Ping Pong Ball Playoffs Start Today

This is the time of year when lots of questions are asked. Like can I honestly endure seeing that Andrea Bargnani Primo Pasta ad anymore? I mean honestly can I? What also is up in the air is how many ping pong balls the Raptors will have. After that the all important question on who will go to the lottery and represent the Raptors? But before we answer all of those "important" questions, there is the matter of having 3 games left to play. All 3 games could have an impact on the playoffs or lottery standings. Detroit currently is a game behind the Raptors in the reverse lottery standings. If you are the type to root for ping pong balls nothing but a Raptor loss will do today. If the Raptors were to lose it would virtually clinch finishing in front of Detroit in terms of lottery balls.

The scariest thing for Tank Nation is the Raptors win today, Monday and Thursday. There are still a number of teams bunched together and the ping pong ball race might be more exciting than the Playoff Race at this point. After all who cares if the Jazz, Suns or Rockets get in only to lose to the Spurs or OKC. Does it really matter if it is the Bucks, Kincks or the Sixers facing the Bulls at the end of the day? Charlotte long ago wrapped up the most ping pong balls and will have the best shot at Anthony Davis with 25% chance of landing the expected number one pick. Bobcat fans will not be thrilled to learn that position has only grabbed the number one spot four times since 1985. Which is one of the many reasons why I question all of this tank nation business to begin with. Washington has almost locked up the number 2 position in the ping pong ball standings.

After that it gets interesting. My favourite to win the NBA Lottery, the no longer league owned, and soon to no longer be Hornets. My favourite mascot next to the Raptor is going to be no more. Hugo the Hornet will be missed. Still he was had lots to cheer about lately as Hornets have won 7 of their last 10 games and put the 3rd worst record up for grabs. They are tied with the soon to be Vancouver Kings? They know how to tank, going 1-9 in the last 10 down the stretch. What they don't know how to do in Sacramento is how to build a stadium or win basketball games. Cleveland is next on the list of losers with the 5th worst record. The Cavs are back to the mess they were before they won the lottery and drafted Lebron James who showed Cleveland what winning was like, but never could end the curse that lives in the city of Cleveland and he moved on the South Beach. They won last year ironically with the pick they acquired from the Clippers and not based on their worst record in the league. They look to do the unthinkable double like the Orlando Magic were able to pull off. The Nets sit in the 6th position as they look to say good bye to New Jersey and likely Deron Williams this off-season and hello to Brooklyn with no real stars to speak of. The Raptors check in next tied with the Golden State Warriors just a half game behind the Nets, with the big TANKAPOLOOZA game on Thursday on the horizon. The Pistons round out the list of teams in this mess all with in 3 games of each other. Any win for them is a death blow at this point.

So that makes today's game with the Raptors and Pistons significant, but also likely painful to watch. All of that said it might look highly entertaining in comparison to what lies ahead with the Nets and Raptors on Thursday. If you took a nap till Friday and just woke up to see where the Raptors did end up finishing that might not be a bad plan. Seeing as that is likely not a realistic option for me, I will watch and be confused on what exactly I should be rooting for in these last three games. I honestly don't know at this point. So, I will watch and see what happens. Next year at this time if the Raptors are in this same awkward position it will have been a disaster of a season. Expectations for the coming off-season and next season in my view have already become too high. The Raptors have done a horrible job in managing expectations. The reason they have, is because if they didn't, who would want to watch this team next season and people might actually be talking about how bad this season has been even though it is an improvement over last season. The Raptors are heading in the right direction, but the speed they will be expected to go in that direction may not match the reality. Bryan Colangelo has an entire off-season to change my mind. He likely is not going to waste anytime either. When the Raptors and Nets game is done, I expect Bryan Colangelo will be on his cellphone or blackberry with in 5 minutes looking to make some moves. The trick will be finding some partners that are in as big a hurry as he is to get to work on building his roster for next season. One thing that likely will not be on the table is the Raptors draft pick even if they do the unthinkable and actually win the last 3 games of the season.

"NBAz in 7 Dayz"

In case you haven't heard, another 'Big Three' are in the headlines. Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are all suffering from one injury or another and the San Antonio Spurs have no timeline for their return. Talk about bad timing. Or is it? Each player has legitimate injuries which need healing and time off. On the flipside, if they took a little extra time before the playoffs to rest, it wouldn't be the first time a team rested its top players. Look at LeBron in his last year with Cleveland: this move didn't work in their favour but Cleveland was also not in the spot that San Antonio is now. The Spurs are also without Antonio McDyess (sore back). A whack of injuries all at once comes as a surprise since there are 9 games left in the season and the Spurs have been relatively injury free up until this point. Even Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich admits in the case of McDyess, his extended rest may have something to do with the playoffs on the horizon. San Antonio's next game is Thursday against Boston. Coach Popovich thinks maybe Tony Parker and his left knee contusion could heal and make the line-up by then. However, he doesn't know when Ginobili and his left quad contusion will return or Tim Duncan and his sprained ankle for that matter. Maybe this is all a part of their strategy - to make their opponents think they are fallible and create the false confidence the Spurs are going to wobble into the playoffs. Fat chance. If I were Coach Popovich, I would be milking the time off for my starters and giving them the time to rest. Having the best record in the league right now gives you that luxury.

Someone who will not be living 'La Vida Luxury' in Cleveland Tuesday night is LeBron James. Let's talk about the second homecoming of the Miami Heat, Julian Wright and his misguidance and the Sacramento Kings in what could be their final days.

Wright not so Right

If you were an OK player making decent money playing professional basketball on a losing team, would you make the colossal mistake of refusing to play or would you fight for your right to be there? I would take the latter but Julian Wright of the Toronto Raptors didn't. He really is a good guy which is why this news came as a shock to me. In the Raptors' 138-100 loss to Golden State last Friday, Julian Wright is listed as "DNP [Did Not Play] - Coach's decision". Do we really believe Jay Triano woke up Friday morning and said, "Hmmm. Not feelin' JW today - he's a scratch". This is what I don't get. Julian Wright is making close to $3 million right now with one year left in his contract. I can see how anyone would not want to play against the Warriors and get pumped by almost forty points. Maybe the Raptors dealing a fair share of "DNPs" to Wright is their way of suspending him or 'dealing with it internally' as they put it, but it still doesn't sit right with me. Maybe they are giving him a chance because he is a good guy, knowing if they set him free now they would not realistically get anything to help him or the Raptors? All I know is, if this happened in the world outside professional sports, it would get you fired. End of Story.

"No Place Like Home" - LeBron James

This is what popped up on my Facebook news feed as soon as I checked it this morning. Knowing he is returning to Cleveland Tuesday night, I checked out some of the comments following. Most contained expletives either for or against. I will not dignify or legitimize them by a re-post here. However this one stood out for me as the one intelligent argument out of the over 900 posted: "Cleveland fans, you knew he was a free agent at the end of the season, you knew he could well move somewhere else. He did, did that honestly surprise you? He hadn't won a championship in Cleveland and he went where he thought he would have the best chance of winning. Get over it now, someone else will come along eventually". Someone else will come along eventually? Maybe. Are they getting over it? Yes and no. Cleveland Head Coach Byron Scott doesn't think the hype will be at the level it was last time but he understands the anger still exists and says both the fans and the team remember what happened last time they met Miami. The team has changed, too remember. Familiar faces for LeBron like Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao are both out for the remainder of the season due to injury. Plus, the Cavs traded Mo Williams, Jamario Moon and released Leon Powe since LeBron was last in town. Daniel Gibson, J.J. Hickson and Anthony Parker are the three remaining healthy players who actually played with LeBron. It seems like the fans and the team are moving on but clearly the goal for the team and Cavs fans alike remains the same: beat LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

Sacramento Kings saying goodbye?

It is not yet a done deal but it looks like after 26 years of being in Sacramento, the Kings may be on the move. Sacramento Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson describes the franchise's possible move to Anaheim as a slow and painful death. He met with Kings' owners Joe and Gavin Maloof last month and feels the team is on the move after this season. This is where things get a little weird for me. So after years of not getting public money to build a new arena, Kings owners began talking to Anaheim officials to see what their options were. Yet Mayor Johnson maintains that his city needs to focus on building a new arena with or without the Kings. This raises some major red flags if I was an NBA fan and voter living in Sacramento. If Kevin Johnson is the Mayor of Sacramento and he believes his city's true destiny is to be a professional sports town and the only thing standing in their way is a new arena, why couldn't someone with his obvious background make it happen? The crux of the issue surrounds public funding of a new arena. Joe and Gavin Maloof want it and Mayor Johnson wants to kinda-sorta-maybe give it. If the voters don't want public money used for the arena and this has been on the table for years, how does Mayor Johnson make his dreams of being the leader of a professional sports city or even keep his job for that matter?

Now, Kings owner Joe Maloof is making his first public comments about his franchise's possible move to Anaheim. According to a letter written by a city official to Anaheim's City Manager, the move could ruin Sacramento financially if the Kings default on a $73 million dollar (US funds) loan from the city. To put more salt on the wound, the letter also asks Anaheim to stop negotiations with the Kings. Clearly this did not sit well with Joe Maloof who told the Orange County Register he wishes Sacramento and Mayor Kevin Johnson would stay out of his business, saying the team has never missed a payment and is in good standing. In any case, Sacramento's season finale is April 13th at home against the Lakers - a game that could be its last in Sacramento. (Deep breath).

Thanks for joining me again today. Keep your comments and suggestions coming by following me on Twitter (@ddegraauw) and on Facebook (Danielle de Graauw). Remember to join me here on Thursday when we will be discussing our NBA Rookie of the Year picks. See you then and have a great week.

Raptors Dethrone Kings in Sunday Showdown

Toronto would once again be without Sonny Weems, who has missed the last 11 games, and Tyreke Evans would also be a no-go for Sacramento. This further adds to the epidemic that is opposing teams star players being unable to play in games against Raptors, joining Dirk Nowitzki and Carmelo Anthony just to name a few. Jermaine Taylor got the start in his absence. The Raptors also made a slight lineup change as Joey Dorsey got the start in place of Amir Johnson for match-up purposes. Sacramento came into this game losing 6 straight to the Raptors at the ACC and were looking to end that streak.

DeMar DeRozan opens the scoring with a jumper, but the Kings quickly responded with a score of their own off a Cousins lob pass to Taylor. This would be the trend for most of the quarter as both team couldn't seem to miss. The Raptors were continuously attacking the paint and thus getting a lot of baskets for close range, but the Kings made their presence felt early on the boards and rewarded themselves with second chance points. As mention earlier both teams were shooting like the rim was the size of Texas, especially the Raptors who started 10-10 from the field before Kleiza missed a turnaround jumper at the 4:21 mark. After some missed FT's by Carl Landry, Jose would find DeMar cutting to the basket and feed him the perfect lob pass for the alley-oop finish to put the Raps up 24-19. The team would continue to trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter, capped off by a Bargnani dunk, quickly responded to, by Samuel Dalembert, with a dunk off his own after Bargnani failed to get back in transition. That was the final bucket of the quarter as the Raptors lead 34-31.

If there was ever a quarter with all offense and no defense the 1st was exactly that as the Raptors shot an amazing 75% from the field, while the Kings weren't too far behind at 65%. But would either team be able to maintain that hot shooting for the rest of the game? The second starts off with 5 straight points by Carl Landry to give the Kings a 2 point lead, before Jerryd Bayless, who missed the last game in Boston, answered with a 3 to regain the lead. The Kings would then turn the ball over and the Raptors capitalized resulting in a DeMar jumper. It seemed like the players became very fatigued after that 1st quarter as there were a couple of airballs, short jumpers and turnovers on both sides. After Ed Davis blocked a Cousins shot attempt, the Raps quickly got out in transition and scored via a Barbosa layup to go up 43-36. There was then yet another series of misses by both sides that was ended by a DeMar runner. Kleiza who was pretty much silent for much of the game would wake up the crowd with a vicious dunk that totally came out on nowhere. Barbosa would end the quarter with a layup at the buzzer to give the Raps a 57-50 lead going in the break.

Bargnani led all scorers with 16 at the half, while DeMar was close behind with 13. Udrih was the Kings leading scorer with 11. Julian Wright who has been playing great as off late did not see any playing time in that first half. The Raptors who are 5th in the league in offensive rebounding did not get one until the 2:48 mark in the 2nd quarter. With the Raps currently holding the lead all they had to do was come out strong in the third, play some defense and they could be walking away with the win or would they somehow let the Kings battle back and get their first win at the ACC in almost 7 years.

The 3rd was pretty much the same as the first two quarters as both teams continued to trade buckets for the most part, but the Kings advantage on the offensive glass would eventually pay-off as they would claim a one point lead halfway into the quarter. Triano would wisely call a timeout, but the play out of that timeout wasn't nearly as wise as Bargnani attempted a questionable three which he missed. After a Kings turnover, DeMar would get a no-call driving to the hoop, in which three players surrounded him, and that would lead to a Udrih 3 in transition to give Sacramento a 4-point lead. The Raps would then tie the game up on a Barbosa three, but they would fail to box out on the opposite end as the Kings scored off another offensive rebound. DeMar would start his dominance in the game from that point as he was getting required touches and when he wasn't scoring he was making plays for his teammates. He would scored 11 in this quarter and the game was tied at 85 when the buzzer sounded.

