@ <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color="Navy">Cleveland Cavaliers ( 11-23) @ Toronto Raptors ( 17-15 ) Date: Wed, Jan 7th, 2004 Arena: Air Canada Center TipOff Time : 7:09 pm ( est ) TV( Local ) : Toronto ( Sportsnet Ontario & East), Cleveland ( FSOhio ) </font> </font> Intro: The Cleveland Cavaliers can match their road win total from last season ( 3 wins )Wednesday night as they face the Toronto Raptors. The Cavaliers has lost 15 games on the road and won a ouple against Philly and Chicago ! Their last win came last night against Don Chaney and the rejuvenated NY Knicks The Raptors in the other side are coming off a 10 point victory of Phoenix sunday afternoon, with Air Canada leading the way, the Raptors are looking their second consecutive home win infront of a sellout crowd In the first meeting of the season between these two teams, Vince Carter scored 22 points in Toronto's 100-93 win at Cleveland on December 9. LeBron James led Cleveland with 18 points. .......... Starting LineUps : The Raptors : Jalen Rose/Alvin Williams/Vince Carter/Donyell Marshall/Chris Bosh 6th Man : Morris peterson Coach : Kevin O'Neill ....... The Cavaliers : LeBron James/Kedrick Brown/Eric Williams/Carlos Boozer/Zydrunas Ilgauskas 6th Man : Tony Battie Coach: Paul Silas ....... Marquee Matchups : vs Jalen Rose vs LeBron James In my opinion, this matchup was the turning point of Dec 9th meeting between these two teams, Jalen managed to contain LeBron very well, look for KO to go with the same matchups tonight, and Jalen has his work cut for him, he has to make James take that contested long shot, and try stop him from penetrating! .. vs Chris Bosh vs Zydrunas Ilgauskas Chris was outplayed by Ilgauskas last game, Silas called plays for him early and that was a weakness for us, the help defence has to " help " , we're gonna see alot of doubl teaming on Z, which will obviously create open shots for the other Cavs, at the other end , Chris MUST use his quickness to beat Big Z ! .. vs Vince Carter vs Eric Williams Eric Williams and Kedrick will probably switch on Vince, Vince has to drive it on either of them, they are not as quick as him, try to intiate the foul, by that he'll have some open jumpers, when Vince was guarded by Williams in an early game this season against Boston, he put up a 35 point game, in the definsive end, try to get out of foul trouble because it effected his game in previous games ..... Keys To The Game : * Rebound, rebound, rebound, rebound, and more rebounding ! Cavs are a tops rebounding team, and we've faced problems against good rebounding team in this young season, get to the glass and clean up the mass, because it might turn out to be a Cavs blowout if they control the glass as usual ! * Help The Rookie, Chris can't take Big Z by himself with getting in foul trouble, double team him and try to the get the ball out of his hands ! * Contain LeBron , PERIOD ! * Aggressive offence , driving to the basket espicially from Vince and Alvin, make the game simple ! .. My Take : If the Raptors follow the keys I mentioned, there's no reason why we can't win this one, I say Raptors by +11 !
The first half is in the books, and the Raptors are up by 3 .. 42-39 .. Raps are shooting 50% from the field, while Cleveland are shooting 44.7 % ..James got 11 points and 4 assissts .. and Rose is leading the Raptors with 10 points and 3 rebounds Raptors are turning the ball over a bit too much .. Archibald saw his first ( and Only ) minute as a Raptor, he came and fouled LeBron ( foul to give ) at the end of the half .. the second half will start soon
Carter is being very unselfish + im getting frustrated by the fact that O'Neil always takes him out when he gets only 2 fouls. He should let him play i say until he has 3 fouls because his playing time ends up getting so diminished that he can't even get into a flow of the game. Hopefully 2nd half will be better for him.....
Carter should stop taking cheap fouls in the first place He has committed way too many fouls early in some games, he has to stop reaching
Raptors Win. I dunno if this was a good game or a bad game for Vince. He did the cleanest windmill ever! That was just sick wickid and nasty! Donyell Marshall with another great game with 14 points and 13 boards, and what can I say about Lonny? Wow!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting VCarter15:</div><div class="quote_post">What a windmill by Vince... That was nasty!!</div> I beat you to the post
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AirJordan:</div><div class="quote_post">That was just sick wickid and nasty! </div> haha, a chuck swirsky follower. lol jk i love it when chuck says that!
Where are the rest of the posts? Vince was doing horrible in the first three quarters, but in true superstar fashion, he showed up in the fourth and especially in the last couple minutes. Nice Windmill! Lonny deserves a lot of props for his play today. People may not realize this but KO has COMPLETE control of this Raptors team. This guy has the complete package. Knows when and when not to play guys on the floor and takes no ish from anybody.
I honestly think that this game was a bit of a fluke. We couldn't hit a bucket for sooo many times and still, we come up with a win. It's Clevelands fault for not capatilizing on our struggling shots. ALSO, the #1 rebounding team in the league only had 3 more team rebounds than us!!!! That was probably the most impotant stat of the game right there. I hope Bosh recovers quickly from his injury...he was doing really well until his ankle went down awkwardly. BTW...to whom did O'Neil say "I don't give a f__k about him after the comments on the game? I didn't catch the name.
if the raps played that horribly against any other team, it would have been a loss. aside from Lonny and mo pete we looked like garbage, i hope we get our act together for the next game
I agree with dj. The raps have some serious soul searching to do. This team has no identity. They were a defensive team at the beginning of the season. Then the trade and all of a sudden they were one of the more offensive teams. Now they barely score 80 for the last couple of games. Don't get me wrong I love defense, but I like a team that is consistent. One that knows their style of play and executes. This team goes out every game and you never know what you will get. Will Carter drive to the hoop? Will he take 20 feet jump shots all night? Will MoPete be hot or will he be 1 for 7 all from behind the arc? The only consistent thing about this team is that they only play hard in the 4th quarter. They lack the killer instinct that would have killed a team like the cavs last night. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how they can get to that level. Something is missing. Maybe it's just more experience playing with each other. Not sure, but this team has to turn a corner if they are going to compete in the playoffs.
