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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Injury Report

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

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

Match-ups

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keys to the Game

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

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

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

The Line

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

Check out Raptors Fan Fridays at the Sports Center Cafe if you’re in the area and want to hang, otherwise, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook and Live Chat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quick thoughts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

How are the signings of Gordon/Villanueva working out?

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

Are the Pistons a playoff team?

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

Do Hamilton and/or Prince get traded this year?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s been a minute since the last Raptors game. With five weeks of back-to-backs in a row (2-3 on the 1st night and 1-4 on the second night) and the toughest part of our schedule behind us (the Western road swing and 16 road games overall) the Raptors still have a chance to close the gap to .500 by the end of 2009 with games against the Pistons (tonight and Sunday) and Charlotte. It wont be easy, but if there is some effort and consistency, this team can get to 15-18 heading into the New Year.

The Raptors currently have the 7th seed, gotta love the East right? Better yet, the Pistons have lost 5 in a row and are close to free-fall status, but sit half a game out of 8th (.407 seems good enough to get you into the playoffs).

The Raptors head into Auburn Hills to face the Pistons on the first night of a home-and-home. This Pistons team is on the same level as the Raptors: middle of the pack/can fall anywhere form 5th to 10th in the East depending on how they battle on a game by game basis. They are free-falling a bit, half in part to a tough road schedule they just came off, and the other half due to some nagging injuries to important players (Prince/Hamilton have both played only 3 games this season, Gordon’s been injured and almost everyone else is listed day-to-day).

Coming off a loss to Charlotte last night means the Pistons will have to come out of the gates with their guns blazing if they hope to have any chance of taking this one. Ben Gordon is key tonight, if he is injured again, finding that instant offense will get challenging considering Hamilton will probably sit too. If you remember the last game, when Wright checked in to cover Gordon, the Pistons struggled long enough for the Raptors to take full control of the game.

Detroits injury situation will dictate how much burn Wright gets. The guy’s been in the doghouse, but he plays solid defense and was the only reason Ben Gordon didn’t score more then he did last time. Both Gordon and Hamilton thrive on taking their man off screens and creating great scoring opportunities. I just don’t trust DeRozan/Weems/Belinelli to play the type of defense necessary to shut them down, I’m sorry. I know there is a huge love-fest going on for Weems now, but the guy is a 9th man off the bench kind of player, can’t expect too much from him.

I hate to say it, but with Calderon out, it seems as though the defense at the point guard spot has improved. Jack is playing at the same level, but Banks was right, he is a game changer on defense, lol. Ok, he’s no Artest, but he’s better then Calderon which means that Stuckey, and especially Bynum, wont be running as rampant as they were the last time out. Bynum especially makes me nervous with his speed and dribble penetration, Stuckey does a pretty good job of that too, but Bynum comes off the bench which makes that attack constant on the Raptors defense. He lit the Raptors up the last time, and we had no answer for him.

There isn’t much standing in the way of Bosh and Bargnani to both have big nights again. Villanueva is great, but he givs up as much as he takes and Ben Wallace only brings rebounding and some defense to the table (the Pistons are effectively short-handed on offense with Big Ben on the court).

The game will probably be ugly, but it is very winnable for the Raptors. The Pistons are on the second night of a back-to-back, injury ridden and in the midst of a 5 game losing streak. You really couldn’t set the stage any better. Not much of a leap here, but expect a win tonight. The Pistons don’t match-up well against us at all when they are healthy, much less when they are mangled.

Little did you know that today is Canada Basketball Day. Join a bunch of ball-loving folk for some pick-up action at Hoop Dome around 1:30PM or so, and then head over to SCC for Raptor Fan Fridays.

While the Raptors still are finding their legs as a team, Bosh certainly hasn’t been slow out of the blocks. The seven-year Raptor, who spent the off-season working unusually hard to build up his strength and endurance, is in the top three in the NBA in both points (31.3 per game) and rebounds (14.7) — with the idea of keeping it that way throughout the season. “I’m just trying to stay consistent,” he said. “That’s my main thing this year. Last year, I got off to a really good start, and I really, really digressed as the season went on. So I’m trying to keep it steady this year. Not only for the second half of the season, but the second half of games.”

Pistons-Raptors Preview – Nov. 3, 2009 – NBA – CBSSports.com

"We have to learn from these games, especially being a young team," Turkoglu told the Raptors' official Web site. Though the Raptors are allowing 110.3 points per game, they're playing well on the offensive end thanks to Bosh, who's averaging 31.0 points per contest. Also pulling down 14.7 boards per game, Bosh is averaging 23.1 points and 10.1 rebounds in his last seven contests versus Detroit.

Raptors will need defence against Detroit | The Toronto Observer

“We didn’t do the things defensively that we’ve been talking about since the preseason,” veteran forward Chris Bosh said after the loss to Orlando. “Have all contested shots and give them one rebound.” Toronto had only a total of two steals and six blocked shots against the Magic. Head coach Jay Triano will also want to emphasize rebounding, particularly on offence.

In their last game, Toronto was out-worked on the offensive boards by the Magic 14-9. They are currently ranked 21st in the National Basketball Association in recovering the ball.

Raptors Need To Stick With The Plan | Hoops Addict

You don’t scrap what you spent the past six weeks working on because of two frustrating losses. You regroup and tighten things up during practices. You continue to allow Antoine Wright and Hedo Turkoglu some time to get acquainted after missing most of October. You let Jose Calderon snap out of the early season funk he’s found himself trapped in.

Bosh bashing on offensive boards – The Globe and Mail

For a guy who is tied for third in NBA scoring heading into last night’s play (averaging 31 points in Toronto’s first three games) and is second overall in rebounding (14.7), Bosh is more concerned with the number 12 – the rebounds he has plucked off the offensive glass (an average of four per outing, ranking him fourth in the league). It represents a significant jump for a man who, last year, averaged 2.8 offensive rebounds over the course of the season.

He is not sold on Raptors all-star Chris Bosh – “They’re going to pay him $20 million to shoot jump shots?” – or on starting centre Andrea Bargnani. “You ain’t going nowhere with 7-footers shooting three-pointers.”

Strong start only a beginning for Bosh – thestar.com

"That's one of the things Jay (Triano) and I talked about over the summer, even if the play was designed a certain way, I was floating around the elbow and the wing a little bit too much," Bosh said. "So that was really a point of emphasis for me, to roll a lot more and get down closer to the basket a lot more, be a more traditional big."

Raptors Notebook – Toronto Sun

Former Raptor Charles Oakley will be honoured tonight as part of the team’s 15th anniversary. The Raptors play host to the Detroit Pistons, 7 p.m., at the Air Canada Centre. Oakley played 208 games for Toronto over three seasons, averaging 7.9 points and 7.9 rebounds and was part of two playoff teams, including the 2001 squad that defeated the New York Knicks to reach the second round.

Bosh toughens up for second halves – Posted Sports

“That was one of the major concerns coming into this summer was not only the second half of the season, but the second half of games and just being able to stay strong and keep it going, it’s easier said than done,” he said. “I’m just trying to stay consistent. That’s my main thing this year. I know last year I got off to a really good start and I really, really digressed as the season went on, so I’m trying to keep it steady this year.”

Bosh sees | Basketball | Sports | Toronto Sun

While the Raptors still are finding their legs as a team, Bosh certainly hasn't been slow out of the blocks. The seven-year Raptor, who spent the off-season working unusually hard to build up his strength and endurance, is in the top three in the NBA in both points (31.3 per game) and rebounds (14.7) — with the idea of keeping it that way throughout the season. "I'm just trying to stay consistent," he said. "That's my main thing this year. Last year, I got off to a really good start, and I really, really digressed as the season went on. So I'm trying to keep it steady this year. Not only for the second half of the season, but the second half of games."

Game Preview: Detroit Pistons vs Toronto Raptors « New Leisure Blog

Key to a Raptor win:
- Stop Gordon and Charlie V from scoring. Charlie V loves playing against his old team and he will be very motivated. Charlie V is currently having a bad start, he is not getting a lot of playing time and looks like he’s lost on defense.

- Calderon has to play better on both ends. He has to make shots on offense and contain Stuckey on defense.

- Attack, attack and attack. The Pistons are using Ben Wallace as their starting center, if it’s Ben Wallace 5 years ago, it may be relevant, but now he is no longer a defensive force. So the Raptors have to attack with their quickness. Jump on them early, it’s better to play with a lead.

