Monday November 5th, 2007

Well its the beginning of the week an I'm gonna review last week's action involving the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors went 2-0 to start off the season with a nice win over Philadelphia in the season opener and a huge win over the Nets in New Jersey winning by 37 and holding both Jason Kidd and Vince Carter to under 10 points total. On Sunday the Raptors struggled offensively but their defense kept them in the game till the very end. They were shooting in the mid-30's for the entire game and yet were not losing by much and seemed to make a key play when things seemed like all was lost. TJ Ford was superman and scored all the clutch baskets when the Raptors needed it. He was the leader on the floor and took the reins since Chris Bosh was struggling offensively the entire game. Defensively Chris Bosh was necessary as he provided that inside presence the Raps so desperately needed against the big-3. Ray Allen was on fire the entire night and was rightly the one to push that dagger into the Raptors chest with that overtime winner. Allen came around a couple of screens and found himself enough space and time in the corner to get a shot off, and it was money once he let it go. Swish! With 2.4 seconds left and no timeouts left, the heave from Anthony Parker from half court was all the Raps could do in the end.

TJ Ford as he goes up for a lay-up against Rajon Rondo in the Raps loss.

Two Back to backs coming up starting tomorrow against the Bucks and the Magic respectively. It will be interesting to see how the Raptors handle these mediocre teams. If they can close each out then the Raps will be a true force in the East and a legitimate contender for the playoffs this year. On Friday and Saturday the Raps will face the Sixers and the Bulls respectively and it will be interesting to see how they handle these back to backs. That's it for now, i'll update you guys next week on all the happenings in Raptorland.

Peace!

2007-2008 Season Coming Up SOOOOON!!

Hey, i know i haven't posted on my blog in quite a while but i have legitimate reasons. LOL. Maybe not, but who cares it was the off-season anyways. There hasn't been much happening here in Toronto in regards to the Raptors. They went overseas to Europe to play a few pre-season games against some top European teams in Italy and Spain. They lost to the revamped Boston Celtics in their first pre-season game. The Terrible Trio of Ray Allen, KG, and Pail Pierce dominated the Raptors as we lost 89-85 although no particular Raptor was dominant in the game we showed our depth even tho we lost.

Against Lottomatica Roma Chris Bosh finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds as Roma's big men couldn't handle him. Interestingly enough there was an interest of the Raptors on the other side of the court in Roko Ukic, a Raptors draft pick from a few years ago. Ukic showed alot of promise in this game doing alot of things. He scored 10 points with a couple of three's, with 9 assists, 3 boards and a couple of steals thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately the Raptors always seem to struggle against European teams in preseason as they fell 104-103 to Real Madrid in Spain. On a bright note Andrea Bargnani showed Raptors fans what we can expect this season dropping 23 and picking up 7 boards. They then beat a team from Lithuania by 6 points while again showing off their depth as nobody scored over 15 points on the entire team but managed to score over 100 points in the game. Against NBA competition they have seemed dominant, beating the Bulls and the Cavs by 10 or more.

Jamario Moon (who might be cut before the season begins) goes up for a jam against the Bulls in pre-season action at the ACC.

I can say that i am excited for this season and i'm hoping that the Raps can improve on what they've done last season. It will be hard as every team in the division has become significantly stronger than last year. Boston has made the greatest changes adding 2 game-changing players to go along with the one they already had in KG and Ray Allen. The Nets added Torontonian Jamaal Magloire and have added some much needed size to their line-up. The Knicks traded for Zach Randolph who is a BEAST! Philadelphia still seems to be in a rebuilding phase but can never count them out as they have some dangerous players in Andre Iguodala, Sammy Dalembert and Kyle Korver. I think the Atlantic went from being the worst division last year to one of the most competitive over the summer. It should be very interesting to watch how this season unfolds. There is one game left of pre-season against the Washington Wizards at home tomorrow.

On a side note there was a trade made yesterday between the Miami Heat and the Minnesota T-Wolves involving Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac and Wayne Simien going to Minnesota in return for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount. I think Miami wins in this trade immediately but trades can only be determined if they are good or bad a few years after they are made.

Thats it for now, hopefully i won't be too busy with school or anything to keep updating this regularly.
Peace!

Raptors Update June 19th, 2007

Hey peoples! Sorry, i haven't been able to make a post recently but i will put all the latest happenings with the Toronto Raptors and what else is going on in the NBA into this post. The NBA Draft is coming up pretty soon as well so i will give you my mock draft on the lottery to show you who i think is going to be picked where and for what reason.

To start things off, the Raptors just made a trade a couple of days ago for Carlos Delfino from the Detroit Pistons for a couple of second round draft picks. Delfino is an Argentine who has played in Europe against many of the current Raptors and could fit in well with the Raptors style of play. He is a 6'7 Small forward/Shooting guard and will potentially replace the departing Morris Peterson on the roster. Here is a video of Delfino meeting the Toronto press. Delfino Meets Toronto Media

Well, as for the rest of the Raptors news. It has been said from a reliable league source that Andrei Kirilenko was almost traded to the Toronto Raptors in February for Mo Pete and maybe another player. Unfortunately for us that deal fell through because I for one love Kirlenko's style of play and his hard nosed defensive play and his knack to find a way to the basket would be welcome on this Raptors team. Although the deal didn't happen I see this as a step in the right direction. Bryan Colangelo seems to know what he is doing and is trying to get all the pieces he thinks will fit together to make the best Toronto Raptors possible.

On another note, CBC will be broadcasting Raptors games nationally and this is a big deal for the Raptors as games haven't been televised nationally since CTV did it way back in the day during the 2001-02 season. The formal announcement will be made 2 weeks from now when everything is finalized.

