the ball well, continued to hit from outside and tried to rally his teammates late.

Davis: that was one ugly ass jacket. Were those leather inserts on his shoulders?

DeRozan: aggressiveness was still there, as was his desire to get to the stripe. However, what was more predominant tonight was Wades ability to make DeRozan look like he was a 14 year old girl trying to defend Jordan in his prime. DeMar is going to have a lot of tape to watch on the plane.

Dorsey: stop the presses, Beetlejuice actually contributed!! In the absence of Evans, we needed someone to stand up and clean the glass and Dorsey did just that. His 2 steals in the first few minutes he saw the floor were pretty foreshadowing.

Evans: proof that snogging with an Aussie will only hurt you in the end.

Jack: if there is one hole in the Heat armour, it’s at the point. Oddly enough, rumours were out there that Jack might just fill that hole. Strange, then, that Jarrett appeared to have little interest in exploiting this matchup and instead looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Johnson: got the start in place of Evans and he played Bosh well the entire time he was on the floor. 3 fouls by the 6minute mark of the second quarter is kind of sucky, but it is Amir after all. Good shooting night but still no sign of last years energy or spark.

Kleiza: would love to see him perform Wild Boys at Karaoke night.

Weems: give the guy a couple of starts and all of a sudden he thinks he’s a legit NBA player worthy of being featured on a website. His 10 points in the first quarter came on another night where he decided to rely on his burst and surprise his defender. Another 3 for him tonight as well…something that is about as common as a Leafs victory these days.

Wright: sorry to see him take a step back again, but like the rest of this team, had to be expected given the shortened bench and the back to back.

Driving The Bus: Sonny Weems

Under The Bus: Jarrett Jack

Game Theme :

I’m still stunned; the best performance by a Raptor team I’ve seen in three/four years. If you didn’t know the standings, and that was the first Raptor game you saw this season, you would have thought that this is a top team in the association; that’s the kind of game that was played last night.

It’s harder to duplicate that effort on back-to-back teams, but there is an added element of playing Chris Bosh tonight, which can’t be overlooked. The Raptors have a bit of history with the Magic, and were able to flip the on switch last night. The hustle and tenacity they have showed so far, was there for the whole game. Makes you wonder if this has two speeds: play hard/aggressive for some of the game, play hard/aggressive for all of the game. That switch needs to be on tonight for the whole game; even though the Heat are 5-4, they are mighty dangerous.

I had a chance to speak with Kevin Arnovitz, super writer/blogger for ESPN TrueHoop and the Miami Heat Index about Bosh and the Heat:

What a mess this has become; the basketball is almost taking a back seat to the dog and pony show.
From the vantage point in Miami, it’s actually settling down if you can believe it. Because this team has absolutely no track record even though it’s stacked like a contender, we can expect every single big matchup to be treated like a playoff game. It’s the only measuring stick we have. And outcomes generally stoke the extremes. If they win (Orlando a couple weeks back), supporters will crown them champs. If they lose (Boston on Thursday), skeptics willl revel in schadenfreude and pronounce the Heat paper tigers. It’ll be that way most of the season.

5-4 to start the year wasn’t the result many were predicting, but the fact of the matter is that the big three in Miami was a far different animal than the big three in Boston. What will this team have to do to get back on track?
The adjustments aren’t huge. Right now, they’re 25th in the league in total rebounding differential. LeBron James and Chris Bosh are well below their usual numbers. So that’s number one. Second, they need to buy into a defensive strategy and stick to it. Erik Spoelstra generally subscribes to a Popovichian approach, but over the past week, there’s very little evidence of that on the floor. The Jazz and Hornets shredded the Heat on rotations, and Boston lured them into silly gambles and exploited them on pushed balls. Take care of those two things and the Heat will stat winning 75 percent of their games.

It was generally assumed that Bosh’s production would drop offensively, but his whole game has seemingly gone south fuelling a lot of folks up here to argue that he was just a selfish stat stuffer during his time in Toronto. What are your impressions about Bosh as a person and player after watching him closely for the last couple months? How does he get back on track?
I’m not sure that Bosh put up gaudy numbers in Toronto because he was selfish so much as he was the single best matchup on the floor on every possession, and the Raptors fashioned their entire offense around that principle. That’s simply not the case in Miami. With the Raptors, he had a 5-man who lured the other big away from the block, whereas he’s getting no help in that capacity except when Ilgauskas is on the court. He needs to put the ball on the floor more and stop ball-watching when shots go up. Personally, he’s been very, very confessional about his struggles. He’s admitted the speed of James and Dwyane Wade have made him skittish and that he’s been more deferential than he probably should be. Ironically, the best prescription for Bosh might be to a more selfish stat-stuffer when he’s got a favorable matchup and the ball comes to him at the weak side elbow. Those are *his* possessions and he should own them.

Does Wade have what it will take to let LeBron become the alpha dog on his team?
It’s tricky because, on balance, this team is putting up the offensive numbers it needs to. They’re putting up 108.5 points per 100 possessions, which tells us that except for a few stretches when the ball stops, they’re doing fine. Both guys need to get more comfortable working off the ball. LeBron did this in Cleveland, but it was with the understanding that nobody was going to supplant him as the focal point in the offense. Wade has less practice with it, but Spoelstra is running some nice sets where Wade darts up from the weak side corner past a couple of stagger screens or gets a handoff from Bosh at the pinch post. To me, it’s no so much a need for a defined Alpha and Beta as it is James and Wade coming to a mutual understanding that the team can kill it if each of them starts doing more productive work off the ball to scramble the defense.

If you could add somebody to this team in the offseason, who would it be?
What they need is a Marcus Camby (who is unavailable) — rebounder/shot blocker who doesn’t need the ball, but can keep it moving and make plays.There aren’t a lot of players like that available. But a healthy Joel Przybilla could help. Tyson Chandler will be a free agent, but he might be out of their price range and is also susceptible to injuries.

Injury Report

Toronto
Linas Kleiza – Achilles, Day-to-day
Ed Davis – Out
Leandro Barbosa – Out
David Andersen – Pretty sure he’s out again

Miami
Mike Miller – Thumb, Out

Match-ups

PG – Jack/Calderon vs Arroyo/Chalmers
Since the Heat have both Wade and LeBron who handle the ball so much, the point guard situation for them is interesting. Neither Arroyo or Chalmers are big components of this team, with the bulk of their contributions coming on the defensive end, checking the opponents point guards. Offensively, they are reduced to hitting open jumpers/threes when they get them, and generally not screwing up. This should be an area of focus for the Raptors tonight, since the Heat struggle when they play teams with solid point guard play. Both Jack and Calderon are settling into a rotation that saw both struggle to start the season. Jack will need to continue attacking off the dribble, while Calderon has to maintain his control over the flow of the game offensively, feeding off the pick-n-roll with Johnson and hitting the shots that come to him. After fighting Jameer Nelson hard last night, there might not be much in the tank tonight, but they are off till Tuesday, so finding the second wind tonight will be crucial.
Edge: Jack/Calderon

SG – DeRozan vs Wade
DeRozan was absolutely brilliant last night, taking it to Vince Carter every single minute of the game, running around, crashing the boards…basically contributing at a very high level. Wade is a much better defender than Carter, and he’s coming off a God awful performance against the Celtics, so we can expect a nasty chip on his shoulder. DeRozan owned the paint/elbow/top of the key last night, and attacking from there opens up the court for the rest of the team when the Miami defense collapses on him, much like what happened last night.

One of the best ways to play Wade is to make him play on both ends of the floor, forcing him to play tough and try to get him into foul trouble. Should be noted that DeRozan did play 40 minutes last night in a very hard fought/emotional game, so getting him off early to get the adrenaline pumping will be key. Asking him to win this match-up is not fair, but we can ask him to play as hard as possible and put Wade under pressure from the tip.
Edge: Wade

SF – Weems vs LeBron
After starting the season forcing the action, Weems has really fallen into his niche of letting the game come to him, attacking off the dribble and hitting his shots. I don’t like saying this, but the injury to Kleiza was a bit of a blessing in disguise in that Weems adds a level of athleticism that Linas just doesn’t have. It was a big cog in the Raptor run-and-gun machine last night, and will be a very important piece tonight against LeBron. That being said, there is nothing anything in the world can do to shut down LeBron since he contributes in every facet of the game. Much like the DeRozan/Wade match-up, Weems needs to make James play defense, and run him around. On offense, his jump shooting will keep LeBron far enough from the rim that his spectacular rebounding wont be as big a factor; he will still grab plenty boards, but it should give Reggie one less person to worry about on every board. I was never a fan of calling Weems ‘Money’, but after last night, the nickname sticks for me. Hitting a game winning shot from behind the arc finally earns him such a big nickname.

Should be mentioned that Julian Wright has played damn good at the small forward spot the last few games. I like his length and agility on LeBron (not that he will stop him, but he could slow the guy down). His contribution on defense will be paramount.
Edge: James

PF – Evans vs Bosh
Haters unite, tonights your chance to rip Bosh up in the comments, chat and twitter. The hate being spewed at Chris has been epic, and more so than what Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady ever got from us. It only goes to show how important, and how tied woven into the teams identity Bosh has become over the years. Evans played Howard perfectly last night. While Howard still had a monsterish night (25pts 8reb 5blk), most of his points came as the garbage variety where the Raptors had a hard time matching his sheer physical prowess. Bosh doesn’t have those gifts, and will be working outside-in as he does. I like Evans in that role since he can put pressure on Bosh outside the paint, then keep him on his back when the shot goes up (limiting his rebounding effectiveness). Unlike Howard though, Bosh wont be missing 10 free throws in a game, so putting him on the line, and tempting him to beat us from there will be a terrible strategy. Bosh is right around 15pts 6rebs a night, which was expected to a degree, except for the rebounding. He has trouble playing at the speed Wade and James operate, so if this becomes a run and gun game, his contribution will be minimized.

I do expect to see Bosh play Bargnani on defense quite a bit this game, with Joel Anthony checking Evans in the paint, and am really looking forward to see how this plays out. Bosh has the quickness to stay with Bargnani off the dribble, and should know enough not to go for his pump fakes at the arc.

Wifee is pissed at me since I broke plans to watch this game, this is how important playing Bosh is for me this season. Beating him to a pulp would be sweet for me, and if Evans plays him the way I think he will, the Republic will treat him to a steak at Jacob & Co.

Haslem will have a big say tonight, and can’t be overlooked because he does everything right on the floor, and can pull Evans out of paint with his mid-range and away from the glass.
Edge: Evans (yea, I said it)

C – Bargnani vs Anthony
A mistake the Raptors did last night was not forcing the ball to Bargnani a bit more in the 3rd quarter, to maintain that ridiculous zone he was in, in the first half (9-12 from the field for 21pts). A lot of that had to do with Orlando sending a double at Bargnani, but a lot had to do with the game-plan coming out of the half. Compared to the last week or so, Bargnani should own Anthony tonight. How he handles Bosh when they match-up will be the key tonight. I’m basically looking for a repeat from last night, anything less, and this bad boy can get ugly fast.
Edge: Bargnani

Keys to the Game

Play Big
The Heat don’t have the same athletic front court the Raptors do. Between Evans, Johnson, Bargnani and Dorsey (to a smaller degree), the Raptors have the horses to really take it to a weakish front line that’s full of old men (Ilgauskas and Magloire). Haslem wont be breaking the game wide open, Anthony is only here because the Heat had no other choice which really leaves Bosh, who isn’t a big fan of the physical play, although he’s great at drawing contact and getting to the ine.

Substitutions
The injury situation has forced Triano’s hand into playing a tight rotation without the hockey substitutions, which we all know is how this game should be played. Making 4-5 guy chances disrupts the flow of the game for the Raptors, and has been a big piece of why they haven’t played well. The Heat have the luxury of fielding a team, where the best player in the world can play 5 positions. Triano (I’m just putting this out there) and Carlesimo’s ability to put out the best lineup will be crucial, especially considering that the Raptor starters played heavy minutes last night.

Sticking it to Bosh
This game needs to be more than just winning another game. Last night, the Raptors went into Orlando on a 6 game losing streak, and needing to stop the bleeding. They were able to dig deep and get a result that helped heal the team. Tonight, we play the guy who left us for greener pastures. I for one hold Bosh’s tenure in Toronto in high regard, and have nothing bad to say about him; but if we use his departure as motivation, it could serve as an ex-factor to fueling a win. Think about it, how sweet would it be to leave Florida beating 2 of the 3 elite teams in the East, where you’re ex-franchise player calls home?

The Line

The Heat are 15 point favourites with an over/under of 200.5.

How much the Raptors have left in the tank after an emotional game, and their ability to dig deep and summon the will to beat another elite team will determine this game. I will say this though, we will know very quickly how this game turns out. The 1st quarter will be telling.

We had a pretty good turn out for live chat, considering expectations were low for the game. I expect tonight to be super bumping on Twitter, Facebook and Live Chat; support the habbit.

Q. How did the Knicks do this off-season? Talk about drafts, trades and free agent signings as well as ownership/management changes.

Kevin McElroy: The answer to this question is necessarily relative to expectations. By any normal measure, this was the Knicks best summer since the mid-90’s. Their failed pursuit for LeWyane Bosh aside, the Knicks brought in Amare Stoudemire, a five-time all-star with three top-ten scoring seasons who also happens to be the active career leader in true shooting percentage. While concerns about the riskiness of the acquisition (especially those relating to Stoudemire’s injury history) are understandable, the rarity with which players of Stoudemire’s caliber can be had without forfeiting any tradeable assets makes the signing a worthwhile gamble. The David Lee trade — in which the Knicks gave up a player that they had already made redundant and received two valuable role players and a freakish athlete with world-class upside in return — was the best player for player(s) swap the Knicks have made since they brought in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby; if Anthony Randolph develops, it will go down as even better than those trades.

