Game-Day Preview - Raptors vs. Heat

You do realize Brewer is Vince Carter 2.0. His game is identical, he does the same stupid dance after a dunk and he even goes down to the ground flailing around in pain after a love tap goes to the bench and ocmes back smiling after a minute. I hope Colagngelo is smarter than that.

Brewer = Carter? No way. Sure Brewer took a shot last night but that has not been a trend. You have to believe he was trying to get some attention on Oden as he was managing to stay out of foul trouble while the Florida bigs were picking them up at a torrid pace.

Oh and the other big differences? Brewer is a winner and he plays D.

Brewer, to me, seems like Josh Howard 2.0. I see BC and Maurizio using the 2nd round pick in the Euro leagues and picking up a useful player given the depth of their knowledge over there. Frankly, I am just impressed with the overseas talent with Herrman, Delfino, Garbo, Navarro, Nocioni, Aroujo (oops..strike the last one!)

Shep, I’m hoping for the same seedings as you,

1 Detroit
2 Cleveland
3 Toronto
4 Miami
5 Chicago
6 Washington
7 Who cares
8 Ditto

I can even live with the Raps moving into the 2nd seed as that will give them home court against anyone but Detroit.

This seeding will ensure we avoid Chicago, Detroit and Miami until the Eastern Championship. We won’t play Detroit in the second round unless we finish in 4th/5th or if they slip to 2nd.

4 Theodoros Papaloukas G 200 90 08.05.1977

I watched this guy play on weekend an thought His defence was insane. Decent scorer. Anybody have more infomation on this guy? Could He fit the Raptors?

as a raptors fan, i hope that this is the year that the big names in college basketball collectively decide to forgo the draft in favor of college life... and then next year one of them gets injured and the rest all enter the draft. god damnit lamond murray...

none of the big name players will remain in college. even if they can pass on the nba salary and sponsorship money -- a big f'n if - - their agent certainly won't be able to

Erezona, not that I think second seed is really possible, but I have to disgree that no-one will care who the No. 7 seed is if it turns out to be Jersey. And I can't say with 100% certainty that the Raps would win that series. It would draw local attention, that's for sure.

If jockeying for the best matchup is the issue, then its No. 3 to face Washington sans Butler that we want. I wouldn't be surprised to see us tank a late season game or two if necessary to ensure that match-up.

The Raps have been rebounding better because their "grinders" have been playing more. Humpty is hitting the boards hard and so is Joey G. I love Bargnani but it's tough to grab an offensive board when you're never in the key, and Garbo is a pretty soft rebounder as well.

Davl, I can tell you Papaloukas is generally considered to be one of the top-5 players not in the NBA right now, and he has recently been awared the FIBA Europe Player Of Year for 2006.

However, he is quite a rare player, not your typical star who fills the stat sheet. His play is quite difficult to define, i once heard a good definition along the lines of "the only guy capable of earning a game's MVP even while scoring just 10 points or less". For instance, he was considered the key to Greece defeating the US last summer in a game where he only scored 8 points (also 12 assists and 5 rebounds), leading to a lot of praise from coach K after the game.

He is a 6'7" point guard with superb decision-making and basketball IQ. While not generally a big scorer, he is one of the best scorers in "clutch time". A great passer as well, he excels mostly in "intangibles" (ala Garbo or Battier) always making his team better.

Another funny fact is that, despite being such a star, he usually is the sixth-man player in his club as his coach feels he dominates even more coming off the bench.

I don't know how he would adapt to the NBA (an he's almost 30), but all in all he is a superb basketball player.

Sergi P

Thanks for the information. I do know I really enjoyed watching Him play and what I seen was what U posted. It would be interesting to see Him in the nba but like U said He is almost 30 but Garbo is what 29?

another lackluster final four and finals game imo. the games weren't even close, zero creativity at the rim. a few great players in oden, conley, and brewer, etc. but otherwise defensively slack (you mentioned the last duke back to back champs so you do remember when full-court presses actually produced something). I don't know, just get these guys in the NBA. I think Humphrey would be a big score for some team because of his shot, but it didn't seem like anyone could even stay focused long enough to get a hand up on him.

miami tonight is going to be tough. they're the masters of adjusting defensively after losses, so expect the raps to struggle if miami is shooting well early.

erezona/andrew - I wonder if krstic will be back for the nets. my understanding is no, but that would change everything. Man would it be great to take down vince in the first round, but they're still dangerous of course.

looks like d-league call-up luke schenscer is being released from the blazers, maybe raps could use him?

Davl, yeah Garbo is 29 and Parker is 32, so age in itself is not a problem, but it is one more factor, that and his big contract in Moscow which would make it difficult to lure him in.

In any case i don't think he could fit in the current Raps since management seems to have a lot of condifence in both TJ and Jose as the PG duo for years to come...

In any other NBA club I am sure he could play, but to really succeed he should be given the kind of confidence the Raptors have given to their euros like Garbo or Parker. Otherwise he could be a repeat of the Jasikevicius experience, who was a great star in Europe, but wasn't given much confidence in the Pacers and has just been a shadow of his former euroleague self.

Andrew, I like the matchup with Washington as well, but there is no way we are tanking to avoid 2nd seed. 2nd seed guarntees us home court in the 2nd round and you can look at our record to see how important that is for the Raps.

I'm not worried about NJ. Besides, the 7th may go to Orlando.

Axl, I think Krstic is done for the year.

Anybody know what's up with the HD broadcasts? I have all the HD channels but none of the games are ever in HD....then all of a sudden i think it was last fridays game against miami on raptors hd WAS in HD. anyone else notice this? is my HD box just not working properly or what?

Bye Mo, hello Luke! Such a smarter player.

There goes TJ taking a shot (miss!) with less than 30 seconds to go. The guy is 2 for infinity and HE is the first option?

Crap. They should be winning this game!

As a followup...

There is TJ, taking the last shot of the game, a 3-pointer that Luke J or Mo should be taking. Nope. Clang. Game over.

Is TJ turning into another headcase like Rafer, or selfish like Mike James? Pass-first PG? Hmmm...

I wonder if the pressure of the playoffs is going to expose the Raps weaknesses really, really well.

How much of this is down to Sam?

calderon pulls the game to within 1, so of course he hits the pine. tj, who at that point in the game had gone something like 2 for 13, comes on, takes the last 2 shots, both misses. game over.

now I don't want start a hate tj thing, but wow, I really do think he overestimates his shot making abilities. I'm sure next year, after a long summer in the gym doing nothing but shooting, will his shot coincide with what he thinks it is. but right now, when everybody on the floor has better percentages than you, you have to give it up. he didn't.

it's also hard to watch because practically every first quater when we're building leads, he's passing like a machine. only to clam up when things start to get a little rough. I'm sure it's just a youth thing, but it's hard to watch right now.

enough about tj. how about that luke! I think it's funny that we expected this to happen. round 5 goes to colangelo.