So would the Raptors be able to hold off the Kings or will they have another letdown this season. Julian Wright who hadn't played in the first three quarters would start the 4th and immediately make an impact as he would get a quick steal which would lead to a Barbosa score. Bargnani will then score again to put the Raps up 4. This game once again entered a period with both teams trading buckets, but Barbosa would hit two huge threes and DeMar would hit another jumper to put the Raps up 108-100 with about 4 minutes left. The Raps would then go on a mini collapse and DeMarcus Cousins (yea you heard that right) would take over and just like that it was a 1-point game with just over a minute remaining. Bargnani would then hit a huge 3 to put the Raps up 4, and after a 3-point miss by Garcia, Amir would hit 2 FT's to ultimately ice the game. In the end the Raps walked away with a 118-112 victory and continued their home dominance of the Kings.

On a day when Andrea Bargnani (30 points) and DeMar Derozan (28 points) combined for 58 points, the Raps were able to defeat the Kings and get the victory. Beno Udrih led the Kings with 25. Though it looked like the Raps were probably going to let this one slip away at the end, they were able to hold on and get a much needed victory. If DeMar and Andrea can continue having games like these in which they both score 25+ points, this team can start winning some game and may even be able to sneak into that 8th playoff spot. Up next for the Raptors would be the Hawks on Wednesday which would be a very tough challenge for them, especially for DeMar who would be going up against Joe Johnson.

The Boys are Back in Town to Host the Kings

Finally, the Raps have come back to the ACC. After embarking on a three game road trip in which they went 1-2, the boys return home for a Sunday afternoon against the Sacramento Kings, which would be the first of a three game home-stand, before the team once again heads out on the road for a five game trip. The Kings on the other hand are coming off a huge victory against the Nuggets and will be playing the first game of a six game road trip. Last time these teams met the Kings walked away with a 111-108 victory in Sacramento. The Raptors have had the Kings number at the ACC though as they currently have a six-game home winning streak against the Kings, with Sacramento’s last victory being almost six years ago on February 22, 2004. Both teams are amongst the league leaders in offensive rebounding, Kings ranked 3rd with 13.2 per game, and the Raps at 5th with 12.3, so the battle on the boards should be one of epic proportion. The Raps may once again be shorthanded though as Jerryd Bayless who missed the last game in Boston, is listed as day-to-day, and Sonny Weems, who has missed the last ten, is listed as doubtful, not to mention the injuries of Reggie Evans and Peja Stojakovic.

The Basics: Toronto 12-24 ( 11-18 all-time against the Kings, 9-5 at home), Sacramento 8-25 ( 4-8 against the East)

When Last We Saw Them: When the Raptors last played against Boston on Friday, the Celtics were putting on a clinic, Luke Harangody was having the best game of his career and Boston won their 3000th game in franchise history, joining the Lakers as the only teams to accomplish that feat. DeMar DeRozan led the Raps with 20 points, as he continues to show that he'll be a force in this league and Andrea Bargnani added 17.

Key Match-ups: The Kings front-court made up of Samuel Dalembert, Jason Thompson, Carl Landry and DeMarcus Cousins will be doing battle on the glass against Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, Ed Davis and Joey Dorsey. Though the Amir-Cousins matchup will be great to watch, the battle of the rookies should be more entertaining. Cousins comes into this game averaging 21.8 points and 9 boards in his last five games and has really started to show his potential after being a bit immature to start the season. Davis on the other hand hasn't been much of an impact offensively, but he's been solid on the boards and on defense averaging 5.7 boards and 1 block in only 20 minutes of play. The battle of the benches is also a key match-up to look forward too. With players like Omri Casspi, who can provide a spark off the Kings bench, players like Barbosa and Wright will have to also produce as the team with the better bench may eventually win this game. Sophomore guards Tyreke Evans and DeMar DeRozan going up against each other is yet another intriguing match-up to keep an eye on.

Other Things of Note:

• Raptors come into this game averaging 100.56 points at home; Sacramento averages 101.27 on the road
• Toronto is 7-3 when leading at the half and 10-1 when they have a better FG% than their opponent
• Sacramento is 4-3 in games decided by 3 points or less

Where is it on?: TSN (yea that's right, another Raptors game will be aired on the main channel)