InsideHoops.com Toronto Raptors Player Rankings (July 19, 2008): 1) Chris Bosh, 2) Jermaine O'Neal, 3) Jose Calderon, 4) Anthony Parker, 5) Jamario Moon, 6) Andrea Bargnani
Toronto Raptors Blog: Raps Handle Ailing Bucks By Barak Falkovitz, Jan. 11, 2007
While injuries are a part of the game, more often than
not, they are tough to overcome. Especially when
you’re the Milwaukee Bucks and you’re missing 4 of
your top 5 guys. After Charlie Villanueva tore a
ligament in his elbow, and Michael Redd was told he’d
be out for 4-6 weeks with a strained patellar tendon
on a meaningless dunk, Mo Williams hurt his shoulder
on Monday night and is out at least two weeks.
Wednesday night’s game for the Toronto Raptors in
Milwaukee was one of redemption, as the Raptors came
off of an awful effort against New Jersey, one of
their worst of the season. With an opportunity to
take a one and a half game lead over the Nets for
first place in the Atlantic, Toronto was flat to start
both halves, and the heroics of the bench weren’t
nearly enough to overcome the deficiencies of the
starting lineup.
Toronto began the game against the Bucks, shooting
1-12, and showed glimpses of Tuesday night’s disaster
in Jersey, when they didn’t score their first points
until the six-minute mark of the opening quarter.
After trading baskets for most of the first half,
Toronto finished the second quarter on an 8-2 run, and
continued to control the rest of the game.
“There has to be a purpose every night,” Sam Mitchell
told the media afterwards. Tuesday night would have
been the ideal night for Toronto to play with some
purpose, against a division foe, but Mitchell will
take what he can get. “I’ve heard people say, ‘If I
don’t win a certain way, I’d rather lose.’ We don’t
adhere to that philosophy. I’d rather have an ugly
win than a beautiful loss.”
TJ Ford concurred with his coach’s sentiments. “It’s
always satisfying, every win you get in the NBA,” said
Ford who had his 10th double-double of the season,
with 15 points and 10 assists. “We’ve been in the same
situation they’re (Milwaukee) in and nobody felt sorry
for us, so I’m not feeling sorry for anybody either.”
Like Ford, Chris Bosh came back with a vengeance last
night, after one of his poorest games of the season.
“Every time I have a bad game the night before, I’m
gonna try and make a statement the next night,” said
Bosh. And a statement he made. Bosh busted loose
with 30 points on 69 percent from the floor, and added
a career-high, 6 blocked shots. “I just wanted to
show my maturity, show that we put (Tuesday night)
behind us and we’re trying to move on.”
The Raptors’ performance was probably a little
underwhelming considering they played against a team
missing almost 70 points of production from their
lineup. However, Andrew Bogut, who had a career-high
18 rebounds, didn’t agree with the idea that this was
a “gimme” game for Toronto. “It wasn’t a matter of
‘we didn’t have the four players in the starting
lineup that we should have,’” said Bogut. “I think we
could have won that game.”
To Milwaukee’s credit, they hung around all game long,
but with a short rotation, their energy went south
after the first half.
Toronto took care of business on the road, and look to
do the same thing on Friday, when they take on another
depleted team, the Boston Celtics. The Celtics, who
were already without their franchise player, Paul
Pierce, in addition to Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte
West, lost Tony Allen on Wednesday night thanks to,
guess what? - a meaningless dunk after the whistle.
Toronto Raptors Blog: Raps Beat Wizards By Barak Falkovitz, Jan. 7, 2007
For the past month or so, Gilbert Arenas
has been, arguably, the best player in basketball.
His award for the Eastern Conference Player of the
Month for December doesn’t help disprove that fact.
He is currently the second leading scorer in the
league, and has averaged over 46 points per game while
wearing the Wizards’ gold monstrosities that they call
their alternate uniforms.
However, for the first time in quite a while, even
though Washington was wearing the infamous third
jerseys, Arenas looked only human.
On Sunday afternoon, the Toronto Raptors took
advantage of the Wizards, who seemed to be
sleep-walking through most of the game. Toronto won
116-111, and took a .5 game lead over the New Jersey
Nets, to take back sole possession for the lead in the
Atlantic division.
