Here’s a picture of Chris Bosh so you get
some idea of what happened tonight.Hawks didn’t have a chance in this one; fell behind early and never really recovered. Like the Raptors with TJ Ford, they came in missing a key player in Josh Smith. That’s about all the analysis you need from this game. I think time is much better spent focusing on the other peculiarities of this game. Most of all, Bosh’s missed dunk from a beautiful behind-the-back pass from Bargnani which would’ve been the highlight of the year so far but it was not to be. Bosh then missed both FT’s which would’ve added some consolation. At the end of the first quarter, Chuck Swirsky’s wishing the Raptors were in a laugher since they haven’t been in one lately and Jack Armstrong promptly quiets him down and asks him to focus on the next play. Chuck is so boring.
Joey Graham’s brother Stephen Graham was in the crowd which popped the question into everyone’s mind whether he’s still in the NBA or not. Joey Graham’s getting a little better at the pull-up jumper and used it nicely early on today. If that keeps on falling for him he’ll be taking minutes away from Garbajosa and Mo Pete (competition is great); those jumpers and an aggressive put-back dunk were his contribution this evening. This dunk was described by Chuck Swirsky as “a nasty dunk in the grill of Marvin Williams”. Believe me that is not what happened; he got the rebound over Williams and then Williams backed off and he dunked it. It was by no means an “in your face” dunk. It was just another one of Swirsky’s exaggerations. Oh yeah, he also compared Bargnani to Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Larry Bird.
I don’t like when players are described as “selfless”. It’s one thing that a great player is selfless but when Rasho Nesterovic is constantly being described as selfless, it irks me because that doesn’t mean anything to me. He better be selfless, you can’t expect him to jack-up shots and demand the ball; his job is to be selfless and if he wasn’t selfless he’d be out of the league.
Jose Calderon (12, 2, 12) went to the floor about 68 times in this game. I thought it was worth a mention. He was the key player tonight and set up many an easy bucket in the early going tonight which set the tone. Good individual performance from Chris Bosh (21, 5, 2) capped off by a sweet up-and-under fake for a dunk was all the Raps ever needed. He even drew a foul in the same manner he fouled Steve Nash two nights ago.
So Anthony Parker was asked which point guard he likes playing with the most: TJ Ford, Jose Caledron or Darrick Martin. He gave the most cliche answer and described all three point guards’ strengths and said “all of them”. Just say TJ.
Raps in a semi-laugher. And Doug Flutie was in attendance. He’s in town for the International Bowl.
Here’s the NBA.com video highlights.
Here’s the Andrea Bargnani pass that Chris Bosh couldn’t finish:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAnSWCztlJc]
