The “nothing is ever safe” edition:
Barbosa: rumour has it he has had enough of being called out on RR for his lack of..well..everything and it has provided motivation to get him back to normal. No doubt it my mind that a week ago you wouldn’t have seen him battle 2 bigs, pull down a board and go back up with a putback, so we’ll take the compliment.
Butler: I find myself wondering if simple tasks like putting toothpaste on a toothbrush, walking a dog, buttoning a shirt, are the equivalent of safe cracking for Rasual. After all, he isn’t very good at a job he gets paid very well to do and he seems to laugh at the concept of being replaced. Tonight, as is his norm, he hits 2 threes early in the second half and that was it. He’s like that co-worker you have that takes a 90 minute lunch, surfs Facebook for 2 hours, tweets what he found in his desk drawer then complains he has way too much work to do.
Calderon: not a bad night out for Jose given that he was missing the Lone Ranger tonight. What’s funny is if there was one guy I expected to see pull up lame with all these games it would be Jose. Tonight, though, when his team needed him, he was there. He distributed, defended with some passion, and went 5/12 from the field, always a welcome contribution from him.
Carter: didn’t play a full minute but was able to register a –2. That’s about the same as me walking into Cinnabon and having a tooth fall out before I buy anything.
Davis: he got the start in place of Andrea. Evidently the league called and told Casey that 3 bags of water tied together and propped up on a rolling flatbed dolly was not a viable replacement, so we were forced to go with something just a little less useless in Ed Davis. He has made me wait longer to see him do something than I wait for a TTC bus at 3am in Scarborough. 6 pts, 10 rebounds and crying like the little punk you are playing like when Granger stares you down is just an embarrassing replacement to a star player.
DeRozan: like everybody else when we heard Davis’ name as the starter, I looked immediately at DeRozan as the go-to guy and quietly told him I would pay his outstanding tab at Mandarin if he did something. He made it to the line 11 times, shot better than 50% and played aggressively for at least 30 of his 41 minutes. Good to me, so you can go get some more egg rolls sir.
Forbes: 7 minutes, 2/2, 2 rebounds and a lover of orange Gatorade and freshly steamed towels make him a top five player in a game like this. Can’t wait until Casey is force to let Forbes off his leash and he runs roughshod over the L.
A. Johnson: second game in a row that he has fouled out. Tough match up tonight but you have to play smart when your squad is down bigs. Next few games will be interesting to see if his production continues to fall off.
J.Johnson: curious: if you saw him in a hotel pool in a state of distress, would you throw him a line or would you pretend to be on a cell phone? Not his fault that we are subjected to watching him play and listen to commentators boost him up, but my word he comes up with new ways to take away from anything good he does.
Kleiza: he looked more lost and out of place than Drake at a singing contest. I’d say you need to be patient since he just got back, but if you are to believe the chatter that he took place in most practices this year, then you have to wonder why he looked the way he did tonight. Off night? Talent overblown? Protected by Colangelo? Hmm….
Magloire: if you want to appear to be stifling a laugh after 2 big airballs from the free throw line tonight, one as a pair of missed free throws down the stretch, you need to be nailed to the bench or, better, released to make room for a bag of onions and some old cheddar cheese. When the only good thing Devlin can say about you in this game is that you are the first Canadian born Raptor and you are really the only physical big that is active, you have issues. Well, one: you suck.
Driving the bus: DeMar DeRozan
Under the bus: Jamaal Magloire
Theme of the Game:
