“I was hurting,’’ Bosh began to recall following Saturday’s practice. “I crunched over a few times.”
For purely precautionary reasons, Bosh was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was given an intravenous and later discharged.
Medically speaking, Bosh had a stomach virus and was suffering from dehydration.
Bosh means so much to the team and is asked to do so much that news of his admission to hospital spread like wildfire.
“E-mails, text messages, it seemed like they were coming from all over the world,’’ Bosh said.
The way some would have you believe, Bosh was on life support.
The good news is that Bosh did practise with the Raptors on Saturday and is expected to make his return to the court on Sunday afternoon.
The bad news is that Bosh looked tired and weak when he met with reporters, which is understandable in the wake of Friday’s ordeal.
The book on the Sixers isn’t very deep because they rely so much on creating tempo and scoring in transition. They can’t make perimeter shots and recently haven’t been able to make any stops. If you contain the Sixers from pushing the ball, teams will win. Philly should be contending for the playoffs, but instead it’s heading toward a lottery pick. The feel-good story of Allen Iverson’s return is now history, Andrea Iguodala can’t make a three-point shot and if Philly is forced into a half-court game, it can’t win. Prior to last month’s all-star break, the Sixers paid a visit to the ACC and tied the game with 2:06 left. The Raptors then ended the night by going on an 11-0 run. Lou Williams kept his team in it until crunch time by scoring 14 of his game-high 26 points in the final quarter.
The whole saga began when Bosh woke up Friday feeling out of sorts. He couldn’t handle even looking at his breakfast of granola and when his brother broke out the bacon and eggs, "I just wanted to get him away from me," he said.
His plan was to "miss shootaround, take a nap, take some medicine and be fine for the night but it just never subsided."
That plan didn’t work out.
The discomfort didn’t go away.
He needed some fluids, got them at the hospital and was no worse for wear when he went though a light practice with his teammates Saturday afternoon.
He fully expects to be in uniform Sunday, returning from a seven-game absence to play against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Air Canada Centre.
"We’ll probably have to monitor his minutes and monitor his effort out there," said coach Jay Triano. "He’ll play and go hard for as long as he can. He’ll need a blow and then we’ll put him back in there."
KEY MATCHUP
DeRozan vs. Williams
The Sixers guard went off against Toronto the last time the teams met, getting easy baskets in transition. DeRozan had a solid game Friday but will have to be at his best defensively to give his team a chance.
If the Raptors can secure another W tomorrow afternoon, at home against the still struggling 76ers, it would ensure that Toronto [32-28] will be able to return to the cozy confines of the ACC [22-9] for Games 66 and 67 on their schedule, against Atlanta [40-21; Away/15-14] and Oklahoma [37-24; Away/17-13], respectively, no worse than 1 game above the .500 mark [i.e. if they somehow manage to go O-for on their road trip].
Sidebarring with the East for a moment, there are three of them and all feature teams not much better than Sacto and the Warriors: Raptors, Wiz, Knicks. Bosh will probably be back for the Toronto game, but as long as Camby and Roy play the Blazers have the horses to win at the Garden. Washington and NYC should be gimmes, although both teams beat Portland in their place. The season is long over for them, and a West Coast swing is a drainer. The Raps will be on a back to back, and the Knicks in the 5th day of a killer 9 day swing.
So look–out of 18 games, fully eight of them could fairly be considered safe wins, as safely as any win can be predicted. That’s an enormous start. When you need 13 to get to 50, what can you expect from these eight? Seven? Six at worst? You’d hope so. Let’s say six. That leaves seven of 10 from the rest, a tall order given the competition…but doable. Let’s look.
Raptors all-star forward Chris Bosh is expected to play today. After missing six straight games with a sprained ankle, he missed Friday’s game against the New York Knicks with a stomach virus. Bosh, who is averaging 26 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists against the Sixers, practiced yesterday.
Should Bosh play, the Sixers’ immediate goal will be stopping him. Their long-term goal, however, is maturing as a unit.
"We just have to go out there and try to get better," forward Elton Brand said. "That’s what it’s all about. We got a lot of young guys. You look around. There’s not a lot of guys over 25 on the team.
"So they need the minutes. They are going to get better. And the veteran guys need to go out and play their hearts out, also."
If you are Chris Bosh, it makes sense to leave the Raptors for a chance to play with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade in Miami or Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. But if he can’t manage any of those moves, he’s best to stay in Toronto and be the big fish in the small pond … Under the department of laughable: Career advice from Tracy McGrady, who may play his entire NBA life without winning a playoff round. Still have to wonder, after all these years, what would have happened if McGrady and Vince Carter had committed to playing together in Toronto: What would have been possible? … For the second year in a row, Bryan Colangelo’s big money off-season acquisition bombs. Last year, Jermaine O’Neal. This year, Hedo Turkoglu. The difference, though, is that Colangelo’s smaller moves, picking up Jarrett Jack, Sonny Weems, Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright, have worked out just fine … Almost one season in and I have no clue what to think of DeMar DeRozan. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect more from the Raptors’ first-round pick. Not sure if he’ll ever be more than just another NBA guy … Rumbling that won’t go away: The historically pitiful Los Angeles Clippers will not only go hard after LeBron in free agency, but will offer him a future piece of ownership of the club.
McGrady chased the bigger money and the opportunity to be the number one guy on the team, something he couldn’t do with his cousin Vince in Toronto. Bosh is already the number one guy in T.O. and can make $30 million more if he re-signs here than he can anywhere else.
The story bookends nicely saying that “McGrady, meanwhile, eventually decided the pull of his native Florida,” and “money he recognized” was “too much to ignore”.
McGrady was here for three years. Bosh seven. McGrady deceived then general manager Glen Grunwald into thinking he would re-sign here. Chris Bosh has made it clear that he is undecided, and GM Bryan Colangelo knows the risks involved in not trading Bosh when he had a chance.
There is really nothing to compare here. It’s just another slow news day. Another chance to manufacture a story that unfortunately stokes the already growing fire of speculation about Bosh’s apparent desire to leave Toronto.
For fans, it’s just another day at the office.
Dalembert vs. Bargnani – Maybe the defining matchup of the game. Sammy is going to have to really do a good job on the high pick and roll, making sure not to leave Bargnani open for threes. He also needs to dominate the glass in his limited minutes.
Bench – Reggie Evans is all the rage in Toronto these days. Expect to see the crowd go nuts when he comes on the floor. They’ve also got Jose Calderon as their backup PG, and Calderon can really shoot the ball. I’m not sure exactly what to expect from the Sixers’ bench, other than 30+ minutes for Willie Green. I’ll give the edge to a depleted Toronto bench, I guess.