Preview Raptors vs Pistons: The First Big Test! « Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog

During the off-season, the Detroit Pistons rebuilt the key components of their roster in an attempt to become relevant once again in the post season.

Not everyone is convinced that the Pistons have made all the right moves and Wednesday night’s tilt versus the Raptors is the first head-to-head meeting with one of the half-dozen teams that they will competing with for one of the last four playoff spots.

The Toronto Raptors have gotten off to a disappointing start to the season. From the high of beating Cleveland in their home opener. Then the low of losing two straight high scoring contests they could have won.

Turkoglu adjusting to new team, new city – Ottawa Citizen

The 30-year-old veteran of nine NBA seasons said he is still figuring out his new team and city, both on and off the court.

“It’s been an adjustment since I’ve been here, I still have to figure out the nice places, the nice areas, the people that are really good people that I can be friends with,” he said. “My teammates, they are going to be my good friends because we’re going to spend most of the year together. Everyday I learn more about either my team or about the city, that makes me feel more comfortable”

NBA affiliate runs tryout at Ryerson – The Eyeopener Online

A Toronto Raptors affiliate hosted a free agent tryout Saturday and Sunday at the upper gym in Kerr Hall.

The Erie Bay Hawks, Toronto and Cleveland’s developmental league affiliate, held the third of three tryouts looking for names to submit to the DLeague’s Nov. 5 draft.

The camps attract a wide range of talent, all looking for an opportunity to further a professional basketball career.

Paul Jones Fast Break: Gotta defend – sportsnet.ca

And why is this important looking at Sunday? Well Sunday was one of the rare times, and it happens about once a month (say 6-7 times a season) where Toronto holds an opponent under the magic number — no pun intended — and loses the game. The difference was Orlando’s three-point shooting which was great. But that is to be expected from a team that was 7th in the NBA last season in three-point shooting percentage and hoisted over a third of their field goal attempts last season from behind the arc. Orlando’s 17 three-point field goals was a record for the most treys made by a Raptor opponent in a single game. Heck, Toronto shot 54 per cent and put up 116 points and still lost. On Sunday afternoon, Orlando shot 43.9 per cent. So what happened and should the Raptors have modified their defensive game plan and coverage?

Tayshaun Prince’s streak of consecutive starts over – Detroit Free Press

The team just announced that small forward Tayshaun Prince will miss tonight's game against the Orlando Magic because of a lower back strain, ending his consecutive-start streak at 439 games.

Prince will not make the two-game trip to Toronto (Wednesday) and Orlando (Friday), either.

Bosh’s New Bulk A Welcome Addition – Mike Ulmer, raptors.com

When Chris Bosh grabbed Dwight Howard to ignite a skirmish of forbidden words in Sunday’s loss to the Magic, it wasn’t because Bosh was sending out a message.

November 3rd – Practice Videos – Raptors.com

November 3rd – Practice Videos

Must Have: Chris Bosh’s DVD First Ink – Dime Magazine

If and when Chris Bosh becomes a free agent, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up back home in Dallas. Not because he necessarily wants to play for the Mavericks, but because Mark Cuban could probably give him his own television station. On December 1st, CB4 has a DVD dropping called First Ink, and I’m already trying to get my hands on it.

First Ink features a documentary film which follows Bosh as he navigates one of the most important offseasons of his career, as well as a number of original comic films, exclusive interviews and never-before-seen high school footage.

World Series, Raptors Ratings – Chris Zelkovich, thestar.com

Relatively huge was the audience Rogers Sportsnet attracted for Sunday's World Series game: 840,000. That doesn't include all those who watched on Fox, which I'm guessing was at least another 800,000. That's not hockey huge, but it's huge.

Not so huge were the Toronto Raptors. They got off to a great start last week, drawing a record audience of 420,000 on The Score. But that fell to 240,000 Friday and only 190,000 on Sunday.

Here are the top English-Canadian sports ratings for the weekend, as supplied by BBM overnight calculations:

Placing blame on the wrong players – khandor’s sports blog

Although Dave Feschuk usually does a solid job of pointing out which things are working well in Raptorville, at any given point in time, and which things are in need of improvement, on occasion, even he can “swing and miss”, when it comes to solving the riddle that has now become,

“What is really at the heart of the Raptors defensive woes, when it comes to relentlessly conceding dribble penetration to opponent ball-handlers using a Pick from a Big?”

