Raptors @ Hawks http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/terry_stotts.jpg"> Raptor Probable Starting Lineups PG: Jalen Rose/Jason Terry SG: Alvin Williams/Boris Diaw SF: Morris Peterson*/Stephen Jackson PF: Donyell Marshall/Shareef Abdur-Rahim C: Chris Bosh/Theo Ratliff *Mo Pete in for the injured Vince Carter (day-to-day). Injury Lists Toronto Raptors Eric Montross (IL-retired) Michael Bradley (IL) Atlanta Hawks Obina Ekezie (IL) Terrel Brandon (IL) Alan Henderson (IL) <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Toronto (20-17) at Atlanta (11-29) 7:00 pm EST ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Toronto Raptors may be without Vince Carter on Saturday when they visit the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. Carter suffered a strained right quadriceps after getting fouled attempting a dunk in the first quarter of the Raptors' 78-74 overtime triumph at New Orleans on Thursday, their fourth win in six games. The leader in All-Star Game voting, Carter has appeared in all 37 games this season, averaging 21.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists. Jalen Rose, who led the Raptors with 20 points, sent the game into overtime with a basket with one second left. Donyell Marshall had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Alvin Williams added 16 points for Toronto, which is 1-1 on a four-game road trip. The Hawks have lost four of their last five games, including an 85-78 setback at Indiana on Wednesday in which they hung tough until the final minutes. </div> NBA.com Preview Keys to the Game From a Raptor's Perspective -Share the Ball: The Raptors, without Vince, will need to share the ball if seeking a win tonight. Vince Carter is listed as day-to-day, who normally took the most shots, so with that absence they'll need to get some good ball movement in order to find the open man. -Stay out of foul trouble: Once again the Raptors are facing a bigger front court, so in order to contain them defensively, they need to stay out of foul trouble. -Get to the basket: By driving the ball it will result in easier points, a higher shooting percentage, and most importantly; it will get you to the line. The Raptors need to do this in order to win big. thefranchise3's Prediction: Raptors by 8
Raptors by 5-10... Hawks have been struggling, being blown out by the Jazz and Lakers...hopefully they continue to struggle against T.O and it isnt as close as last time
Raps are getting killed. They are lucky to only be down by 6. I cant stand when Curry plays power forward. He cant guard Shareef.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kid Canada:</div><div class="quote_post">Raps are getting killed. They are lucky to only be down by 6. I cant stand when Curry plays power forward. He cant guard Shareef.</div> You can never underestimate a team IMO. I'm suprised of the Hawks playing lately. Maybe that big loss got them going. Hawks by 2
It's started off with the win over the Spurs,they played the Pacers real tough a few days ago and have some confidence.Hawks problem is down to poor coaching to be honest.The talent is there..I certainly don't like to see them struggle with my boy Sjax on that team.Hopfully they can get some more wins.
man, what a sad effort from the raps...jalen kept jacking up ugly deep jumpers with plenty of time on the clock, and they simply didnt go in. thats like a turnover. raps really should have come out of atl with a win. we need to string a few wins together, and this was a perfect opportunity. really upsetting
Damn .. finally Shereef could hit some late game shots ! .. The only bright spots of tonight's games .. were Alvin's play and Chris' somehow successful return. .. Jalen took some contested tough shots when there were 19 seconds on the shot clock almost ! ..Ugly game.. let's get ready for the Knicks ..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting eginobili20:</div><div class="quote_post">god i nevr thought we'd lose this game. What an opportunity yeah!</div> NO One did
It should be no surprise you lost this game,without Carter you are barely a 70 points per game team.Same applies when Rose or Marshall don't play.Not enough depth to replace what those players may give you.
