<font size=""4"">Breathing easier</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Avoiding panic has been Sam Mitchell's main goal throughout this mini-slump and his team has followed his lead remaining calm when it seemed like many around them were losing their heads. Mitchell accused the Toronto media in his pre-game scrum of inciting some of that panic. "It seems like you guys are the ones who are panacing," Mitchell said. </div> <font size=""4"">Time to get serious</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Toronto head coach revealed yesterday that he recently sat down with Chris Bosh and T.J. Ford and tried to instill in them the importance of tightening an already close bond as the playoffs approach. "We have a lot of guys who have not been through something like this and I find myself having to sit down and have conversations with guys about there being 21 games to go, and being in the position we are, how does this guy approach that," Mitchell said. "They don't know. It can't be just 'game as usual'. No, when it gets to this stage and you see the position you've put yourself in to do, there are some minor adjustments. You almost have to -- and I hate the term "circle the wagons" because you're not trying to exclude anybody -- but you want to make sure it's all about that team and no one else is allowed in that small circle except the people that travel with you, and the people that are on your team." </div> <font size=""4"">Bosh, Raptors `back on track now'</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"It was just important we came out and got a win," said T.J. Ford. "It'll ease everything, especially when you're losing. Now everybody's back happy, you all have positive things to say. "When you're winning, everything is fine, when you're losing, you tend to try to find reasons (for blame). This win definitely helps us so there's no conflict, there's no blame, nobody's pointing fingers and we're back on track now."</div> <font size=""4"">Time for some bonding: Mitchell</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The story goes that Mitchell, who remembers himself as the final holdout in the mass shearing, was such a team guy that he had to be forcibly subdued by the Davises ? Antonio and Dale ? so the clippers could do their work. Said Mitchell: "It was just our way of saying, `Hey, we're committed to each other.' It may look silly to the rest of the world, but ... everybody's on the same page."</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Said Bosh: "Guys like Andrea (Bargnani), Rasho (Nesterovic), (Jorge Garbajosa) and Jose (Calderon), I don't think they're going to roll with it. ... And me, too. Me especially." Said Martin, who shaves his head regularly: "Guys on this team love their hair too much." But a team dinner, on the road, appears to be a possibility, even if ? as a card-carrying member of the every-man's-an-island NBA ? T.J. Ford, the starting point guard, doesn't seem sold on the merits of bonding. "I think it all starts between the lines," said Ford. "I think we're a close-knit group. Everybody has their opinion of what we should do ... but as individuals, we're going to do what we're going to do."</div> <font size=""4"">Raptors rebound against Grizzlies</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"We always seem to come up with that win when we need it," head coach Sam Mitchell said. "We've responded. That's what you have to have in the NBA, you have to have resilience. It's not going to go your way every night. You have to keep playing and stay together and stay focused." With the exception of some sloppy minutes, that was the Raptors, now 33-29, in a nutshell last night. They limited the high-scoring Grizzlies, 15-47, to 44.3-per-cent shooting, while shooting 50 per cent themselves. They counted 22 assists and held their own on the glass, all points of emphasis before the game.</div> <font size=""4"">POSITIVE THINKING</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Experience is the best teacher, as Memphis Grizzlies guard Damon Stoudamire can attest. Ten years ago, the first-ever Toronto Raptors draft pick was agitating his way out of Toronto after 2? miserable, losing National Basketball Association seasons. He had come to believe the Raptors were in a dark tunnel with no glimpse of light.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Stoudamire miscalculated. Two seasons after he left the Raptors, they were in the playoffs and one of the fastest-rising teams in the NBA.</div> <font size=""4"">Raptors bond over victory</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After a long stretch of excellent play to begin 2007, this was the first time in some time that the Raptors have had to rebound from a three-game stretch in which they lost by an average of 18.6 points. It wasn't quite quicksand, but it was still a good sign that Toronto shook off a puzzled start to move to 33- 29 on the season, matching the high for wins in any of Mitchell's three seasons.</div> <font size=""4"">Grizzlies Don't Get '48 Minute' Memo</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Memphis Grizzlies scored the first 10 points of the game and the last 18. It wasn't pretty in between. Chris Bosh had 19 points and nine rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors ended a three-game losing streak with a 94-87 victory over the NBA-worst Grizzlies on Wednesday night. Andrea Bargnani, the No. 1 pick in the draft, added 18 points for the Raptors, who led by as many as 25 points.</div> <font size=""4"">Griz fall; Gasol sets team mark</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Gasol's steady hand on offense couldn't prevent the Grizzlies from losing, 94-87, to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night in Air Canada Centre. Still, his 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting helped him become the franchise's all-time leading scorer. With 7,809 points, Gasol surpassed former Griz Shareef Abdur-Rahim (7,801) atop the list. </div> <font size=""4"">Measuring sticks</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Games like tonight?s against the Grizz are what a coach of mine used to call ?measuring sticks.? These were the games where you could measure what you were really made of, whether you were a team that could bounce back after terrible performances to beat a team you should or whether you were a team that would hang your head and play down to the teams you should beat. I guess we know which team the Raptors are. That being said, let?s start with yesterday?s ?game?. There?s no excuse for allowing a team to score over 70 points in a half. None. I don?t care how hot a team is, whether a guy is shouting ?hibachi? or what, you have to make adjustments and find a way to disrupt your opposition. There?s no secret to what happened last night. It wasn?t so much that the Wizards were on fire as it was that (once again) the Raptors couldn?t rebound. Bosh had one rebound. One. And this is a team that sent PJ back down. </div> <div align="center"><font size=""5""><u>Sunshine Girl - 3/8/07</u></font> </div>