Practice Talk – November 3rd, 2009 – Court Surfing

Is it important to get a win before heading out on a road trip? "We talked about the importance of the game but nothing to do with the fact that we're getting ready to get on the road. It's one game and we're going to focus on that game. We have an opportunity to watch them tonight, we run through some of their sets today in practice and hopefully make some adjustments based on what we see tonight when they play against Orlando."

Don’t Panic, Toronto – Hoopsworld

It's amazing how quickly the sky starts to fall sometimes. The Toronto Raptors started the 2009-10 season with a bang, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers, but are 0-2 since then after losses to Orlando and Memphis. An early scapegoat seems to be rookie shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who has been starting and is averaging just 7.3 points per game. Some wonder if the Raptors would be better off starting Antoine Wright, just back from an ankle injury, who was a regular starter for the Dallas Mavericks last season. Raptors head coach Jay Triano isn't ready to consider a lineup change.

2006 Draft Do-Over, Death of talent in ’06 Draft makes Blazers clear winners – NBA.com

Monday, NBA teams gave their verdict. It was the deadline for contract extensions for the 2006 class, and well, let's just hope a bunch of those players got their degrees. They may need them soon. With a recession and a declining salary cap causing teams to turn thrifty, a majority of third-year players will wonder where their next paychecks will come from. Among the few who were extended were Roy, Aldridge, Rajon Rondo, Thabo Sefalosha and Andrea Bargnani. Most of the rest are destined to work year-to-year, especially with an upcoming labor negotiation adding even more employment uncertainty.

3. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto: As No. 1 picks go, he isn't exactly Olowokandi. But not a franchise player, either. He can shoot with range and he just turned 24, so the Raptors rolled the financial dice anyway.

Class of 2006 Score Only Six Extensions – ESPN TrueHoop

A week ago it began looking like just three first-rounders from the 2006 NBA Draft were going to get contract extensions from their teams.

Brandon Roy got a max deal. LaMarcus Aldridge landed a sweet $65 million extension. And Andrea Bargnani signed a deal worth $50 million.

However, over the course of the past few days there has been a flurry of negotiations and a few other players scored extensions.

It’s interesting; this team is interesting. We have gone through a few pre-season games, 1 of which was an 8-point loss to a Timberwolves team sans Jefferson and Love; and this team doesn’t look like the finished product that would win 50 games and a make it to the second round of the playoffs. The Raptors are reasonably deep, but nothing of real note after the starters (lots of interchangeable pieces where one doesn’t shine brighter then the other). The 2 spot was always the question mark in the starting lineup, but you know what? Frank Zicarelli got it wrong, again – DeRozan’s role on the Raptors, is to start at the 2.

The roster has been set for the opener, with no surprises. There was no one fighting for a roster spot at training camp. Only those fighting for minutes. There is a a distinction. For what it’s worth, the starting lineup is not bad. Calderon is a solid point guard. He conducts the offense; hits jumpers; makes the safe right plays; protects the ball; and he’s butter from the charity stripe. Hedo is a match-up nightmare at the 3. Dude is tall, creative off the hop, gets to the rack, isn’t afraid to take clutch shots; and hits them once in a while. Bosh is elite. Bargnani spreads the floor. has a solid jumper; gets a couple blocks a game; and can take his man off the dribble.

The starters have scoring down. Between the four, you can expect about 65pts a night from them (based on what they did last season). You figure the bench will chip in 20-25 a night, which leaves the starting SG only really needing to come up with about 10pts a night to get us to free pizza.

Defensively, shooting guard is a tough position. You have chase the likes of Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, Monta Ellis, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, etc, around the court on offense – and make them work defensively. No one has really stepped up to earn that spot: DeRozan has been raw; Wright has been hurt; Weems was playing great but he’s not really a starter; Belinelli is way to inconsistent. So the question then becomes, what is the starting lineup missing?

Defense

It is safe to say that Wright is the best defender of this lot. He came with that pedigree, and he struts around with some attitude (I like the trash talking), but he is not much of a threat to light it up on offense. We saw DeRozan chase folks around screens, block the lane and crash the boards. He may not be as good as Wright, but he has shown a willingness to get dirty in this department, which suits me just fine for a rook.

Slashing

DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli are pretty good at getting to the rim. All three have shown that they are fearless in this department. Weems has been a pleasant surprise this summer, but his contribution is marginally better (if at all) then DeRozan’s. Both DeRozan and Weems got to the rim, been knocked down numerous times, and keep at it. I’d say it is a toss up here.

Athleticism

This is the two man race between DeRozan and Weems. They are both are freakish in this regard: jump the hell out of the gym and are quick up-n-down the court. DeRozan is taller younger, bigger and taller then Weems, with a longer wing span.

I gotta like DeRozan here. He takes it to the rim, he has been working hard, wants to play defense, and Hopla will improve his shot over the course of the season. So what’s the problem? Ahh, you want to ‘hide rookies’. I see. Bury them on the bench and let them shine in due time. I hate this strategy. When you have promise in a young gun, you need to nurture it. I’m not suggestion you play him 30+ minutes a night, but he does a lot of good things to be an after thought on this team.

Sure, starting Wright here is the safe way to go. He doesn’t need the ball on offense, and plays good D (gave Carmelo hell in the playoffs last year). But as much as the Raptors need that sort of production, they need athleticism more. Getting out on the break, filling those lanes, attacking off the bounce, alley-oops…all these things, I haven’t seen Wright do. DeRozan fits this bill.

“What about scoring? Wont DeRozan feel pressure to score as a starter?” Ye he will, but what you aren’t considering is that the offensive load for the SG is MUCH less as a starter then a reserve, on this particular team. As part of the the starting unit, DeRozan’s only needs to give Jose/Hedo another passing option. He just needs to catch the ball on the go and put it down. He doesn’t have to worry about creating his own shot, because the defense will be far too tuned in on the rest of the lot, and take advantage of the holes left by Bargnani and Bosh pulling the bigs further away from the basket as they should be.

As a reserve, DeRozan will not be surrounded with as gifted offensive players as the starters, increasing his burden to do more. He now has to create his own scoring opportunities on top of doing everything else. To me, that isn’t hiding the kid. He now has to worry about carrying the 2nd unit. Talk about throwing him to the wolves.

So let him start. Wright can come off the bench IF Kid Dynamite can’t hold his own offensively. Weems can come in when the Raptors need a spark, and Belinelli can come in when all else fails. It might just take the whole year or more for DeRozan to get it right, but hiding him on the bench and sparing him the trial by fire at the hands of Wade and Kobe only keeps that pacifier in his mouth longer. To me, it’s a disservice. The kid can play, let him at it.

One more day!!!

Today’s recap:

Pistons

• Signed Ben Gordon to a 5r/$55mil contract.
• Signed Charlie Villanueva to a 5yr/$35-$40mil contract.

Dumars saved face with the whole Michael Curry situation by making a massive splash on Day 1 of free agency. Did he pay too much for Gordon? Probably, but he got himself a youngin who can score in buckets, is tough as nails, and clutch. Also, he scooped up our boy CV31, and signed him to a GREAT deal. Are the Pistons championship contenders? No, but they have a nice young core of Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiel, Aaron Afflalo, Amir Johnson with the likes of Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Not too bad.

Grade: B+ – Retooling quick, but at a price.

Grizzlies/Clippers

• Clipps exile Zach Randolph to the Grizz for Quentin Richardson and calmer nerves.

Can’t believe they actually found someone who will take Zach and that nasty attitude/contract off their hands, but they did. Clipps get rid of a cancer, save some money, and clear space for Griffin to become the #1 guy on the right block, all in one move. Memphis on the other hand just made Thabeet’s life much tougher protecting the paint.

Clippers Grade: A – Franchise moving in the right direction…finally.
Grizzlies Grade: D – WTF????

Lakers

• Ariza wants more then mid-level, I’d give it to him.

Is he worth it? Maybe. Is he going to walk? Probably. The Lakers need to keep Odom before giving Ariza the big bucks. One of the guys I would target if I were BC, a younger Marion.

Grade: D – You keep this guy, no questions.

Blazers

• Flirting with Hedu, I like the guy, but not for $60mil.

Not a good move, could just be smoke/mirrors. Khandor breaks this move down better then I could. On the bright side, this whole thing has Fernandez pissed off, giving most of us something to talk about, even though some other GM will probably pluck him out of the air if he becomes available.

