Toronto Raptors (25-31) vs Washington Wizards (16-38) Wednesday February 25, 2004 7:00 p.m. EST Venue: Air Canada Centre Probable Starting Lineups PG: Milt Palacio* (TOR)/Gilbert Arenas (WAS) SG: Roger Mason* (TOR)/Juan Dixon (WAS) SF: Morris Peterson* (TOR)/Jerry Stackhouse (WAS) PF: Donyell Marshall (TOR)/Kwame Brown (WAS) C: Chris Bosh (TOR)/Brendan Haywood (WAS) *in for an injured player Injury Report <u>Toronto</u> Vince Carter Alvin Williams Jalen Rose Lonny Baxter Michael Curry <u>Washington</u> Larry Hughes Mitchell Butler Chris Whitney <ul> [*]Get Mo Pete Flowing Early: When Mo Pete gets his "mojo going" like Chuck Swirsky says, hes very hard to stop. For some instant offense Mo has to find his groove behind the arc to keep the game close. [*]Contain Haywood and Kwame: The Raptors need to do a good job in defending these two in the post because these high percentage shooters can really take over a game. In the last six games the Raptors have given up close to 50 rebounds per game, Bosh and Marshall need to do an excellent job on the glass to prevent this from happening again. [*]Limit turnovers: The Raptors need to be smart with the ball and try to limit turnovers to limit the Wizards fast break chances.[/list] <font color="red">thefranchise3's Prediction:</font> Finally the Raptors might get a break tonight at home, because they face an inconsistent Wizards team. If the Raptors play smart basketball I actually think they can win this game. This is the first time I've picked the Raptors to win in a while, Raptors by 3.
^I woulda taken that prediction..fif nto for our weakened Roster. I hope some of our other players like MAson and Moiso step up and astart brinign some more skills to the game. I'm still taking the safe route andd saying washington by 3. If I picekd Wahsington was to lose, iw oud say Raptors by 7.
Tough loss. Jerry Stackhouse only made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Raptors a chance. 13.5 seconds left, no timeouts. Imbound goes into Roger Mason... This is when its gets ugly: Mason passes to Pargo, Pargo doing useless dribbles on the right wing... continuing to do so... continuing... continuing... 2 seconds left (uh oh, he should have passed - 5 seconds ago). Instead he decides to jack up a heavily defended three ball, which eventually costs us the game. There was 3 different occassions where the play was similar, and with a forced shot by Pargo. They may have actually had a shot at winning if he could only pass the ball (refering to the last play). Damn, they need to get healthy.
How was Pargo's overall performance. I flipped on the game during the Last Q. He seemed to be wastning a lot of clock that could have been used otherwise. It was a very tough loss, GIlber started to take shots, but there were still chances. Atleast we are kept the game close.
Man, with Pargo taking up the clock like that who needs Milt Falacio? Carter needs to come back quick to help out this club. Donyell Marshall can't do it on his own
Now i dont think raps are going to make playoffs... its embarrassing to score 28 points in one half...
Man, I can't help but think if only we got a few calls from the refs. Such as the Arenas charge ( great defenisve play by Mo Pete), that we could've won the game. Really sad to see us lose this one, it will come abck to haunt us later on - im sure of it.
