Reply With Quote
Raps almost choked
Proud of the way the team survived- with injuries and foul trouble.
The good news is that TJ's tests are all fine and he should be able to play Friday. The bad news is that now Jose is at the hospital for tests on his ankle.
Great first quarter by Andrea-- but again, my key- like the entire season- Anthony Parker. Nice to see the Raptors come out intense and ready to go from the start. They have to take that up even another notch in New Jersey. Nice to have that extra day off with being really banged up.
At least they came back fighting.
Raps almost choked
LOL! So I wasn't the only one.....
A win is a win at this point, especially when both your PG's get hurt.
You're not very intelligent are you. You do realize that every team in the Eastern Conference plays nearly identical schedules. You don't play identical schedules and then win 2 fewer games than Chicago, 3 fewer than Cleveland and 3 more than Miami by accident. People who dismiss the Raptors as a fluke because they won a poor division, clearly have no grasp of the scheduling in the NBA and are in no position to make ludicrious statements like that.
Well, there you go.
I knew your posting that was a sign.
Nice article
Raptors keep their heads above water
Heads Above WaterTORONTO - For most of four games, the Toronto Raptors were flailing their limbs, thrashing away, drowning by degrees. It pushed them to the edge of elimination. We wondered whether we, and the NBA, had been fooled all along.
And then last night, instead of going down, the Raptors remembered they could swim.
This 98-96 thriller might have just been one final stand for an increasingly besieged team. New Jersey still leads 3-2 with Game 6 at home on Friday, and Toronto lost both starting point guard T.J. Ford to a neck stinger in the first quarter and backup point guard Jose Calderon to a nastylooking sprained ankle in the fourth. Ford's skin, apparently, was extremely sensitive after the incident -- "You couldn't touch him," said one team insider -- and Calderon's ankle bent unnaturally. Maybe this team is all but done.
But as of this morning, the Raptors are still breathing. And if nothing else, they proved that this is not the team that melted down so miserably in Games 3 and 4 in New Jersey. They remembered who they were.
"Toronto's obviously feeling better about themselves," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.
In the first four games of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Nets, Toronto looked every inch the stage-frightened kids, forgetting their lines and staring, motionless, into the spotlight. A 47-win dream season was melting away. This wasn't how was supposed to end.
And then last night, everything changed. Finally, with nothing much left to lose, the Raptors just played. They played like the team that had recaptured this city's affection after years of neglect.
Oh, they very nearly screwed it up. Chris Bosh's inexplicable attempt of a reverse dunk off an offensive rebound with 1:36 left might have been the craziest, dumbest play of the season. And of all the open three-pointers they allowed in the second half as New Jersey sliced a 17-point lead down to one, the one at the buzzer, when Bostjan Nachbar had a three to win, was pretty hard to stomach.
But Nachbar missed. Toronto survived. And with a season on the line, that's all you can ask.
"We needed everything and everybody," Toronto coach Sam Mitc said.
Mitc increasingly has been killed for his coaching in this series, even if it was his players freezing in their tracks. But last night, Mitc gambled masterfully. He benched the guy with the most playoff experience on the roster, centre Rasho Nesterovic, and replaced him with the youngest guy on the roster, rookie Andrea Bargnani. He added the guy who barely played down the stretch of the regular season: Morris Peterson.
Bargnani -- "A fearless kid, growing up before our eyes," Darrick Martin said -- scored Toronto's first seven points, and 17 in the first half, which was the kind of shot-making Toronto needed to repair their confidence. And Peterson hit a succession of big shots to fend off New Jersey in the third quarter while hustling for some important rebounds in the fourth. The pair of them energized Toronto's reborn defence. Mitc 's contract negotiations might go smoothly, after all.
But it was more than that. Calderon was simply brilliant with 25 points and eight assists. Anthony Parker re-appeared, and even Joey Graham resurfaced. On a night where Bosh was sidelined by both foul trouble and indecisiveness, and the Nets never stopped coming, the Raptors proved that this regular season was not a mirage, and that these players were not flukes. There was something here, after all.
That might be all this means. If Ford and Calderon cannot play, the point will fall to the 36-year-old Martin, who, as one Raptors wag quipped, "is under 24-hour surveillance."
"I'll be ready to play," said Martin simply. "When Jose went down, I kind of went, 'Here we go again.'"
That's not the only hurdle. Toronto might have conquered their nerves for a half, but they would have blown this in about another 30 seconds. They will be without the restorative powers of their home fans.
"In everybody's first series, you struggle because when you're young, you don't know what to expect," Kidd said before the game. "And before you know it, the series is over."
Well, the series isn't over. New Jersey will play better at home. Toronto is still reeling, and trailing, and green. But for one game, the Raptors rediscovered themselves. That might not mean anything right now. But this is a team building for the future. And one day -- maybe even one day soon--it just might matter.
Got one win. Next!
Point well shaken for Raptors
May 02, 2007 01:23 PM
Point Well ShakenJose Calderon limped out of the Raptors practice gym Wednesday and pronounced his right ankle sore and swollen.
Around the Raptors these days, that's good news.
The availability of Calderon and T.J. Ford for Friday's Game 6 of their playoff series with the New Jersey Nets is still very much up in the air.
"I feel better this morning, it's just a mild sprain, nothing more than that," said Calderon on Wednesday, who rolled his ankle in the dying seconds of Tuesday's 98-96 Game 5 victory.
"With a little pain I am going to play for sure," he added.
"Right now in my mind, I'm waiting for that day; if I have to have treatment five times a day, I'll do it because I want to play."
Ford walked gingerly into the team's Air Canada Centre practice facility Wednesday about 45 minutes after the workout began and spent about five minutes watching his teammates.
He offered no real insight when asked whether he'd be able to play in Friday's Game 6.
"We'll see," is all he said before heading back down to the locker room with a member of the team's medical staff.
The absence of both Ford and Calderon would be a crippling blow to the Raptors.
Darrick Martin would presumably get the start but how many minutes he could play is a huge question. Juan Dixon, little used so far in this series, has some experience playing point guard but he's had no chance to work at running the Raptors system.
And with New Jersey's Jason Kidd operating at near peak efficiency every night, playing two seldom-used guards would be deadly for the Raptors.
Okay God heal the ankle and please no more injuries.
Feel better Jose- we need you!
ESPN will televise a First Round Game 6 matchup when the Toronto Raptors and Chris Bosh visit the New Jersey Nets and Vince Carter Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Mike Tirico will call the game with analyst Hubie Brown and reporter Lisa Salters.
Sunday’s ESPN on ABC lineup will feature a potential Game 7 between the Raptors and Nets or a Conference Semifinal Game 1 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James hosting the Nets at 1 p.m. Tirico, Brown and Salters will provide commentary for either Eastern Conference matchup.
The second half of the ABC doubleheader will be a Conference Semifinal Game 1 with the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash hosting the San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan at 3:30 p.m. Mike Breen will provide play-by-play with analyst Mark Jackson and reporter Michele Tafoya.
This weekend’s telecasts:
Fri., May 4
7:30 p.m.
Kia NBA Shootaround
ESPN, ESPN HD
Fred Hickman, Greg Anthony, Michael Wilbon, Tim Legler
8 p.m.
Toronto at New Jersey, Game 6
ESPN, ESPN HD
Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown, Lisa Salters
Sun., May 6
12:30 p.m.
GMC NBA Sunday Countdown
ABC, ABC HD
Dan Patrick, Jon Barry, Wilbon
1 p.m.
New Jersey at Toronto, Game 7 – or –
New Jersey at Cleveland, Game 1
ABC, ABC HD
Tirico, Brown, Salters
3:30 p.m.
San Antonio at Phoenix, Game 1
ABC, ABC HD
Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, Michele Tafoya
ABC/ESPN Schedule
Love the caption!
As Andrea Bargnani, left, gets in touch with his inner Raptor, Darrick Martin
fires a pass during a workout at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
Mitc hints at a 'surprise'
Raptors' SurpriseMay 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Doug Smith
Sports Reporter
Sam Mitc 's exasperation grew with each question and the answers became more facetious.
The Raptor coach is faced with the very real prospect of playing the biggest game of the season without either of his two primary point guards and his efforts to figure out what he'll do – and with whom – wasn't something he was going to discuss publicly.
"We'll come up with something, it might even surprise you a little bit," he said after his team – such that it is – worked out at the Air Canada Centre yesterday.
"We might even know what we're doing a little bit."
Neither Jose Calderon nor T.J. Ford did anything of substance yesterday.
Calderon spent the day getting treatment for what he called a "mild" right ankle sprain, while Ford, knocked out of Tuesday's 98-96 win with a painful "stringer," made a brief appearance walking, as one observer said, "like he was balancing a book on his head."
Calderon said he thought he might be able to play with pain; Ford just gave a weak "we'll see" when asked about his availability.
Hardly reassuring news for a team headed into Game 6 of a playoff series in an arena they've had no success in this season.
Mitc 's options if neither can go are limited.
He's got Darrick Martin and Juan Dixon to choose from, and while both are legitimate NBAers, they are not Ford and Calderon.
"I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do. I haven't done it all year, so stop asking," he said.
That's why most of yesterday's workout – conducted while the older Nets were enjoying their third off-day since the series began – was all about instruction and improvisation. Mitc and his staff put in a couple of new plays and the coach grew a tad snarky when asked – again – if he was preparing others to handle the point guard duties.
"What do you think?" he said. "I'm just going to sit here with my fingers crossed and hope that Jose and T.J. can play and if they can't, then we'll try to figure it out? Of course we did."
While that instruction and those new plays were mainly put in to help ease the transition to a different point guard, they were also aimed at trying to make things easier for Chris Bosh.
No Raptor has struggled more in this series than the team's all-star. He can't get going offensively facing consistent double-teams, he's been in foul trouble that ruined two games for him and he's been more of a role player than the dominant big man he has to be.
While Toronto has survived – barely – so far without a big Bosh game, the Raptors aren't going to win the series now unless he makes a major contribution.
"It's been hard," he said. "I'm kind of earning my stripes right now. I'm sure that guys have had harder experiences but for me, it's tough, but I have to go through it.
"This is a part of my career where I have to just learn from it and just make sure I remember it when I come back down this road."
What he'll have to remember is to relax. At points in the first five games – when he wasn't nailed to the bench in foul trouble – Bosh has looked too emotional, too hyped up and his decision-making with the ball has been bad.
"He's got to stop pressing and let it come to him," Mitc said of Bosh. "But we're going to try to do some things to try and open the court up a little more and get him some more space. I think having Andrea (Bargnani) on the court and the fact that Mo (Peterson) shot the ball the way he did (in a 17-point Game 5) is going to help him."
Parker will play point.
Jose got treatment today and shot a little and walked around. He is definitely better, but he will see how he is in the morning possibly to try some running at the shootaround.
I forgot to mention that Martin in the black means he practiced with the starters.
Go, Raps, go!
I want game 7.
PS: If Bosh doesn't step up tonight, please trade him for Gasol. (Gasol-Garbajosa-Calderon)
Rasho > Dirk
So, what is new?
Naturally. Kg > Dirk and Rasho > Kg, therefore Rasho > Dirk.
Not to mention Rasho has more rings than both of them combined.
Word!You rock Velik.
All eyes turn to Bosh for deliverance in crucial game
All Eyes Turn to BoshEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The benefits of being a franchise player are most obvious on payday. Next season, when Toronto Raptors all-star Chris Bosh enters the first year of his four-year contract extension, he'll earn $12.4-million (U.S.).
It's a healthy raise for a 23-year-old who was managing quite nicely on the $4.2-million he was paid this season, his fourth in the National Basketball Association.
But being a franchise player isn't just about having a swollen bank account. It's about having the expectations of a franchise, city or even country placed on your shoulders. It's about raising your game in the postseason. It's overly simplified and not entirely fair, but with crazy money comes crazy expectations.
And to do the job right, you have to meet them.
"It's very tough," Bosh acknowledged. "People have high expectations when they really don't know how the playoffs are. That's how it goes. I know that's a part of the job. I have pretty thick skin so I don't worry too much about it."
Bosh has met the challenge admirably so far. A two-time all-star already, he proved he can be the go-to player on a winning team. His professionalism and work habits have set the kind of tone that any franchise would be pleased to get from their best player.
But, you know, that was sooo regular season.
Now, comes the fun part. With the Raptors heading into Game 6 of their first-round, best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoffs series with the New Jersey Nets tonight trailing 3-2 the question is: What Will Chris Do?
For like it or not, as a franchise player Bosh has become the most secular kind of saviour, relied upon to deliver what in basketball terms would be an everyday miracle: a win over the Nets in New Jersey, something Raptors haven't done this series.
With point guards T.J. Ford (neck) and Jose Calderon (ankle) questionable for tonight, both in terms of participation and effectiveness, the time is about right for Bosh to play like Bosh.
So far, he hasn't.
In five games, he's averaging 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds, while shooting only 40.6 per cent from the floor and getting himself in some overeager early foul trouble on a regular basis.
It's a far cry from the 22.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 49.6 per cent shooting he delivered so reliably during the Raptors' franchise-best-tying-47-win season.
Why? The Nets having bet their season on stopping him is one pretty good reason, showing him not only a variety of double teams but typically a third defender to keep him thinking rather than slashing.
But it may also be that as good as Bosh is, only by failing a little will he know what he needs to do to succeed. With only one season of U.S. college basketball and three losing seasons in the NBA, he lacks the kind of compe ive history (a deep run in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament or some early playoff exposure in a supporting role, for example) that he could have drawn on this year.
This series, the good and the bad, are all part of his postgraduate education.
"He's 23 years old playing in his first playoff series," Raptors head coach Sam Mitc said yesterday. "Can Chris play better? Yes, he can. He knows that. Do we need him to play better? Yes, we do. But, it's his first time around. He's 23 years old."
To Mitc 's point, there is plenty of precedence for Bosh's plight.
Vince Carter was 23 when he was the Raptors' star of the moment in 2000, when the New York Knicks swept Toronto in a first-round series. Carter stubbed his toe to the tune of 19.3 points on 30-per-cent shooting -- compared to 25.3 points on 49 per cent in the regular season. A year later, Carter jumped to 27.3 points a game on 44-per-cent shooting as he led the Raptors to within a game of the Eastern Conference final.
Comparable big men -- the Indiana Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal and Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett come to mind -- also saw their postseason production improve with experience.
Which is good news. Given Bosh's meticulous approach, it's hard to imagine he won't figure it out as he goes along.
Unfortunately, the Raptors' season has come down to one game. Win that and it will come down to one more, Game 7, on Sunday.
And even if it's not entirely fair to put the Raptors' fortunes on Bosh and Bosh alone, that's part of the job.
Raptors try to keep Nets guessing
Keep Nets GuessingThere is good news and bad news on the Toronto Raptors' point-guard front.
Jose Calderon, who was hobbling severely on Wednesday, practised yesterday despite his ankle injury, and looked far more natural walking around the team facility. He took some jump shots -- or, more accurately, hop shots -- and even did some shuffling side to side.
Though he hasn't tried to run yet, Calderon was pleased with his overnight progress, which included six different treatment sessions for what the team is calling a mild right-ankle sprain.
Calderon's opinion remained consistent, as he said he would try to play.
"I feel great and I can walk better," he said, adding his plan was to attend morning shoot-around and test the ankle yet again. "From (Wednesday) to now, it is much better. I can walk with almost no pain. I'm going to try, and we'll see how it goes."
Now the bad news: Ford missed practice yesterday to visit with team physician Dr. Paul Marks. He continues to suffer from a neck stinger, the result of a collision with New Jersey's Vince Carter in Game 5.
Mitc said he expected Ford to join the team on its flight to New Jersey yesterday afternoon, and the guard is no longer sensitive to the touch.
Still, given that stingers generally don't linger and given Ford's injury history -- he fractured his neck during his rookie year and missed 1 1/2 seasons -- there are greater considerations than just Game 6.
"I'll worry about it (today)," Mitc said.
Mitc has wanted to keep his point-guard situation in the dark, for fear the Nets become too informed. He explained Wednesday his contingency plans could surprise some people, and that he wanted the Nets wasting time preparing for all possibilities.
However, the coach has hinted that Juan Dixon, a shooting guard in a point guard's body, might be the defender he matches against Nets' Jason Kidd. The Raptors want to pressure Kidd at all points on the floor, and Dixon, not 36-year-old Darrick Martin, the third-string point guard, seems best equipped for that role.
"Juan can pick up and pressure, so we've got some options," Mitc said.
Whoever starts at point guard, it is clear Toronto needs a quicker start and an all-around performance to stave off elimination for the second time in successive games.
The Raptors trailed by 17 points after the first quarter in Game 4, and by 12 in Game 3. Neither game was close.
But in Game 5, the supporting actors stepped up and helped overcome a middling performance from Chris Bosh. Rookie Andrea Bargnani netted 17 first-half points and provided perimeter shooting. Morris Peterson hit some clutch shots in a 17-point performance and pestered Carter on defence.
Anthony Parker added 18 points and made all eight of his free throws.
Q: I don't know if the Raptors can win in New Jersey or not, but Game 5 was a revelation. In the first quarter we saw the future of this team. Bargnani can guard the 5, he can work in the block, and he can work under pressure.
The last one was a given, but without the first two it wouldn't matter with Bosh at the four. I'm looking forward to a few years of dominating front-court play.
Brian Keats, Mississauga
A: See what I've been talking about? Regular readers – and I hope you're one of the dozens who are – will realize that the plan all along as been for Bargnani to be a centre. He's a matchup nightmare and once he learns to defend big men without getting into foul trouble, it's off to the races they go.
It probably doesn't mean much good for our boy Rasho, who has two years left on his deal, but for the team, having two bigs who can shoot with range, handle the ball and also work in the post is something this team has never had and few in the NBA today have.
Seems Bargnani wasn't such a bad pick after all, was he? He's no Rudy Gay, I know, or, heaven forbid a Rajon Rondo, but he's going to be special when it's all said and done.
Mail Bag
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
