<div align="center"> @ <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Boston Celtics</font></font> (5-9) VS <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Toronto Raptors</font></font> (5-10) Venue: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON Date: Friday December 1, 2006 Time: 7:00 PM EST Coverage: Raptors TV</div> [DIV=50%] <div align="center"><font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Projected Starters</font></font> Sebastian Telfair - Paul Pierce - Wally Szcerbiak - Ryan Gomes - Kendrick Perkins <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Reserves</font></font> Delonte West - Al Jefferson - Brian Scalabrine - Tony Allen <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Coach</font></font> Doc Rivers</div> [/DIV] <div align="center"><font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Projected Starters</font></font> TJ Ford - Fred Jones - Anthony Parker - Jorge Garbajosa - Chris Bosh <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Reserves</font></font> Jose Calderon - Joey Graham - Rasho Nesterovic - Andrea Bargnani <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Coach</font></font> Sam Mitchell Analysis: A battle of Atlantean proportions - two powerhouse teams in a powerhouse division look to duke it out! Who am I kidding, this is a game of two mediocre teams, trying to gain leverage in the horrible Atlantic division. Boston came off of a disappointing loss to the Nets on Wednesday night, falling to a 5-9 record, where the Raptors were crushed in Dallas to drop to 5-10. Toronto needs to look for strong play from their guards today, as they try to contain the triple threat of Pierce, Sczerbiak and Telfair. They must be aggressive from the opening tip and attack the C's big men. Look for a strong outting from Chris Bosh, and consistent play from the Raptors bench. The one question that begs to be answered is - can Bargnani continue his hot streak of play? Boston currently sits second in the Atlantic division, and is looking to take control with a win tonight over the Raptors. The Celtics must look for their star player, Paul Pierce, to lead the struggling team over the Raptors tonight. The Celtics big men of Gomes and Perkins, must bring their A-game tonight in order to contain Chris Bosh. X-Factor Jones will have his hands full tonight guarding the tandem of Pierce and Szcerbiak. The Raptors will need strong play from him, from both ends of the floor, in order to keep up with the Celtics strong perimeter play. Jones must look to be aggressive and attack the lane - while trying to contain the Celtics' scorers. If Pierce and Wally can have their way with the Raptors' guards, then it will be much more difficult for Toronto to pull out a victory. </div>
brian scalabrine was a horrible signing, to that end, they need to fire ainge before rivers. as for the game- i have this bad feeling the celtics are going to win, traditionally sam mitchell teams have a horrible time defending quick, perimeter orientated teams, e.g. dallas.
-Jessica Alba is wearing waaay too much clothing. -When Fred Jones is the x factor i'm ready to call it in. -Hopefully the losing coach of tonights game will be fired and banished from ever coaching basketball again.
Raps need this win!! If we win do we get first place in the Atlantic?? (which is ridiculous) I think we need Jones to take less 3s.
<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Raps need this win!! If we win do we get first place in the Atlantic?? (which is ridiculous) </div> NJ is still at 6-9 (not playing tonight). Even if we win, we will be behind at 6-10.
In case any Raptors fans don't know of this classic thread yet, please visit it and support the Raptors in ridiculing Celtics fans http://www.justbball.com/forums/showthread...2648#post722648
Sweet, we won. Bosh with 25 PTS, 11 RBS, 3 BLK. Ford with 10 PTS, 13 AST, 5 RBS Nice to see Graham getting the start. He's worked hard for that, and I'm glad to see Jones on the bench.
I just can't get excited about this at all ... we may have won but i still get this sinking feeling this team is going nowhere in it's current state. Our best hope seems to be to wait for next year, yet again.
<div class="quote_poster">Iggy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Nice to see Graham getting the start. He's worked hard for that, and I'm glad to see Jones on the bench.</div> His start lasted a whole 2 minutes before he was sitting on the bench again. Nice win. It wasn't pretty but it seems like we're at least taking some small steps. Parker had his second good game out of 3. If he can find a way to be more consistent it will help us a lot. Bosh played better than his last couple games and made a clutch shot. Garbs had a nice games as well. <div class="quote_poster">a13x Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I just can't get excited about this at all ... we may have won but i still get this sinking feeling this team is going nowhere in it's current state. Our best hope seems to be to wait for next year, yet again.</div> I don't think this is a playoff team, but at least we have some pieces we can build around and it's not hopeless like it was last season. Bosh, Calderon, Bargs, Garbs are players we can build around and Parker, Graham, TJ also if they can play more consistently. Now if we can only get rid of Jones somehow, maybe package him with MoPete to get a shooter.
That was probably our best defensive effort so far. It was interesting to see TJ Ford do his best Calderon impression. Whenever he was in the game, the Raptors went on crazy runs. And on the topic of impressions, Chuck Swirsky was mimicking Tommy Heinsohn all night. I love watching Andrea Bargnani. There was like 3 minutes span where he was in on every Raptor play.
We need to give Rasho more minutes. He is our best inside defender and he makes a huge difference to our defense and rebounding when he's out on the floor.
I don't know why you're giving up on Jones so early, Eclipse. Sure, he's played like crap right now but I still don't think we can depend on Graham to play like he's did for the past week the whole season. Mo Pete's played equally bad this season and I like watching Ford to Jones on the break. If Sam can ever get the right system in place, Jones can be a great third option.
<div class="quote_poster">Locke Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know why you're giving up on Jones so early, Eclipse. Sure, he's played like crap right now but I still don't think we can depend on Graham to play like he's did for the past week the whole season. Mo Pete's played equally bad this season and I like watching Ford to Jones on the break. If Sam can ever get the right system in place, Jones can be a great third option.</div> You're right, MoPete has been playing like garbage also, but if someone is going to chuck up shots, I'd rather it be MoPete than Jones. I'm not sold on Graham yet either. He's more consistent than he's ever been but I wouldn't hesitate to trade Jones and Graham (or MoPete) for a shooter. If Jones starts playing like he did in the preseason, than I'll be happy but the way he's been chucking up the shots (knowing that he isn't a good shooter), he's been a detriment to the team whenever he's on the floor. He's been the worst performing Raptor by far in my opinion.
MoPete was playing hurt wasnt he? I'm sure he didnt just forget how to shoot, he'll get has act together soon I didn't catch the game but we needed this win, especially in the atlantic. One win can move u to 3rd place
Considering how long he's been out, I have a feeling that Mo-Pete's poor play in the beginning of the year was a result of his injury. It would explain why he was benched so fast, as opposed to Fred Jones who was given way more time. I think Graham's finally realized how he can contribute. He's not facing up his defender and taking him 1 on 1 anymore. His weak dribbling and lack of an explosive first step havn't been addressed, and it was real noticeable when he tried to constantly take his man off the dribble. Now he's moving off the ball, setting picks, crashing the boards, and running with the fast break: all of which make better use of his natural talents and don't expose his weaknesses. I don't think he'll play this great all season long, but I think we'll see more consistency and contribution from him if he keeps playing this way.
what puzzles me about the game was that anthony parker was the best player on the court for both sides in the first half and they didn't go to him in the second half. and that zone played with the three bigs was completely counteracted by boston's quickness and if they had any smarts they could have torched us, irrespective of what swirsky says. to that end, delonte missed some wide open three's and wally z was ignored by his teammates. what clinched the game for us was doc rivers boneheaded move to put brian scalabrine on bosh for the closing minutes- a moronic move in light of jefferson and ryan gomes neutralizing him for the most part prior to the fourth quarter.
