SVG, Raptors Killers and 10 Days

First let's start with last night's game. It was a disappointment on a lot of levels. Let's getting rolling with the start of that game. Going down 24-8 to the Magic after you were able to battle blow for blow with the Bulls? Yes the Raptors had an immediate response only to fall back again. Ryan Anderson has for me earned the honour and distinction of being referred to as a "Raptor Killer". He is what they now like to call a stretch 4 in the NBA. The Raptors should know all about that as they have one they practice with on a regular basis. Andrea Bargnani remember him that guy that was heading to the All-Star Game earlier in the year. My question with him is are we suppose to believe that guy is the real Bargnani? Doesn't it make more logical sense to think that might have just been a flash of brilliance and Andrea is actually more closer to what we thought he was the last 6 years.

Stan Van Gundy makes total fun of Raptor fans with just cause. It was as a result of the stupid pizza promotion and a basket made by Ed Davis. The Raptors were getting destroyed for most of the night and the crowd was pretty dead for most of the night, then for a silly three dollar slice of pizza. Stan Van Gundy told it like it was in a funny and entertaining way. It is something that we have talked about to death in this blog. Fans that cheer for pizza make all of us as Raptor fans and supporter look like a joke to the rest of the world. I get why people still boo Hedo, T-Mac and Vince. I will support people in that regard no matter what outsiders might think. Still, in terms of cheering for a three dollar slice of pizza when your team is getting pasted I will never support. It was also on a basket made by a guy who until recently has basically sleep walked his way through his second season in the NBA. Be more concerned that team play horrible and lost 117-101.

In reality the Raptors season has come down to a guy coming right from the airport and ending up in a game. You want even find a listing for Alan Anderson when you click on his name in the boxscore. But he did in 7:22 seconds of floor time what it took Solomon Alabi till March 24th to do despite being on the roster all season. What was that? Score two points. The Solomon Alabi scoring streak continued again and now stands at two games with 2 points. That makes his career total up to 12. I wake up to the huge news(not really) that Ben Uzoh is a Raptor. He averaged 3.8 points in 42 games last season with the Nets and this season He averaged 14.8 points in the D-League this year with the Vipers. Truth is the chances any of these 10 day contract guys amount to anything is highly unlikely but it makes more sense than it did to have Anthony Carter or Rasaul Butler hanging around.

There is a month to go in season as of last night. Let's face facts we have reached that point in the season where folks are more interested in the draft lottery than they are in upcoming games. This along with 9 more chances to win a free slice of pizza. What is it going to take for someone to wake up and change this promotion?

Orlando's Real Magician Is Stan Van Gundy

You have a superstar that changes his mind on if he is going to stay or go on a daily, weekly and month basis. You have a G.M that your superstar has little faith in because he really has done a lousy job. Still you find a way to win basketball games. Just like George Karl did a fantastic job last season with the back drop of the Melo Drama, Stan Van Gundy has done an even better job with the Magic. It is so ironic that he was in fact the second choice of the Magic in the first place. Billy Donovan was Magic coach for about a week before he, or was it his wife, decided that he would remain coaching at Florida. So the Magic had to settle for Stan Van Gundy. Who at the time might have not even been considered the best Van Gundy coach in his own family. He had been pushed out of Miami, so Pat Riley could ride in on his white horse and win another championship. Stan Van Gundy is never truly respected for how good he is in reality.

Orlando's second choice as coach took them to an NBA Finals and lost to the Lakers. While this season under far from ideal circumstances has taken the Magic to a 24-14 record and they sit fifth best in the conference. He dealt with his G.M making stupid trades for guys like Vince Carter, Gilbert Arenas and a much lesser version of the Hedo Turkoglu that left Orlando for big bucks here in Toronto. Stan probably has little say in what ultimately will happen to Dwight Howard by March the 15th. Still he has done the best thing that anyone could do in convincing him to stay and that is win basketball games. Stan Van Gundy has done just that. I can't help but think he feels a bit upset with Howard for wanting to leave. If not with him than with Otis Smith for letting this situation get out of hand. In many ways Van Gundy is the man in the middle. He will also be the man that has to deal with the fallout of this situation no matter what it ends up being.

