2/2/11

Raptors Have Landed In Home Of The Hawks

In case you missed it the Raptors have been stuck in Indiana since Monday, a saga that lasted all yesterday and into this morning. The team was stuck on a plane for about 5 hours by most Twitter accounts of it from media and players. That likely did no favours to a guy like Sonny Weems who has been dealing with a bad back. He seemed the least thrilled of anyone that they were stuck in as he put it on twitter "Whack Indiana". So you can scratch the Pacers off his list of teams he would sign with next season. I am sure everyone connected with the Raptors will be happy not to return to Indy till next season given what they went through. But it may not be as bad as the 12 game losing streak we all have had to endure. Given all the nonsense the Raptors went through to get to Atlanta it is anyones guess what it will mean on the floor tonight. Under normal circumstances the Hawks are a team that has always had the Raptors number. Maybe the Raptors will be pissed off enough to come out and bring it. Maybe this time stuck together has helped them work out some issues. Maybe it will be just more of the same.

The Basics: Toronto 13-36 (WIN PLEASE) Atlanta 30-18 (15-7 @ Home)

When Last We Saw Them: More of the same in Indiana. Andrea Bargnani got taken to school by Roy Hibbert. Ed Davis tried to spark a rally but to get a spark in icy Indy was just not possible as the Raptor went down to defeat for the 12th time in a row. Then as we mentioned could not escape Indiana.

Key Match-Ups: I am begging someone, anyone to make sure there is someone guarding Mike Bibby on three point line. I have watched Mike Bibby torch (Not the Blackberry) the Raptors far to many times to have to endure it again. I would rather see Josh Smith have 6 dunks on Andrea Bargnani's head then watch Bibby nail 3's on the Raptors all night. Basic math is a beautiful thing and 3 > 2 is always going to be true. Obviously Al Horford is a beast inside and you much look to account for him. Really at this point it is not about match-ups or anything other than getting a win for this Raptors team. They just have to find a way, any way, to get a win. How that is going to happen is being more aggressive on offence with more drives and less jumpers and a better overall effort on defence. Anything other than that is just based on luck and if you have been paying attention the Raptors luck is all bad.

Other Things of Note: The Raptors are 4-12 vs the East on the road. That is not good at all but better in comparison to their overall road record of 5-21. The Raptor losing streak watch would hit 13 tonight should they lose. Last time that happened was Feb 12th -March 7th 2002 and it happened once more back in Mar/Apr of 1998. The next stop after this would be the all-time record losing streak of 17 games that lasted from November 7 to December 9th of 1997. Case you missed it yesterday Demar DeRozan will suit up for All-Star Friday night as part of the Sophomore squad. Ed Davis did not make it on the Rookie side. Last time the Raptors were in the ATL they got smacked 96-78 but did battle the Hawks in a close contest at the ACC a couple weeks back on January 12th losing 104-101 at the ACC. All time the Raptors are 12-17 in Atlanta and 26-33 overall and are currently in a 5 game losing skid vs Hawks.

Where Is It On? TSN 2 ( Normally a joke would go here about TSN but given the way Raptors have played they may deserve to play on TSN 3)

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