I can’t believe I predicted the Raptors covering the spread last night; I apologize.

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Linas Kleiza – Out

Chicago
When Boozers healthy, you know the God’s are conspiring against you.

Player Report

Jose Calderon
Bayless played fairly well last night considering he couldn’t hit a field goal and turned the ball over 4 times in 21 minutes. It’s kind of maddening for your point guard to play so callously, but he made up for it by getting to the line and getting folks involved, albeit he left it till the fourth quarter when it didn’t matter. Calderon was no better. If the two of them, Calderon mostly, had trouble with Augustin in transition last night,  tonight against Rose will be much worse. Derrick is lightning fast, elite finisher at the rim, a stud in the paint with that sweet floater, shoots the ball well, athletic, sees the floor well and has that look in his eye (the exact opposite look that Bargnani has). In short, the guy is an MVP candidate; good luck.
Box: 8pts 12ast 3rebs

DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan needs to bounce back from a lame-duck performance last night against the Cats. Took him 15 shots to total 14 points, but zero trips to the line; last night he was up against elite-defenders so I’ll give him a pass, but tonight should be better. Luckily he gets Bogans again, who hasn’t had much success defending him in the past. I’d like to see 6 trips to the line tonight for DeMar; enough is enough.
Box: 18pts 4rebs 3ast

Sonny Weems
Best game of the year for Sonny last night. Dude was getting in the paint, attacking the rim, taking good jumpers, and doing a fairly good job on Wallace considering Gerald did end up with 20pts, but only pulled down 6 rebounds, that counts for something, no? I guess not.

Deng, he’s a solid mid-ranger shooter, and his length (6″9) makes it that much harder to block his shot. If there’s a weakness, it’s shooting threes but asking the Raptors defense to play intelligently is like asking A-Dub to write a post sans the Bargnani-hate – ain’t gonna happen.
Box: 13pts 7rebs 3ast

Amir Johnson
As much as I can’t stand Boozer, I have to respect the guy. He’s been a beast since returning from injury and held the fort during Noah’s absence over the last month. He shoots the ball very well, plays big in the post, rebounds very well, and can be a nuisance on defense with those long arms and quick movements. Amir is going to have his hands full between trying to keep a body on Boozer, and having to deal with Noah on the glass.  I don’t know; this has the potential to get really messy, Amir can’t do it alone; and really needs a motivated Bargnani to battle in the paint with him.
Box: 8pts 10rebs 2blk

Andrea Bargnani
Bargnani is going to justify why I would trade him in a heartbeat for Joakim Noah. Last night against Nazr Mohammed he let the guy grab 14 rebounds. Had it not been for the 8 rebounds that Andrea pulled down (I use pulled down loosely), I might have broken my television…hate Nazr. He’s not the kind of hustle player who can outplay anyone, but did just that. Against Noah, tonight, he wont fair any better. I’m not saying Bargnani won’t hit a few shots, he’s good for at least 20 points; but he wont be able to match Noah’s energy and his overall impact on the game is likely to be minimal. Joakim is coming off a month sitting out and the little hustle/heart things that make him such a valuable player will be on display, the Raptors are hoping that he’ll be rusty and have his minutes limited. He may not be able to go 100% for 35min, but he will be a force.
Box: 21pts 2reb

Keys to the Game

Second Game of a Back-to-Back
The Raptors are on the second night of the back-to-back, thankfully it’s a home game. This season, Toronto is 4-8 on the second night of a back-to-back, with all but one of those wins (Dallas) coming against teams who are playing under .500.

Defense/Rebounding
The Bulls are a solid defensive team; 9th in points allowed and 2nd in rebounding. BARGNANI NEEDS TO GRAB SOME BOARDS. Since shutting down Rose will be next to impossible, I’m advocating the Raptors not double anyone. I don’t want to see any drives and kicks for a wide open look at the rim. Also, BARGNANI NEEDS TO BOX NOAH OUT EVERY TIME A BALL GOES UP, NO MATTER WHAT END OF THE FLOOR HE’S ON.

