Rockets Couldn't Stop It, The Rockets Couldn't Stop, Raps Kept Ticking and Tocking.....

....Raps worked it all around the clock.

I guess the Raps played a full 48 minutes of good basketball. Wow. A Raps blowout? Hassan Adams got minutes?

I don't know....Yao, TMac and Artest all played. The Raps were short J.O. and Jose Calderon and the Raps still won against the Houston Rockets. That is just nuts.

The Raps either played a really good game or the Rockets just played a really bad one. I think it was a little of both. Andrea Batgnani took advantage with his speed and shooting ability against Yao Ming. With Andrea being a three point threat, it drew Yao out to the three point line, opening opportunities for shots down low. This led to an early 14 point lead over the Rockets. Former Raptors, Rafer Alston and Tracy McGrady were non-factors with a combined 12 points.

Jose Calderon left in the first and came back in the second quarter but then left soon after with a strained hamstring. The Rockets were able to make a run as Carl Landry hit a jumper to get within 2. Ron Artest had a hot hand for the Rockets and had three threes in the first half with his third three bringing the Rockets to within one point. Will Solomon get some extra run with the Calderon injury and had nice pass to Joey Graham down low with the easy layup. Raps as usual played a good first half and led by ten, 48-38 at halftime.

In the second half, Bargnani used his speed against Yao, beating him down to the Raps offensive end, getting some easy opportunities. Jamario Moon had a nice open slam with one minute left in the third quarter. Toronto built up their lead 68-49. Jake Voskuhl played some great defense where his defensive plays led to some great shots. The fourth quarter was just garbage time and the Raps emptied their bench. Every member of the Toronto Raptors roster had at least one basket. The Toronto Raptors just blew out the Rockets, 94-73.

Key Notes
The Houston Rockets were a horrible 28 for 82, shooting only 34%
Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh eached scored 19
Every Raptor had at least one basket
Jake Voskuhl had a good defensive game: 3 pts, 8 boards and 1 block in 17 min of action

Hopefully 2009 leads to more of this type of Raptors basketball. Orlando is up on Sunday in Toronto.

Read more...

Good News Raps Fans: Voskuhl Scores 4!!!! Raps Lose.... Again... But Voskuhl Scores 4!

Oh yeah. Good energy from the Raps tonight. Jamario Moon and Jake Voskuhl wore their "rally" headbands and I think Jose Calderon got a haircut. The Spurs are my team and have been for the longest time, long before the Raps were even born, so either way I was going to be pleased. But I really wanted the Raps to get out of their funk, and they did, kind of.

First quarter, the Raps looked a lot different tonight and it was for the better. They were moving the ball up the floor faster getting some easy baskets. The Raps led 25-20 after 1.

In the second quarter, there was a Jake Voskul sighting!!! San Antonio outscored the Raps 36-21 in the second and led 56-48 at the half. Raps shot well, shooting 46% from the field.

The second half was all about runs. Raps would pull within 7 but then the Spurs went on a run to go back up by ten, then the Raps would go on a run to get within 4, Spurs run and then Spurs were up by 10. The Raptors made smarter decisions with the ball (well, in comparison to the last few games). Tonight, just when Bosh would normally take a three, this time he passed it down low to J.O. for the easy basket to pull within 9. That was it though, Jason Kapono hit a three to pull within 5, Joey Graham had a chance to get it closer but the layup didn't fall during the closing minutes. Tim Duncan iced it with consecutive baskets and the Spurs capped off the Raps, final score 107-97. The Raptors played better tonight and just got beat by the three ball and on the boards. If the Raps played with this energy this whole season, I really think their record would be more like 13-14 as opposed to their 10-17 record right about now.

Key Notes:
Raps were outrebounded 48-38 for the millionth time
The Spurs went 16 for 35 from three
J.O. had 24 pts & 10 reb
Chris Bosh had 17 pts & 10 reb
Former Raptors, Roger Mason and Matt Bonner went a combined 8-13 from three
Tony Parker flirted with a triple double with 24 pts, 8 rebounds & 10 assists
Jake Voskuhl with 4 pts in his Raptors debut

For a Spurs perspective, check out PoundingTheRock.com, they've coined a new nickname for Andrea, Andrea "Darko Two" Bargnani. Ouch.

Clippers are up on Monday. This game will be a big challenge as the Raps will have to do everything they can vs the Clips to show the world that they are playing the WORST basketball right now. The Clips lost by 34 tonight, so it'll be a big challenge.

Photo credit: (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Read more...

Top Ten Things Heard at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday Night

You got it all wrong! The A.C.C Crowd Wasn't Booing..

Ok, ok, Raptor fans are pissed. Chris Bosh has been horrible as of late, Bargnani has no confidence whatsoever, the Raptors are not closing out games and the biggest news today are the stories of the Toronto fans booing the Raps at Wednesday night's game. Chris Bosh now thinks the fans aren't supporting the Raps but I don't think Toronto fans (Canadian fans at that) would boo their home team.

I'm thinking the Toronto media are getting it confused, we have several theories:

10. Fans were cheering for "Jamario MOOOOOOOOOOON"

9. Or maybe it was just the crowd chanting "We love Chris BOOOOOOOOO - sh!"

8. Was it crowd chants of "Roko YOOOOOOOO-kic" or maybe the crowd was crying for "Jake Vosk-OOOOOOOOOOO-l" to come into the game?

7. Chants of Joey Gr-OOOOOOOOOOO-m? Maybe? He had a good game. Maybe he's getting married? And he's the groom?

6. I know, I know......Kevin YOOOOOOOOOU-kilis! Man, who doesn't love YOOOOK? Shit, that's baseball.

5. Maybe it was just fans ordering food "I want TWWOOOOOOOOO hot dogs and TWWOOOOOOOO beers!"

4. Or Raps fans may have been chanting that their favorite blog is "HOOOOOOOOOOP Heads North!"

3. Or maybe, because Canadians are so polite, everyone was passing by each other all at the same time and saying "Exc-UUUUUUUUUUUUse me"

2. Maybe it's that Toronto fans were still reeling about the recent NFL game in Toronto and they wanted more FOOOOOOOOOOOT-ball? Huh, huh? Maybe? Or that former Toronto Maple Leaf, Mats Sundin recently signed with the Van-COOOOOOOOOOO-ver Canucks?

1. Or maybe they were talking about Nathan Jawai being cleared to practice and the fact he's from Australia, the home of animals like Koala bears and kanga-ROOOOOOOOOOS?

Or maybe it was all just "Boooos", who knows....

(in case you were wondering, yes Simpsons' fans, this was inspired by the Boo-urns episode, watch the clip)

Read more...

C.B. Phone Home

CB, where did you go? You've seem to have disappeared, please come home.

Chris Bosh struggled last night going 6-20 as he finished with 12 points. He's starting to become non-apparent on the floor and doesn't look like the leader he once was at the beginning of this season. I don't know if it's fatigue, new systems or adjusting to change of a new coach but Chris has to become the energy that the Raps should be feeding off of. Lately, he just seems to look frustrated.

Last night, the Toronto Raptors did it again. They played one good quarter of basketball. In fairness to the Raps, this was the Dallas Mavericks. Their 13-10 record looks deceiving as their losses were to top tier teams like the Lakers (twice), Denver, Cleveland and San Antonio.

The Word of the Day:

Lead-blowing: to blow a lead in a basketball contest; to build up a lead and then watch it fizzle as the game progresses

Unfortunately, just like the last game against Jersey and the game against New Orleans, the Raps struggled to maintain their lead. They played an excellent first quarter and I mean it was great basketball by Toronto. Toronto shot 66% from the field, Toronto's D shut down Dirk and Toronto scored 33 points in the first quarter. Raptors couldn't have played any better and finished with a 33-21 lead after 1 quarter. Joey Graham played well in the first half as he's been the energy off of the bench.

Toronto continued to maintain their lead in the second as they defended Dirk as best as they could. And then with a few minutes left in the second, that was it......show was over. This was a moment that we've seen too many times over and over, Raps were controlling the game (with a lead as large as 13 pts) when the Mavs made a run to pull within 5 at the half. Chris Bosh was non-existent with 4 points at halftime.

Dirk continued to struggle in the third as he was 3 for 10. With 9 minutes left in the quarter, Jason Kidd hit a three to pull within 1. Chris Bosh, where did you go? He looked miserable this game. He started to miss more shots, never made it to the line and there was a moment where he got an offensive board and completely missed a slam he would normally make. And as Bosh struggled, Dirk get hot. Raps continued to get outrebounded, and may need to starting thinking about bringing out the secret weapon, Jake Voskuhl, to hustle for some boards as they looked horrible. Raptors scored 33 in the first quarter but then scored a combined 30 points in the second and third quarter. Dirk and Mavericks closed out the Raps 96-86 as the Raps go 0-3 on their 3 game homestand.

Key Notes:
Dallas outrebounded the Raps 47-37
Jermaine O'Neal led Toronto with 19 pts, 7 boards
Jose Calderon continued his free throw streak as he hit his lone free throw
Josh Howard returned to the Dallas lineup after missing 11 games, he scored 20 pts in 22 minutes
Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points, 10 boards
Jason Terry had 27 pts, 7 reb, 8 assists

Toronto begins their six game road trip in Oklahoma City on Friday.

Read more...

10 Interesting Facts About Jake Voskuhl

Ever since the Raptors signed free agent 6-11 centre Jake Voskuhl on Monday, I was excited to get the lowdown on him as he may be the missing piece of the puzzle for the Raps. I've seen him play a few times with the Charlotte Bobcats and Phoenix Suns and was curious to see what he was all about.

Here's 10 interesting facts that you need to know about Jake Voskuhl

10. Let's see, he played for the '99 UConn NCAA National Champs with Rip Hamilton.....exciting.

9. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

8. He wears a size 17 shoe, awesome.

7. He has one YouTube clip titled "Shawn Marion uses Jake Voskuhl as a toilet paper"

6. His nickname is "Jake"

5. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma....oops, I already used that one. Ummmmmmm....He had three 20 point – 20 rebound games (12/2/07 vs. Indiana, 2/28/07 at Phoenix, 1/23/08 vs. Sacramento).....shoot, that was Chris Kaman.

4. ..................

LET'S GO RAPTORS!

Read more...

Ring Around the Posey, With A Pocketful of Six Threes

What a tough matchup for Toronto with CP3 and his New Orleans Hornets in town. It was a Jose Calderon-Chris Paul point guard matchup and it was also the return of MoPete to Toronto, one of the Raps' all-time faves. Unfortunately, he was a DNP - Coach's Decision.

The first quarter had the Raps playing good D holding Paul and the Hornets to only 22 pts. I think Raps play well when they hold opponents to under 25 pts per quarter. James Posey hit some big shots early on in the first.

The play of the day? AP with the sweet dish to Jermaine Oneal.

In the second quarter, Raps came out strong building up on their lead of 8 points until.....

Posey hit another big three.
Posey again with a three.
Again, Posey with the 3 to tie it at 44, the Hornets went on a 17-4 run

James Posey had 5 threes at the half...ouch. James Posey has been a great addition to the Hornets with his championship experience with Miami and Boston. Chris Paul was great too, as he just drove down the lane, the Toronto defense would collapse and then he just kicked it out to any of their outside shooters. As far as Toronto, Andrea Bargnani is looking more and more like "Bust"-nani as he continues to be ineffective both offensively and defensively. He needs to become more consistent with his efforts as you never what you're going to get form him from game to game. Raps managed to lose their lead (again) and trailed 51-46 to the Hornets at the half. New Orleans had shot 51% at the half.

In the second half, Posey hit another 3 in the 3rd quarter for a total of 6 threes for the game. Raps defense played good D in the second half but were only down 8 to New Orleans 80-72 after the third. In the 4th, Jose hit a big three with 6 min left to pull within 6. The Raps stayed close but missed some key shots at the end. I'm not too crazy on Bosh's three attempts in the closing minutes when they're down. Hornets ended up closing out the Raps 99-91

It was a loss but a loss to a very good Western Conference team. It wasn't disappointing as the Raps played good ball and were competitive to the end. Bosh, Calderon and J.O. all had great games. Bosh had 25pts-8reb-6asst, J.O. had 19pts-7reb and Jose had 22pts, 7 assists going 8-8 from the field. For the Hornets, David West led the way with 29pts, 9 boards.

As a side note, the CBC crew announced that the Raptors signed Jake Voskuhl and can play as soon as tomorrow against the Nets.


Photo credit: (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Frank Gunn)

Read more...