Tip-In: A Taste of the Playoffs

You forgot to mention Juan Dixon. That has been a huge pickup, at the time people said that it was two no-names trading places on two benches. Dixon, you DO NOT suck, you ARE the man!

sorry - you did! Looked over your essay again...

ESPN really blew it by putting on a crappy Orlando/Indaina game instead of a very entertaining Raps/Wiz game.

"cardiac arrest of a game" says it all - go mo pete!!!

Fantastic game by the Raptors.
This game was all about heart. No matter who is down the Raptors keep fighting. Whether it it Bosh down to even Sow (who himself fought back from that tremendous injury).
I just hope we get to see Luke and what he brings to the table during the regular season. I also hope we keep him for next year, as we know he will be another weapon in our arsenal.

Peace.

I love the voice over by the Washington commentators on the Mo Pete play(which can be seen on ESPN.com).

" It's inbouded....Micheal Ruffin tips it...aaaannd...NOOO!...Not Possible!...Not Possible!... "

That cracks me up every time I watch it.

Great article again. Game was one of the craziest I've ever seen. Heart attach city!! Was it just me or did Calderon really calm the crew down and run (and I mean run) the last few minutes and overtime. A cool character. I hope TJ was watching. TJ ran the same play for himself like 5 times in row before he fouled out.

AP solid again. Humpheries solid. And I was so excited for Joey G. he played awesome. He needs to watch this tape over and over again.

Go raps!!

You'd think that a match up of division leaders would be worth Televising in the US (Hello ESPN! Wake Up!)...But NO...

You guys act like ESPN can show any game they please. Their schedule was set from the beginning of the year and they've been trying to get some Raptors games on but they've been unsuccessful so far. Don't act like every hates us cuz we're in Toronto, the league is on notice already

Gritty win! Forget the theatrics, we had a team with two principals missing in a hostile environment, and we came out roses instead of buckling under the pressure.

I only wish Mitchell had started Mo Pete in the extra period, since he just gave us life.

Would you have put the Raps on American TV at the beginning of the season?? (when the decisions made)

It's amazing to think of how many games they did use to carry in Vince's second/third year. Raps were on monthly (at least anytime they played the Knicks).

It's like sticking Florida and St. Louis on Hockey night in Canada (okay I know the analogy would be more like them on TSN, but less impactful...)

I'm sure the Raps will get a couple TV nights next year.

But what's horrible is Canadian Audiences!! Competitive Swimming is doing better than the raps. And it doesn't help that half the remaining games are on Raps TV. I'm assuming most of us have it, but sucks for building a brand image. ("Raps putting on a show - but who's watching?" http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/197712)

Ustation, I think it's a matter of having to earn back their audience. I don't think you could blame casual fans for jumping off the bandwagon after the last several years of poor play and mismanagement. I remember when they played Philly in that game 7 matchup and the ratings were something like 1.5 million across the country. Not Stanley Cup numbers, but pretty good.

If it makes you feel better, I was at a bar watching the game last night, and although people were initially watching hockey games, they slowly gravitated to the Raptors game until everyone was hollering for them. If the Leafs don't make the playoffs, it should help the Raptors' exposure too.

Nice to see Joey Graham have a solid game. I hope he pans out, if only because we'll have at least something to show for the VC trade.

I don't have rapstv, and now fan590 doesn't even carry away games, so I had to sit in front of my computer watching the box score on yahoo sports.

it's hilarious because at the end, they had 3 seconds left for the game and then that was it - they closed it down and put 109 - 106 as the final. so I got up all pissed and went to take a shower...I come back 5 minutes later and check in on the realgm boards and every thread has MO PETE!! as its tittle.

what a game. the playoffs just can't get here soon enough!!

Incredible game!

However I do agree with Jay that while TJ was the one getting us back into it, his last shot heroics just aren't doing it for me.

Don't get me wrong, he played great and really used his speed and vision all night long but this is at least the fourth or fifth time he has chucked up a lay-up that barely hits iron in the final seconds. Bosh has bailed him out once or twice with off. rebounds but that shouldn't matter. I just don't want to see him continue his Mike James impersonation at the end of tight games.

Not trying to be a downer, because the win was unbelievable.

Joey G was the player we need him to be, especially on the boards.

Bosh was spectacular as well.

Peace.

Epic game, and a very important win both for keeping up in the race for the 2nd/3rd spots and for getting the tiebreaker against the wizards. Awesome last second miracle 3, fantastic bosh perfomance (maybe his best game this season), and very good contributions from Dixon, Humphries and (I still don't believe i'm writing this) a stellar Joey Graham that i'd be happy if he could only give even an 75% of that performance in a regular basis.

The one dark spot for me was the PG play. TJ had some really bad decisions and selfish play (specially down the stretch), and my admired Calderon, alhtough giving a good direction in overtime, had quite a bad night on shooting and did not show his trademark wild layups.

Papa, the game was on the fan590, I was listening to it. Every game is.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about hoops talk which only happens once a week unless there is a preseason baseball game with a split squad from Dunedin. Much more important this time of the year.

It’s amazing that after an important game like the Miami game or the Washington game, there is nothing on TV or radio about it. No one talking about it. No analysis. No discussion. No call in programs. Unbelievable.

I tuned into Sportsnet last night at 1am to see the highlights. I had to wait through 15 hockey game highlights, west coast minor league hockey highlights and the PHO – DEN game highlights before they got to the Raps. And I thought they had Sportsnet Ontario that would focus on sports important to Ontario.

This morning’s Globe has no mention of the Raps on the front page, nothing on the front of the sports section either. No lead in. Just nothing. No. You have to turn to page 6 and there it is tucked in between swimming and soccer. You’d think this was a summer league game.

I know that this is historically a hockey town, but really, there are many SPORTS fans that are getting excited about the Raptors. It’s a shame that the media is too set in its hockey ways to realize this.

Sadly, the media in Toronto has a long way to go.

Earlier in the season, BC had a chat with Sam, saying he needed to give Bargs more court time.

BC now goes out and signs Jackson to a 10-day contract, but the guy gets no playing time. You guys think another chat is coming?

Nice to hear good words about Sam. Wins against Orlando,Denver,Miami and Washington over the last ten days while juggling the roster has been tremendous.
With the injuries the Raps have had this year to key individuals, the youth of the core of this team, nine new additions(10 with Dixon)and the amazing team chemistry that continues to be displayed on a nightly basis. The job done by both coach Mitchell nd GM Colangelo on growing this team should earn them both consideration for year end awards. It would be a shame if Sam doesn't resign because his bleeds Raptor blood. While so much has been criticized about his coaching methods, his ability to develope young players is second to none. BC must allow him 2-3 years to grow with this team. Next year this team contends for the Eastern Confrence finals.He loves these guys and the guys play hard for him. With all the injuries we've had - look at our record. Not many had us this goodat the start of year.
Home court will be huge in the playoffs - if we keep beating the teams we are fighting for it - who knows. Any playoffs this year is a bonus - next year if team stays together and gets healthy, plus another BC tweak or two - watch out.

That performance reassured you about Sam Mitchell as a head coach? Geez, your expectations must be low. What about the fact that he completely tired out Chris Bosh in the first half, to the point where he was too tired to perform efficiently in the 2nd half. Or the fact that he was willing to play Juan Dixon/Joey Graham with foul trouble but nailed Mo-Pete to the bench. Or (the worst part), how he called the exact same play for our last 3 offensive possessions. TJ Ford dribble penetration! I swear to God, that must be the only play we use after a timeout and it never works anymore.

Erezona, I agree 100%; the lack of basketball highlights is ridiculous. Especially when you have a finish like that.

What happened to Sportsnet? They used to be a network that actually seemed to care about basketball. Now they seem determined to ape TSN and be the hockeyhockeyhockey channel. It's nice that The Score is picking up some of the slack, but their NCAA coverage isn't quite as well produced as Sportsnet's.

We won on the road against a healthy team that we are competeing for home court with, a team with one the best home records in the east I might add. Sam done good. CB4 didn't look tired in OT.
Do not forget how young this team is and how still relatively new they are to each other. Thats why I accept stinkers like the Knicks and Celtics game(although both were on the road). Our three main guys that we are building around are barely in theit twenties, two other main contributors, Parker and Garbosa- as good as each have been will be better next year(depending on Jorge's recovery).
Sam's done a helluva job this year - extend him for two and an option.

We needed a miracle shot to win that game, so I think some criticism is definitely warranted. Who said anything about Bosh in overtime? Sam overplayed him in the first half and it led to him being fatigued in the 3rd and 4th quarters, when the Wiz made a run. You could see it with his turnovers and the fact that he was settling for contested jumpers. And you didn’t address any of the other problems I had with Mitchell. He nailed Peterson to the bench for some stupid reason, didn’t call a timeout during the Wizards’ 3rd quarter run, and ran the same predictable set play at the end of the 4th quarter (when we had a chance to win it in regulation time). I fail to understand why Sam gets credit for our success. We have such a talented, versatile, hard-working, and experienced (yes, their Euro experience counts) roster, but we have no motion on our offense and don’t pick up on our opposition’s adjustments. Sam’s one of the more clueless coaches in the league and leaves so much in the strategy department. I hope Colangelo has the balls to see through all the hype and realize that Mitchell’s a glorified assistant coach.

I agree with pVr. Unfortunately/fortunately a positive final result covers up a bunch of highly suspect Sam Mitchell coaching decisions, and poor play from TJ Ford. The Raptors are 100% predictable coming out of a time-out: TJ holds the ball and runs down the clock --> TJ tries to penetrate and looks like he's about to fall down --> TJ throws up a piece of crap. Yes, TJ Ford has potential, but a good basket or two (generally followed by unwarranted, smug, gloating) does not make up for repeated turnovers and missed shots. And Mo Pete on the bench after hitting a game tying three? What kind of a bullshit lesson is Sam Mitchell trying to teach?

pVr, Observer, I think you're both way off the mark on the coaching.

Mo Pete was nailed to the bench for one basic reason: Everyone who got more playing time was playing better. Joey did well for the most part (an astounding night for him given what he usually shows up with), Juan Dixon had a great night, and Humphries was contributing solidly on the boards. It wasn't until TJ fouled out they needed that extra body, and then for 5 minutes they could run with their hotter players.

If he'd given Mo Pete court time in OT and he'd put up a bunch of bricks like he had been lately, costing them the game, you'd complain that he was a fool for putting Mo Pete in when he obviously had been playing crappy lately and didn't have the hot hand.

If Bosh was really tired in the second half, it didn't show in OT.

Yes, they needed a crazy circus shot from the master of crazy circus shots to tie it and go to OT, but consider that the Wiz took 45 shots from the line, and made 33 of those. Washington did what they're good at -- they got to the line and sunk free throws.

My point is, you can argue any number of individual plays that went good for the Raps with "they shouldn't have needed to", "the coach sucks because the players did X on the floor", etc., but the fact remains they pulled out a win.

I don't really see how capitalizing on another team's mistake and getting a W should lead to coaching criticism, unless you feel they won in spite of Mitchell. Even then, he put Mo in the game, which turned out to be the right call.

All season long the critics have been calling Sam out. This team has just continued winning and Sam's kept them winning.Doesn't matter who is injured, this team continues to compete.Every game Sam has to go with his feelings and sit people and the results of the last few games shows that Sam knows HIS team. Talk about resting Bosh is nonsense - this team needs homecourt- that is what we are fighting for fellows. Bosh's minutes have been welll managed by Sam this whole season.
Sam's critics will never be satisfied, even when the proof is right in front of their eyes. This team has made BC's choice an obvious one - they play hard for Sam- resign him.

unfortunately coaches seem to be in a seller's market since lots of teams are looking. we'll be lucky if we can get or even afford either mitchell or iavaroni.

I missed it because of Raptors TV. and now six of the last ten or whatever are on RaptorsTV.
It's such crap. It's an excellent way to be sure kids and students won't be able to become lifelong fans.

It costs less than 3 bucks a month- worth every cent.

PLease help me asap. Sitting with fellow raps fan. Just confirming that the 4th seed is not guaranteed the home court advantage anymore. That is why the 3rd seed is so important now. please reply asap

Thanks

Raptors has just beat Charlotte and clint playoff spot they are in the 3rd place, Sam Mitchell is the best I just hope he resign with us.

Sharpy - yep, believe that's the case, Raps gotta lock down the third spot although they're on their way to doing it!

Another brilliant coaching job by COACH of the year Sam Mitchell. His management of his available players has been outstanding and led to the Raptors clinching their ist playoff berth in 5 years. Next step the Atlantic Division, then the 3rd spot, and home for the playoffs. Hopefully all the playoff games will be on Rap's TV.

Come on, HQ, don't pull a Carefoot on us and bail on games - just when we are down the stretch! Keep those great previews and summaries going - for every game!

No worries Gerry, recap in the AM as usual. Apologies for the lack of a preview for the Bobcats game...it was combination of the Bay Street Hoops tourney here in Toronto and moving homes...oh, and the fact that Howland and I were 100% sure the Raps were going to beat Charlotte and didn't need any analysis on how to do it!