Matrix Not Yet Loaded

Well if you have not heard about the rumoured trade between Miami and Toronto. Where have you been? But this morning Pat Riley has poured some water on to the fire that a deal may happen right away. What was true is that both Jermaine O'Neal and Shawn Marion both did not play yesterday. In a strange touch of Irony the Raptors and Heat were part of the only 2 games on Sunday in the NBA. Still this article in the Miami Herald suggests we are all putting the cart before the horse according to Riley. Here is a link for you to check it out.

Miami Herald on J.O/Marion Trade Rumours

But in that article there is no denial of the deal happening down the line. If you noticed yesterday Bryan Colangelo in his normal (little bunker as I like to call it) place was working his blackberry. That may not mean much. The fact he declined to talk on CBC about the issue may have meant just a bit more.

But the sober reality trade or not is the road to a playoff spot keeps getting longer and longer for the Raptors. As we sit here today the Raptors would need to go 25-15 just to finish with a .500 record. That is one thing the other is how many teams are in front of the Raptors. No matter what the Raptors do they will need help from a lot of teams not doing as well as they do to move up the ladder.

Atlanta Is No Joke

I was one of the people that did not believe in the Hawks this year. But it looks like taking the Celtics to 7 games in last year's playoffs has been a building point for the Hawks. No Josh Childress was not a big deal as they let him walk to earn some bigger bucks in Europe. Joe Johnson has really grown into a star in his own right since leaving the Suns. He is the major scoring force that drives this team. The Hawks have taken a lot of heat for passing on point guards like Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Those were still terrible moves but a trade to bring in Mike Bibby has proved to be a success for the Hawks.

They sit with the 4th best record in the Eastern Conference. They are 23-16 far behind the Top 3 teams in the East. They have a number of teams looking at them as the only shot they would have to get home court advantage for the Playoffs.

Raptors have split to match-ups with the Hawks back in November. The most recent was a 93-88 win on November 28th. However it was the Hawks that handed the Raptors the first of what would be many losses this year. They beat down the Raptors 110-92 in Atlanta on November 7th.

Boxscores- Nov 7 th- Hawks and Raptors
Nov 28th- Hawks and Raptors

So that is a quick set up for today's game. It is going to be a good week here at Dino Nation Blog as we have some guests scheduled to come visit. So it should be a good week. Will we have a trade to talk about? That is a good question that still does not have an answer yet.