From the middle of the third quarter to the final 30 seconds of the game I kept expecting something wacky to happen and sure enough, the Raptors and Wizards gave us some high drama for the third consecutive year in Washington. Although Chris Bosh’s game winning 3-pointer wasn’t as circus a shot as Morris Peterson’s last second one-handed heave to tie the game in 2007 or Anthony Parker’s patented off-balance 360 corner fade-away off a full court pass with no time remaining last season (watch), it did add to the lore of this growing rivalry.

Bosh’s 3-pointer left 9 seconds on the clock which gave Caron Butler a chance to reprise his role as team-hero from his performance on Friday in Toronto but he came up whack. Butler again accepted the inbounds pass in the final seconds and was immediately checked by Marion. Instead of shaking off Marion with a crisp pull-up jumper that worked for him on Friday, Butler chose to try to beat Marion off the dribble and drive to the basket. However, he failed and when he got into the paint he was met by a perfectly positioned Bosh. With no time to think and no passing lanes in sight, Butler was forced to attempt an acrobatic reverse layup that ‘wackedly’ clanked off the bottom of the backboard. The result was a 97-96 Raptors win.

As far as wackiness goes, last night’s game contained enough evidence to confirm its existence. Let’s start at the end with Bosh’s three. Coming out of a 20-second timeout, as Bosh himself confirmed in his post-game interview, they called for him to pop-out off his screen for Calderon. Now Bosh popping-out to the elbow is the customary play but in this case he fooled the Wizards by popping-out and positioning himself behind the three-point line. When no Wizard player rotated to find him, Calderon’s sharp pass found him completely wide open. Upon receiving the pass, Bosh quickly surveyed the defense and when no one ran up to check him (the Wizards literally dared him to take the shot by falling back and positioning themselves for a rebound), Bosh was forced to take the completely wide open shot. And like any stone-cold clutch player, he drilled it. (After seeing Antawn Jamison make a three earlier in the game – he was 1-6 from behind the arc – I joked that Bosh now had “Jamison range”. Bosh, by the way, was 1-2 from downtown.)

Another wacky element was Jamison limping off the court and leaving the game at the 10:38 mark of the fourth quarter with an ankle sprain in the middle of an all-out monster performance. (When I noticed Jamison sitting next to Gilbert Arenas, I knew he wasn’t going to return). Jamison started the game off slow like the rest of his teammates, he stepped-up in the 2nd quarter and decimated the Raptors who started the quarter with as wack a line-up all season: Douby, Kapono, Graham, Bosh, Voskhul. After being down by as many as 14 halfway through the first, the Wiz went on a 25-10 run to take 39-40 lead by the halfway point of the second. During this run, Jamison’s presence in the offensive paint was dominating. Ripping down boards, scoring on put-backs and drives while fluidly running the floor and making smooth outside jumpers, he exhibited the exact same style of play as Bosh. To reinforce the comparison, both Jamison and Bosh have almost identical season statistics. I though that once Jamison was out, they were going to fold. They didn’t. With both Jamison and Butler on the bench, the Wizards maintained an 11-point lead, when Butler entered the fourth at the 6:45 mark, he immediate drew a foul and hit both is free throws to increase their lead to 80-93. But from that point on, the Raptors took over and ended the game with a 17-3 run of their own. A large part of this win is thanks to Jamison not playing the majority of the fourth quarter.

The Raptors made their game-ending run with Douby and O’Bryant on the court. Down the stretch, Douby hit Marion with a great pass that led him to the rim for a basket and hit Bosh with a great alley-oop; while O’Bryant (who got the start for Bargnani) knocked down a baseline jumper, slammed downed a big dunk and made two huge blocks. Even though both their impact was statistically minimal their contributions were considerable.

As for our third D-Leaguer, Pops, I liked the way he and Marion complimented each other by effectively crashing the boards together. Pops showed the kind of energy and hustle we saw in his first 10 games. Wearing a wrist/thumb guard, he’s obviously playing through an injury that affected his hand strength seeing that he was stripped of the ball in the offensive paint as he was going up for dunks. His hand injury is the main reason why he’s been so susceptible to getting stripped lately.

Looking forward to next season, a front-court rotation of Pops, O’Bryant and Humphries off the bench would look good to me. They’re all young, athletic and salary-cap cheap. In limited minutes behind Bosh and Bargnani, I think they could all be serviceable in making positive contributions. Consistency will be the issue, but I think they could all have distinct roles on this team and be successful in them. Look for them to be on the active roster in November.

Their was still more wackiness and we needed not look any further than good ol’ Roko “Cocoa” Ukic. Before I get into his shortcomings I have to point out that any comparison to him and Douby is really unjust. Ukic is a euro rookie who was realistically expected to be under whelm this season, whereas Douby is a 4-year NBA professional who got cut during the season and decided to play in the D-League, so of course he’s going to play better than Ukic – he’s got 4 years on him. After 80 games in Ukic’s first NBA season, his first year living in North America, he has definitely hit the proverbial rookie wall. And last night, Ukic couldn’t do anything good or right. When he got the ball, he couldn’t create anything for himself or his teammates. When he looked to pass he hesitated to make one because he couldn’t find anyone open, except Bosh (but that’s because he immediately looked for him as soon has the caught the ball as if it was a grenade to be handled by our best player). And than when he drove to the basket he got blocked on both occasions. Not to mention that he was playing with Bosh, Marion, Pops and Kapono, one of our better lineups. All in all, Ukic’s completely worn-out which was to be expected at this point in the season.

However, when discussing the merits of Douby and Ukic neither them compare of Juan Dixon. All three players are 3rd string combo guards but it was apparent that Dixon is head, shoulders, eyebrows and hairstyles above Douby and Ukic. Sure it’s possible both Douby and Ukic improve to the point of surpassing Dixon on the depth chart in a couple of years. But right now and next season, I’d take Dixon over either of them as the team’s 11th man. (I know Ukic is our back-up PG, but he’s not deserving or prepared for that role.)

Another thing I have to mention about our two recent tilts against the Wizards is the comparison between Butler and Marion. They both have the same long and strong body-type and are great talents. Both can run the floor, fight for rebounds and finish hard. But what separates Butler as being the better player is his ability to create his own shot and breakdown defenders. Throughout his career, Butler’s never had the opportunity to play with a top-tier, pass-first PG. Since arriving in Washington, he’s excelled playing for lesser quality point guards like Crittenton, Dixon, Mike James, Gilbert Areans, etc. If Butler ever gets the chance to play with a PG the likes of Steve Nash and Calderon, he’ll prove to be better player than Marion ever was. That’s no disrespect to Marion, it’s just that Butler has everything Marion has, plus the ball-handling skills and the shot-creation.

All of last night’s game wackiness aside, when looking at the final team stats, it was telling that the Raptors won despite the fact they shot only 40% from the field because they took 17 more shots, out-rebounded the Wiz, scored almost twice as many assist and committed 9 less turnovers.

Liners:

• If Jamison doesn’t get hurt, the Raptors don’t win this game.
• The Raptors do look like their trying not to lose their 50th game of the season. (One more to go and one more to play).
• The Wizards already have a great combination of solid veterans and good young players. Add a healthy Agent O and a top-pick and they suddenly look deadly.
• I was really impressed by what I saw from JaVale McGee. He’s a beast.
• The Wiz really need a to draft a PG if they don’t get the #1 pick.
• Seriously, Kapono should be forced to only take 3-point shots.
• Both Bosh and Marion scored 25 points and 15 rebounds respectively.
• With a starting core of Calderon, Bosh, Marion and Bargnani, and a bench comprised of Parker, Graham Douby, Ukic, Pops, O’Bryant and Hump, this team is just starting-caliber SG away from being a really good playoff team next season.
• Flip Saunders is going to look good behind the Wizards bench next season.
• Today’s Raptors Republic post-game theme song is dedicated to all the Wizard fans that remember this classic hype/wack track from 1992! (Boo-ya!)
• Fact: If Gilbert Arenas was healthy this season, the Raptors would have been the worst team in the Eastern Conference.
• TSN was kind enough to broadcast this game.
• Next season, I think Raps fans should watch more games using the high-quality live feeds that are now on the net. (Cable TV is now obsolete).

It’s all about the lottery for the Wizards right now who were complete fools to bring back Gilbert Arenas for a couple games (his lines), one of which they won against Cleveland. They’re one game ahead of Sacramento for the league’s worst record at 18-61, the Kings are at 16-61. The difference here is between having a 25% or a 19.9% chance of winning the lottery. In case you were wondering the 8th worst record has a 2.8% chance while the 9th worst record (where we currently stand) has a 1.7% chance. Meh. If you look at the flip side of the equation you could say that despite sucking for the entire year the Wizards have a 75% chance of not getting the first pick. What I’m trying to say is tanking doesn’t appear to be worth it.

Bargnani is listed as “questionable” for the game which now gives me zero reason to watch it other than of course, having to do the post-game report. Gilbert Arenas is doubtful with a left knee issue, Mike James is done for the season with a broken pinky finger, Lebron-stopper-NOT is also out for the season with back surgery and Etan Thomas is also off golfing on a torn MCL. Marcus Banks is still gambling away his easy-earned millions in Vegas and Humphries will once again sport his latest Harry Rosen purchase.

You probably caught this in the Latest Web Articles section but in case you didn’t, Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Bryan Colangelo is planning on keeping Triano, with former Memphis Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni as his top assistant. This will make for some very uncomfortable and awkward moments and is sure to make for some summer-time conversation. It’s an odd setup to say the least, we’re giving Triano all the credit for bringing along Bargnani, excusing the season to injuries, and saying that Triano and his staff are communicating the perfect message to the team. This begs the question of why we need Iavaroni? The only reason that comes to mind is he served under Mike D’Antoni for five years and has an idea of how to run ‘n gun which is the style we’re apparently trying to play.

Check out the poll on the right which is currently running on Raptors.com. I think it gives a good indication of how far Jason Kapono has fallen. He’s reduced to being mentioned in the same breath as Pops, O’Bryant and Ukic. We used to blame Mitchell for not using him correctly which still might be true, but his play under Triano hasn’t been much different. He’s 19th in the league in 3-pt percentage at 42% but is 88th in terms of 3-pointers attempted with 207, an average of 2.7. Bottom line is we need him shooting more threes otherwise he not only becomes a great defensive liability but an offensive one due to his static and turnover-prone game – 12th worst PER 48 TO for all shooting guards.

The Wizards (always preferred the Bullets but if you ever go to D.C you’ll know why they changed it) have lost two straight, 5 of 6 and 10 of 12. We beat them 99-93 in January and held a comfortable 9-13 point lead throughout the game and let the Wizards make a routine mini-run in the fourth. Turned out to be no biggie. Motivation’s a key issue in this one as the Indiana humiliation is throwing the bookies off – there is no line for this game at the time of writing. Will update it when it does come out.

I was hoping that these last few games would yield an internal battle amongst the players for next year. For example, I was hoping Joey Graham would show Colangelo why Kapono is disposable, or one of Pops or O’Bryant giving Colangelo a reason to trade Humphries, or Roko outshining Banks while the latter’s in Vegas. None of that has happened and these games are becoming missed opportunities for our scrubs who have much to prove but refuse to do so even when handed the opportunity. The only viewing angle for this game is player scrub evaluation and so far nobody’s made a strong enough mark to warrant anything other than a casual look in the summer. I’d rank the scrubs in terms of impressiveness as follows: Douby, Ukic, Pops, O’Bryant and Voskuhl.

Fourth year man Andray Blatche is averaging a career-high 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 24 minutes while playing in 70 games. He’s a good young player whose offensive game I’ve liked the few times I’ve seen him but it’s an attitude like this that tells me he won’t be anything more than a glorified John Wallace. His defensive game is still a mess and you’re lucky Leo’s not calling the game otherwise all you’d hear is Blatche-hate. The other Wizard to keep an eye on is Antawn Jamison who’s started all 79 games and is averaging 22/9. Caron Butler’s averaging 20/6 and the two make a potent combo but their team defense is simply terrible, they’re last in the league in opponents FG% allowing 48% shooting! Keep an eye out for Juan Dixon for fun sakes.

They’re going to show NHL playoff games on TSN2 now and the situation’s getting some pub in a NY Times blog. What a pathetic backdrop to the season this has been, I understand if MLSE wants to make a few extra bucks by switching to a different channel but they obviously didn’t do their due diligence when signing the deal and incorrectly assumed that Rogers would simply add the channel despite it being a conflict of interest for them. It’s either that or they just don’t care whether the fans get to watch the game. The late-night replays on Raptors TV don’t come close to making up for the annoyance this has caused.

This also happens to be our last Raptor Fan Friday’s at Philthy McNasty’s. When we started that initiative we were hoping that it would become a joyous event, and it was up until early January but as the weeks went on and the losses kept piling up, it became almost excruciating to watch. The Indiana game, the OKC loss, Vince’s game winner and many more such painful defeats happened on Friday nights which put a real damper to the start of the weekend. We’re going to be back next year and hopefully this time around the Raptors won’t let us down.

My pick is 24 year old Megan who claims to have 21 years of experience as a dancer. Yeah, and I’m a doctor because I owned a plastic stethoscope when I was 2.

Now posting this video on the heels of the Indiana game might be odd but let’s do it anyway. It’s another RR Raptors highlight mix made by Birdman:

Nice video but I would enjoy it a whole lot more if we were saaayyyyyy….4th in the standings. Anytime somebody mentions the word Washington I’m reminded of this.

@raptorsrepublic

For some reason hearing the guy yell Canada Sucks in this video always gets me pumped up for the Wizards. You might even call it pride, and pride is what the Wizards aren’t showing these days. Ed Tapscott tried to motivate his players for the game by promising them a day off practice if they won. Didn’t work. The Raptors’ blistering shooting and aggressive defense had them up 21 in the second quarter and by the time Washington decided to play hard, the game was out of reach. A couple Washington runs sparked by unforced turnovers saw them cut the lead dangerously close, but in the end they didn’t have a answer for Bargnani or Bosh, the latter earning a reprieve through some good fourth quarter play. There were some nervous fourth quarter possessions but the Raptors managed to beat the worst team in the East by leading wire-to-wire.

Andrea, please don’t stop now. 25 points on 9 shots including 4-5 threes? You put up those kind of numbers and nobody will care that you only grabbed 4 rebounds in 35 minutes, if you keep this up we might actually be able to ask for TWO quality players in a trade. Seriously, his confidence is sky high and he’s extremely sure of himself on the court. There’s no hesitation in his moves, he’s sizing up what the defense is giving him and making a decision to drive, shoot or pass within 2 seconds (contrast this with the 7 seconds it takes Bosh). He’s spacing out the floor beautifully and is fighting for the boards if not getting them. I think we all agree that it’s feast or famine with this guy, I’m still not sure what to expect from him over the next week but if this is the sign of the real Bargnani, welcome! If he’s going to go back to deer-staring-in-headlights mode, it was nice knowing you. One thing is for sure, trading him right now is either the smartest move Colangelo will make or the dumbest.

Or perhaps he should trade O’Neal? As much as you or I would like to deny that O’Neal being out is not the reason why Bargnani is playing well, Bargnani’s consistently great play over the last week and a half suggests otherwise. Can the two coexist? Is there a coaching tweak that will allow them to be on the same team with Bosh and be effective? Bargnani’s touches have naturally increased with O’Neal out and you can argue that he’s the type of player that thrives on touches more than shots. He only hoisted up 9 shots today but was much more involved in the game than when O’Neal is out there. O’Neal isn’t a black hole by any means but he does force Bargnani to play the SF and when the ball does get kicked out to Bargnani at the wing against a quicker SF, he will naturally struggle to use his quickness. Today against Blatche he was able to use his natural advantage over other players at his logical position much more easily than say, against Stephen Jackson.

On with the recap, Calderon was out with the hammy, O’Neal was out with…er…knee? And Jamario Moon had a little baby girl. Raptors Republic congratulates him. Seriously, we do, it’s one of the few things he’s done right this year. Since Ha-Ha-Hassan got traded (partly thanks to ex-Raptor Fred Jones) and released within 20 minutes, our roster was down to 9 men and on any other night it would’ve been a straight-up L but these are the Wizards.

Bargnani and Solomon led the Raptors with 7 and 6 as they shot 12-17 (71%) in the first quarter and opened up a 27-16 lead. Anthony Parker was matched up with Caron Butler which left Andray Blatche guarding Bargnani who showed no hesitation in putting the ball on the floor against Blatche whose defense reminded me of one John Wallace. There was a first quarter play which showed the difference in attitude and intensity between the two players: Bargnani caught the ball on the corner and drove the baseline, easily going past Blatche. Instead of moving his feet to defend, Blatche blatantly grabbed Bargnani from behind to get the foul. Prior to that, Bargnani had gotten a dunk by making a solid cut right down the heart of the paint, Bosh made the quick-hit pass as he was sizing up on the left-block. It was plays like these, some great inside-out ball-movement, efficient swing passes and error-free point-guard play from Will Solomon that had the Raptors out in front. Washington was doubling Bosh and he managed to properly pass it out for 4 first quarter assists including three to open shooters (Parker, Graham, Solomon). The drive ‘n kick was working for Solomon (Jose, take note) and the defense was keeping Caron Butler and Mike James on the perimeter – Will Solomon doing an excellent job of digging in against James.

The second quarter was a more competitive affair. Jason Kapono came off the bench to guard Nick Young and you’re immediately thinking bad matchup for the Raptors. Instead of letting Young punish him off the bounce, Kapono took it to the slasher by hitting two quick-fire threes setup nicely by Roko and Parker. Of course he followed it up by throwing the most nonchalant pass to Solomon in the backcourt which got picked off and returned for two. Given how bad he’s been playing of late his 12 points on 5-8 shooting can be considered a phenomenal game which should up his trade value. Jamison’s inside/outside game makes him a very tough matchup for anyone, after scoring only 2 in the first quater he exploded for 11 points in 5:34 and gave the Wizards the belief that they could hang with the Raptors if they crashed the offensive boards and tried to initiate their offense through early drive ‘n kick plays instead of isolation sets. Nick Young might have only had three points in the frame but he had an impact in the quarter – his activity against Kapono threw the Raptors defensive positions off as they conceded 5 offensive rebounds. What was once a 21 point lead had been sliced to 12 and the get-lead-blow-lead pattern was being followed yet again.

A note about Antawn Jamison, I liked the guy but he refuses to give the Raptors any credit thus changing my opinion of him from good guy to prick:

It’s a step back, not because of who wasn’t on the court for them, but just the way we played. We didn’t play good basketball at all. We didn’t get effort. We got outrebounded by one of the worst teams in the NBA. We thought the outcome should have been different.

Voskuhl got the call ahead of Humphries and did a nice job of throwing his weight around and playing big. Humphries got into the game in the second quarter looking really anxious and picked up a foul within 14 seconds. After that he conceded a bad offensive rebound to Caron Butler who made him pay with 2 FTs. We’ve seen how Bargnani and Graham have struggled in the past whenever they’re looking over their shoulder and it’s safe to say that Humphries is falling into that trap. He’s playing like his sole goal is to win his job back, not do what’s right on the court. He can be a valuable asset to this team and Triano’s got to keep him in the regular rotation. True to “Hump Jordan”, he later drove the ball for a great dunk. Hopefully that does something for him.

A Wizards 7-0 early third quarter run sparked cut the lead down to 7 making this a whole new ball-game. The Raptors affinity towards turning the ball over had kept the Wizards in the game and now they were ready to pounc on us. We committed 20 turnovers which led to 21 Wizard points. and if it weren’t for us shooting 54% for the game this would’ve been the main reason we would’ve lost. The 35 people in the crowd felt the momentum shift to the home side as the Wizards started to get some defensive stops thanks to 6 Raptors turnovers in 5:23 seconds. Jamison, Butler and Blatche got scores and it looked like their offense had woken up. That’s when the most important run of the game happened.

The lead was at 8 and Chris Bosh drove the ball aggressively at Jamison for a score, on the ensuing possession Bargnani came up with a big block to Jamison which sparked the fastbreak and Bargnani dished it off to Will Solomon who banked in a short jumper. The Wizards go back to Jamison who gets blocked again – this time by Bargnani – and Parker pushes the break to find Bargnani who was ran a nice channel for two more. The lead was back up to 14 and momentum was back with the Raptors. Key defensive plays had sparked the offense and the Raptors were once again firmly in control. We went -1 for the remaining 5:13 of the quarter and took a 13 point lead into the final frame. We bended but didn’t break.

The lineup of Ukic, Graham, Voskuhl, Kapono and Bargnani started the fourth. Triano elected to rest Bosh and those pesky Wizards immediately went to Jamison and he got two scors as part of a 8-2 run against Bargnani. Bosh returned when the lead was at 7 and the Raptors went to him as the double came leaving Bargnani open for three as the Wizards rotated – big splash! The lead was back to 10 but the danger wasn’t over, Jamison and Songalio hit jumpers to cut the lead down to 5 with 7:20 left. Jamison was being a problem, he had 32 on 23 shots but probably should’ve taken about 35 for them to have a chance. This was the closest the Wizards had been since the first quarter and it meant that the Raptor would have to execute down the stretch, albeit against the East’s worst team.

Bosh then put his aggressive hat on and traded punches with the Wizards at the FT line for 9 points, the Wizards (like many teams) can’t counter his quickness and when the referees are obliging, it’s gravy train for CB4. After much bally-hoo including two questionable Chris Bosh jumpers (why even take those when they’ve shown they can’t stop you) we had a 6 point lead with 2:20 left and that’s when the most important play of the game happened: Bosh doubled, kicks it out to Bargnani for 3. 9 point lead with 2 minutes left, when’s the charter home?

Anthony Parker deserves a lot of credit for forcing Caron Butler into 6-18 shooting while himself netting 15 point and 7 rebounds on 6-9 FG. Maybe he’s caught his second wind, whatever it is he’s playing with more energy and was able to keep Caron Butler from attracting multiple defenders in the paint. After him and Moon got lit up by on Monday he came back and put in a professional performance against an All-Star caliber player. I know its pathetic to be talking in these terms but a game like this has to increased his trade value and perhaps tell other GMs that he’s got more in the tank than what some might’ve thought.

Mike James was probably licking his chops after he did a double-take on Will and Roko’s names in the game program. Little did he know that Solomon was going to outplay him on both ends. Aside from a couple forced shots he ran the team flawlessly in the halfcourt by giving the ball up to Bosh, making the swing pass instead of taking a semi-contested jumper and by driving to the rim whenever James was struggling through a screen (Voskuhl and Bargnani with good ones). Roko came in and played well, nothing spectacular but he hit a long jumper and a driving layup and only had one turnover. He obviously needs playing time to hone his skill and get used to NBA defenses. With Solomon being the better shooter and evidently higher in Triano’s depth chart, he’s not going to get those 20-30 minutes a game he needs to get better and that is the ONLY case to be made for him to be sent to the D-League. Personally, I think he’s an asset to this team the way he is but if you’re looking out for his long-term future, it might be the better thing to do.

We lost the PINP battle 42-24 but that’s OK when you shoot 54% and go +10 on the boards. Let’s not get to excited, it’s the Wizards after all. They might’ve beaten Cleveland but they are the worst in the East. We got another easy one coming up on Friday against Memphis and after that is a true test – a home-and-home against the Celtics who lost to Houston last night. For now let’s just look forward to having a chance of coming within 5 games of .500, the same it was before we started that 6-game Western trip.

Don’t forget to check out Hassan Adams’ final appearance in the Roll Call.