That's A Rap......In The Third Quarter

Ugly.

I have a nephew that played Mini ball a few years ago. One of the rules was that if one team was running the other team off the floor, they just stopped scoring for the rest of the game. Tonight's game was one of those games. At the end of the 3rd, they should have just turned off the scoreboard. The Denver Nuggets had 100 points at the end of the third. The Denver Nuggets just walloped the Raps 132-93.

Chauncey Billups just buried the Raps. When he drove he scored, when he penetrated he dished off to Nene or Melo, when he felt like it, he hit big buckets. The Nuggets had no problems with the Raps at all. The Raps took a bunch of jumpers in the first and could not get it going from the start.

Jermaine O'Neal made his return and had 12 pts. Chris Bosh had 24 and 12.

As for the Nuggets, Chauncey and Melo led the way with 24pts and 23pts respectively.

On an off topic, I think the Denver Nuggets are the most tatted team in the NBA. (These are the things you notice when you watch a blowout)

This was just a straight up horrible game for the Raps from the beginning and the Nuggets had their way with them. Raps have to learn to play better D and try to keep teams to 25 pts/quarter. The Nuggets were able to shoot 60% vs. the Raps disappointing 37% from the floor. In all of the Raps wins, they held teams to under 100 points. The Nuggets scored 132 tonight.

Raps have a tough stretch of games still and Utah is up next (Friday) Let's hope this leads to a better result.....ugh.

Photo Credit: (Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Raps Hope to Get Big Buckets Against The Nuggets

Tonight, the 8-8 Toronto Raptors take on the 12-6 Denver Nuggets. This is as tough of a matchup as the Lakers. Denver has been a hot team ever since the acquisition of Chauncey Billups. Here's a breakdown on the matchups:

Matchups:

Jose vs. Mr. Big Shot
The will be the big matchup of the night. The Nuggets have been 11-3 since Chauncey has joined them. The 3 losses have been against NBA powerhouses New Orleans, LA Lakers and Cleveland, all stellar teams. Jose will be able to use his speed against Chauncey but he has been playing some real good ball in Denver.

AP vs. Dahntay Jones
This will probably be more AP vs. JR Smith but AP has the edge here as long as he can hit those big threes.

Bargnani vs. Carmelo
According to the Denver Post, Carmelo may be dealing with a right elbow contusion but he is a go for tonight. Andrea has come into his own and may be able to take advantage of the injury riddled Melo.

Bosh vs. K-Mart
Bosh has a chance to bounce back with J.O. back in the lineup. He had a tough time on Sunday playing against the Lakers big men. The combo of big defenders, K-Mart and Nene may cause Bosh to face similar situations tonight.

J.O. vs Nene
According to the Toronto Star, it looks like Jermaine O’neal will start tonight. This will help relieve Chris Bosh on the defensive end against the Nuggets bigs. His return to the lineup should boost the Raps defensive intensity.

Toronto's Bench (Kapono, Graham, Moon) vs. Denver's Bench (Kleiza, Smith, Carter)
I say the Raps have a better bench but Denver has a highly offensive guard in JR Smith who can go off for 20-30 if he gets the hot hand. This could be a deciding factor.

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Balance Toi drops Cinquante Cinq!

Big night last night in the NBA.

First of all, the Raps-Pistons game was a good one, Jose Calderon kept the Raps in the game down the stretch but the Pistons were just too dominant for the Raps. I also have to mention........I miss Chuck Swirsky. When the Raps are making runs, the Chuck Swirsky calls are what make Raps games that much more exciting. Matt Devlin doesn't cut it, we need more "C - B - 4!!!" or "SICK WICKED AND NASTY!" calls. Chuck Swirsky was as much part of the Raptors as Chris Bosh and I miss the Swirsk and his calls.

Last night had a few 40+ point scorers and...No, one of them wasn't Melo scoring 44 for Obama. He ended up with 28 and an L against the Warriors. And oh yeah, Melo got a haircut!

Amare "STAT" Stoudemire had a sick line last night: 49 points, 11 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks!

Lebron ....also sick: 41 points, 9 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals

And the high scorer of the night:

Balance Toi......Tony Parker!

55 points, 10 assists and 7 dimes in the double OT win. Career high for TP.

As the resident Spurs fan....I was watching the box score and couldn't believe TP's stats but what suprised me more was that the 0-3 Spurs (worst start since '74) needed double OT to squeak a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves?! I never usually worry about the Spurs during the regular season but when I see Roger Mason as the third highest scorer, I'm starting to worry. Manu, we need you back!

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Melo 4 President

Quick little post here, I just wanted to share the article I just read.

Accordng to the Denver Post, Carmelo Anthony wants to go for 44 tonight in honour of Barack Obama, the 44th president. No AI in the Nuggets lineup anymore, so Melo may pull it off. We'll see what happens! Congrats to Barack Obama, history was made last night....

The Raps face the Pistons tonight....3-0 record vs 3-0 record but the sad part is that A.I. won't be making his Detroit debut tonight.

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