An excellent preview of tonight’s game is available in the local paper. Let me quickly recap: CSKA Moscow come in to Toronto after getting their asses handed to them by the Magic 96-66 where future Raptors coach Ettore Messina said Dwight Howard “looked like Godzilla” to them. Anthony Parker says they aren’t taking them lightly since the European and exiled American players want to have a chance to show what they’re worth in NBA terms. Parker of course helped Maccabi beat the Raptors in Toronto by hitting the game-winner on Morris Peterson. Will Solomon is echoing some similar thoughts here.
Sam Mitchell on the other hand can’t possibly be taking this game too seriously. After suggestions that the Raptors didn’t play hard or well enough against Philadelphia, Mitchell brushed off any criticism by saying:
“We can’t get banged up trying to win a pre-season game. I saw what I needed to see.”
Right. So that’s that I guess. If Mitchell isn’t too worried about the game maybe he should be. His counterpart tonight is a man who was speculated to succeed Mitchell a couple summers ago and is considered to be a brilliant strategist, a sharp contrast to Mitchell’s blowhard line of ways. There would be a none better endorsement of Messina’s superiority over Mitchell if they beat us tonight on the heels of the 76ers loss and right after they themselves got rocked by Orlando. Go Sam.
A few names to lookout for on the CSKA roster: Trajan Langdon, the Duke star known as the Alaskan Assasin, JR Holden who’s now a Russian citizen and former Maryland forward Terence Morris. They are the defending Euroleague Champions so I expect a good game tonight, nothing like Orlando.
The NBA is laying about 80 people off in the US because of the economic troubles. Funnily enough David Stern expects the number of season tickets to go down but the revenue to go up which can only mean that those season seats are getting very pricey. I myself haven’t been able to afford one ever.
The Cavaliers have trouble figuring out who will start at SG for them and this blog suggests that they pick starters based on matchups. On the surface it seems like a good idea but the article admits that it comes at the cost of continuity and rhythm, two very underrated but important factors in any rotation. It works in soccer, not in basketball. The Raptors tried this experiment last year to some degree (well, not by flipping starters but through incoherent subs) and it didn’t turn out too well.
Four of the games that I always circle on my calendar are the ones against the Hawks. There’s never a dull moment. The Hawks are aiming for a .500 record and SLAM has a preview of the young team which will pose more of a threat than they’ve done in recent years. Hawks/Raptors games have always been exciting and I can’t see this year being any different except that we shouldn’t take winning 3/4 for granted.
I was really looking forward to the Minnesota game on Friday as it would mark the return of Hoffa but sadly it wasn’t to be. He was cut by the T’Wolves. Sniff. Did you know the NCAA is increasing the 3-pt line by a foot to 20′ 9″?
As you can see I’m ending this post with some big time fodder because that’s all there is to it. I’m going to the game tonight and will have something for you tomorrow.