Now for the rest of the NBA, Mike James the former Raptors point guard has been traded to the Houston Rockets for Juwan Howard. This I believe is good for James as he never really fit well into Minnesota's system and is more of a combo guard than a true point that the T-Wolves needed. Hopefully for the T-wolves this trade pays off and they can pick up a nice point in the Draft and Juwan Howard will add a little veteran stability to their young lineup.

Some other rumors that are flying around regarding the T-Wolves is the trade of Superstar Kevin Garnett to Boston for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, the often troubled Sebastian Telfair and the 5th overall pick in this years upcoming draft. I don't think the Celtics should make this trade but then again i don't know their plans for the future. They will give up a whole lot of potential superstars for one current superstar who might or might not lead them to the promised land while teamed up with Paul Pierce. It is tough to say but let's see what happens.

Thats it for now, i'll let you know if anything else happens anytime soon.
PEACE!

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It's Over! SAN ANTONIO SPURS!!

CLEAN SWEEP! The San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers to put their names in the history books. Now I can honestly say that the Spurs are the dominant team in the NBA at the moment. They dominated against the teams that were said to be contenders and able to beat the Cavaliers and crown themselves the kings of the NBA.

Monday June 11, 2007

Game 2 of the NBA Finals was quite dissapointing. I was having a hard time trying not to fall asleep in the first half. The Cavs were down by 28 at one point, might have been more but i was hardly watching. HAHA. Tony Parker scored 30, Manu Ginobili had 25 and Tim Duncan scored 23 for the Spurs and pretty much destroyed Cleveland until the last few minutes of the 4th quarter when Cleveland brought the lead down to as little as 9 but to no avail. San Antonio were just too confident and poised in this game to let the lead slip beyond that. They did everything they were supposed to and Cleveland had a real hard time just getting to the basket. Larry Hughes was a non-factor and LeBron was not on his game. Cleveland will not win this series playing the same way they played in the first 2 games. I predict San Antonio wins this series in 5 with the Cavs stealing one at home. The Spurs are just too good and too experienced to let this championship slip out of their fingers, they might as well get the rings already!

On a side note, there are alot of rumours flying around the NBA saying that Shawn Marion will be traded to the Boston Celtics for Theo Ratliff and the 5th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Suns are apparently trying to dump Marion's contract and could easily pick up a Marion type player with the 5th pick in Corey Brewer out of Florida or Jeff Green out of Georgetown. Well, thats it for now.

Peace!

NBA Finals Game 1 Recap

Well, i knew it was gonna happen... I said if the Spurs do a few key things they will win this series and that's exactly what they did. LeBron James was shut down and limited to only 14 points in over 44 minutes of playing time. That just won't get it done. Then there was Tony Parker's constant barrage at the Cleveland pg's as they struggled to contain him. He blew up for 27 points and 7 assists. Tim Duncan was his usual self scoring 24 points and 13 boards to go along with 5 monsterous blocks. San Antonio set the tone for the rest of the series in this game and let Cleveland know that it is going to be VERY hard and that the West is in fact a harder conference to play against.

LeBron acknowledged after the game that he does need to carry the weight on his shoulders in Game 2 for Cleveland to have any chance at winning this series. "If I went by one guy, another guy stepped up,'' James said. "For us to have a chance to win, I have to play better.'' The picture below is just an example of what LeBron had to go through in game 1 and what he will be facing throughout this series. IT WON'T GET EASIER!

Well, ill give you an update on what's going on in the rest of the NBA tommorow and let's hope this series gets more interesting but in order for this to happen LeBron needs to score 50 in game 2. That's it for today, talk to you guys later.

PEACE!

NBA Rumors

I am posting some NBA Rumors that are flying around. Let me know what you think about them.

Knicks Interested IN SHEED
New York Daily News

Rasheed Wallace's exit in the Eastern Conference Finals may make him a candidate to be traded and if he is available, Isiah Thomas will certainly attempt to acquire the power forward. When Thomas first assumed control of the Knicks, he twice tried to trade for Wallace, who instead landed in Atlanta and then Detroit. Thomas never got over losing Wallace to his former teammate, Pistons GM Joe Dumars, and has told associates that Wallace would have made the Knicks a perennial playoff team. Thomas has his sights set on Jermaine O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol, but Wallace is a more realistic option.

Artest or Bibby to be dealt this summer?

Sacramento Bee
After speaking with several people associated with the team, it seems to be a done deal to Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee that either Ron Artest or Mike Bibby will be traded this offseason. The Kings reportedly came close to dealing Bibby in February.

Heat might seek Artest or Bibby
Miami Herald
Several NBA people close to the Heat expect Miami will explore acquiring Sacramento's Ron Artest or impending Seattle free agent Rashard Lewis -- two elite 27-year-old small forwards. But it's highly questionable if the Heat has enough to satisfy the Kings or Sonics. The Heat has not made a trade offer for Artest, but discussions with the Kings are expected, an official with one of the teams said. Two officials said Pat Riley isn't deterred by Artest's past off-court issues. The Kings will consider moving Artest but don't feel compelled. An official in contact with Kings management said Sacramento isn't enamored with Miami's available assets, which could require a third team's inclusion. Artest (18.8 points, 6.5 rebounds last season) is due $7.8 million for next season and has an $8.45 million player option for '08-09. Although the Heat loves Lewis' skills, there's some skepticism internally about whether Miami -- which is above the salary cap -- would have enough to interest Seattle in a sign-and-trade. Numerous teams covet him, including Orlando -- which will have lots of cap space if it doesn't sign Darko Milicic -- Houston and New York. Seattle says it wants to keep Lewis, but the expected drafting of Kevin Durant could change that.