I worry about Raymond Felton eating up valuable cap space, but I get the feeling that his signing was about keeping Amare happy enough to keep telling his buddies how great things were in New York — Felton’s contract should be moveable if he becomes the final obstacle to bringing in another star. I hated the Knicks’ play-it-safe strategy on draft night, but based upon the summers that Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson have had, my opinion on the matter has softened. Fields will hang around for 10 years and be a useful role player for the Knicks in the near term.

Q. Who came out the bigger winner AND loser in the Atlantic Division?

KM: I’ll exclude the Knicks from the conversation here since I’ve already discussed their offseason. I think the Celtics are the winners by default, mostly because they were the only Atlantic Division team good enough to focus their off-season on filling their remaining needs rather than blindly overhauling the team and hoping it would work out. I’m not crazy about their Shaquisition for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about it when he was Shaquired by Phoenix or Cleveland, but at the veteran minimum it’s a low risk move and they can always tell him to go away if he becomes a problem.

As for the biggest losers, the Nets’ mind-bendingly bizarre assortment of free agent signings gets the nod even in a division where Toronto lost their franchise leader in scoring and rebounding just as he was entering his prime. Better build that arena, Brooklyn, or Johan Petro will be plying his trade elsewhere!

Q. Last season we saw a dog fight from 5-9 in the East for a playoff appearance (the Raptors dropped from 5th to 9th rapidly at the tail-end of the season). What are your predictions for this upcoming season? Who are your dark horses to watch out for?

KM: Obviously the Heat jump out of that dog fight and into the top 3, arguably the top 1. I think this will be another season in which the Eastern Conference can be separated into pretty well-defined tiers. The Tier 1 teams — Miami, Orlando, Boston — seem fairly insurmountable at the top of the pyramid, although if the Celtics all get old at the same time, they could feasibly drop into Tier 2. For now, Tier 2 is Atlanta, Chicago, and probably Milwaukee, all of whom should qualify for the postseason comfortably and will be primarily concerned with finishing 5th or better and thus avoiding the Tier 1 teams in the first round. Tier 3 is where it gets a bit hairy: Charlotte has to be viewed as the 7th best team going into the year, but New York has much greater upside and is the only team outside of Tiers 1 and 2 with a chance to vault into the top 6 if everything goes right.

If things implode for the Knicks — and, let’s face it, why shouldn’t they — The Pacers, Sixers, and Cavs are all in the picture for one of the last two playoff spots. One more quick point that nobody is talking about: I will not be surprised if strength of schedule becomes a decisive factor in the Eastern Conference this year. The Bobcats have to play a whopping 15 games against the Heat, Magic, and Hawks, while the Knicks and Sixers will play each other five times and have 10 games each against the Nets and Raps. Could be enough to bump the Bobcats down to ninth in a tight East.

Q. Is what happened in Miami bad for the league? On the one hand, players are taking control of their own futures (as best as possible); but on the other, the rich just seem to get richer.

KM: I swore a lifelong oath of hatred against the Miami Heat the day that Pat Riley hopped the fence back in 1995, but the answer to this question is still “no.” In the long-term, this has to be viewed as good for the league, and not just because it will allow us to see something we’ve never seen before (which it will) and give other fan bases a unifying enemy (which it also will). The reason I’m glad it happened, and happened when it did, is that it has placed everything from cap rules to player tampering to the merits of “Superteams” at the forefront of the conversation, just before a watershed CBA renegotiation. This is the best way for basketball fans and writers to have any kind of a voice about the future of the league. Maybe I’m dreaming on that but, at a time when the NBA seems desperate to drum up demand for its product, it will have an unprecedented opportunity to gauge public opinion on nearly every issue that is likely to come up this summer. We may all be thanking LeWyane Bosh before this is over.

(Was that convincing? No? Darn it. I really hate the Heat.)

Q. Do you share the view that playing in Toronto is similar to playing in Europe, and not very appealing to American born players? What’s your take on the Raptors and Toronto as a destination for the NBA elite?

KM: I think there are five or six “destination cities” in the League right now — LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, maybe one or two of the Texas cities — and I don’t think Toronto is one of them. But I think it’s still a long way up from playing in Europe and doubt the Canadian border has much of a practical effect on players’ decisions. Most NBA cities become appealing destinations if and only if their resident teams employ players and executives that are appealing to NBA free agents, which the post-Bosh Raptors probably don’t. The problem is that Toronto’s previous attempts at building around a franchise player were based upon guys whose personalities were not conducive to being the first major building block on a team in a non-destination city. It only takes one super-talented, super-loyal star — think Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard — to attract top players to a place that once seemed to be on the NBA periphery. The problem, of course, is finding that guy. Clearly, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh didn’t fit the description.

Q. What’s your take on Bryan Colangelo and the job he’s done for the Raptors? Could he have held on to Bosh had he made other choices? Did he make a huge mistake by not trading him earlier? What about the type of team he is trying to build in Toronto?

KM: I think Bosh was always leaving — he’s a very good second option alongside an elite scoring wing with good court vision; now he gets to play with two of them. It’s interesting to think about how things would have played out for Toronto if Bosh and T-Mac had come along at about the same time — they would have complemented each other brilliantly, maybe well enough that they both would have wanted to stay. As for Colangelo, I think he was probably doomed from the start. His mandate was to focus singularly on the retention of a player who was 1) probably always going to leave and 2) probably not good enough to be the best player on a great team anyway. To the extent that this strategy has failed (in the departure of Bosh) or set the franchise back (due to the shortsightedness of some of Toronto’s acquisitions), that failure is more associated with the flaws of the mandate (which fall at the feet of ownership) than with any flaws in execution (which would fall at the feet of Colangelo). That said, Toronto clearly needs to dive head-first into overhaul mode and that necessarily involves a conversation regarding whether Colangelo remains the right man for what is now a very different job.

“I don’t get it, what did we end up with?”

“Limp noodle (Andrea Bargnani), is he still on the team?”

My girl said that to me as I sunk into my seat while TSN played the Bosh presser. I seriously don’t know where to begin, except to say that there is no hard feelings towards Bosh from this corner of the internet (Arse excluded). All my anger and disgust are squarely aimed at the brass for failing this city so miserably, yet again.

Some bad PR aside, Bosh stayed true to the tenets he had maintained since his exit interview:

• Be a core piece of a championship calibre team (think Pau Gasol)
• Max contract (the Florida tax situation puts him damn close without breaking out a calculator)
• That he will resign with the Raptors IF he feels they are doing everything possible to put a quality team around him

We can do nothing but speculate about what was said between Colangelo and Bosh’s camp up until yesterday, but one thing was clear: there was not enough communication between the two groups. For that, the blame gets spread around evenly. However, you can’t take a couple tweets about the excitement of getting courted from a 26 year old guy to heart, that’s all I’m saying. While I fully believe that Colangelo was working like a mad man to get Bosh to resign, clearly not enough was done to appease him. For starters, perhaps he could’ve made the trip to Texas last week instead of sending his assistants.

