With such an exciting game coming up, with Bosh back and all, I decided to make a complex game thread. I decided to make this game thread a day in advance, as I might not have time tomorrow. Enjoy! <div align="center"> <font color="orange">Phoenix Suns(21-8)</font> at <font color="red">Toronto Raptors(13-18)</font> Air Canada Center, Toronto, Canada Wednesday, January 3, 2006 7:00pm E.T. SCORE, NBALP @ </div> [div=50%] <font size="3"><div align="center"><font color="red">Toronto Raptors</font></div></font> <div align="center"> </div> <u>Back Court</u> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/tj_ford.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">PG ? TJ Ford</font> 16.0ppg, 3.9rpg, 8.1apg Ford has the task tonight of containing reigning MVP, Kid Canada. He is questionable coming of the ankle injury against the Bulls. TJ needs to stay on Nash and prevent him from getting hot by contesting shots, and defending the passing lanes. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/anthony_parker.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">SG ? Anthony Parker</font> 11.0ppg, 3.3rpg, 1.6apg Anthony Parker has been doing pretty well lately averaging 13 ppg in his last 3 games. He has found most of his success hitting open jumpers and sinking threes. Although he has been shooting well lately, he will need to drive more often. <u>Front Court</u> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jorge_garbajosa.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">SF ? Jorge Garbajosa</font> 9.2ppg, 5.8rpg, 2.1apg Jorge Garbajosa was named player of the month in December. He has stepped it up, and has been a great contributer to the Raptors bost offensively and defensively. He is questionable for tonight, as he suffered from a calf injury against the Grizzlies. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/rasho_nesterovic.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">C ? Rasho Nesterovic</font> 6.2ppg, 4.7rpg, 0.9apg Rasho Nesterovic has been a pleasant surprise for the Raptors lately. He has been great at containing opposing big men, and altering the shots of other players. Nesterovic is starting to get a feel for his role as a Raptor and he will have to continue his great gameplay. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/chris_bosh.jpg[/imgl]<font color="red">PF ? Chris Bosh</font> 20.5ppg, 12.2rpg, 2.0apg Bosh is coming back from a knee injury and it is reported that he is feeling great. Tonight he will be matched up against the front court duo of Marion and Amare. Chris is eager to come back as a much needed 1st option and to help on the boards. Look for him to have a great game. <u>Analysis</u> <font color="red">Interior D</font>: Last time these 2 teams played, the Suns absolutely dominated the Raptors in the paint. Amare and Mariono both got many points of dunks and easy lay-ins. If the Raptors want to succeed tonight they will have to tighten up inside. <font color="red">Play 4 Quarters of Ball</font>: The Raptors got blown out by Memphis on Saturday because they threw away their first quarter. If they play with the same intensity in the first half as they do in the second half, they will find that the game will not be as hard as coming back from a blow out. [/div] <font size="3"><div align="center"><font color="orange">Pheonix Suns</font></div></font> <div align="center"> </div> <u>Back Court</u> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/steve_nash.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">PG ? Steve Nash</font> 20.6ppg, 3.2rpg, 11.3apg Despite only putting up 11 points against the Bulls last night, he dished out 13 dimes during the game. Nash has been putting up MVP numbers lately, posting up 35 points and 12 assists against Detroit the game before. Look for him to have another MVP-like night against the Raps. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/raja_bell.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">SG ? Raja Bell</font> 15.3ppg, 2.9rpg, 2.1apg Raja Bell will be matched up against Anthony Parker tonight. Although he is not the Suns' 1st/2nd option, he can get hot and can produce dangerous numbers if the Raptors aren't careful. <u>Front Court</u> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/boris_diaw.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">SF - Boris Diaw</font> 10.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 5.0apg After being signed to a hefty multi-year contract, Diaw has been awfully quiet for the Suns. Tonight he will be matched up against Jorge Garbajosa. If theres one way Diaw can help his team, its going to be contesting Jorge's shots. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/amare_stoudemire.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">C ? Amare Stoudemire </font> 17.9ppg, 8.7rpg, 0.6apg Seeing this man play, you wouldn't believe he has come off an injury that had plagued him for a season. Amare has simply been dominant since his return and the Raptors especially Bosh will have to watch out. Last game against the Raptors he took advantage of Bosh-less Raptors and their helpless interior D. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/shawn_marion.jpg[/imgl]<font color="orange">PF ? Shawn Marion</font> 19.3ppg, 8.9rpg, 1.8apg Marion, what more can you say about this guy but; he's versatile. The guy can play multiple positions and can do it all; score, pass, rebound, block, steal. Shawn is a stat filler, and if the Raptors aren't careful, he will be a lethal weapon. <u>Analysis</u> <font color="orange">Play the Running Game</font>: Last time they played, the Suns beat Raptors at their own game; running. Plain and simple, the Suns will have to incorperate the same type of game plan as they succeeded in the fast break last meeting. <font color="orange">Peremiter D</font>: If theres one thing the Raptors can do, its get streaky and score from the outside. With guys like Garbajosa, Bargnani, Peterson and Parker the Raptors can get hot from the perimeter. The Suns' D will have to do a good job of getting in the shooters face and contesting. <div align="center"> <u>Bottom Line Prediction</u> I predict a Raptors win 101-98. Suns will be up 15 at the half, and Raptors will have a huge comeback.</div>
Suns are coming off a back to back and Bosh is returning from injury. They're still too good, I predict 110 to 97 Suns
Update: were missing Ford and Garbajosa tonight as well it seems http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/167483 If Derek Martin gets more than 20 minutes we lose this game hands down. Calderon should be running the point at a rate of 2-1 in order for us to even have a chance. We can't forget this is Bosh's first game back and he'll likely come out with something to prove.
I'd like to see fred jones get some minutes at the point. He played the point quite effectively in pre-season for a couple spurts. Although every thing i have seen from him during the regular season would lead me to believe he is not suited from for pg (erratic shot selection, early shots, holding on to the ball too long) but anyone is better than Darrick MArtin IMO.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Epidemik;743254[center:</div><div class="quote_post"></div> Why does TJ Ford have a golden background behind his head?
Epidemik your game threads are awesome...I love them. Keep up the good work bro! Although a Raps win without Ford or Garbo is unlikely. I'm stuck at work untill late...so I'll miss the game when its on...but Thank god for PVR's
Story of the half: Uros Slokar flashing his hand infront of the alley camera at halftime as the players were walking in.
1st half is over … and so is the game for the most part. Here’s what I saw in the first half: -Bosh is back and doesn’t look to have missed a step. He’s still able to hit shots and battle for rebounds. The bad news is that everyone on the team feels they have to force the ball down low in order to give him shots (which would actually be the same criticism I have of Bargnani in our offense). When we dump the ball down low to bosh and fail to move it around we’re taking the motion out of our offense and that’s the primary reason we were winning with Bosh out of the lineup. To clairify: I’m not blaming this on CB4 as much as the guy who claims to be our head coach. -Raptors are playing decent team defence at times but are slacking off on the perimeter. Managing to force Phoenix into a fair number of turnovers is what’s keeping us down by less than 20. -Derek Martin is Garbage, to put it lightly. I know Mitchell likes employing his friends from his player days but this crap has got to stop. I’m sure Rick Brunson could have contributed more than D-mart is. Here’s to hoping he blows out his knee and we never have to watch a guy who looks like he trains by eating pretzels again. -Joey Graham was having a bad game (to put it lightly) I think that’s same to say it’s because he primarily relies on his athletic ability which is something Phoenix has plenty of to counter. -Side note: The refs suck. I don’t know how many times Bargnani has to take a forearm to the chest to get a call but I hope it’s under 5. -We’re down by 15 right now but a prudent head coach would have had it at 10. We took poor hasty shots consistently each time down the floor (at the end of the 2nd q) and folded right into Phoenix’s game plan. How many bad shots and blown defensive assignments does it take to get a freaking timeout? I guess if you don’t know what’s wrong you can’t correct it. -I think if anything this game really says a lot about where were at right now. We’re a team that sucks at perimeter defence and maybe an eastern conference playoff team, but not much more. We still have a long way to go to get better.
omg, why didn't Sam Mitchell call a timeout? Biggest homer move ever. This was my fav part of the game though, Chuck: Martin---... for the winnnnnnn *ball hits top of the backboard* Edit: Nevermind, we didn't have a 20 remaining. Chuck just said it and he was wrong. I'm not as pissed about the lost now.
ahaha, everytime i call D-Mart out he has to prove me wrong apparently. Last time i was talking trash he hit that 3 to keep our streak alive. In anycase i'll take losing by 2 to Phoenix anyday, nothing wrong with that! Iggy's game perdiction was terribly close to being 100% true. On a side note i saw a lot less slapping of rebounds by Bargnani which was nice. Also, we have to get Bosh involved in the offense quicker. It takes us like 5 seconds to pass it to him and he takes like 5 seconds to figure out what he's going to do, and there goes 1/2 the shot clock.
Bosh was an absolute beast tonight. Despite 6 turnovers, he converted on almost every touch he had. Ford really would have helped a TON tonight, but Martin did okay. Bargnani had a very solid night, with 17 and a clutch 3 near the end. I just noticed how close my prediction was... DAMN! <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Epidemik:</div><div class="quote_post"> Bottom Line Prediction I predict a Raptors win 101-98. Suns will be up 15 at the half, and Raptors will have a huge comeback.</div>
Martin did hit some threes, but Mitchell was an idiot for not putting Jose back in to guard Nash. Martin kept getting burned time and time again going under those screens on Nash, and it cost us the game. Not to mention that last heave was just pathetic.
Not to mention about 2 or 3 offensive possessions where Martin jacked up ill-advised shots at the end of the game, and passed to the wrong player in a bad situation.
Does anyone have a clip of Raja Bell kicking Bargnani in the nuts? Apparently, Bell was suspended for 1 game, but should it have been for more?
