“Scrapping is what we’ve been able to do this season and tonight, we got outscrapped.” – Nate McMillan, while feeding Brandon Roy his post-game grapes.
She, like, totally LOVES scrappiness and stuff!
How often can we honestly say we outscrapped someone? Four games a season? GREAT effort this afternoon. Prior to the game someone must have entered the cheat code that makes the Raptors passionate (lucky for Portland, someone entered the “can’t miss” cheat 6 weeks ago). This was one of those rare epic battles you reminisce about long after the season’s over, when all of a sudden you have 6 new hours of free time per day.
There was a lot of this today.
Bosh has been pretty badass over the last two games, hasn’t he? The Big Twisty’s scored 78 points and grabbed 26 rebounds since you last left the office. What did YOU do this weekend? It kinda makes watching a ‘Tila Tequila” marathon and slaying a kamikaze fruit flies feel like less of an accomplishment.
La pasión! But is it enough to deliver the Spanish Fly to The Big Easy?
According to the halftime interview, Jose was just 13 years old when he was signed by a club team. Thirteen? While most of us were picking Doritos out of our braces and braiding our pubic hairs, little Jose was plucked from his town and relocated to the big city…all on his own. Who did he have to play Pogs* with? Talk about having to grow up quick.
* I didn’t look that stupid…did I?
Perhaps it’s that maturity that helped him bounce back after an uncharacteristically cold night against NY Friday, where wide open jumpers weren’t falling. He came up with 22pts, 10 assists in FIFTY-ONE high-octane minutes.
Delfino woke up and remembered that slashing to the net will keep defenders honest and free him up for the longball. Plus, when you’re already in the paint, getting on the glass is that much easier.
Doesn’t Bosh look photoshopped in?
And what about Parker? AP’s in a nice scoring groove lately, putting up excellent numbers very efficiently.
His past four games:
Against Cleveland: 20 on 7-14
Against Philly: 22 on 8-11
Against New York: 13 on 4-11 (doesn’t count because everything in MSG is bizarro)
Against Portland: 25 on 10-16
Not including the Knicks game, that’s 67 points on 61%…pretty impressive for a jump shooting small forward. Are we ready to crown him our official second scoring option? With Kapono out of the rotation for reasons only Sam Mitchell and his Magic 8-Ball* know, it seems Parker’s minutes stand to hover around the 35 minute mark for the foreseeable future.
*Poor Owen.
He drained them from downtown…and up close.
Man, what a game. It was anything but easy. Grit, moxie, gumption, and a few other other olde-tymey words best describe what the Dinos brought today. Save for Delfino, our bench is still sterile, shooting blanks all night for 7 total points in a double overtime game. Thank goodness the starters were up for the challenge this afternoon.
It’s easy to see why Portland’s won 17 of 18. They’re an exciting, well-coached young team that I wish we saw more of. I’d happily offer the Western Conference New Jersey, Milwaukee, and the 2011 Cleveland Cavaliers for the Blazers.
Like it or not, Roy will be better than Durant.
Brandon Roy is an All-Star. Chuck and Leo drew comparisons to Dwayne Wade. Yeah, except remember that Wade can’t shoot the 3…while Roy went 4-6 from behind the arc. Roy’s more diverse, if you ask me. He might be my new favorite player. If he played in a bigger market, he’d be right up there with Kobe and Wade in bad cell phone commercials nationwide.
If my plane crashed in an unknown international forest and I had only a knife, some rope, and one point guard to navigate me through to safety, I’d pick Jarret Jack. Even with his “off-night” (12pts 9bds 5 assists), he’s a steady floor general who rarely loses his focus. That, and I bet he’d know which mushrooms to avoid. I can see Jarret becoming an excellent coach in the fifteen years.
What about LaMarcus? Kinda overshadowed by Channing Frye’s out-of-nowhere career night, but he still showed flashes of post development that Bosh didn’t learn until last year. Oh, and we mustn’t forget Travis Outlaw, who’s going to be a Raptor killer for years to come.
Before we get to the game notes, I’d like to introduce a new (and frankly, long overdue) segment I call Chuck and Leo’s “Dead Horse”. After each broadcast, we’ll highlight the aspect of the matchup that Chuck/Leo decided to beat into the ground on air, like a needle stuck on a record, repeating their redundant overstatement every two minutes for the duration of the 2.5hr broadcast. It’s a little thing they do, and it forces me to mute the TV at least twice per game out of sheer frustration. I think I’d prefer dead air.
Tonight’s DEAD HORSE:
Portland’s poise. How many ways can you say the same thing? Character, focus, discipline, balance, calm, composure, polish…and they used them all. Yes Swirsk, it IS unusual for such a young team. But we got the picture back in the first quarter.
GAME NOTES:
- Anyone else see the guy in the “Colangelo’s the Mangelo” t-shirt? Awesome.
- I applaud the collective Raptor efforts in both overtimes, but once again, a cornicopia of mental breakdowns cost us this game in regulation. Let me know if this sounds familiar: An offensive board leads to a second chance shot that comes back to haunt us. Ringing a bell?
- Loved Darrick Martin’s “Big Balls Bounce” after Jose hit that big three. Seems he’s good for something. (DiNote: apparently Arsenalist loved this too. You can thank him for finding the vid.)
- There’s a distinct chance All-Star weekend will feature Jamario Moon (dunk, Rookie game) and Jason Kapono (3-pt Challenge) but not Chris Bosh. That would be sad. Very sad indeed.
- After Jamario’s brainless foul on Travis Outlaw, Leo defended Moon’s ambition and said that “Sam’s not going to get on a player who’s just trying to be aggressive”. I guess the two minute anal reaming he gave Jamario right after the play is Sam’s way of being understanding.
- Speaking of Sam: after he screamed at Jamario, instead of sending him to the bench he kept him in, and Moon came out with two big blocks to make amends for his near disastrous error. You know what that’s called? Coaching! Way to go, Smitch. Try it again sometime, apparently it works.
- Did somebody starch Rasho?