By signing outright (for now, Colangelo can still negotiate a max S&T) with the Heat, Bosh has put winning a championship above everything else. For that, we should ALL have nothing but respect for the guy. Sure, the Heat only have Wade, Beasley and Chalmers under contract; they will have a tough time filling out the roster with enough talent to be a championship contender next season, but Riley has built a championship team in Miami in the past without a running mate for Wade of Bosh’s caliber. Top four team in the East as things stand? I say that’s about right.

Where did it all go wrong?

Colangelo had three summers to improve upon the surprising 47 win team that raised all of our expectations. While there were a couple smaller moves that worked out fairly well, Amir/Belinelli/Jack, the larger ones failed miserably:

1. He underestimated the value of Jorge Garbajosa after he went down with a broken leg, and literally did nothing to replace him in the lineup. While Jorge wasn’t the most talented of players, he was a glue guy for the Raptors who did a lot of the little things necessary to win games. The thinking at the time went that the team didn’t need a whole lot of tinkering, so there wasn’t any at all. Foul ball: 0-1
2. After getting thumped by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, the Raptors had a clear need for a second “20 point scorer” who could take some of the load off of Bosh, so defences couldn’t zero in on him and grind our offense to a halt. Jermaine O’Neal was obtained to be that guy who could come in and be fill that role. Seemed like this was the start of a couple other moves (a shooting guard in the mold of Mickael Pietrus would have been a good fit), but it was the only move. JO didn’t pan out at all, and things went from bad to worse prompting the premature (but widely expected) firing of Sam Mitchell. O’Neal was promptly shipped to Miami (with a 1st rounder to boot) for the expiring contract of Shawn Marion and the crippling contract of Marcus Banks. Strike two: 0-2
3. The Raptors still needed that second option on offense, so Shawn Marion was turned into Hedo Turkoglu who, while coming off a great playoff run, couldn’t recreate the Magic (sorry) he displayed for Orlando. Hedo literally provided no relief on the offensive end of the court, and the Raptors narrowly missed the playoffs. To make matters worse, Hedo made a bigger mess with his appearance on Turkish television saying he wanted out and that the organization was unfair in their handling of his going out on the town. To top it all off, Colangelo outbid nobody and re-upped Bargnani to a 5yr/$50million contract instead of letting him prove his worth in a contract year and relying on the qualifying offer. That still could work out, but so far it hasn’t. Strike three: 0-3

If you were given the choice to play for Colangelo and Triano alongside Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani, or for Riley and Spoelstra alongside Wade and anyone else in the league – in Miami of all places, who would you choose? I think he made a great basketball decision. Doesn’t even matter that LeBron wont be joining them, since the pairing of Wade and Bosh rivals that of Kobe and Gasol.

Where does that leave the Raptors?

There is still some hope. Colangelo can still swoop in and try to make some things happen by giving Bosh a max contract, while trying to make a couple other things happen. I prematurely posted a Bucher rumour the other day that looks MIGHTY fine to me right now:

To Miami
Bosh/Calderon

To Toronto
Chalmers/Beasley and a trade exception

It is doubtful we get any draft picks back since Bosh was willing to forgo some salary to sign outright with Miami; Riley has proved to be a shark in these matters. The Heat still need a top calibre point guard, which Calderon still is. This leaves them enough space to fill out the roster by signing a few of their own free agents, while grabbing some veterans. Not a bad start for the Heat.

Where do we go from here?

The short: it leaves a squad with a lot to be desired. You can’t expect that Beasley will replace what Bosh (you also can’t expect him to even be a part of our imaginary dream either) brought to the table, you just can’t. The kid has talent, there is no denying it but the other stuff that comes with him frankly has me nauseous. A front court of Turkoglu, Beasley and Bargnani doesn’t get me excited, but it does get rounded out with Johnson, Evans, Davis and Alabi. Chalmers and Banks back up Jack, with a trio at the wing of DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli. That isn’t terrible, but there are no stars, and no one who can create their own scoring opportunities AND get to the line like Bosh did. The playoffs would be an unlikely event with this group, though.

IF Colangelo can negotiate a S&T that includes Jose AND if he gets back a large enough trade exemption that we can land a star somehow (I hear Chris Paul is available if you take Emeka Okafor’s massive contract, just putting it out there) AND if said trade exception is properly managed, things are salvageable BUT I wont hold my breath based on this teams history.

Here’s another IF: LeBron James. IF he decides to sign in Miami, expect a deal to get done that includes Beasley. The Heat still need to clear some space to bring in the second max free agent. With LeBron’s ego LeBron James holding a presser at 9pm tonight, Colangelo has a small window of opportunity to possibly take advantage of Riley since the clock is ticking to get LeBron to sign in Miami. Fortunately this ordeal will be over with quickly, then we can get to the important business of debating the crap out of our secondary tier of players and what to do with them.

I’m on Twitter.

I checked in with Surya Fernandez from Hot Hot Hoops to talk about the Heat and the newly formed commission (Bosh, Wade, LeBron and Joe Johnson). We’re still getting weak trade offers for Bosh; I guess a 24pt 11reb a night kind of guy has no value around the league. It’s actually making me question what I think I know about basketball (which granted isn’t very much since I thought the Suns were going to be thumped buy the Spurs in the 2nd round).

Without even making a reach, Riley has a lot of options to pair Wade with an elite level forward this summer (Bosh, Boozer and Stoudemire), so you can expect him to jump at the first option regardless of who he really covets. I’m going out on a limb and predicting Bosh doesn’t end up in Miami this summer, but that the Heat will be a 50 win team next season with the additions Riley makes.

Sam Holako: What do you make of this free agent commission Wade, LeBron, Bosh and Johnson have put together to discuss their fates? Seems sinister, and frankly, I’m a little disappointed about it – whatever happened to being a man?

Surya Fernandez: It’s all a matter of perception. Toronto needs to find another willing team to do a sign and trade should Bosh want to go elsewhere to get something decent in return and start a new era. The Heat have been treading water for the last couple of years and are finally free of that huge chunk of salary cap that dated back from Shaq’s last contract extension. Wade doesn’t sound like he’s leaving so there’s little doubt that he’ll try to do some recruiting at this summit. There’s nothing else for him to talk about. I don’t mind players that are friends getting together and talking about something this important in their lives and careers. Maybe they all go their separate ways and nothing much comes of it. Just imagine what owners and GMs talk about when they all get together. It must be worse than a sewing circle.

SH: With Wade staying, I look at the team, and don’t see much of anything there: Chalmers is a nice player, Beasley has talent, I’m a fan of Joel Anthony, but outside of that, what does Miami do to round out the roster? What does Miami do to become relevant again?

SF: o question it’s a huge question mark with that many contracts clearing the books. But there is a lot of flexibility that comes with that. Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright are solid players that can be retained or used for sign and trades to secure a point guard, the Heat’s biggest need. Chalmers and Beasley can be traded but if they stay will provide depth.

