The “eye in the sky is brought to you by sucky basketball” edition:
Barbosa: a good source told me today that his “ankle injury” the other night was Swahili for “a trade was in the works but has been tabled”. Certainly didn’t see any signs of an injury tonight so…… His shot was certainly off and he didn’t attack the rim as much as he has been. Playing safe? Hmmmm…..
Bayless: getting his second start in a row and I must say he has settled in quite well. Matchups help, but it’s good to see at least one Raptor accept change in a positive way.
Butler: how is this for fate? Everybody’s top candidate for the dunk tank actually has a stretch of good minutes (or was that my Advil kicking in) and then he turns his ankle. That’s like doling out a few grand for an engagement ring for the lady to give her on Valentine’s Day only to find out she’s actually married to Arsenalist. (somewhat of a true story, he just doesn’t know it)
Calderon: how he has 9 assists is beyond me. Either I’ve already wiped him from my Raptors memories or he amassed 6 of those during halftime in the kids game.
Carter: proof that the suit he had been wearing recently wasn’t a preview of his death, Anthony was out there in the dying minutes of a dead game. Not much to say or see here. Move along.
Davis: HOLY CRAP A DOUBLE DOUBLE!!!!! TIMMY’S!!!!! Second game in a row that The Disappointment has played hard and played well. Maybe he and Amir have some sort of pact to take stretches off while the other one steps his game up. A pacing thing, maybe? I was a fan of his game tonight and will be accepting of any other days of the year he decides to bequeath it to us.
DeRozan: hey, who knew Compton had its own holidays? Evidently the last day of January is one because DeMar played like he was weighed down by some BBQ and a few 40’s. The Hawks are a team that should poke DD’s pride. They are young, they play hard, they have swagger. You’d think TMZ would pick up on that and dust off his A game.
Forbes: you hallucinating Forbes fans finally have a game to point to. Sure, he got some of his minutes courtesy of Kleiza falling asleep with an icepack on, but that combined with some garbage time run sent him to the line 6 times where he hit all of them
Gray: thanks to Amir shrinking like, well, a penis in a cold pool, our boy Aaron was let loose like a hungry beast to start the second half. The results? Teague almost lost his teeth on a screen and Aaron pulled down 5 rebounds in 8 minutes. Remember when Amir used to do that?
A. Johnson: his game tonight reminded me of how my first girl described our sex life: 7 minutes of nothing. I still think part of his issue is that wrap on his wrist that looks like it was put on by an 80 year old nursing assistant that suffers from the shakes.
J. Johnson: my theory on his game tonight? He watched T-Mac mock our anthem and he took the passion of a nation on his shoulders and played hard. That or he just wanted to emulate the other Johnson on the floor. Not quite, but 9 and 8 in a game where he played fairly under control is a welcome satisfying Tuesday night.
Kleiza: I guess even the best pirate has to sharpen his sword. (s/o to SC). On a night where Leo was giving him every possible way off the hook, Linas grabbed that lifeline and took a step back from his recent play. Not going to read a lot into this, or his aforementioned icepack, but you do have to worry about his ability to keep pace with the schedule.
Driving the bus: James Johnson
Under the bus: Amir Johnson
Theme of the Game:
