Raptors Try To Avoid Being Footnote In History

George Karl is searching for his 1000th win of his coaching career(Would be only 7th in history to do it). He comes calling on the place where he won his 900th game in Toronto vs the Raptors. Karl has fought back from cancer to return to the bench. He is just a classy man worthy of joining this exclusive club. Karl has had stops in Cleveland, Seattle and Milwaukee before landing in Denver in 2004/05. Here is a breakdown of how he got to 999 in coaching career. Raptors would rather 1,000 was not against them as they have lost 3 straight returning home to the ACC tonight after an 0-2 road trip. There is also the question of if Carmelo Anthony will play. Not because of him being traded but because of an injury. He of course last season made a last second shot to bury the Raptors in the Nuggets only visit of the season to Toronto.

The Basics: Denver 13-8 (3-7 on Road) Toronto 8-14 (2-4 without Evans)

When Last We Saw Them: Raymond Felton got the horse shot of a life time 5 bounces and in for 3 and that was the dagger to kill the Raptors. A career high 41 by Andrea Bargnani was not enough in the end. A much better effort than the last 2 losses but still a loss all the same.

Key Match Ups: Billups vs Calderon should be a good one to watch. Carmelo Anthony is a game time decision in this one and if he is not in the line-up Billlups will be or should be looking to score more to make up for that loss. Demar DeRozan matches up with Afflalo and this is a match-up he needs to win. Finally what does Andrea do for an encore matched up with Nene on the opposite side of the ledger.

Other Things of Note: Denver has won 3 straight in this series at the ACC and hold an all time 18-10 edge overall. No Birdman or blue light specials for K-Mart shoppers as they are both out. We are also hosting are MGD Best Seats in the House contest and heading over to Real Sports Bar post game. So it should be a blast. Looking forward to it and one last congrats to all our winners. So no recap of this one as the DNB will be taking the night off to have some fun with our lucky readers that won.