<div align="center"> <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Toronto Raptors</font></font> (22-22) @ <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Indiana Pacers</font></font> (22-20) Venue: Conseco Fieldhouse Date: Saturday January 27th, 2007 Time: 7:00 PM EST Coverage: TSN</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Toronto Raptors and the Indiana Pacers are both coming off key victories that they hope will give them some momentum. The Raptors and Pacers both look to build off their critical wins as they meet at Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday. Toronto (22-22) defeated Boston 96-90 on Friday to reach .500 this late in the season for the first time since Feb. 10, 2004. "We worked very hard to get to this point and it's going to be even harder," said Chris Bosh, who had 26 points and eight rebounds. </div> <div align="center">Link</div> [DIV=50%] <div align="center"><font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Projected Starters</font></font> Jamaal Tinsley - Mike Dunleavy Jr. - Danny Granger - Troy Murphy - Jermaine O'Neal <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Reserves</font></font> Darrell Armstrong - Orien Greene - Marquis Daniels - Maceo Baston - Shawne Williams - Ike Diogu - Jeff Foster <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Coach</font></font> Rick Carlisle <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Injuries</font></font></div> Keith McLeod - Abdominal Strain (Day-to-Day) [/DIV] <div align="center"><font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Projected Starters</font></font> Jose Calderon - Anthony Parker - Jorge Garbajosa - Chris Bosh - Rasho Nesterovic <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Reserves</font></font> Darrick Martin - Fred Jones - Joey Graham - Morris Peterson - Andrea Bargnani - Kris Humphries - Pape Sow <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Coach</font></font> Sam Mitchell <font size=""3""><font face=""Arial"">Injuries</font></font></div> TJ Ford - Sore Right Ankle (Day-to-Day) <div align="center"><font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Keys to the Game</font></font></div> Don't Get Ahead of Yourselves Last night was a significant moment for the Raptors, as they finally cracked .500 and achieved a measure of respectability. However, don't let the standings fool you. Despite being ranked lower, the Pacers have a better record, a better coach, and are playing with renewed enthusiasm after swinging an 8-player deal with the Warriors. This is a significant matchup, as both teams could be fighting for the same playoff spot down the road. If the Raptors want to clinch the tiebreaker, they'll need to come out with energy and intensity. Box Out The Pacers have a very strong frontcourt (O'Neal, Foster, Murphy) and several good rebounding guards (Dunleavy Jr., Granger). This may expose Toronto's weak interior defense, so the Raps will have to make an concerted effort to not give any second chances. Ultimately, this game will come down to execution and the Raptors cannot afford to bail out the opposition. <div align="center"><font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">X-Factor</font></font> </div> <div align="center">Rasho Nesterovic</div> As mentioned earlier, the Raptors must focus on slowing down the Pacers formidable interior players. Chris Bosh has shown that he is not yet a reliable post defender, so Rasho Nesterovic will most likely recieve more minutes tonight. He will be counted on to rebound and cannot give up position to the liked of O'Neal, Foster, and Murphy. <div align="center"><font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Prediction</font></font> Pacers win 98-94. <font face=""Arial""><font size=""3"">Something to look at while you wait for the game</font></font> </div>
Raptors by 4. Tough game, but Raptors end up pulling out in the end. Bosh with a huge night against Jermaine.
Anthony Parker threw down 2 crazy dunks...one on Jermaine O'Neal's head, the other on Murphy. Nobody is steppin up for the Raps tonight. I can't wait for T.J. to come back. Not so much cause I miss his game, but i'm really done with watching DMart. I like calderone, but he looks gassed or something, he's playing monster minutes and he isn't running the show like he did when coming off the bench. He still looks good mind you. I'd love to see him start and T.J. off the bench.
Our offence is really stagnant. We need TJ's driving and playmaking back. Well our .500 record was good while it lasted for a whole day.
Wow, todays game reminded me of last years season. Our offence was so forced, and we created nothing. Everyone was just taking jumpshots.
I only have one thing to say about this crapfest of a game: Granger would've fit in real nice on this team.
Damn, for someone who can't get up that high, Parker already has about 5 posterizations this year. Sick.
Terrible game for the raptors. All around we settled for too many 3 point shots and didn't rotate or close out on defense. There was too much gambling going on too, Indiana was always able to drive and kick because we were bringing the extra man for no reason in many cases. Jose Calderon to his credit is playing great for the most part, but we're really asking too much of him to play 40 minutes a night every game TJ is out. He's clearly conditioned himself better this year than last year (where he burned out after 20 games or so), but it looks like he's lost a step and is a little tired playing so many minutes. D-mart is absolutely useless, I have no clue why we have this guy on our roster (other than he's Sam Mitchell's friend). We can't count on him to come in and take up any significant amount of minutes and when he does play he takes more ill-advised shots than anyone else on the roster. This is supposed to be veteran leadership? We should cut him and look for someone on a 10 day that can at least come in and play a few minutes a game. I'm not expecting anything amazing but I'm sure we could be doing better than the fat guy we have right now. Maybe there is something I am missing here, but Sam Mitchell once again fell into the "I forgot about Rasho" category for me tonight. Considering how well he played in the first half I don't understand why we glued him to the bench. Another blunder I thought was failing to realize when to call a timeout and getting the game back under control in the 2nd half. There were clearly some defensive problems out there that never got addressed and they pretty much sank our ship. One last thing I will point out is that the rotation tonight sucked. Asides from the whole Rasho thing that happens every second game and Calderon and Bosh being played to death, the off guards we have can't seem to get any consistent burn on the floor. Playing Mopete and Fred Jones 13 minutes a piece is stupid because neither is really going to adjust to the game in that period of time. Bargnani tonight flat out sucked, nothing else to it. Out of all the shots he took, the majority of them were forced. On the one hand I like the kid's confidence, but on the other hand he's starting to remind me of antwan walker with his chucking. Defense tonight for him was also sub par. At one point Indiana rotated the ball to the top of the arc for a 3 pointer and Bargnani (who failed to close out) was standing 2 ft away form Joey Graham covering nothing.
There's a lot of focus on how we settled for a crappy offense, but I thought the story of the game was our defense. The Pacers shot 11/22 from downtown while we played a soft zone defense for the majority of the game. Also, as a13x mentioned already, Rasho was doing a great job of stopping Indiana's inside game and in true-Mitchell fashion, he was completely forgotten later on. btw, I think the league's figured out Bargnani. I don't think he's hit his ceiling or anything, but the way we use him as become predictable, easy to stop, and almost a liability.