The Line

The Bulls are 8.5 point favourites with an over/under of 196; seems about the right; the Raptors will flap around like a fish out of water, only to piece together a solid run at the end of the game just to mess with us. This game does have potential to get out of control, though.

The Raptors are looking to extend their home winning streak to 2 tonight against the Hawks. Just looking ahead, after tonight’s game, the Raptors have the Pistons at home before heading out on the road for a 5 game skid that will see them play Washington, New Orleans, San Antonio, Orland and the Heat. Based on past performances, this could be the start of a 7 game skid, but 2-5 seems more reasonable.

Add in the potential Melo trade involving the Nets and Pistons, and the stage is set for the Raptors descent into the bottom five of the league, which Franchise from Raptors HQ claims wouldn’t be a bad thing. I’m not one for tanking, but they might not need too if this trade goes through (the Nets/Pistons will win more games with upgraded rosters, and clarity of roles in the Pistons case).

The last time these guys played, the Hawks rather easily handed the Raptors a loss by moving the ball around masterfully and attacking in the paint with their bigs. With the Hawks playing much better since and having refined their offensive sets, which rely much less on iso-plays, things could be much worse for the short-handed-injury-plagued Raptors. Hopefully memories of an embarrassing 11-point 3rd quarter will fuel the fire for retribution.

I briefly spoke to Bret Lagree from Hoopinion about the Hawks and tonights game:

From what I’ve seen/heard, seems like this team likes to play together and are very supportive of one-another. What’s been the driving force of the camaraderie, and who’s the glue guy?
Al Horford is an extremely efficient offensive player and essential to the team defensive concept. The Hawks are at their best when Joe Johnson and/or Jamal Crawford are making jump shots but Horford is the constant, two-way presence.

How do you feel about the trade rumour of Jose Calderon + a big to the Hawks + a big? Who would be included from Atlanta’s side, and who would you want in return?
I can’t see the Hawks exacerbating their cap hell, burying Jeff Teague deeper, and failing to improve their perimeter defense in one fell swoop by acquiring Calderon. That might just be wishful thinking on my part.

Josh Smith seems fully capable of putting up 20/10 consistently, what’s been keeping him from doing that?
A desire to shoot jump shots, the team’s willingness to indulge that, and a constant need for Smith to challenge opponents’ field goal attempts as a help defender.

19pts 4rebs 5ast wasn’t exactly what the powers that be had in mind when they handed Joe Johnson that massive contract. It makes it hard to offer Crawford a reasonable contract to keep him as the spark-plug off the bench. What’s going to happen to him?
Given that Johnson missed two weeks, played hurt (and had it affect his production) much of the season, and the Hawks are just one game off last season’s pace, its hard to say that not signing him would have hurt the Hawks seriously in the short term and it obviously would have increased their cap flexibility in the future.

With Jamal Crawford (younger, can score, but doesn’t have the all around game) available, how badly would it have hurt the Hawks if they didn’t resign him, or pulled off a trade (possibly to the Knicks) with him as a principle?
I think there’s a decent chance he comes back to the Hawks on a multi-year deal for much less money per season. There isn’t a huge market for him and the Hawks love to re-sign their free agents. I think it’s better than 50-50 that they bring back Damien Wilkins and Jason Collins next season, too.

The Hawks have done very well against the Raptors, handing them some of the toughest losses they’ve endured over the last couple of season. What will be strategy heading into the game tonight?
If the Hawks simply run their offense, they can outscore the Raptors at least 9 times out of 10. I expect the Hawks to attack whatever match-up advantage they have on a given possession, either scoring quickly or swinging the ball around the perimeter for an open jump shot. It’ll be the good kind of isolation basketball.

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Peja Stojakovic – Out
Sonny Weems – Day to day
Jose Calderon – Day to day
Jerry Bayless – Day to day

Atlanta
The whole team is healthy

Match-ups

Point Guard
Not sure that Bibby is an upgrade over Jose on perimeter defense, but I’ll digress. What we can agree is that Bibby has always seemed to get up to play against the Raptors; he hasn’t been lighting it up like he used too, but he did go 3-4 from beyond the arc the last time these cats played against each other. On the season, he’s shooting 49.1% from behind the arc, that’s good for second in the league and a career high. Bibby is still moving the ball around rather well, leading the Hawks to 5th in the league in assists. Their ball movement scares me, as the Raptors haven’t been the best at defensive rotations and closing out on shooters.

With the Raptors giving up so many good looks from the perimeter lately, Bibby can follow up his solid play against the Pacers (4-6 from beyond the arc) after 3 fairly brutal games in a row. Defending Bibby shouldn’t be so difficult: don’t leave him to help, and force him to put it on the floor. He’s basically there to shoot the ball and swing it to the open man; take that away and he’s got nothing. Calderon on the other hand…what more can we expect from him? He doesn’t practice between games because his feet are mangled, but has been able to increase his points and assists every month since the start of the season. You have to figure the foot injury is going to get worse, so the Raptors might be better served to sit him against teams like the Hawks where a win is a far-far-gone conclusion.
Edge: Even

Shooting Guard
Call it what you want, but you can’t deny that DeRozan’s improvement couldn’t have come at a better time. Not sure what the turning point was, but we know that since putting up a lame 10pt performance in a loss to the Pistons on December 22nd, DeRozan has averaged 22.1pts since. We’re going to need every single one of those points tonight against the 8th ranked defense in the league.

A testament to this Hawks team is how quietly they were able to weather the storm of Joe Johnson’s injury, going 5-4 through the stretch while not conceding much ground against the Magic for 4th in the East (and actually beating the Magic 80-74 during his absence). Makes it much easier when you have a motivated Jamal Crawford, the owner of something in the vicinity of 31 4-point plays, who can carry the scoring load quite nicely and is in a contract year.

While Johnson has played well, but never really abused the Raptors over the years, Crawford has drank our milkshake every time he’s played us dating back to the Chicago years. Tempting Crawford to drive, and forcing him into a help defender, is the only chance of slowing him down. Much like DeRozan, the guy is a one-trick pony who’s major contribution is scoring. Unlike DeRozan (up until recently at least), his contribution is much more devastating. Johnson on the other hand contributes across the board and poses a much bigger problem if allowed to operate freely.

Like Bret said, the Hawks will be able to run their offense and sofa on the Raptors 9 times out of 10, and unless either/both these guys has an off game, i got nothing to offer in terms of a ours of action; hopefully DeRozan drops 31 and gets the line in 8-10 attempt range if he has any designs on countering these two.
Edge: Atlanta

Small Forward
Josh Smith’s scoring and rebounding has been impacted by his need to play help defense and block shots; if only we were so lucky as Raptor fans. Sure he shoots too much for a man of his ability, but he does so much else, you can almost forgive him.

This is where things get quite interesting in terms of match-ups and such. The Hawks have Josh Smith at the 3, and can quite easily shift him over to the 4 at will. He’s bigger, stronger, faster, taller than Kleiza, and with Amir among the walking wounded, can really affect both match-ups in Atlanta’s favour.

The size advantage Kleiza’s been enjoying on the offensive glass won’t be there tonight with the Hawks front court, who rebound very well on the defensive glass. Best bet will be to get hot from the perimeter and keep Josh out of the paint/lane to hopefully free up space for DeRozan and Bargnani to operate. I can live with Josh scoring on jumpers rather than getting into the lane and off the glass; this screams for someone of Julian Wright’s ability and mind-set…
Edge: Atlanta

Power Forward
The toll that Amir Johnson’s body has been put through since Reggie’s gone down has been staggering. He’s basically battling in the paint, on both ends of the floor, alone. Better yet, he’s been doing it recently with noticeable pain. Ed Davis, while improving, isn’t ready for major minutes yet, but is doing what he can. Frankly, he’s been doing a good job considering. I imagine we can expect more of the same tonight against Horford; a guy I would trade Bargnani for in a second. Not hating, just that I prefer well rounded players.

If Jason Collins (yes, he’s still in the league) can’t cover Bargnani, expect a switch with Horford and Collins. Actually, the best hope the Raptors have match-up wise is shifting Horford to 5, Smith to 4 and playing Maurice Evans or Marvin Williams at the 3 where Kleiza can flex his stuff a bit more.
Edge: Atlanta

Center
For some reason, Collins has seen a resurgence of sorts with the  Hawks and is getting some play. Can’t imagine why considering he’s mostly 6 fouls to throw at somebody. Regardless, I think we can all agree that Bargnani will abuse him if he’s covering the Italian. If Horford shifts over, we can also agree that Bargnani has the size/strength/speed to battle Al, but the match-up will ultimately be decided by Bargnani’s ability to battle on the boards and do the dirty work. Horford will be out of his comfort zone on defense coming out so far to defend Andrea, that I kind of like both match-ups considering how sweet he’s shooting the ball lately. It’s going to take a big night by Andrea if the Raptors hope to stay competitive and be in a position to steal one at home.
Edge: Toronto

The Line

The gamblers have the Hawks as 4.5 point favourites with an over/under of 205.5. This game has all the makings of a game that can get out of hand quickly, especially with the Raptors so banged up. My concerns are really on the Raptors ability to create quality scoring opportunities for themselves. While the Hawks are an athletic bunch, I like the Raptors chances in a faster tempo game. Since the Hawks are 26th in the league in pace, going all helter-skelter could keep the Hawks from getting into sets and sharing the ball more efficiently.

What I tell you about the Cavs game? Something didn’t seem right about the line, and although they gave it a go in the first quarter, the Raptors were able to storm back, win the 2nd quarter, then take the game. Wont be so easy tonight against Boston. Seems like we play the Celtics once a week or so doesn’t it? Fortunately this is the last match-up until next season.

The Celtics are coming off a huge win against the Spurs, where they went small ball and put the Spurs in their place. Small ball is actually an option that makes me nervous for tonight’s game since it nullifies Bargnani’s ability to put the ball on the floor and take his man off the dribble. Sure he will shoot over anyone from 18 feet out, but he doesn’t post-up enough when he has a defender on his hip enough  to punish the other team.

I checked in with Ryan DeGama from CelticsHub about the Celtics and the game tonight:

With so many injuries to start the season, and currently sitting 1st in the East, you guys must be feeling good heading into the second half of the season. Will anything less than a championship be a disaster this season?
Disaster’s a big word but if the Celtics drop another Finals to the Lakers, then it might be the right one. It would be disaster-level painful for most Celtics fans, who still aren’t really over the second half collapse in game seven of last year’s Finals.

The bottom line is this team was built to win championships and this might be the best team that Danny Ainge has put together for Doc Rivers, so expectations are sky-high. The fact the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen core won one championship means they’ll be looked on favorably by history, however, a second would cement their legacies in Boston, where winning one title is only sorta, kinda impressive.

Who do you not want to play in the Eastern playoffs, and if you get there, the Finals?
Eastern Conference: Probably Miami. Also Chicago. And Orlando. The problem with this year is that to just get to The Finals, the C’s will have to go through at least two of those teams. Miami may be a year of frontcourt reinforcements away from being able to topple Boston, and Orlando may not have a true second star behind Howard, so, counter-intuitively perhaps, I’ll nominate Chicago. Rose is a matchup nightmare, and they’ve got an athletic frontline that can give Boston problems. If the Bulls can upgrade their 2-guard, they’re going to be a handful.

The Finals: The Celtics would probably be best served playing the Spurs but even though it’s a tougher matchup, I think everybody wants the Lakers (see also: revenge).

Rondo’s improved every year he’s played in the league, but to average 14 assists a game is very impressive. It seems to have come at the expense of his offense, but his improved shooting efficiency has made up for it some. What can you attribute to the big jump in playmaking for him this season?
To quibble, scoring numbers aside, I think his offense is actually a level beyond where it was last year. He has a newfound consistency of effort and result from game-to-game and he’s shooting a career high 44% from the mid-range.

His assist numbers are up for a number of reasons including: his natural peak-years evolution as playmaker, because Shaq has replaced Perkins in the starting lineup, and also because Allen and Pierce remain lethal shotmakers.

Perkins is a free agent after this year. What do you think he’s worth on the open market, and will be a Celtic come next season?
That first question may be above my pay grade, particularly with us all unsure of what the new CBA is going to look like, but as a blind guess, how about $8M per? Ainge has been reluctant to sign any player beyond 2012 except Pierce and Rondo but I think he’ll re-up Perkins to a multi-year deal after the season – lest he undercut the C’s chances for a 2012 run at the title.

Assuming there is a 2012.

(You can take that as a reference to either a potential lockout or the Mayan doomsday prophecy).

What’s going to be the plan heading into the game tonight against the Raptors?
Nothing you haven’t seen. Doesn’t it seem like these two teams are always playing each other in clusters? Over at CelticsHub, Hayes Davenport refers to it as Raptors Week.

As usual, the Celtics will test the Raptors willingness to play defense on multiple offensive options for 24-full-seconds and try to keep your athletes from crashing the offensive glass and getting to the rim.

Injuries

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Peja Stojakovich – Out
Sonny Weems – Day to day
Jerryd Bayless – Day to day
Jose Calderon – Hurting but should play

Boston
Kendrick Perkins – Out
Kevin Garnett – Out
Delonte West – Out

Match-ups

Point Guard
Rondo’s back, and he’s playing like a champ again. Wednesday against the Spurs he dropped a magnificent 12pts 10rebs 22ast 6stl 1blk gem. Can he do it tonight against the Raptors? Yes. Will he? Probably. My preference is to take away his options and force him to hit some shots, but he’s been hitting those at a 53% rate…so yea…

Jose can regain some lost ground with another monster game, but Rondo is no Mo Williams or Ramon Sessions, and plays great defense. 20pts 17ast may not be possible, but something like 17pts 10ast will help fight the good fight.
Edge: Boston

Shooting Guard
I keep saying it and saying it, and nothing, but DeMar needs to study Ray Allen and follow his lead. Sure DeMar is super athletic, but so are most shooting guards in the league; degrees of athleticism isn’t really an advantage. Regardless, DeRozan’s been on a bit of a tear of late, with a bad game for him being 13pts 3rebs 2ast…I’ll take that. Tonight will be more of the same with Ray Allen inflicting a great deal of pain on the Raptors. Barbosa wont fair any better.
Edge: Boston

Small Forward
The Truth, nuff said. Would be nice to get Julian Wrights defense on him, but it wont help.
Edge: Boston

Power Forward
As much as I loathe Glen Davis, the guy is having a great season. Against the Raptors, he’s averaging 15pts 6rebs 4ast which makes my blood boil to no end (death by 1000 cuts). With Garnett out, there’s very depth at the 4, which is where the Raptors can make up some lost ground in the match-ups. Both Amir and Ed are playing very well lately, and will give Davis a run for his money on the glass.

What has me concerned is that Doc Rivers going small ball, which will see Marquis Daniels switch to the 4 and Davis to the 5. This could pose a lot of problems for the Raptors as Daniels plays about 15ft in, pulling Amir/Ed out of the paint making help defense and rebounding that much tougher. On the offensive glass, Daniels will do zero to counter Johnson/Davis though, so there is a silver lining with this strategy.

At the end of the day, any advantage the Raptors may have here will be far outweighed by the Celtics advantage at the wing. To close, here’s Glen Davis doing the dougie:

Edge: Toronto

Center
Shaq can’t cover  Bargnani for long stretches on defense, so we will see some interesting lineups thrown at the Raptors. Bargnani will have to deal with a combination of Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal and Glen Davis, each bringing a different challenge for him to deal with. If/when the Celtics go small ball, Bargnani will struggle with defending Davis on the perimeter and his bull-doggedness when he gets into the paint with his interesting post-play (always has these moves where I full expect him to flop to the ground and airball the layup, but it works). Unlike the power forward advantage the Raptors enjoy, if Bargnani puts up a 30+ point night, he might be able to keep things very interesting for much of the game.
Edge: Toronto

The Line

The gamblers have the Celtics as 9.5 point favourites with an over/under of 200.5. Unlike the Cavaliers game, the Raptors can’t spot the Celtics a 32-19 lead in the 1st quarter and expect to take the game. With the game in Boston, the Raptors will need to hit the ground running from the get-go and do all the little things to have a chance.

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One love

I can’t believe I predicted a 30/10 game for Bargnani against a half-assed front court of Nazr Mohammed and Kwame Brown, who both came out looking like all-stars. I was fully expecting another roll-call laden with profanity…whatever, the Raptors are on the second night of a back-to-back against the Bulls, and it’s going to get ugly (my enthusiasm has been tempered quite a bit).

Injury Report

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Jose Calderon – Out
Peja Stojakovic – Out

Chicago
Joakim Noah – Sprained thumb, should play
Derrick Rose – Sprained hand, should play
Carlos Boozer – Healthy, but could randomly keel over at any moment

Match-ups

Point Guards
Bayless has been filling in for the injured Calderon nicely. If there was any knock on him, it’s his ball control; the guy dropped 9 dimes last night, but picked up 4 turnovers. I’m sure that will improve with time, so I’m not too worried. He did much better against Augustin then I thought he would, and took the match-up. Tonight against Rose will be a different story. Derrick is lightning fast, elite finisher at the rim, a stud in the paint with that sweet floater, shoots the ball well, athletic, sees the floor well and has that look in his eye (the exact opposite look that Bargnani has). So lets not talk about how to stop him, cause he can only stop himself. Bayless can make him work on defense…and that’s about it. Will be a great learning experience for the kid, playing major minutes against an elite point guard. I like Barbosa
Edge: Chicago

Shooting Guard
I’m pretty sure my expectations for DeRozan are too high. He’s a 15pt 5reb type of player, and I’m good with that. His jumper needs work, like 500 shots a day-everday, but he needs to drive every time he touches the ball. That dunk he put down last night was sick; dunk of the year material for sure. Tonight against Bogans, more aggressiveness will be the recipe to success. Bogans is a solid defender who likes to spot up in the corner for threes. Although he doesn’t convert at a high clip, there are only so many open looks you can give a guy until he starts to hurt you. With Rose’s ability to get to any spot on the floor he wants too, DeMar will have to be careful on leaving Bogans on help defense. On the flip side, Bogans doesn’t get to the rack much, and isn’t a great finisher, so playing up on him and forcing him to put the ball on the ground into some traffic should shut him down. It’s easy to forget about Korver coming off the bench, dude can hit threes.
Edge: Even

Small Forward
I’ve lost all faith in Weems and Kleiza. I’m very open to a trade for Igoudala at this point to improve this team. Not saying AI9 is the answer the Raptors are looking for, but the guy plays hard and is better than both Weems and Kleiza combined. I’m sure I’ll get an earful, but the Raptors need a small forward who can create for himself, play defense and be intense on a consistent basis.

Back to Deng, he’s a solid mid-ranger shooter, and his length (6″9) makes it that much harder to both his shot. If there’s a weakness, it’s shooting threes, but he converts at a 40% clip, which is pretty good. He’s a solid defender and rebounder, which only makes the problem with Weems/Kleiza that much more serious. I’m not saying that Sonny and Linas wont have a good game; just that it doesn’t matter because they need to have a series of good games to become a dependable part of the roation. As it stands now, neither of them should be playing more than 12-14 minutes a game.

Julian Wright would be ideal in this match-up. He is long and can affect Deng’s shot off the dribble; too bad Triano doesn’t know who the guy is.
Edge: Chicago

Power Forward
As much as I can’t stand Boozer, I have to respect the guy. When he’s healthy, he’s a beast. The shoots the ball very well, plays big in the post, rebounds very well, and can be a nuisance on defense with those long arms and quick movements. Amir is going to have his hands full between trying to keep a body on Boozer, and having to deal with Noah on the glass. It doesn’t get any easier when Taj Gibson plays off the bench; the kid’s been a star filling in for the injured Boozer to start the season. I don’t know, this has the potential to get really messy, Amir can’t do it alone; Ed Davis is still too raw to really go at a polished big like Boozer, and….
Edge: Chicago

Center
…Bargnani is going to justify why I would trade him in a heartbeat for Joakim Noah. Last night against Nazr Mohammed and Kwame Brown, Andrea was somewhere else. Those two are not the kind of hustle players who can outplay anyone, but did just that. Imagine what the hustle, tenacity and competitive ferociousness that Noah plays with will do? I’m getting nervous thinking about all the loose balls, offensive rebounds-put backs, blocked shots, etc that Noah is going to inflict on Bargnani. I’m not saying Bargnani wont hit a few shots, and he might just score 20; but he wont be able to match Noah’s energy, and wont be able to battle him in the paint. Noah can keep up with Andrea on the perimeter, in the post, and off the dribble. ..I can breathe now.
Edge: Chicago

Keys to the Game

Fleeting Line About Pride
After that second half sh*t-show, something needs to give…Bayless, Barbosa and Johnson can’t be the only ones who consistently show up and give a full serving of effort when they hit the floor.

Clichéd Line About the Second Game of a Back-to-Back
The Raptors are on the second night of the back-to-back, thankfully it’s at home game. This season, Toronto is 2-3 (I thought it was worse for some reason) on the second night of a back-to-back, with both wins coming against teams who are playing under .400 ball; Philly and Detroit.

Standard Line About Defense/Rebounding
The Bulls are a solid defensive team; 9th in points allowed and 2nd in rebounding. BARGNANI NEEDS TO GRAB SOME BOARDS. Since shutting down Rose will be next to impossible, I’m advocating the Raptors not double anyone. I don’t want to see any drives and kicks for a wide open look at the rim. Also, BARGNANI NEEDS TO BOX NOAH OUT EVERY TIME A BALL GOES UP, NO MATTER WHAT END OF THE FLOOR HE’S ON.

Desperate Line About Calling Timeouts in a Timely/Effective/Efficient Manner in the Hopes of Actually Coaching and Instructing This Team on Some In-Game Strategy
The 3rd quarter last night saw the Raptors extend their lead by 2, then go down 1 in a two-and-a-half minute run where the Bobcats scored 9 straight points. Not once did it occur to Triano to call a freaking timeout and correct the players, nothing. YOU ARE NOT PHIL JACKSON, AND THE RAPTORS AREN’T THE LAKERS, THEY CAN’T PLAY THROUGH 9-0 RUNS. Not once have I seen this happen this season, not once. So bloody frustrating.

The Line

The Bulls are 5.5 point favourites with an over/under of 202, seems about the right; the Raptors will flap around like a fish out of water, only to piece together a solid run at the end of the game to give people false hopes about how good this team is.