The tanking continues tonight against the Jazz. If you thought the first game back from a West coast trip was a tough one to get, try the first one back from a different continent. I’m quite excited to see the Deron Williams-less Jazz, they’re not doing so well without Sloan and Williams – they’re 2-4 since the Williams trade and 2-7 since Sloan left. They did have a chance to tie the game on a layup against the Nuggets last Thursday when AK47 had a “layup fail”. It’s quite hilarious.
Their struggles can be partially attributed to injury as Francisco Elson, Mehmet Okur, Paul Millsap all remain out (Kirilenko is doubtful for tonight). You still know what you’re going to get from them on a nightly basis, of all their recent losses only two have been blowouts – against the Mavs and Knicks, the rest are close. Like pretty much any warm-blooded basketball fan, I’ve always enjoyed watching the Jazz run their offense in a professional manner. It’ll be interesting to see whether the purist Jazz offense will remain the same under Tyrone Corbin, who doesn’t have the interim tag in his title and will have a chance to stamp his own mark on the team.
Jerry Sloan was 22-7 against the Raptors and had won the last 10 meetings, let’s see if the tide changes…or shifts…or whatever the hell a tide does.
Some Raptors talk. Reggie Evans is going to be in uniform tonight which registers a “I don’t give a **** on the care-scale”. Reggie says:
“I don’t know what they’re going to do for me. I don’t know what’s in store. I’ve missed so many games after participating in so many games at the beginning. I know I’ll be in uniform. I wish I could be practising a little bit more. I feel good on my feet. I’m getting up and down the court and I’m picking up my defence. I don’t want any excuses as to why I’m not playing.”
All I can say is that this guy better not come in and cost us a couple losses, because as phdsteve noted in his earlier podcast, the Raptors are desperate to get lucky in the draft and we need all the help we can get. Right now if Reggie wants to help the team, he’ll sit his ass on the bench and give DeRozan a wedgie that will sideline him for 15 days.
In other “news”, Solomon Alabi has been sent down to the D-League again for the third time. As NBA teams are only allowed to send players down a maximum of three times, I can’t imagine Alabi returning before the D-League season ends on March 31st. To be honest, I don’t even see why he was ever recalled.
End with some Raptors injury news, and the only significant one is Andrea Bargnani being listed as ‘questionable’ due to illness.
Is the weather outside getting you down? Go drool over Ed Davis’ FG%.