He also is one of the more entertaining coaches to watch on an NBA Sideline. He never looks completely happy even if his team happens to be up 20 or down 20. Howard in the past has said he wishes that Stan would be more positive with the team. I just think the chances of that happening are about as good as Dwight leading the league in free throw percentage. What Van Gundy has been able to do with a line-up that by Dwight Howard's standards is not good enough is pretty impressive. When Ryan Anderson is your team's top scorer behind Dwight that speaks to Howard's unhappiness and to Van Gundy's ability to coach. It is not meant to demean what Anderson has done at all. He has been one of the few players on this Magic roster, to show improvement and be worth more than what they are paying him.

While this could be the last time you see Dwight Howard in a Magic Jersey at the ACC you will still see Stan Van Gundy when the Magic return to Toronto on March 26th after the trade deadline. It makes you wonder when Stan Van Gundy will have enough and want to go to a better place that respects him for what he is. Which is one of the better coaches in the NBA. Doc Rivers cut his teeth in coaching in Orlando before landing the job in Boston. Van Gundy had his chance at title stolen from him in Miami, he had another chance to get a ring in Orlando with a group with less talent overall. His record overall speaks to how good a coach he is with a record in his 8th season coaching of 358-193 and a playoff record of 47-35. He has never missed the playoffs in a full season that he has coached. That would appear to be the case this season as well regardless of the fate of Dwight Howard.

The Raptors can only hope that Dwane Casey can someday have a record that looks as impressive as the one Van Gundy has in his career. He likely doesn't get the full credit he deserves based on the fact he has always had a star player to carry the load for his teams. However he finds a way to get the most from that and demands a lot of everyone, from the best player on the team, to the last guy on his bench. However the guy that Van Gundy is the most hard on is actually himself. He is one of the more under appreciated coaches in the NBA. Dwight Howard owes Van Gundy a ton of credit for pushing him to do more and be more. It would be very easy for a guy like Dwight to just get by on his obvious gifts and talents. But even in a season in which he has had one foot half out the door, Stan Van Gundy has still got the best out of Dwight Howard. Which is impressive and something the Raptors never could do with Vince Carter.

As for the Raptors chances tonight? They could be a lot better on March 26th after the trade deadline than they will be tonight. Last I checked Dwight Howard will still be showing up in an Orlando Jersey. He is a force that Raptor fans are all to aware of. He had some of his best games in the NBA battling against his friend Chris Bosh, with both having some pretty memorable battles. Now his Magic team face a situation similar to one the Raptors had with Chris Bosh. The Raptors ultimately never traded Bosh and went all in for a push for the playoffs. Bosh would get injured and the playoffs never came. He would exit stage left for Miami. The Magic should make the playoffs no matter what at this point. However, do they do it with Howard and risk watching him walk like Bosh and James did in Toronto and Cleveland? That is a question that Otis Smith needs to have an answer for by March 15th.

New Year But Same Old Problems For Raptors

I am getting the reputation of being a negative person. Shocking I know. So let it be said the Raptors played for 3/4 of this game about as good as you can ask. Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon who often take a lot of shots in this blog were both fantastic. Bargnani added to a solid performance in Dallas with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists tonight in Orlando. While Calderon had one of his best shooting nights in recent memory with 18 points, going 3-4 from 3 point range and 6-9 overall. This along with 13 assists which pushed him past 3,000 in his 7th year in the NBA.

The Raptors from the start got the jump on a Magic team that clearly looked like they had enjoyed to much fun ringing in 2012. Hedo likes to party as Raptor fans well know. Dwight Howard started the game with a great offensive rebound and slam but seemed to have his interest level drift in this game. Raptors went on a 8-0 run after that and continued to pound on the Magic to the tune of 21-8 at one point in the first. The Raptors lost a little ground with the second unit but still had a healthy lead of 27-18 after one.

In the second the Magic's leading scorer got it going after sitting out most of the first with two fouls. If you think we are talking about Dwight Howard, we are not. Hedo? Come on now? No Ryan Anderson is that guy and he was fantastic matching the solid performance from Andrea Bargnani. In an ironic twist it was Anderson making the 3's with Bargnani driving to the basket getting 2 at a time. Anderson has much the same type of game as Bargnani but not nearly has skilled. But still the Raptors would take a 52-47 lead to the break.

Here is why you should love Dwane Casey if you don't already. If this was a Triano coached Raptors you would expect the Magic to continue to climb back and crush the Raptors early in the 3rd. But the Casey led Raptors were the ones that came out swinging. The Raptors got their double digit lead back and they would hold it to the end of the 3rd with an 11 point lead heading to the 4th.

But no matter who the players are or who the coach happens to be the Raptors have had a history of 4th quarter failure. This not so happy tradition was on full display in Orlando. The Magic as if they finally shook of there "rust" from New Year's Eve came alive in the 4th. Dwight Howard had a massive rejection of Bargnani that you will no doubt see on the highlights of this game. The Raptors offence hit the skids and the lead would evaporate as fast as Canadian snow on a warm Orlando night.

While we gave praise to Calderon and Bargnani. There was blame to go around as well. Demar DeRozan is making some awful shooting choices and despite his 17 points he shot just 4-12 and had 3 shots blocked. Lone positive was 6 boards from Demar. James Johnson provided nothing on offence and was only slightly better on defence from the game with Dallas. Also starting to be a point of worry is Ed Davis who after a solid opener vs Cavs has been on the steady decline. Just two points and only 1 rebound? Hey if we are going to slam Bargnani...Ed Davis hello. Ed Davis has to be a contributor on the glass.

Raptors defence which has been the great story to this point got progressively worse in this game. When it was all done the Magic shot just a shade under 50% easily the best performance by a Raptor opponent this season. Raptors have little time to figure it out as they hop a plane to head to NYC and a Monday meet up with the Knicks. Raptors end up fumbling this one 102-96 to the Magic. Magic outscored the Raptors 32-15 in the final quarter. A all to familiar ending for Raptors fans on a day that is suppose to be about new beginnings.

Raptors Rewind- TSN 2 Or Not Edition

The Raptor Rewind marches on be it rain or snow or not TSN 2. I really am tired of this non-sense. To have to scramble to find a way to do what I consider my job. I talked with my cable company today and they say that they are doing all they can. It was a nice person I talked to and she was a basketball fan and hopefully will now be a reader of the Dino Nation Blog. But I just am angry that this is an issue at this point. I am not sure who to blame for that. Is it Rogers? Is it TSN and their parent company Bell Globe Media? Should the Raptors be blamed for not taking a more hard line stance with these companies to get this fixed. I mean MLSE I think would take a different approach if this had to do with the Maple Leafs and not the Raptors. Point is as fans we are the ones who suffer. But that being said I will not let that stop me from doing what my mission is here to provide fans with my brand of coverage of games. I tend to think I care more about fans than the parties involved. Someone needs to wake up and stand up for the fans of the Toronto Raptors. That being said a game will be played and be it somewhere on the Internet or on the radio I am going to do my best to follow along and give you a recap of the events of the night at the ACC. I hope the folks who make the choices about these matters understand, when you complain about the ratings for basketball on your networks you are part of the problem. If you don't respect the sport and treat it's fans like garbage you have no right to complain about the ratings. Sports fans do not care about your bottom lines and whatever issues this may cause. All they want to do is watch the game and cheer for their team. They deserve the right to do that. I mean why exactly do we have a CRTC if they sit back and let these things go on? Sorry for the rant but I think all of you share in my rage. I promise the rest of this will be about basketball. However, I wanted to express my opinion and hopefully represent you the readers who have been effected by this.

1st Quarter

Well I have a combo of radio and video feed. Bosh was fouled by Yi and went to the line and made the free throws. Jason Kapono would nail a 3 pointer and raps had an early 5-0 advantage. A couple of buckets for J.O and it was a 9-0 run for the Raptors to start the game causing Lawrence Frank to call a 20 second time out. Jamario Moon would get a couple free throw and then later get an alley opp feed from Jose Calderon. Calderon would then get a 3 pointer and the Raptors had a 16-2 lead early on. It was like continuing on from the game in New Jersey.