I still think it was an awful loss without Carter, it was certainly a winable game, they just came short, thanks to Abdur-Rahim actually being clutch for once! <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ATLANTA 75, TORONTO 70 ATLANTA (Ticker) -- After a futile start by both teams, Shareef Abdur-Rahim provided a little excitement at the end. Abdur-Rahim made two big baskets in the final 74 seconds as the Atlanta Hawks trudged their way to a 75-70 victory over the Toronto Raptors, who played without superstar Vince Carter. The first quarter was anything but pretty as the teams combined for just 24 points, the second-fewest in an opening quarter in the shot-clock era. It was sloppy throughout, but the Hawks were able to make the plays when it counted. Abdur-Rahim sank a jumper with 1:14 remaining to give the Hawks a 68-65 lead, then converted from the outside again 34 seconds later for a five-point cushion.</div> NBA.com Recap Box Score
We just have to get used to games without Carter and the other important player which we didnt have to for a long time
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AirJordan:</div><div class="quote_post">This pisses me off. Can't they win any games without Carter playing a whole game??</div> Yeah, I wanna break something right now.
nono, we have to keep cool guys, it will work, look at the lakers right now, they dont have the f4 and they work and the guys we have are no worse than the young guys over there so just keep relaxed. After a few games its gonna be ok believe me
Man...i can't believe noone has said anything about our atrocious free-throw shooting. Bosh has really struggled with his free-throws. At the start of the season, he was pretty consistent at knocking them down 70-80% of the time. Now...it's just getting ugly. If he can't pick up his free-throw %, it'll really hurt both his effectiveness and the performance of the team.
Do you see what a big difference Carter adds to the Raps? Obviously no playoffs without him, aka Damon Stoudamire era. No one should ever think the raps could ever make it to the playoffs without Carter. If it werent for Carter, Raps wouldn't ever have been in the playoffs and the fans wouldn't even have playoffs in their mind either. We're not even fighting for last spot, we're fighting for homecourt advantage. Without Vince, I probably wouldn't even watch the raptors. Neither would many of our current fans either, cuz even tho they say they might, after watching all losses they'd eventually lose interest.
NO no wait intrepid, raptors are a team, not some people with one star!!! Basketball is first of all team sport. Sure, without Carter it wouldnt be as cool and fun watching Raptors cause there s less action, but what I personally love is just the team spirit in basketball, even if we wouldn't get into the playoffs without Carter, I would always support Raps and watch them. Once Raptors, always Raptors. Its the same with Lakers, now they dont have Kobe and stuff the people are not better than Raps right now, but they get somethin together as well. So why can't we? The guys in our team have the ability to play well in a team without Carter (not as good yeah but so?) they just have to need some more shooting practice and strategy and all that, it all doesnt look very good. Why? In my opinion ... O neill, i never doubted his ability but maybe he's not on track yet. Well, why does Phil Jackson gets the young troup at L.A. working but we can't? Well, give us some time, thats what we need, thats what i always tell myself if somethings not going how we want it to like Raps gainst Hawks, were Bosh wouldnt let the freethrows go in. I was indeed very disppointed Frustrating to see freethrows not going in) But well, freethrows can as well decide a game (hornets )
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting eginobili20:</div><div class="quote_post">NO no wait intrepid, raptors are a team, not some people with one star!!! Basketball is first of all team sport. Sure, without Carter it wouldnt be as cool and fun watching Raptors cause there s less action, but what I personally love is just the team spirit in basketball, even if we wouldn't get into the playoffs without Carter, I would always support Raps and watch them. Once Raptors, always Raptors. Its the same with Lakers, now they dont have Kobe and stuff the people are not better than Raps right now, but they get somethin together as well. So why can't we? The guys in our team have the ability to play well in a team without Carter (not as good yeah but so?) they just have to need some more shooting practice and strategy and all that, it all doesnt look very good. Why? In my opinion ... O neill, i never doubted his ability but maybe he's not on track yet. Well, why does Phil Jackson gets the young troup at L.A. working but we can't? Well, give us some time, thats what we need, thats what i always tell myself if somethings not going how we want it to like Raps gainst Hawks, were Bosh wouldnt let the freethrows go in. I was indeed very disppointed Frustrating to see freethrows not going in) But well, freethrows can as well decide a game (hornets )</div> Yeah, you are quite right too, I enjoy watching them without Carter, when they can pull it together and play as a team on an equal level. Its too bad Jalen couldnt' do much last night. Im sure when it hits playoffs, then we'll see him be better, like Van Exel