Grade: D – I’d rather keep Rudy and bring in a Richard Hamilton type, that’s just me.

This TSN2 debacle has been a blessing in disguise; since we were spared eye sores for many a game. I still curse Rogers and TSN2, but it is followed with a shrug. Misery continued in Philly on Wednesday for the Raptors, but you know what, she likes company, and her name is Detroit. The Raptors host the Pistons on Friday, where their current 6 game losing streak is in jeopardy of stretching to 7. By in jeopardy, I mean if I was a gambling man, I would put my condo up that the Raptors lose this one.

We know what the Raptors have been up too (thanks Cuzoogle), but more of that to come. The Pistons have been a much more interesting and compelling story this season. After trading Billups for Iverson a few games into the season, they have been a big disappointment (that’s what happens when you trade your heart and soul away, and have a rookie coach who doesn’t really know what he’s doing). By big disappointment, I mean they are currently 32-21, and holding on to 6th spot (aka a chance at the second round) in the East.

They did something this season that I never thought possible for this team, an 8 game losing streak. Incredibly, it stopped once Hamilton returned to the starting lineup in favour of Iverson, and are now in the midst of winning 5 of their last 7. They are coming off a 116-111OT loss to the Knicks where Nate Robinson and David Lee played like beasts in combining for 46pts 21rebs 8ast (Hughes also chipped in 22pts 4rebs 4ast). Those kind of stats will win you games.

The Raptors on the other hand suck, and have lost 43 of their last 65, and Bosh has been busy moonlighting:

Howdy

I know it was only for a few seconds, but he is so easily distracted from playing ball, it annoys me, that’s all I’m saying. Also, if you are going to do something, don’t half ass it: put on a suit, put down the basketball and be a man. This isn’t a basketball court. Not surprisingly, he sucks at delivering the news too. Scratch that off the list of things he can do with his life (so far there is franchise player, blogger, weatherman and contrary to what Shaq says – runway model).

Hot cheerleader time, and the Automation (that’s what they call their dancers) have a few hotties to choose from. I’m going with Chelsey, I’m pretty sure she’s the first blonde I’ve picked. She’s a 3rd year dancer, and her fondest memory is dancing for the team during the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. Wish we had fond memories like that. She looks a bit dirty too, might even give you ATM (Google it, NSFW).

Injury Report

Raptors
Kris Humphries
Jose Calderon (should be sitting, but will be our walking wounded)

Pistons
Allen Iverson
Rasheed Wallace (questionable)

Match-ups

Calderon vs Stuckey
The Edge: Stuckey - JC is injured, or he sucks, or both. Either way, he has a lot on his plate as he gets the guy Dumars traded Billups away to get minutes for. Wednesday night against the Knicks, Stuckey put up 23pts 8rebs 8ast, tall tall order for JC.

Parker vs Hamilton
The Edge: Hamilton - Dude is a Raptor killer. He curls off those low picks like a beast, and sticks jumpers right in your heart. Since the Raptors suck at PnR defense, and Hamilton has a history of making people pay for not defending him properly, and the Raptors defense sucks, he gets the nod. Wednesday night against the Knicks, Hamilton put up 27ts 9rebs 5ast.

Marion vs Prince
The Edge: Prince - Another Raptor killer. Dumars wouldn’t have passed on Carmelo Anthony had he not already had Prince (although I’m sure he would want to take that one back). This will be the first game that we have someone covering Prince in a long time who can guard the SF and challenge him on every possession on boths end of the floor. Still like Prince in this match-up, but he wont win it by a wide margin. Wednesday night against the Knicks, Prince put up 25pts 10rebs 4ast.

Rupaul vs Wallace or Maxiel
The Edge: Rupaul* - The * is in the event that Wallace plays (questionable), I like Rasheed for this one. If Rasheed is injured, Rupaul. He’s not a happy camper, but you know what? I don’t care. He has to suck it up and play like a man. Regardless, he has been doing well during this current stretch of doo-doo, putting up 27pts 8rebs 3ast. Wednesday night against the Knicks, Maxiel put up 3pts 2rebs and Wallace was injured.

VL vs Mcdyess
The Edge: Mcdyess - Mcdyess
is easily one of my favourite players in the league. He was an athletic beast coming out of college, but suffered massive injuries. Why do I man-love him? He took adversity, and reinvented himself into the current player he is. He developed a perimeter game. Dude is still a physical beast, but he doesn’t try to go through you. Enough with the love-fest. VL will put up big numbers, but so will Mcdyess who has been playing off the chain the last few games, grabbing every rebound that comes his direction (something we don’t get/expect from VL). Wednesday night against the Knicks, McDeyes put up 21pts and 22rebs. Killer!

The Line

VegasInsider.com has the as a pick to Pistons -1.

Prediction

Pistons, might be close, but a loss is a loss. Not even thinking of calling a Raptor win after what we saw against Philly…must have been high to make that pick…

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Did the Raptors just concede this game in the third quarter after the lead ballooned to 16? Fine, I can convince myself to live with that even though a 16 point lead isn’t exactly a mountain to overcome, but what gets me is the starters remaining on the bench once we cut the lead to 9 with 10:40 to play. After the bench led by Juan Dixon, Joey Graham and Rasho Nesterovic managed to slice the lead to manageable levels, Sam Mitchell chose to rest the starters in anticipation of Sacramento tomorrow. I was completely dumbfounded by this move because at that point you have to put back Calderon, Bosh, Parker and Delfino in the game and hope the momentum shift will continue and maybe you can cut this lead down further, especially with Wallace on the bench. Mitchell conceded the game way too early and the Raptors didn’t even bother giving themselves a shot in the fourth quarter. Now what made entirely no sense was the re-introduction of only one starter, Bosh, in the fourth quarter with 6:22 left and a 10 point game. So you don’t bring back the starters with a 9 point lead a 10:40 to play but you bring back one starter with a 10 point lead and half a quarter to play? Makes no fucking sense.

Let’s move on past this insane substitution pattern and talk about what lost us the game: turnovers and helping off the wrong person. The “Points of Turnovers” stat is often misinterpreted in my opinion because it doesn’t necessarily indicate that the other team scored because of your turnover, but rather after your turnover. Today, the former was true. Every time we turned the ball over (14 in total), Detroit was off and running and getting easy baskets in transition making it look easy. If that’s not bad enough, we also let our guard down defensively and committed a very familiar sin: helping off a shooter. The biggest culprits included Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono who have a fetish for helping out when they should just stick to their man, it’s no surprise that Hamilton and Billups ended with 39 and 20. They make jumpers for a living and we made their living very easy, especially Rip’s.

A couple posts ago nolagunner had made this comment on the blog leading me to give Bosh more of a break for not driving the ball enough:

I’m not being snarky here, but has anyone considered the idea that Bosh doesn’t drive every time because he’s fucking exhausted? I mean, the man has to pace himself given all he’s being asked to do.

It’s an excellent point although my beef with Bosh has as much to do with him not posting up enough as not driving enough because driving can be taken away by a defender if he gives you space, taking away someone’s post-up game is much harder. Either way, today he did neither. He completely and utterly settled for the outside jumper and never challenged any of the Detroit power forwards into defending him. Detroit was more than content letting him shoot from outside and Bosh fully obliged. He wasn’t even rolling on the pick ‘n rolls opting to attempt a 20 footer. His most aggressive move was reserved for late in the fourth quarter when nothing mattered, not very POW like. Anyway, once that avenue of scoring was shut down, we never had a chance in this game but thanks to Delfino, Parker and Calderon willing the Raptors back into this game, the lead was only one at halftime leaving the door slightly open. The said door was quickly slammed shut after the Raptors started the third in the same way they started the game: turnovers and leaving shooters open. Once the lead bubbled to 16, the events described in the first paragraph transpired, leading me to conclude that we didn’t do all we could do to win this game.

Jason Maxiell’s 9 rebounds and 8 points really hurt us because they came through offensive rebounds and some hard-nosed banging down low. It occurred to me that we have a player who can contend with Maxiell, his name is Kris Humphries who only played 8 minutes while Maxiell logged 27. Humphries must’ve killed Sam’s dog and raped his cat because if there ever is a game where your power forwards need to log minutes, it’s against Detroit. I don’t remember Humphries doing anything to warrant an exile to the bench in his 8 minutes, do you? He traveled once but that’s only after he tore down a rebound over Maxiell and McDyess and lost his footing. Somebody please fill me in.

