Raptors Need A Magic Trick

So if you were asleep in last 24 hours. Demar is in the dunk contest and Peja took his bag of money and was last seen heading towards Dallas. The Raptors have left Texas and are now in sunny Florida. Nice weather for sure but it also means a date with two of the best teams in the East Conference in the Magic and Heat. A back to back from hell that begins tonight. The last time Toronto was in Orlando few game them a shot at winning. But they did. Even fewer give them a chance tonight. This is a totally different roster they will face as well. Vince Carter is now a member of the Suns. Hedo Turkoglu also a former Raptor is now back home with Magic and found God or at least his game. Also bang bang as Gilbert Arenas is on this Magic roster. Along with Jason Richardson. Losing 5 straight it is hard to like the Raptors chances in this one.

The Basics: Raptors 13-29 (5-17 on Road) Magic 27-15 (18-7 vs East)

When Last We Saw Them: The Raptors had a surprising showing in the first half and were not able to carry it through to the 2nd half. Andrea Bargnani struggled the entire night and never could find a rhythm on offence. His defence was non-existent. Demar DeRozan had a great scoring first half but failed to carry it through to the 2nd half. In the end the Spurs showed why they have the best record in the league and had a great 3rd quarter and hung on for the win.

Key Match Ups: If you are playing the Orlando Magic on both ends of the floor you need to account for Dwight Howard. He is a shot blocking presence on D. While on offence a summer of working with "The Dream" has done is game a world of good. Jameer Nelson starting gaining respect by out playing both Jose Calderon and T.J Ford in the last playoff series the Raptors were a part of. Since that time people still question if Nelson is the right guy for Magic to win a title. But he has the full support of Stan Van Gundy and remains the starting point guard. Raptors will have lots of 3 point shooters to deal with and will need to be aware of that. They may not be able to wide in a zone defence much tonight if the Magic start dropping 3's.

Other Things Of Note: Congratulations to The Basketball Jones on the 5th Anniversary. They are having a party/show tonight and I am going to be in attendance so the re-cap of this game will be included in the preview of tomorrow's game with Miami. Ryan will be taking care of that for you all tomorrow. So congrats to Skeets,Tas, Matty O and J.D and good luck to the Raptors tonight they will need it. Someone pointed out this is the 5th anniversary of something else. 5 Years ago it was Kobe Bryant in L.A dropping 81 points on the Raptors. I am confident is saying no one on the Magic will drop 81 on the Raps tonight.

Where Is It On? TSN (Really is the NHL on All Star Break already? )