I’m not a fan of simply giving out max contracts to just anybody and I would pass on Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson because other teams that may miss out on the bigger names will be offered a max contract by a team like the Knicks, Clippers or Nets. If you can sign James or Bosh then that’s great but the Heat could also use the rest of the $10-12 million to round out a roster with some quality big men and long range shooters. I just wrote (Affordable free agents that the Miami Heat should pursue) about nine free agents that the Heat should go after if they went this path.

Another method that isn’t discussed much is to hold on to some of the cap space to facilitate trades with other teams after the season starts leading up to the trading deadline. Riley said last month that the makeover process could take up to 18 months. Teams will want to shed contracts (like the Marcus Camby or Eric Maynor trades) and the Heat could absorb them easily (and perhaps acquire a few draft picks in the process) to get some more depth leading up to a playoff run.

SH: That’s quite the list, what stands out for me is Oberto and Foye. With the Wizard probably shopping Arenas; what would you think about engineering a trade to land Arenas and Oberto for cap space and Haslem, still having enough cap space to sign a Bosh? That would be a lethal backcourt.

SF: On paper it would be a lethal backcourt. The problem is that the Wizards on paper before the start of this season were thought of as a playoff team. First you have that huge contract that in and of itself would be drawback even if it was the Arenas of a few years ago. Then you have the health issues that he never seemed to have recovered from then the gun incident that derailed the entire franchise. I’d stay away from him.

If Miami wants to try it out with an oft-injured player past his prime I’d rather take on Elton Brand and net the second overall pick too from the Sixers. His contract is just as bad as Arenas but at least then you could rationalize it by having two players who combined make “X” amount of money because of this trade. Both could be useful immediately for the Heat if Brand is at least healthy enough to contribute like Jermaine O’Neal did this past season (putting aside the Celtics playoffs). And the Heat will have an awesome rookie talent at that pick.

SH: Philly was my next option; I really think Brand will surprise folks once he gets out of Philly. Make me an offer for Bosh in a S+T.

SF: You can have your first round pick back from the Marion-O’Neal trade plus another first rounder, Cook and Chalmers (who both need a change of scenery as well). It’s better than losing him for nothing. Offering Beasley as well would be the last resort since Bosh might be persuaded to just simply sign in Miami, not have to pay income tax and the Heat could keep those players and picks I just offered to your Raptors and send them to another team for a solid player who makes less like Rudy Gay. I like Bosh but if the Raptors want to trade him to the Lakers for oft-injured Andrew Bynum then be my guest. The Heat would then go after Stoudemire and maybe Boozer.

SH: I think it’s safe to say he wont leave $30mil guaranteed on the table, so thanks for giving us back our 1st rounder, lol. Can you talk about Riley a bit. Heard he may want to take over as coach again, dropping Erik Spoelstra like he did SVG, if the Heat land another elite player to pair with Wade. Is this just all chatter, or are there some legs to these rumours?

SF: Riley threw that out there as bait for free agents to consider should they want to directly play for him. But even though he only would consider it if he was asked to now it’s hard to not to see Spoelstra as a lame duck after saying that. Quite frankly, I think the Heat has done enough for Erik since hiring him to cut video back in 1995 so I really wouldn’t mind it if the Heat had a veteran seasoned coach going forward. If it has to be Riley so be it. People complain enough that the Heat are somewhat wasting the last couple of years of Wade’s prime and I don’t see Spoelstra as a coach to take your team deep in the playoffs. He might be good at analyzing videos and preparing his players but his in-game decisions, robotic substitution patterns and poor play-calling in late game situations have been the subject of tough criticism from diehard Heat fans.

Van Gundy was squeezed out because Shaq did not want to be coached by him anymore after the Pistons series in ’05. That’s what can happen when teams employ superstars and GMs and owners have to choose whether to listen to them or not. I’m not defending Riley (and I’m positive he smelled a golden opportunity to collect another coaching ring) but sometimes it’s not as simple an issue as it may seem from outsiders looking in. The end result back then was a ring, let’s see what happens this time around.

SH: From the outside looking in, it seemed as though Riley created the atmosphere for SVG to ultimately get canned. Regardless, he was the right man for the job. Could we interest you in Turkoglu?

SF: Agreed but SVG really did muck things up a bit at the end of the Pistons series though. It sure looked like a slimy move on Riley’s part but it sure worked out. Not surprising Riley might consider jumping back in if the roster starts looking like championship material this year.

The Heat only should take Hedo if they can get Marcus Banks back!

SH: So the Heat tried to trade Beasley for Dooling, and were denied (they say he plays a very similar game to Yi); why is Beasley’s value so low?

SF: There is no accuracy to that report. It came out of a podcast with nobody to corroborate it. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel has already confirmed that the Heat never made such an offer.

There’s no comparison between Beasley and Yi. It’s almost laughable. If you’re referring to Sebastian Pruiti’s comparison to them on Nets Are Scorching all I can tell you is that stats don’t tell the whole story. Stats don’t speak about how his unexperienced coach has never put Beasley in a situation to succeed on the court, how Beasley has never had a consistent role in this team or how he’s never had a chance to play with a decent playmaking point guard since he arrived in the NBA only two years ago.

Quite frankly I’m glad his value is perceived to be low so maybe he’ll stick around. Maybe it’s his personality or maybe it’s the off-court issues. I don’t know how many players in the 4-5 million dollar range could put up 15 points and 6 and a half rebounds in less than 30 minutes while playing in an offense that is solely geared towards Dwyane Wade. Power forward should not be a position of concern for the Heat with so many holes to plug so I can’t really justify carving out such a huge slice of the cap space for Bosh or Boozer.

Yes, of course he needs to work on his game and his defense (as should all young NBA players strive to do this summer). But give him a better coach, more minutes without fear of immediately being pulled off the court because of an error, and a true point guard who can run plays for him that can give him some easier looks closer to the basket. Then we can talk about whether he’s a bust or not. I don’t know how much more value the Heat could get out of that position.

It had all the makings for a disappointing game, but the Raptor killer known as Nazr Mohammed was injured so there was hope. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve come to expect that when a team has been dogging it for 20 games (the Raptors were 6-14 heading into last nights game) that you can’t just flip the switch on a whim and compete. Last night against the Bobcats, it was more like a leaky faucet that slowly got turned on. Like the Atlanta game, the Raptors kept it close, took advantage of every opportunity that reared its head, and pulled out a gritty win in spite of some very poor officiating at that.

Before getting into it, with 9 games left before the playoffs, me thinks Triano has stumbled on a rotation of:

PG – Calderon
SG – Weems
SF – Wright
PF – Bosh
C – Bargnani

BN – Turkoglu
BN – DeRozan
BN – Jack
BN – Johnson

This lineup serves a few things: better balance on the starting 5 (Weems and Wright don’t need the ball in their hands to be effective); better defense at the wing to start the game; a much stronger second unit (Turkoglu should be beating up on opposing benches); and it just seems to flow better.

It’s go time now, so Bosh and Bargnani should be playing 38-41 minutes a night from here on out, giving Amir between 14-20 minutes of burn; a nice tight rotation. As you can see, there shouldn’t be any more than 2-3 minutes a night for Evans (all of which should come at the end of the 1st and 2nd quarters to give the front line some rest)

So back to the game, it started with Calderon attacking the rim early. He was able to blow by Felton and get to the rim for a layup (he missed it, but he got there) and assisting on the first three buckets by Bosh and Bargnani. Penetrate, draw the defender, find the open man. Calderon is really a triple threat (shoot, drive, pass), and needs to attack the defense every chance he gets. The court will open up and give him more options on offense, but when he just throws the ball around the perimeter, or plays the high pick-n-roll, he is doing himself a disservice. Raymond Felton still abused him on offense, but that’s expected, probably not even worth mentioning.

Like Scott said, Bosh played harder in the first 4 minutes than he has since the All-Star break. When the franchise is motivated, his production isn’t hollow and it actually leads to results. Up until last night, he would be around his season average, but he did it invisibly. I know you’re frustrated dude, and I realize you like to lead by example, but not many folks are as naturally gifted as you, so when you dog your way to big numbers, others will follow suit without the same result. Something to think about for the rest of the year fam.

The second quarter saw more of the same from both squads. The Bobcats would penetrate, kick the ball and swing it till they got an open three, and the Raptors were led by an energized DeRozan who attacked the basket every chance he got. I really don’t want to gloss over the 3rd quarter, but it was more of the same: the Bobcats got open three after open three, but the Raptors kept it close with Calderon and Bosh attacking from the outside-in.

Calderon especially had a good quarter, going 3-3 from the field while dropping 2 dimes. I’m singling this out because Triano came out in the fourth with Jack instead of Jose, who was having a terrible game up until that point.

At first I thought it was just to give Calderon a rest so he can finish the game strong, but Jack really picked it up, scoring all 12 of his points in the frame, including 7 of the last 8 Raptor points (all at the line). Then I started to get nervous that as the game was coming down to the wire, Triano would snap and play Jack and Jose together, but he didn’t, and Jay rode the hot hand down the stretch.

Have to hand it to Triano who made some great decisions (sitting Hedo to start the game and gambling on Jack in the 4th). You know I don’t think highly of his coaching abilities, but he threw down the gauntlet and always had the right group on the court.

How about that Hedo? Think Triano got through to him? I know I do. Even though he wasn’t happy to start the game on the bench, Turkoglu was stone cold last night, and made some big plays. I know he was brought on as the #2 option, but if he can be the 6th man and hit daggers like that, including the eventual game winner, this team could be a handful in the playoffs (I won’t be holding my breath though).

With a few seconds left in the game, Felton blew by Jack, but turned it over. Part of it had to do with some decent defensive rotations and folks talking, and part of it had to do with Felton just throwing a bad pass. Either way, the Raptors played hard the whole game, and gave themselves an opportunity to win the game, and they took advantage.

The Raptors stayed in the game by protecting the ball, and crashing the offensive glass. They had 10 more shot attempts than the Bobcats, who were able to keep the game close by going 12-24 from beyond the arc (most were open looks) and solid shooting from the free throw line. The difference was Jack though, who went 7-8 from the line, all at the end of the 4th, validating Triano’s decision to play him over Calderon.

Had Carmelo not hit that game winner, and the Raptors held on just a bit longer against the Heat, the Raptors would be 7th in the East (ahead of the Bobcats because they now own the tiebreaker). So as bad as they have been recently, what is keeping this team back is as simple as one possession, or a couple minutes of unfocused play from being a better team. Had Triano laid down the law a bit alot earlier in the season, things may have been different for this team, just something to think about.

I’m not really feeling this moral victory. Denver, fine, I can buy that, after getting killed by OKC and the Jazz that was a good fight against a strong team, but we should’ve won this game. Up 17 against the Heat in the third and up 11 midway through the fourth, we had to find a way to close the game instead of crumbling under the pressure to both score and defend. The bright side is we’re at least talking about basketball issues instead of effort issues, but that doesn’t take away from this being a potentially disastrous loss with Chicago only a game behind in the loss column.

I had initially thought that Hedo Turkoglu didn’t play because he was “sick” but in the post-game presser, Triano specifically said that it was a coach’s decision:

Reporter: Turkoglu was good to go and you decided to give him a seat tonight?

Triano: Yeah, he was active but it was a coach’s decision to not play him.

Reporter: What was the particular…?

Triano: Coach’s decision.

Reporter: Was the coach’s decision sort of more because he wasn’t healthy or were you sending a message to your group?

Triano: Both.

Anyway, we seem to play better without him so I hardly care, and as a reader pointed out a while ago, the Raptors should plant guns in his locker-room and see if they can void his contract. Weems and Wright got the call and they picked up where they had left off, hounding the ball in isolation situations and digging down on defense. Weems’ man-defense on Wade was great for the most part, we just had severe trouble dealing with Wade as he turned on high screens and got matched up with Bargnani, Bosh and Johnson going to the rim. The Raptors never made an adjustment on that play and Miami kept setting a screen for Wade which caught Weems or Wright, leaving Wade free to attack a Raptors interior defense that only had 2 blocks on the night and as a team was +8 in personal fouls. We have trouble defending without fouling (5th worst in NBA at 22.43 PF/G) and it showed.

Wade reserved his efforts for the second half when his team really needed him and deferred to other in the first. Now, looking at Wade’s shot-chart, you notice that of his 11 made shots only 2 were jumpers and he obviously struggled with his mid-range. Noticing this early trend, perhaps Triano could’ve deployed those switching schemes he’s so fond off when even though they’re so not appropriate. Simply put, our best chance of slowing Wade down is turning him into a jump shooter, not giving him an open invite to get And1s at the rim at the expense of our slow-footed help defenders. Maybe I’m too simplistic in my view of things but it sure as hell makes sense. The Raptors did try running two guys at him on a couple possessions in the fourth quarter but they did it when he hadn’t even started dribbling at the top of the key and he just picked out a big on the baseline for a jumper. Triano says that they did everything they could to stop Wade but I don’t see it.

Back to the first half, we hung our hat on our defense and had some great takeaways in the backcourt which fueled our offense and we were up 8-0 on fastbreak points. I don’t want to sound hyperbolic, but at times we looked like a poor man’s OKC Thunder – defense driving offense. You might remember how the interior passing of the Nuggets gave us big problems, well, more of the same here except this time it was Joel Anthony who got himself in the right position on the screen ‘n rolls and showed a nice ability to finish against pressure. Bosh’s response was rather pathetic – fadeaways in isolation situations, holding the ball too long wasting time off the shot-clock, not reading the Miami doubles properly and showing zero defensive grit. Miami’s doubles on him came at different times, they sometimes only showed and backed off when he dribbled, sometimes came immediately, sometimes on the dribble etc. They mixed their looks enough to confuse Bosh whose basketball IQ keeps getting in the way of him being a real star. As for this game, perhaps it would’ve been better to explore other offensive options than dump it down to him because he didn’t have his game early and never looked like he cared enough to get it going.

It also seems like as the season has gone on, he’s taken his game further away form the basket. He averaged 13 FTAs in the two games in October, 10.6 in November but between December and February netted 7.6, 7.3 and 9.4, respectively. For March however, he’s only averaging 6.2 FTAs which is a significant drop. Maybe some of it is due to his injury, but there’s no doubt that he is far less aggressive in going to the rim now then he was early in the season.

After sticking with the Heat in the first (down 26-23), we simply waited for Wade to get his rest and took advantage. We were already ticking on offense because of good PG play from Calderon, and Jack picked up right where he’d left off – very efficient ball-movement on the perimeter. I only counted one WTF-shot by Wright in the first half and the Raptors off-the-ball movement (especially DeRozan, Weems) freed up a lot of room for Jack to drive and he notched 11 second quarter points as Miami, without Wade’s penetration, kept clanging jumpers left and right. Sure, many of them were wide open ones, especially Beasley’s (1-10 FG) but overall the Raptors second-quarter unit did well and the bench had a 21-12 advantage at the half. Bargnani was often at the top of the key in these swing sequences and did a good job of keeping things moving, he also found Evans for a great hi-low once.

I’d be remiss to not mention Amir Johnson. I rarely question the referees but some of the fouls he picked up tonight were lame. He once got called for gently leaning on a guy without the ball and another time for holding his arms straight up, I’m telling you, these officials make up their minds well before the play sometimes. Bargnani’s defense in the first half was decent in the sense that he was there whenever a guard got to the lane or when he was asked to seal the baseline, but it wasn’t up to snuff when he was asked to defend Anthony or Haslem in close quarters. He’s 27th in the NBA in Blocks Per 48 and that number has to rise for us to be a good defensive team because his frontcourt partner, Chris Bosh, is a perennially poor shot blocker. Unless Amir Johnson is having a stalwart of a defensive game, anybody can cruise into the paint without much fear of having their shot altered or blocked.

So it’s 49-43 at the half and we’re shooting 55%, other than some sloppy turnovers I’m happy. We’ve slowed the pace down, haven’t given up 70 points in the half and have only one role player (Joel Anthony early) murder us after Wade penetration. The third quarter belonged to Bargnani’s two massive confidence-filled threes and Jose Calderon’s 8pts and 3 assists which also included two threes. Calderon’s two threes were big because they came while Wade was in the midst of his 13pt assault in the quarter. Calderon and Bargnani were doing a good job of busting an increasingly aggressive Heat defense by moving the ball across the perimeter and knocking down back-breakers, the lead ballooned to 17 at one point and it looked like the Raptors might cruise. The shot-selection to end the third was very poor, Wright took a bad shot and then Bargnani was caught unaware of the fact that the Raptors had the chance to take the last shot of the quarter and hurried up a bad three. We had a chance to go up 13 or 14 heading into the fourth but settled for a 10 point lead.

Hey, I’ll take a 10 point lead to start the fourth on the road any day and now it was a matter of holding it together, executing efficiently and relying on your defense. Instead we got jumpers and more jumpers. But first, somebody explain me this. Bargnani and Calderon both had it going in the third and Bargnani started the fourth but Calderon didn’t. Why Triano fails to recognize that he’s got a PG with a hot-hand (who isn’t being abused defensively) that could be milked is a mystery that remains unresolved; this is at least the 7th time this season that he made a sub involving Calderon and Jack that he had decided upon in practice the previous day. Why not adjust your predetermined routine and go with what the game’s offering you? After Calderon had 8 in the third, he had 0 in the fourth. I just don’t get it.

Two things happened in the fourth quarter: our offense failed in the clutch and our bigs weren’t able to stop their bigs. First, the offense. Sometimes the play-by-play tells the whole story and here it is. At 3:31 we had a 6 point lead and these are the offensive possessions that followed:

2:56 Carlos Arroyo blocks Jose Calderon’s layup 89-85
2:45 Chris Bosh misses 37-foot three point jumper 89-85
2:13 Chris Bosh misses 18-foot jumper 89-87
1:23 Jarrett Jack misses 26-foot three point jumper 89-89
0:39 Antoine Wright misses 25-foot three point jumper 89-91
0:26 Andrea Bargnani misses 20-foot jumper 89-91
0:12 Andrea Bargnani misses 25-foot three point jumper 89-93

Do I really need to continue this post?

Every time we gave the ball to Bosh, nothing came of it except shot-clock wastage and even though Anthony is a good defender, I’m told that Bosh is a top-tier NBA PF who should be able to get his when his team really needs him. Instead, he gave us 4 points, none after the 6:22 mark. The Heat defense was much better but we let it suffocate us into 6-20 shooting in the fourth instead of digging down and responding like a confident offensive unit. Some might criticize Triano for not playing His Royal Clutchess in the fourth but I’m all for him benching the underperforming lazy dud.

Offense wasn’t the main story to me, it was Udonis Haslem who averages 9.5ppg dropping 11 in the fourth and going 10-11 FG (yes, you read that right) for 23 points. I’m looking at Andrea Bargnani as the main culprit here, Haslem took him off the bounce more than a couple times, got rebounds over him and even knocked down his mid-range jumper. You can blame the rotations for not picking him up there as Bargnani went to help, but overall he schooled Bargnani.

I was also disappointed in the play coming out of the timeout when we were down 2 with 37 seconds left. A pick ‘n pop for a contested jumper for Bargnani from 20 feet? As the road team you have to be the aggressor here and get a shot that if it doesn’t go in, you have a chance to get to the FT line. We basically threw the game away late on.

So, tonight it’s Charlotte in Charlotte and last time we were there we lost by 35. The time before that we lost by 26. The only good news is that we hold the tie-breaker over Chicago.

Don’t miss the Roll Call.

Effort and laziness comes into play for everyone at this point of the year, even us (mostly me) at Raptors Republic. It’s so hard to get up and write a quality post when the team you’re covering isn’t giving it their all. I have to admit that even though they lost against the Nuggets I felt they put in as good as effort as could be expected given how they have been playing recently. Actually, that could be the only game that I can accept when Bosh says:

We just have to put this behind us and move on to the next game. It just goes to show we’re gonna have to give (a strong) effort every night, from here until the season is over; If we do that, I think we’ll be in a better position for success later.

I usually hate when they say you have to forget that one and move on (mostly because they’ve been saying it all year), but when it comes down to it, they lost a tough game to a better team. Nothing more to it. Count me as one of people who would rather go to the playoffs and lose the 1st round pick to Miami, than be perpetually on the treadmill. By the sound of Bosh’s tone, he really thinks that they are really close to turning things around and make a run at something. I can only imagine he’s talking about this season/playoffs since as things stand, I doubt he would be looking past the playoffs at this point.

