The “ifihearonemoretimehowthisisabacktobacktobackiwillstabsomebody” edition:
Barbosa: BOOM!!! The Blur was back in the building tonight…for a half. My dog was jumping up and down, yipping away, thinking the world was coming to an end and wanting to ensure we still had directions to the family ark. Luckily a mere 18 minutes later he could rest easy as Leandro settled back into his usual role of wetnap.
Bargnani: Andrea was having his first dog of a game and he decided to do what overpaid pompous full of themselves ball players like himself do: fake an injury. Jokes. I’ll be honest, I’m amazed the starting five didn’t all fall down like they were synchronized swimmers after the minutes they’ve put in, but Bargs was the only one to fall victim. Even then he registered a double double.
Butler: I would be less frustrated learning to speak Mandarin by a teacher with a stutter than I am watching Rasual Butler play basketball. Truly. No words.
Calderon: bless our little Spanish Swirl. A nice double double on a night where, admit it, you half expected to see him sitting on the bench with an oxygen mask on his face. Major minutes against young kids that make most look silly, but Jose hung tough knowing he had little backup through these 3 games and he deserves credit for it.
Carter: the old vet needed to be taken to a trough of water at some point and tonight was the night. Not a great matchup for him and it showed. This was the first game that he looked rattled to me and off his game.
Davis: still no flashes of him breaking out of his funk, but he did seem a bit closer tonight. 6 rebounds in 14 minutes and hustle. His problem tonight came in silly fouls which had to be a factor in his bench time. He was getting suckered in on both sides of the floor. It’s a mental game, Ed…remember that.
DeRozan: getting a bit tedious waiting to see this guy decide to play in the fourth. Why even put him on the floor in the first half if he is going to play on his heels? Casey has to come out and demand 8-10 trips to the line per game..if DeMar can’t produce that, he sits the first half of the next game.
A. Johnson: that dice throwing thing after he hit the 3 was a bit much. Never show up your competition, especially when one of them named DeMarcus Cousins is going to be in your nightmares tonight after he made you look like a lightweight and outperformed you in almost every facet of the game.
J.Johnson: I’ll give him the fact that he has 1 or 2 nice blocks a game…as long as you give me he looks like a whiny brat when things don’t go his way. Dude, you honestly suck more than a crack addict in a pipe factory and you have earned no right to dress down your teammates in a close game. Your coach does his job well, so leave it up to him. You need to concentrate on proving you deserve to be here.
Kleiza: welcome back. I’m a fan of the fact that the media didn’t cite his absence too much while he was out and tonight was probably a flash in the pan performance, but it was great to see him play well on his return. Give him a few games, plunk him in the starter role and watch this team pull off a string of victories.
Magloire: yeah, you’re tough. Nice flagrant on a guy that needed more motivation to go out and hand our asses to us. Hey, I love the hockey mentality as much as the next guy but to act like a big man on campus you should be a big man on campus in something other than size alone.
Driving the bus: Jose Calderon
Under the bus: Rasual Butler
Theme of the Game:
