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or bobby simmons
wow, what a crap game
against a bucks team that didn't have redd, williams, or villanueva
or bobby simmons
i completely forgot about him...
the raptors should try to trade for him when he gets healthy
Was it an ugly game to watch or what?
At least they got the W.
http://www.nba.com/games/20070110/TO...scoreboardhome
Hey sis...check out the thread "They could be twins" in the Spurs Forum
Going now.
Nesterovic a consistent pro for Raps
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.–There was a time when Sam Mitc thought he'd tweak his starting five every now and then to find matchups he thought benefited the Raptors.
Rasho Nesterovic changed all that.
The veteran centre's play of late – at both ends of the court – has given Mitc no reason to make any changes to a starting group that includes point guard T.J. Ford, guard Anthony Parker and forwards Jorge Garbajosa and Chris Bosh.
"It would just be tough to take him out," Mitc said of Nesterovic. "He's given us more offensively than what we expected but it's his defence and his rebounding, presence on the court. He just knows how to play."
With everyone back from various injuries and Garbajosa seemingly over a flu bug that kept him out of Monday's practice, Mitc is sending out his now-constant starting five against the New Jersey Nets tonight with first place in the Atlantic Division on the line.
Nesterovic contribution comes in deflections, one-on-one defence and weakside help defence rather than in any usual statistical category. He does nothing flashy but everything consistently.
"I played with Rasho (in Minnesota) so I knew he knew how to play and what a pro he was but coaching him now, you come to appreciate what it is to be a professional in this league," said Mitc .
Mitc had originally thought his only constant starters would be Ford, Bosh and Parker. But Garbajosa's ability to guard small forwards who might be smaller and quicker and Nesterovic's solid play all around have changed that idea. It's given the coach a chance to also develop a consistent rotation which, if the last two games indicate anything, will include Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Joey Graham and Morris Peterson off the bench.
"If I didn't do it against Phoenix (remove Nesterovic to avoid a matchup with Amare Stoudemire), which would have been the game to do it, it's tough to do it against anybody in the East," said the coach.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/169283
_____________________________________________
Mitc sticks with Rasho
Primiarily because of injuries, Raps head coach Sam Mitc has not been able to form a starting five he can send out there night after night. That is no longer the case.
Following an all-hands-on-deck morning shootaround yesterday at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Mitc said he has pretty much settled on a starting five of Chris Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic, Jorge Garbajosa, T.J. Ford and Anthony Parker that he expects to stay with for the rest of the season, health permitting.
Nesterovic's presence is the only one there that might raise a few eyebrows, but not after you look at what he has done over the past month.
In the 14 games since a Dec. 10th loss in Portland, Nesterovic is averaging 29.8 minutes, 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
"Rasho is playing so well right now it would be tough to take him out," Mitc said. "Not only is he giving us more offensively than we expected, but then there's also his rebounding presence on the court. The kid knows how to play.
"He's really playing well and I think he's having fun. I joke with him all the time, 'When was the last time you had eight, nine, 10 shots a game.' He just laughs."
Mitc said were he going to change things up he would have done so last Wednesday against Phoenix. The Suns have a small starting five by NBA standards but anything they give up in size they more than make up for in speed.
Mitc stuck with Nesterovic that night, though.
"If I didn't (sit him down) against Phoenix , it would be tough to do it against anybody especially in the East," Mitc said.
Asked to stay with a more fleet-footed Amare Stoudemire, Nesterovic gave it his all.
"To Rasho's credit, when we ask him to do something that is tough for him, he busts his hump and tries to do it," he said.
http://torontosun.com/Sports/Basketb...76772-sun.html
Hey Ploto! Welcome back.
"Rasho is playing so well right now it would be tough to take him out," Mitc said. "Not only is he giving us more offensively than we expected, but then there's also his rebounding presence on the court. The kid knows how to play.
@ the kid reference.
I'm so proud and pleased."He's really playing well and I think he's having fun. I joke with him all the time, 'When was the last time you had eight, nine, 10 shots a game.' He just laughs."
Raptors about to tip off in Boston.
Let's go boys!
Sho's doing a great job tonight 8 points 7 rebounds and the 4th quarter to go.
Just a hideous win by the Raptors. Any other team in the league or even a full strength Celtics team and this is a loss for the Raps.
I agree. The Celtics actually had the LEAD in the 2nd quarter.
Yeah, I got scared after Bosh got T'd up for staring down his OWN bench for like half a second after posterizing Olowakandi (what a brutal call) and the Celts made their run right after and took the lead.
Yea... Raptors won!
Game Blog: http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57920
Box score: http://www.nba.com/games/20070114/DALTOR/boxscore.html
Player Quotes: http://www.nba.com/mavericks/matchup/pgq011407.html
( Raptors page has the wrong link up.)
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore...gid=2007011520
Sho with 9 points ( 4 of 6 field 1 of 2 from the line), 4 rebounds, 1 steal and an assist in 22 minutes playing time
Raps lead Philly 78-55 with 1:54 left in the third
Whoosh- Raptors win!
From the live box score, it seems that the Raps over came a slow start and played well all second half. Accurate?
Bah, missed the game cuz of lecture. Amazing how my only lecture for today takes up the slot for today''s game. Anyways, I least they took care of bizness.
Raptors came out a little lethargic. Back-to-back day games in the NBA are pretty much non-existent. Things settled in the second quarter and then they blew the game open in the third quarter. Got a chance to clear the bench and everything. Bosh was scoring at will- TJ had a double-double- Anthoy shot well and Rasho even chipped in 9 points of his own. Graham and Calderon were good off the bench. It seems that Andrea and Jorge being rookies from Europe are still not used to these back-to-back games. They have said how tired they are the second day, and Andrea played 32 minutes yesterday. It's just nice to have one of those games where you win strong like you should and everyone is happy.
Pretty nice article:
Revamped Raptors Giving Nets a Run for Atlantic
The Nets are finally showing signs of life. A 6–2 stretch has lifted them out of the doldrums and back into the anic Division race, and with Jason Kidd looking strangely rejuvenated by his now public divorce proceedings and Richard Jefferson appearing less gimpy on his troublesome ankle, the Nets might romp to the division le everyone expected before the season, after all.
For now, however, there's still a little fly in the ointment — and it's called the Toronto Raptors. Though little was expected of this team before the season, it entered Tuesday 's games percentage points ahead of the Nets in the standings. Moreover, the Raps' record looks more impressive once you consider a few factors.
Although Toronto still must travel to the dreaded Texas Triangle of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, it plays 25 of 43 remaining games north of the border, and 31 of those games will be against the felines of the East rather than the lions of the West. In contrast, the Nets play 26 of their final 44 contests away from the Swamp, including a West Coast swing and a trip to the same dreaded Texas Triangle.
Additionally, the Raptors have already survived a major injury, splitting 12 games while Bosh was out with an injured knee. Since his return, the team has been even better, going 4–3 — two of the losses were close shaves to the nearinvincible Mavs and Suns. (A onesided loss to the Nets was their only bad game in that stretch.)
Indeed, the Raps are playing better now than before because they've revamped their offensive strategy. Toronto began the season with plans to play an up-tempo game similar to that of the Phoenix Suns. What it learned was how hard it is to play that style when you lack great offensive players. Toronto succeeded mostly in forcing long jumpers near the start of the shot clock, and then abandoned the strategy fairly early in the season — but not before sputtering to a 2–8 start.
But this isn't necessarily Toronto's ceiling. The Raptors are likely to improve as the year goes on, as many of their players get on-the-job training. An obvious example is no. 1 overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani, whose play has already improved since the start of the season. Toronto's "veterans" have a learning curve, too: Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker both played in Europe in the past several years. Point guard Jose Calderon and forward Joey Graham are second-year pros, and point guard T.J. Ford is 23 and still developing. Even Chris Bosh, who is already an All-Star at a mere 22, improves every week.
All of which makes the Raptors a serious threat to rain on the Nets' parade. Which is surprising considering nobody much feared the Raptors heading into the season. The team was among the dregs of the East last season. Yet one year later, they appear on pace to a near .500 record and, possibly, a division crown.
You can thank the new management. Under team president Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors have employed a strategy that both Rod Thorn and Isiah Thomas could learn a lot from. Rather than use his cap space to pursue the glitziest signing, as Thomas would have done, Colangelo spread it among several less heralded players to fortify his depth. And instead of crossing his fingers for healthy players, as Thorn essentially did last summer, Colangelo got his team to the point where it's twodeep at every position and virtually immune to injury — as recently demonstrated by solid play during absences by Bosh and Ford.
Still, this strategy would have failed if Colangelo hadn't simultaneously pursued another goal: vastly improving the team's defense.
Colangelo recognized interior defense was a serious problem and endeavored to fix it even if it meant taking on salary. Along those lines, he traded forwards Eric Williams and Matt Bonner to San Antonio for big man Rasho Nesterovic, exchanging two expiring contracts for an overpaid slice of beef, but allowing the rail-thin Bosh to avoid nightly beatings in the middle.
The second plank in Colangelo's strategy was spending some of the club's free agent cash on veteran forward Garbajosa. His smarts and toughness at the defensive end have proven invaluable. As a result, the Raptors are harder to score against in the paint, and thus have made a quantum leap on the defensive charts. Using my Defensive Efficiency statistic, which measures a team's points allowed per 100 opponent possessions, they're at 15th this season up from 29th a year ago.
A couple other moves helped round out the roster. First, Colangelo split the rest of his cash on two wing players, Anthony Parker and Fred Jones, deepening an area where the Raptors were short of bodies. Then, he sent a promising forward, Charlie Villanueva, to Milwaukee for Ford, while allowing holdover point guard Mike James to depart as a free agent. James had a career year last season while Villanueva was second in Rookie of the Year voting, so some wondered if Colangelo had a screw loose. But James has struggled this year, and Villanueva has missed most of the campaign with a shoulder injury. Ford, meanwhile, has blossomed. He is the Raps' no. 2 scorer.
So when you look at the standings in the next few months, understand that Toronto's position is largely the result of outmaneuvering both local clubs this past summer. And despite New Jersey's hot streak, Colangelo's sharp decision making has the Raptors in position to do something that would make their fans' dreams come true — send Vince Carter to the lottery.
LINK
One more.
Raptors: Much Improved Squad Turning NBA Heads
Monday’s NBA heavy Martin Luther King Jr. Day schedule included a Toronto Raptors victory over the abandoned Philadelphia 76ers, a 104-86 romp that kept Toronto in first place of the Atlantic division with an 18-21 record. They remain tied with the New Jersey Nets for the distinction but with a season-long five-game home-stand beginning tomorrow night against the Sacramento Kings the Raptors are feeling good. Finally at full strength once again (even Pape Sow has been cleared to practice) and full throttle the Dino’s have a swagger this season that has been absent in Hogtown since the early days of Vince Carter when playoff dreams soared.
Now those dreams are seen through the eyes of an entirely different cast of ballers with little recollection of the dark days that followed Toronto’s three-year postseason run, the only stretch in the franchise’s 11 –year history. Perhaps it is for the better and the reconstruction of the Air Canada Centre locker room this season, along with other scene-changing executions, seems to have helped to remove the stench of a losing environment. Sure the team is still below .500 on the schedule, but promise has been a missing ingredient in Toronto as well, and has returned along with the swagger to hold court. Oddly enough, they may have gained much of it in their two most heartbreaking losses of the middle-aged 2006-07 campaign. Dying second losses against the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks this season have given the team a sniff of the next level, and the confidence that they can keep up with the league’s best.
“I expect to win every game,” said all-star power forward Chris Bosh after the crushing loss versus the Mavericks. “That’s the honest-to-God truth. I want to win every game and if we don’t win I’m not a happy camper, no matter who it is.
Other teams are recognizing it too.
“By no means do you overlook a team like Toronto,” said Mavericks guard Jason Terry who helped lead his team to the NBA Final last season. “They’re playing very well this year, a team that I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing them in the playoffs. They have that much talent on their team and good coaching.”
The Raptors have won five of their last eight games and are improved on both ends of the court. The consistency of Anthony Parker at the two-guard position has been an anchor on both ends as well and with teams having to pay attention to Chris Bosh, TJ Ford and the emerging Andrea Bargnani, Parker sneaks in for offense and can conserve for defensive pressure. With center Rasho Nesterovic having set the tone for communication on the defensive end, the squad is a more in tune bunch. Bosh is a regular walking double-double and continues to lead by example, emotional and otherwise. Fine tuning and recovery though, is still required to take advantage of the developments in their division.
“They’ve had a tough schedule,” noted Mavericks stalwart Jerry Stackhouse. “I’ve kind of followed them a bit this year, I’m a big fan of Bosh.
“Now they have a few games at home maybe they can kind of get some momentum and distance themselves because it looks like their division is right there for the taking.”
With reports out of New York suggesting that New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd may be on the trading block the Nets could be a team going though major change. Center Nenad Krstic is already injured for the season and the bench in Jersey has been wildly inconsistent. The Boston Celtics are arguably the most injured team in the league with four main players including Paul Pierce and Wally Sczerbiak still out of commission and the bench whittled to just four. The 76ers’ management may have already given up hope for this season after trading away the face of the franchise Allen Iverson and buying out the contract of Chris Webber, the last recognizable star on the team. When all that dust settles it is – surprise, surprise - the New York Knicks that appear to present the biggest challenge to the Toronto’s quest to win the Atlantic.
“When we come out ready to play we can beat anybody,” says Parker. “Especially here at home.”
The Raptors are tied with the fourth-best home record in the eastern conference with a 10-6 mark. That will be threatened by a line of visitors that also include the Charlotte Bobcats, New Orleans Hornets and finally the Celtics to end the stand on January 26. Before that trio they will face the Utah Jazz on Friday in another chance to test one of the NBA’s elite teams. They are also coming back from Philly having won their last three road games, another sign that their journey to consistency is real. It was stated before here that the decorated traditions that follow acquisitions like Nesterovic, Parker, forward Jorge Garbajosa, Bargnani and Parker are huge in bridging the mental gap between losing and winning. The discovery of confidence sits on the arch of that crossing and helps determined travelers to the other side. The Raptors appear to be on that arch, slowly but surely making their way across.
"Today was big for us, the easy thing to do is to think about it all day today and not try to redeem ourselves,” said Bosh after Monday’s victory in Philadelphia, less than 24 hours after the Dallas loss. “Sometimes when you have a loss like [Sunday's] it can put you on a slump, but we've bounced back and go into our home-stand with our heads high."
LINK
just froze over,
rasho dunked....
Great win for the Raptors against Sacramento!!
Toronto 101, Sacramento 85
By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Writer
January 17, 2007
TORONTO (AP) -- Morris Peterson scored 22 points and Chris Bosh added 20 to help the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors to a 101-85 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
Jose Calderon had 11 points and nine assists for the Raptors, who won the first of a five-game homestand. Toronto plays three other teams with losing records during the stand.
Mike Bibby scored 21 points and Ron Artest had 18 for the Kings, who have lost seven straight -- their longest skid since closing the 1997-98 season with seven consecutive losses.
The Kings play at Boston on Friday before Artest returns to Detroit on Saturday -- his first game there since the brawl.
The Raptors have won six of their last eight and, since getting off to a 2-8 start, have turned their season around by going 17-13 to lift them to the top of the NBA's weakest division.
Toronto's bench outscored Sacramento's 50-12.
Peterson, who lost his job in the starting lineup earlier this season, went 4-for-6 from behind the 3-point arc. He also had five rebounds.
The teams traded leads in the first three quarters before Toronto took control in the fourth -- outscoring Sacramento 33-16.
Toronto went 8-for-20 from beyond the 3-point arc, including 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter.
Jorge Garbajosa's 3-point play, consecutive layups by Calderon and a 3-pointer by Peterson gave Toronto a 89-77 lead with 5:43 left.
Garbajosa's 3-pointer and Bosh's two free throws made it 101-85 with a minute left.
The Kings went just 6-for-17 from the field in the fourth.
Notes
The Raptors play eight of the next 10 at the Air Canada Centre, where they're 11-6. Sacramento center Brad Miller returned after missing two games due to personal reasons. Miller had just two points. ... The Kings are just 4-11 on the road.
LINK
2 games till .500, lol
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