A few things from the Denver have made me hopeful for the stretch run:

• Bargnani’s play in the paint: the guy was a beast on the boards and played solid defense. Sure he didn’t have a good shooting night, but that has never been his problem. It’s clearly an issue of effort for Andrea, since he has shown that he can bang in the paint.
• Weems as a starter: I’ve always thought that his energy off the bench was more important than the lift he would give the starting five, but DeRozan seemed to have responded well.
• Wright settling in: could have been part of the plan to give the young bucks some run during the season then integrate Wright as a major piece heading into the playoffs, or not…but it’s working. Me thinks Wright will be crucial heading into the playoffs.
• They can do it without Hedo: yea, I said it. Hedo wasn’t missed at all on Friday (by me anyways). Wright/Weems/DeRozan/Belinelli can all fill the 2/3 by committee as far as I’m concerned, and there will be no drop off. I find it really unlikely that there is an on-switch that Hedo will flip to all-of-a-sudden be a killer in the next few weeks. Now it’s up to Triano to have some cajones and do something about it.

The Heat are 7-3 in their last 10, on a 4-game winning streak and sit a game out of 5th (just behind the Bucks). We all know the Raptors have owned the Heat over the last couple seasons (8-2 against them in the last 10), and we have always looked forward to playing them sine they aren’t really much of a team. Yes they have Wade, but the rest of the guys could be swapped out by anyone random baller, and you wouldn’t have a drop-off of any significance since Wade is just that good.

Basically this game comes down to a couple things:

1. Stop Wade – easier said than done, but without Wade gunning along, there is nothing on this team that can hurt you (unlike the Warriors who have weapons up and down that bench). Weems will have to be uber aggressive out the gate, and make Wade work on defensive as much as possible. To be frank, as long as Weems just keeps Wade in front of him, and limits his options off the dribble, that’s all we can hope for.
2. Pound the ball into the paint – Jermaine O’Neal is out with an injury (apparently) so Bosh and Bargnani will have to take it to Beasley and Anthony. No excuses, no laziness, no nothing-just hustle. If Bargnani can give us what he did against the Nuggets (a much better front line btw), and Bosh can limit the turnovers, this wont be close.
3. Continue the effort – the Carmelo Anthony game winner hurt, but the Raptors played a solid game to that point. They need to continue the effort tonight against the Heat. No exceptions, no excuses.

This is a big game against a conference rival who sits a couple games ahead of us. Can’t let the Bulls get any closer, and have a chance to move up the standings (especially since the next two are against the two teams sitting ahead of us in the standings). Do or die time boys.

Banks – Nobody on the Heat remembers him either.

Bargnani – Singlehandedly kept the offense chugging in the third when he could no wrong. His PGs set him up beautifully and he gave them their reward in assists. Only had three rebounds but one of them was huge with less than 40 seconds left to play. On this night we needed his offense and he brought it in spades – 27 on 13-19 FG. He got schooled by his old buddy JO a few times and I’m thinking that has a lot to do with the latter knowing his tendencies from last year.

Belinelli – The Gunner. He comes off the bench and guns. Some of the nicest assists this year have come courtesy of Belinelli and he delivered some good ones tonight. Had a thing going with Wade in the first half and responded well to the challenge. 11 points in all. My favorite play? The way he avoided the charge in transition by stepping to his left and laying it in. High basketball IQ, good shooter, good vision, and one of the reasons I’m not too worried if an ill-advised Calderon trade goes through.

Bosh – JO took him out of his comfort zone on offense and he looked ‘off’ for most of the game, missing a couple dunks and looking iffy on his jumpers. But at the end of the night you look at the boxscore and it reads 11-22 FG, 24pts, 18rebs. This was one of his “quiet good games” but it has to be said that his interior rotations were very poor, especially while Beasley was still in the game. Say what you will about him, if he’s struggling in one aspect of the game, he tries to make it up through another.

Calderon – I love Jose off the bench. He’s steaming past the half-court line with his head down and looking to exploit and plunder any seams in the defense. Couple of great drives against Miami bigs for layups, a terrific steal which led to two and most of all, great energy off the bench while keeping the ball moving. His second-quarter play brought the Raptors back in the game. Gone are the days when Jose used to dribble up lazily, run a lazy screen with Bosh and then make a lazy pass to Bosh. Struggled with his shot, but everything else was intact and good enough to earn him the 4th quarter minutes he got. This is the Jose Calderon we paid $8M for. Starter or not.

DeRozan – Paid some guy in Pacific Mall $500 bucks to hack his NBA2K and get rid of the Rookie-Sophomore game.

Evans – Apparently his nickname is “The King”. The only way I can see him deserving that is if he was doing Burger King runs while everybody else was busting their tail in practice.

Jack – You know that play when he didn’t let Alston overtake him on the break and released a floater for two? That shows confidence and court-awareness. Always ran the two-man game with Bosh well, but is now starting to look at other targets, even had a couple tight cross-court passes. The three turnovers were of the careless variety and that’s something he’s prone to, the Heat were taking full advantage of our turnovers and Triano was wise to reduce his ball-handling in the fourth.

Johnson – Recognized the limp in Beasley’s leg and executed a couple post-moves Hakeem would be proud of. Finished what his teammates setup for him and held his own on the glass as always. His shot-chart is more congested than orgy-night at Raps Fans house. Also, I seem to have pissed off this guy with my podcast.

Nesterovic – His wife never believes him when he says he was at the game.

O’Bryant – You know when you go to a fancy restaurant and as you’re being seated you see hot waitresses everywhere and get excited about which one of them will serve you. When you finally get your server, it’s some dude with a clip-on tie? That dude is Patrick O’Bryant in five years.

Turkoglu- Can this piece of trash please stop smiling? His idea of a good shot has been reduced to pulling up for a contested three with 14 seconds on the clock. The only way he’s getting any points these days is if he’s fouled, but that doesn’t nearly make it up for his brutal rotations. That play where Wade got his own offensive rebound on the break as Turkoglu watched was ridiculous enough, but the shock on his face as to just how Wade had managed to do that was priceless. HE SCORED BECAUSE YOU MADE NO EFFORT TO PLAY DEFENSE YOU &*^%. He’s got the next 9 games to sort things out, I figure we can do without him over this stretch but after that we need his overpaid ass to step up.

Weems – Started off like a man on fire. Got schooled by Wade on a couple possessions but hit him right back for 9 early points, and that’s without even breaking a sweat. Imagine if he had come out early like Wade, he’d have 45 at the half. The defense on Wade wasn’t great, fell for too many fakes and was way too eager to leave his feet on Wade’s jumpers. Still, a pretty solid first NBA start. DeRozan take note – a few bad games and you got Weems ready to jump in.

Wright – Picked up three quick early fouls and was sent to the bench but was heard from later. Oh, yes he was. I had no doubt that three was going in. The man-defense on Wade on the last two possessions was what he was hired for. I’ve said all along that he’s a situational guy at best and today was one of those situations. Was smart enough to capitalize when the defense was caught cheating on our bigs by slipping under for a few scores too. Take a bow, Antoine. You’re not long for this team, but if these are the memories you’ll leave us with, they will be fond.

Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani

Under The Bus: Hedo Turkoglu

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