Vince Carter had his second basket of the night and the only points for Jersey to this point. Vince would hit a 3 pointer after a Bosh miss and he had all 7 points for the Nets to this point. Jermaine O'Neal would respond with a jumper. O'Neal would later make a pair from the line they had a 20-9 lead. J.O was hustling on defense to drawing an offensive foul. Ryan Anderson was fouled and heading to the line for New Jersey. He would make both and the Nets were now down 9. The Nets would cut it to seven but Bargnani would get a kind roll on his jumper to extend the lead back to 9 points. The Raptors had a 26-15 lead and aside from Vince Carter scoring a bit this looked much like the game in New Jersey. Ryan Anderson hit a 3-ball for the Nets. Raptors had made a turnover the second in a row. But the Nets could not convert this second time. Antony Parker missed a 3-ball from the corner that would go out of bounds off a Raptor. Keyon Dooling would get a steal and score the Nets were back to within 6 points. Roko Ukic would get a basket and Vince Carter buzzer shot would not fall. Despite going over 4 minutes without a field goal the Raptors still lead 28-20 after one.

2nd Quarter

The Nets would end up on the line with two free throws from Ryan Anderson. He would make only 1-2 from the line. J.O would get to the line himself but he would miss both. Josh Boone was able to score on the other end for the Nets and it was a 28-23 Raptor lead. A Ryan Anderson 3-ball and the lead had shrunk to just 2 points. Jermaine O'Neal would finally respond for the Raptors. The Nets would score again but Roko Ukic would find J.O and set the table for an O'Neal throw down. J.O had 12 points to lead all scorers in the game and Raptors lead 32-28. Chris Bosh would hit Joey Graham streaking to the hoop and Joey would throw it down. Brook Lopez would score a basket from in the paint for the Nets. Joey Graham with a spin and a pass to Kapono who would hit a big 3 ball for the Raptors. Raptors lead was back up to 7 with a 37-30 lead. Chris Bosh had a huge block. But Raptors could not convert it into points.

The Nets had pulled to down just 5 and Jermaine O'Neal who was having a good game would have to sit with 3 fouls. Jason Kapono would make a long 2 pointer from the corner to make the lead 7 again. But Brook Lopez would get a thrown down off a V.C pass. Yi JianLian would hit a 3-ball and this was a 2 point basketball game with the Raptors up 37-35. Chris Bosh was with out a field goal but he would drive strong and get sent to the line. He would make both and Raptors lead 41-37. Josh Boone got offensive board on a missed 3 pointer from Yi. Boone would put it in the basket to pull the Nets to with in just 2 points. Andrea Bargnani was fouled and made 2 from the line. Bosh was blocked and then had it stolen away. He wanted a foul called. But instead Jersey would score in transition and he would get called for a technical foul. The Nets had their first lead of the night 44-43. The Nets would score again on a second chance opportunity. Jose Calderon would get a 3 pointer or was it a 2. For now it was a 3 pointer and Raptors trailed 46-45 at the half.

3rd Quarter

The Nets had 14 second chance points and Raptors 0. That was the big reason the Nets were in this basketball game and actually winning it. Seems Jose got credit for the 3-ball after all so it was 46-46. Chris Bosh hit a jumper and Raptors had a lead. Jamario Moon had a jam the lead was 50-48. Vince Carter would score to tie it. Bobby Simmons would hit a 3 pointer to give the Nets a 53-50 lead. Chris Bosh would score ot pull back to just 1 down. But Devin Harris who had been quiet got a basket and the Net lead was back to 3 points. Raptors found a cutting Moon who would take it to the hoop and score. Bobby Simmons would answer with a 3-ball and Kapono answered with a 3-ball of his own. The Nets had a 58-57 lead with a time out on the floor.

