Raptors Hope To Have All Hands On Deck

Everyone practiced yesterday and Bosh claims to be 110%. My dad use to hate that expression. You can obviously only be 100% and it was a pet peeve of his. No such claims from Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani or Hedo Turkoglu. Everyone to a man seemed ecstatic to have Bosh back. Andrea Bargnani and Jarrett Jack seemed to be at the front of that list. New York Knick fans might even be excited to see him. They seem to think that they are not only signing Lebron James by Bosh and Wade because everyone obviously wants to play in New York. The fact they will have a D-League team around them makes no difference does it? I mean Knick fans don't have much else to cheer about these days do they. Sitting in 12th spot in the East with just a 21-39 record in March is not a good place to be. They are 2-8 in their last 10 and they are 8-19 on the road this season. The Raptors look to snap a 4 game losing streak tonight. If they are going to do it the defense must improve.

The Knicks of course look a lot different since the trade deadline. The added former Raptor Tracy McGrady to the fold. He had 21 points and was one of 4 Knicks that had 20+ in a 128-104 win over Detroit on Wednesday. This game could be a simple case of the first team to play play defense wins. The Knicks also added Eddie House who when playing with the Celtics has always been a pain for the Raptors. The way the Raps have defended the 3 point line of late House can be an X-factor.

The Knicks thought have never had a much success at the Air Canada Centre they are 4-16 over the history of the building. Also with a win tonight for the Raptors the overall series between these two teams will tied at 28-28. The Raptors and Knicks have matched up twice already this season with the Raptors winning both. There were both in New York in January with a 112-104 win on January 15th and a close with on January 28 with 106-104 win. That was the now infamous "Ball" interview game. One of the few great performances from Hedo Turkoglu as a Raptor.

The next 2 home dates for the Raptors are vital as they hit the road for a 4 game Western road trip that will begin facing that Lakers on Tuesday. The Knicks and the Sixers are bottom feeders in the Eastern Conference and both far behind the Raptors in the Atlantic. Chris Bosh said that every game from here on in will be an important one. Given how things have tightened up in the bottom of the Eastern Conference it is hard to argue. The Bucks who once were out of the playoffs have now climbed to just a half game behind the Raptors in 6th. Bulls lost to Memphis last night and sit only a game behind Toronto.

The Raptors and Knicks will play once more on the final day of the season. Safe to say that game will not mean much for the Knicks but it could mean a lot for the Raptors. Only time will tell. For the here and now the Raptors just need to get a win and get back on track.