After celebrating his 25th birthday last night, Arenas
was a step slow for the first three quarters, but
finished with 33, while making 7 of his 19 attempts.
He got to the free throw line 21 times though, which
was only one less attempt than Toronto’s total as a
team.
But then again, 33 points from Gilbert Arenas doesn’t
seem all that impressive considering some of the
performances he’s had over the last short while. For
the most part, the Raptors defended him well and
forced him into taking many tough shots.??“A lot of
the time (Arenas) is gonna get his points one way or
another, but you gotta make him work for it,” Anthony
Parker told reporters after the game. “He got most of
his points at the free throw line and I think we did a
good job. Everyone was conscious of where he was on
the floor and helped, and we made him shoot a lot of
shots to get his points,” Parker added.
Toronto took a 22 point fourth quarter lead, after a
couple of buckets from Andrea Bargnani and a lay-up
from Jose Calderon. The Wizards finally woke up about
five minutes into the final quarter and made a major
run, spearheaded by back-to-back three pointers from
former Raptor, Roger Mason, Jr. They were able to cut
the lead to five, but it was too-little-too late for
the Southeast division leading Wizards.
Toronto welcomed TJ Ford and Jorge Garbajosa back into
the lineup, and had an entirely healthy roster for the
first time since November 20th. Ford, however, showed
some ill-effects of that sprained right ankle, and
looked a little more cautious than normal, settling
mostly for outside jumpers. Ford did, however, score
20 points, and committed only one turnover in over 30
minutes.
“It’s painful, but it’s pain that I can tolerate,”
Ford told Raptors TV after the game. “I just wanted to
show the guys the toughness that I have, and hopefully
it rubs off on the rest of the team.”
Sam Mitchell
finally appears to be set on a solid rotation, and it
also appears that Fred Jones may be the odd man out.
Fred Jones was a DNP-CD for the first time this
season, and his role is diminishing by the day.
??Without Jones, Toronto, once again, got a great
effort from the wing positions. After his best game
of the season Friday night against Atlanta, Joey
Graham scored 15 points as an encore, in what was
probably his next best game of the season.
Graham, combined with Anthony Parker, scored 31
points, and shot 13-18 from the floor. Parker also
added 6 rebounds and a team-high, 6 assists. This
marks only the third time this season that someone
other than TJ Ford or Jose Calderon has led the team
in assists.
* The Raptors finished with six players in
double figures, in a terrific all-around performance.
Toronto played a very aggressive game and managed to
score 17 second chance points. They also displayed
great ball movement, and it showed with 27 total
assists.
* Chris Bosh had another fantastic
performance for Toronto, as he scored 24 points and
grabbed 15 rebounds, 4 of which were on the offensive
glass.
* The Raptors now go on a mini three game road
trip to take on New Jersey (Tuesday), Milwaukee
(Wednesday), and Boston (Friday). In their last
meeting, Toronto beat the Nets 90-78 and held Vince
Carter to 12 points.
Toronto Raptors Blog: Clipping the Hawks By Barak Falkovitz, Jan. 6, 2007
For the seventh time this season, the Toronto Raptors hit the century mark on their home floor. And for the seventh time this season, Toronto’s over-zealous fans got their free pizza.
After losing their previous two meetings with Atlanta, Toronto stormed out on fire, making 76% of their field goal attempts in the first quarter. Toronto proceeded to control the game from start to finish, and Atlanta didn’t show much resistance. The Raptors strolled away with an easy 105-92 win.
Considered to be one of their biggest weaknesses, Toronto’s consistency from the swingman positions has been inconsistent, to say the least. Last night, however, the Raptors' production from the two and three positions was as good as it has been all season. Joey Graham and Morris Peterson combined for 35 points, and Anthony Parker added 9 of his own.
Replaced as a starter by Andrea Bargnani for some much needed length to match up with Marvin Williams, Graham had his most impressive game of his up-and-down campaign. He tied a career-high with 19 points on 8-14 from the floor. Graham also played with a combination of aggressiveness and assertiveness that is only witnessed about once every two weeks.
Sufficient to say, Graham’s inconsistencies have left head coach Sam Mitchell a little befuddled. “If I knew what he had for lunch or what he did at home, I would videotape it and show it to him before every game,” Mitchell told local media after the game.
Lost in the mix was off-season acquisition, Fred Jones, who played a season-low, 2 minutes. Jones has only averaged 3.8 points per game over his last 5 contests, down from his season average of over 9 points per game.
The Raptors bench scorched that of Atlanta’s as they outscored them 44-13. Jose Calderon was one the reasons why. He scored 12 points and contributed a season-high 12 assists to go along with a career-high 4 steals.
Toronto’s front-court chemistry between Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani has been renewed in Bosh’s second game back from a bone bruise in his knee. The big rookie connected on a couple gorgeous passes to Bosh.
“He loves (the touch passes). He has some eyes; he can really see the basketball court,” said Bosh. One of those passes was a behind the back, no-look, bounce pass/alley-oop attempt which Bosh couldn’t connect on. “I didn’t jump as high as I wanted to because I didn’t know it was gonna come off like that. I don’t think (Bargnani) knew it either, but it was still a good pass,” added Bosh.
Decimated by injuries all season long, and currently without high-flyer Josh Smith and point guard Tyronn Lue, Atlanta’s losing streak is now at current NBA high, eight games.
Marvin Williams was a bright spot for the Hawks, as he scored a season-high 24 points on 9-15 shooting. Joe Johnson had a quiet night with only 15 points in over 42 minutes of floor time, and didn’t get his first points until the eight-minute mark of the second quarter.
Toronto was without TJ Ford for the fourth game in a row with a sprained ankle, and Jorge Garbajosa was out once again with an injured calf.
Toronto Raptors Blog: Suns Handle Raptors By Barak Falkovitz, Jan. 4, 2007
Whenever the Phoenix Suns come to Toronto, the story
of the game is always Steve Nash. The fact that he’s
Canadian helps, but Nash never ceases to impress on
the court. Last night was no different. He scored a
total of two points after the first three quarters,
yet stepped up in the clutch and scored 13 in the
fourth (8 in the final 1:19). He also racked up nine
assists, seven of which were in the first half, to
lead Phoenix to a 100-98 win. Phoenix has now been
victorious in 20 of their last 22 games.
After missing twelve consecutive games with a sore
knee, Chris Bosh returned to action last night and
showed he hasn’t missed a beat. Bosh had one of his
most impressive games of season as he posted 26
points to go along with his 14 rebounds and 4 assists.
However, for the third straight game, the Raptors dug
themselves a hole and were unable to wholly retrieve
themselves out of it.
Toronto was without two starters in TJ Ford and Jorge
Garbajosa, and although they kept it close for most of
the opening half, Phoenix busted loose and finished
the second quarter on a 19-2 run and carried a 15
point lead going into half-time.
Jose Calderon was out of character as he took 11
shots, all in the first half. He made only three of
them, and his shot was rejected just as many times.
Phoenix had six players scoring in double figures, and
most impressive, statistically speaking, was Boris
Diaw. However, it was Nash who carried the Suns when
they needed it most. After the aforementioned three
point plays, Nash calmly made a fade-away jumper to
take a four point lead with 11.5 seconds to go.
Anthony Parker then pulled it to one point when he
nailed a three pointer with just over four seconds
left. Shawn Marion missed a free throw before making
the next, and Toronto was left to go the length of the
floor, and the result was a desperation 3-point
attempt from Darrick Martin at the buzzer. Needless
to say, the ball went over the top of the backboard.
Three instances during the fourth quarter, two points
from Chris Bosh - each time to take a one point lead -
were answered with three points from Nash.??The
Raptors got solid production from Andrea Bargnani who
scored 17 points on 6-10 from the field in 24 minutes.
He was very impressive from behind the arc as he
knocked down all four of his 3-point attempts.
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InsideHoops.com Toronto Raptors Player Rankings (July 19, 2008): 1) Chris Bosh, 2) Jermaine O'Neal, 3) Jose Calderon, 4) Anthony Parker, 5) Jamario Moon, 6) Andrea Bargnani