Tip-In: Feast or Famine

nice read - totally agree. that moment when gasol watched the ball slowly trickle through his hands and out of bounds was THE moment of the game for me. I realized the raps were going to win the game, no doubt, but it wasn't anything to get too excited about. that team is just simply horrible.

a few things for me:
1) though it looked like the switches were happening a lot quicker last night than previous games, memphis still had plenty, and I mean plently of open looks from 3 point land, and a better team (not necessarily a good one, just a better one,) could have done some serious damage with those open looks.

2) I think rudy must have missed thanksgiving this year, because he was absolutely carving the raps up like a bunch of turkeys.

3) unless mitchell is saving up mo pete for the playoffs, it looks like he's playing him right out of town.

4) bargnani. that shake and bake of his, where he takes a couple of steps both ways then pulls back, (looking down for the 3 point line, no less,) and drains the long laser jumper is just ridiculous. and by the smiles on the bench when it happened last night, (a couple of times, actually,) it seems his teammates would agree.

Back in the win column. Thanks the stars. The last 8 minutes did leave a bad taste for me as the Raps got very LAZY and complacement and allowed the Grizz to actually mount a wash of a qausi-comeback. Bosh and co. need to start making killer instincts are NORMAL part of finishing teams off when they're on top. Straight up.

This was the definition of a meaningless game, in the sense that you couldn't extract any significance from it whatsoever. The Raps were on the back end of a back-to-back, and the Grizz were looking for another first down in their relentless march to the Durant/Oden end zone (to mix sports metaphors).

If it wasn't for breaking the losing streak, this game wouldn't even have been worth a post. EXCEPT to note that Bargnani can play a little bit. It was good to see Rudy Gay too.

If Pistons meet the Raps in the playoffs, according to Charlie Rosen, Raps have NO chance..ZIP..NADA..The Big Bagel.. If fact he suggest the Pistons should be ashamed of themselves if the series goes to 5 games. Here's the link:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6541426

Pretty harsh, given the Raps nearly had the number of the Pistons the last time around at the Palace. But given our defensive lapses since the all-star break, I just don't know. Comments?

Nice win last night, despite the problems mentioned. I think they've started to develop a sans-AP identity. Although he's supposed to be back sunday anyways(raps tv).

Any question he's our second best player or glue guy at the least? Not to mention we have no one to defend the opposition's best player without him. It's kinda funny watching dixon and ford try to contest shots, they are so small... great at staying in front of people, but just too short.

The ford alley-oop was an almost classic too, he can barely get up there but props for going for it.

Not worried about last eight minutes myselfs, since I want to slokar's got anything. Seems like he does have some gumption. Surprised to see him and humphries in over pape sow in garbage time though.

axl=PayMoPete
I'm changing back to axl. I still think mo deserves to get paid, but his defense has dropped off to the point where we might be better off spending the money on darko or a rebounder.

axl, not sure if you were at the waterloo intrasquad game back in september, but the one guy that showed up everybody on the floor in terms of dunking was no other than the 6 foot nothing tj, putting on a clinic with 360's, off the backboard reserves and the such. it was nuts to see such a small little man get up there.

I was actually upset he didn't finish that alley-oop last night.

Good read again, I have been visiting here for quite a while, not posting too often, but I am noticing some other posters that i recognise from another Raps site that is on life support. Keep up the good work guys - as a Rap fan I appreciate it.

Rubik Kube, that article was brutal! A lot of it had me quite depressed, if that's the way a Pistons-Raptors series actually played out. Some of it seemed a little shady: "Neither Bargnani nor Garbajosa are adept at putting the ball on the floor with any degree of quickness or panache". Okay, maybe not Garbo, but how can he say that Bargnani, as a 7-footer is not adept at putting the ball on the floor? This kid can school most 7-foot defender with his ball fake and drive. Bah, now I'm aggravated.

Calderon for NBA seventh man of the year.

http://www.nba.com/features/wurst.html

No, Toronto can't beat Detroit in a 7 games series just yet but PLEASE. "Detroit should be ashamed if they don't take Toronto in 5". Charlie Rosen can kiss my a$$.

Is the team back to where they were before the All Star break? No, they really miss AP and Memphis was a crappy team with no intensity last night. Still, a W is a W.

Both the Cavs and the Wizards have extended road trips coming up near the end of the month. We'll see how well they do then before I even begin to think they can overtake Detroit.

I have to apologize to Miami. When Dwayne Wade went down I said they would be lucky to make the playoffs.
The Shaq starts to heat up and the team starts playing lock down defense. Damn!

Those footsteps I hear, could they be the defending Champs coming to claim the Eastern Confernce? Nah, unless Dwayne Wade comes back Detroit in 6 games.

Joey got some burn last night and did OK but he still looks like a rookie out there with some of the mental mistakes he makes. Why no Pape Sow in garbage time?

PS AB's step back 3 pointer was sick.

Rosen is a prick. This is the second time he's lumped Bargnani and Garbajosa together as one player. I hope Bargnani dunks on him. And TJ kicks him in the nuts.

But you know what, if the Raps beat the Wizards in the first round, then lose to Detroit in 5, I will be ecstatic! By all accounts that will be a HUGELY successful season. With a young improving core, good depth, a star, a star to be, legitimate playoff experience, (probably) a new coach, and the best executive in the L, we'd be well on our way.

The raptors get back on track w/ the W. I think T.J. Ford is the key to this team. I actually think that T.J. needs to play 30-35 minutes to be really effective. I think T.J. needs the ball in his hands more than CB4. T.J. can get his teammates easy baskets if his teammates will just cut to the basket. Even the big men like Rasho, CB4.

It's probably no coincidence that the Raps worst defensive performances of the year coincided with AP's injury. He is their best defender by far. MoPete plays hard on D, as does Joey Graham (even if he doesn't always play smart D), and that's about it. It'll be interesting to see how Bargnani pans out on this front.

I said this in another post, but how good would Iguodala look in a Raps uniform right now?

Question::
\\
How many players can a team add for a playoff run after the trading deadline? Can a team pick up anybody available?

Thanks in advance

Hear me out. With Andrea Bargnani playing amazing basketball and looking like a future superstar, would you guys consider even thinking about trading CB4? For Andrea to really shine, I think CB4 could possibly ( I can't believe I am saying this) be traded by Bryan Colangelo.

Sandeep,

Why exactly would you trade CB4? So Toronto can end up like Minnesota? One superstar with no help except role players?

Michael Jordan didn't win a championship until he had Scottie and the rest of the crew. Even Batman had Robin. Trading CB4 because you have AB is just a bad idea. All Star talent doesn't grow on trees.

BC plans on growing the team around CB4, AB, and TJ. That's the way to go. Find your stars, get some good role players and a good coach and then step back and let them play.

sandeep, let me ask you this: CB4 at the 4, AB at the 5. why in the world would you not want to see that monster tandem destroying the field 2 years from now?

tell me what front court would be able to stop them?

Nice read.

I'm glad you guys brought up the issues with our double teams, because I've noticed it too. In particular, in the Washington game we were doubling far too much and not even intelligently. None of their players had been beating us one on one, but we still had Bosh stepping off Jamison to help out on any random guard. As a result, most of the Wizard's points were coming from simply moving the ball from the double until they found an open jumper.

Sandeep - The champs of the future are/will be multi-superstar teams with second units that can come in with no drop off. Mavericks (DN, JT, JS), suns(SN, AS, SM), spurs, heat (old 'stars', but still), all have multiple "stars" that are willing to be roleplayers without whining about being 'the man'. If AB and CB4 can be the same way, why would you ever give one up? AB starts alongside Bosh next year for sure.

Yeah, you guys are right. I am sorry I thought of that. I just thought Andrea Bargnani is so skilled and talanted, that for him to bring all of it out, CB4 would have to take the backseat... But you guys are, who can stop a CB4-AB frontcourt?... So many mismatches!!!!