Vince Carter out of the time out would hit a jumper. Chris Bosh would answer with a score for the Raptors. Raptors would get a turnover and a J.K 3-ball in transition and the Raptors had the lead back at 62-60. Raptors battled on the glass and it turned into two free throw for Jamario Moon at the other end. Moon made both and he had 9 points and 8 rebounds to this point for the Raptors to this point. Bosh denied Ryan Anderson's attempt and that would get converted on the other end by Jose Calderon with a jumper the Raptors lead was 66-60. Raptors continued to play better defense and Andrea Bargnani on the offense would drive and get to the line. He would make both and the Raptors were on an 11-0 run if my math is right. Joey Graham would block Vince Carter and it would lead to a double foul call as Andrea and Vince would get tied up. Carter would exchange words with Andrea. Calderon would extend the run with another basket. Vince Carter would end the run with a 3-ball but his Nets were still down 7 with the score 70-63. Both the Raps and Nets would get a chance to change the score but both failed. So it was 70-63 after 3 quarters of play.

4th Quarter

So the Raptors came into the 4th quarter with a 7 point lead. They needed to hold on to it unlike the last time these two teams hooked up in this building. Both team came up empty on their first couple trips of the quarter. Andrea Bargnani was playing hard on defense, He would get rewarded being sent to the line on the offensive end and he would make both for the first points of the quarter. The Nets would have a turnover and Raps had a chance to extend the lead to double digits. However they could not and instead Harris would get to basket for basket plus the foul shot. Devin Harris would again get to the line and make both the Raptors lead was 4 at 72-68.Devin Harris had 7 straight points for New Jersey and the lead was now just 2 points 72-70 for Raptors. Jay Triano had seen enough and called a time out.

Jose Calderon would miss a 3 point shot out of the time out but it would not fall. Devin Harris would get fouled by J.O and Devin Harris was back on the line again with a chance to tie the game. He would do just that. Raptors were 0-7 in the quarter and Brook Lopez would score on the offensive put back to give the Nets the lead 74-72. Raptors were ice cold and Vince Carter who had been watching the Nets take the lead was now in the game looking to close it out for his team.

Vince out of the time out would drive and get sent to the line on an Andrea Bargnani foul. He would get the basket and the foul and the Nets had a 5 point lead. The Raptors continued to miss and Devin Harris drove and was sent to the line to take a couple free throws and he would make them. Jose Calderon would final give the Raptors a chance to score by driving to the basket and drawing the foul. He would make both which is nothing new for Jose he has made 58 straight to start the season. Devin Harris would come down and drain a bucket in response. Ryan Anderson would hit a 3 pointer, and a once 7 point Raptor lead had turned into a 10 point Nets lead.

Raptors had been out scored 21-4 to this point in the 4th quarter. Jermaine O'Neal would miss a pair off free throws for the second time on this night. The Nets would take advantage and score and had an 86-74 lead and were totally out classing the Raptors in this 4th quarter. A Jose Calderon 3-ball after Anderson made a pair from the line but the lead was 11 for the Nets. Jason Kapono would get another 3 pointer after a rare pointless trip for the Nets. Rookie Ryan Anderson was back at the line he would make 1-2. The young rookie had 21 points and 8 rebounds for the Nets.The lead was 89-80 for the Nets with under 2 minutes to play. Raptors were starting to wake up but it was far to late. Jay Triano frustrated with a call would get his first technical foul as a head coach. Carter would miss the Tech and Chris Bosh would hit a 3 pointer and the Raptors were down now just 5 points. Just 53 seconds left to play and it was the Raptors looking to make the unreal late comeback to steal a win. Vince Carter missed a fading mid range jumper and Jose Calderon would get a look at a 3 pointer to get the game to just 2 points down. But it would miss and the Raptors chances were pretty much over despite making it a bit more exciting down the stretch. The Raptors were extending this game but their fate was sealed. The Raptors let one get away losing by a final score of 94-87. The boxscore tell the tail of how the Raptors let this game slip away.

Nets/Raps Boxscore

It doesn't get easier for the Raptors to watch for those with or without TSN2. The Dallas Mavericks come to town and that will be far from an easy win for this Raptor Basketball team. The fall to 10-14 on the year and 4 games below .500.