As tradition dictates, any post-game post must have at least one paragraph about Andrea Bargnani so here goes. This time he managed to grab five rebounds (practically fell in his lap) but unfortunately it came at the expense of scoring 0 points. I guess you take the good with the bad except that we’ve been taking a whole lot of bad and very little good this season and as the stats indicate, today was no different. He was out-hustled by McDyess on a couple occasions and was also caught trailing plays much to the chagrin of Mitchell who was once again forced to yank him. I’m not sure what the solution here is, I’m not a coach or a GM, I’m an unpaid blogger who doesn’t see an end to his misery. The best I can suggest is to somehow light a fire under his ass so he plays harder and stronger. We even might have to take that previous statement literally to get him going. We need a second scorer to beat good teams, on a night like tonight where our primary scorer is MIA, a player like Bargnani becomes even more important.

The officiating was terribly poor with the Raptors getting the short end of the stick on every occasion prompting Sam Mitchell to very audibly yell into the microphone, “Why can’t you just say you blew the call?” followed by a prudent “Fuck you!”. Who needs coaches wearing mics when you got Sam? Take that ESPN and ABC. But shit usually happens for a reason, the Pistons were way more aggressive than the Raptors and earned the calls. The Raptors on the other hand rarely attempted (let alone made) a shot inside the paint. Today was the best example of just exactly how perimeter oriented we are and just how much we need somebody who can play in the paint.

For me it’s never whether you lose or win, it’s how you lose or win. I didn’t like the way the Raptors played or the way Sam coached this game, I thought we could’ve come closer and challenged Detroit in the fourth but for whatever reason we didn’t. I had this one circled as a loss in the 4 in 5 stretch so it’s not a shock we lost, but it’s still a tough one to swallow. Sacramento tomorrow will not be easy.

One-Liners:

* Parker/Delfino/Calderon got us to within 1 point of the Pistons in the second quarter, they deserved a chance to do the same in the fourth.

* The Raptors settle for the jumper even when they’re in transition and have numbers in their favor.

* Give the Detroit defense some credit on shutting down Bosh, they gave him space so it was harder for him to use his blow-by quickness. But they didn’t prevent him from attempting postups, that option was there all game long.

* If there’s one good thing about tonight, it was that Kapono got some shooting practice. Hopefully he got some of his rhythm back.

* The team as it is right now can make the playoffs no problem, they might even be able to get home court advantage. But winning a series or two is an entirely different matter. We have a big hole at the 5 spot and there’s not enough scoring from the 3. 1 and 4 are the only spots where we’re solid with Anthony Parker being the lone gunman at the 2.

* Sam Mitchell didn’t talk to Andrea Bargnani for three weeks! That is a sign of horrible coaching, you need to communicate with a player, you can’t isolate him and shut him out and magically hope he gets better. Tough love doesn’t work like that.

* This was the longest I’ve ever seen Calderon stay on the bench. I still can’t get past the fact that we conceded so early.

* My heart stops every time Moon shoots outside of 15 feet. Lucky for us, he’s making his share over the last couple games but it’s still scary that him shooting jumpers is something we’re encouraging and seem to be looking at as a source of offense.

* Am I the only one who wants to lunge and claw at the screen every time they show Darrick Murray Martin on the screen. Yeah, Dixon was clanging it 1-8FG but I’d still rather see him in there, at least when he chucks, it has a chance of going in.

* Richard Hamilton’s line included 16-22 FG (5-6 3 FG). Isn’t this a little excessive? Didn’t it click to the Raptors to cover this guy after he had made his 10th open shot?

* Jason Maxiell is type of player that the Raptors are desperately searching for. Somebody who plays close to the rim, uses his body and hot his jumper and can rebound. An unbelievable pick by Dumars late in the first round, now that is some good late drafting.

* Detroit is unbelievably patient in their offensive sets. After examining mismatches with the utmost care, they find a way to exploit them by making the perfect pass and then to top it off, finish with composure.

* Nobody give me the “We were resting the starters for tomorrows game” excuse in justifying Sam benching the starting unit with the game still up for grabs.

* If you missed the second podcast, check it out here.

I apologize for this post being so long.