The “all that and no pizza” edition:
Barbosa: little bit of swag on Barby tonight, huh? He was primping and preening up and down the court all night and rightfully so: 6/9 for 13 points and quite possibly the most energetic Raptor of the night outside of the mascot.
Bayless: hot first half and it carried over. By far his best game since returning to the lineup, but still a far cry from what we have seen him do in some games this season. If we move Jose, not sure Bayless can keep up the pace, but tonight was a good dry run in 16minutes.
Butler: put in for the last play to attempt a tie. Imagine the decibel level in my house as he cut toward the inbounder looking as if he was going to take the pass and put up the last shot. Thank heavens it didn’t happen.
Calderon: just shy of a double double with 10pts and 9assts and no doubt taking Marc out after the game, plying him with dancers and drinks and pleading him to contact his brother and ask for Kobe’s phone number in an effort to push a move to LA.
Davis: man, it’s probably just me, but he looked long and lean out there tonight. Seems to me he was using his wing span a lot more defensively and moving a lot more side to side offensively. At times he looked straight out of a LMFAO video.
DeRozan: well, no tweets from him not being on the floor at the end of a close game will be coming out tonight. He was basically invisible in 28 of 32 on court minutes. I’ve had better results on the floor from my 14 year old mop.
Gray: early on it seemed like he knew he was back on the home floor in front of his MVP-chanting fans. He was making all the white boy moves that make the ladies go crazy. In the second half, though, he turtled like a pinched loaf.
A. Johnson: another guy that seemed to lift his knees up a bit better tonight, moving east-west with more ease than in most games. Did a great job getting in guys ears tonight.
J. Johnson: good defensive effort tonight, making up for a lukewarm offensive output. It just seems like you need to piss him off to get a result from him. A bad call or a bad play here and there is usually the fire starter. Tonight he was all out of butane.
Kleiza: got a little trim on the facial hair so he looked a little less of a mass murderer. He had 7 straight points late which gave us a bit of a cushion, but he also decided he was hotter than Mac Miller and tried hitting some illadvised shots late in the fourth, then decided against defending in the dying seconds, allowing an easy final-nail layup, plus the foul. Hardly ideal
Magloire: brought in for Gray in the second, played okay, but completely cut off the groove Aaron was in. He still strikes me as a guy playing in a beer league after work and doing it like he’s the best pick up player in the world. Far from the truth.
Driving the bus: Jerryd Bayless
Under the bus: DeMar DeRozan
Theme of the Game:
