The “pop the bubbly and celebrate this team” edition:
Alabi: put a sash on him and call him Baby New Year. At least that could count as a contribution to his team.
Barbosa: the hard effort made a comeback tonight. Shot the ball well and didn’t shy away from contact or, more importantly, playing smart. I would still love to see him instill some of his personality on this team in-game.
Bargnani: memo to Mr Colangelo and Mr Fruitman: this team has more flow and plays with more passion without Andrea Bargnani. Time to admit it and do something about it.
Bayless: shouldn’t have played at all tonight, but went out there for 7 minutes of icetime and he deserves credit for trying.
Calderon: double double in heavy minutes. Pretty questionable shot selection, though. Just because you are wide open doesn’t mean you have to heave a prayer. Your guys are playing well and producing…use them.
Davis: that loud slapping sound you heard was the cold hand of NBA reality meeting Davis’ face. Granted he was being exposed by one of the best in the game, but Ed looked like he was playing a video game with a controller that only had one button. Just an embarrassing display.
DeRozan: career high which could have been higher had he not picked up 2 fouls in the first minute of the game. You could just tell how he came out of the gates that he was “on” tonight. He’s a special player when he is, it’s just a shame that it happens just a few more times a year than, say, Christmas.
Dorsey: gadzooks…he may shoot like RapsFan, but he hustles like Arsenalist. If you counted his goaltending calls tonight he would have had 732 blocked shots. He’s making the most of his playing time and it’s helping us stay in (and win) games.
Dupree: Gold Club on him.
Evans: uses his teeth to break open the champagne.
Johnson: a double double that featured him unfortunately returning to his hack-anybody ways, but also came in a game where he showed passion again. He did look gassed and probably felt some of the soreness coming back, but he pushed his teammates.
Kleiza: looks like the little guy on his right shoulder that constantly says “shoooooot iiiiitttttt” was working overtime tonight. Either that or Hot Potato is making a comeback. What did impress me, though, was he didn’t look any the worse for wear after putting in 44 minutes.
Stojakovic: just go away.
Weems: I much prefer the Young Onez as a duet. Sonny and Andrea for anybody and some hotter cheerleaders.
Wright: one of Jay’s mysteries again tonight. Sure, he didn’t exactly mirror DeMar tonight, but Julian did some good things on both ends of the court. 11 minutes on a short bench with Kleiza playing pop-a-shot? Come on.
Driving The Bus: DeMar DeRozan
Under The Bus: Ed Davis
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