<div align="center"> @ <font color="Navy"><font color="Navy"> Toronto Raptors (25-34) @ Dallas Mavericks (38-20) TV: Toronto (Rogers Sportsnet Ontario & East), Dallas (UPN21 ) Venue: American Airlines Arena Date: Monday, March 7th. TipOff time: 8:40 PM est</font></font> <font color="Red">- Starting LineUps</font> The Raptors: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Rafer Alston-Lamond Murray-Jalen Rose-Chris Bosh-Rafael Araujo</font></font> 6th Man: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Donyell Marshall</font></font> Coach: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Sam Mitchell</font></font> Team Leaders: <font face="Comic Sans MS">Scoring:J.Rose-17.1 Rebounds:C.Bosh-8.5 Assists:R.Alston-6.8 FG%:M.Bonner-54.5% FT%:J.Rose-85.1% 3PT%:M.Bonner-43.2% Blk:C.Bosh-1.3 Steals:R.Alston-1.5</font> <font color="Red"><font size="1">Injuries: Morris Peterson- Questionable</font></font> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> The Mavericks: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Jason Terry-Josh Howard-Jerry Stackhouse-Keith Van Horn-Shawn Bradely</font></font> 6th Man: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Marquis Daniels</font></font> Coach: <font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Don Nelson</font></font> Team Leaders: <font face="Comic Sans MS">Scoring:D.Nowitzzki-26.9 Rebounds:D.Nowitzzki-10.1 Assists:J.Terry-5.0 FG%:E.Dampier-54.0% FT%:C.Booth-87.5% 3PT%:J.Terry-44.7% Blk:D.Nowitzki-1.6 Steals:M.Daniels-1.6 </font> <font color="Red"><font size="1">Injuries: Dirk Nowitzki- Questionable Michael Finley- Questionable Eric Dampier- Out</font></font> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Keys To The Game:</font> - Attack The Interior Van Horn and Bradely are probably the worst defensive starting front court in the history of Mavericks orgnization. Attack them early and often. Let Bosh and Rose go at them in the post and Skip must penetrate quite often. - Run Run Run Raps played terrible at San Antonio and Memphis because they mainly let their openennt dectatethe tempo therefore they only had 70 shots. We should look for easy lay ups and dunks in the fast break because Booth, Van Horn and Bradely will not run back. - Home Cookin' Chris: This is a home coming for Chris Bosh who led Lincoln High in Dallas, Texas to a 41-0 record. All his family and friends will be at the game so he has to come out loose and energized. No body on the Mavericks roster can contain Chris, specially if he plays like he did last night. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Game Matchup:</font> vs Shawn Bradely vs Rafael Araujo In the absence of Eric Dampier from the Mavs lineup, Nellie has decided to go with Bradely instead of Booth to start off games. Despite his unusual length, Bradely lacks mobility and strenght, so Hoffa must attack the boards at both ends and box out Bradely. On offence, the Raps won't be looking for him so all he has to do is clear space for Bosh, Rose and Alston to operate, get the offensive tip in's and loose balls, and if he does get the ball in a good position, he has to be confident and play his game. On defence, his main assignment is too keep Bradely off the glass, and not get caught up on screen. Also, Bradely is a good mid range shooter so Hoffa might want to contest his shots. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Green">The X-Factor:</font> Lamond Murray With the propable absence of Mo Pete and Eric being placed on the injury list, Lamond Murray will get a lot of burn tonight at Dallas. He has to take advantage of this opportunity and not take himself out of the game by forcing the issue and chucking shots out of the flow of the offence. He must rebound and "TRY" to play defence. If he does what Mitchell asks of him he'll be a key contributer to the Raps in this game. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Say What?! (Prediction)</font> After beating the Hornets last night, Bosh and the Raps takes their show to Dallas. Accompanied by a pre-game dinner prepared by Chris' mom, the Raptors should come out looking to steal a game in one of the toughest road arenas in the league. Without Nowitzki, Finley, and Dampier, all of whom killed the Raps in their meeting earlier in the season are out with different injuries. Raps steal one on the road, 107-98. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> </div>
I predict the Raps win this one, 98-95. But if Nowitzki and Finley play, they'll probably lose this game, 100-95.
Depends on if the big boys are playing. If Dirk is playing, I'd give it to the Mavs, 110 - 101. If not, I still give it to the Mavs 101 - 99 because this is a back to back on the road, and though we won our last game, it was against the Hornets.
If dirk isnt playing then i predict the raps winning 102-99, but if he is playing i think the mavs will win.
man...we shouldnt be down this much. with all the injury woes the mavs are having, we should be UP by 10, not down. bosh should be owning kvh
OUCH! bad loss we had it too, milt was doing everything he could, i feel sorry for milt, and mo. mo actually played good today, and i was like wow. but screw it the season is over.
pretty tough loss even though I dont care as much if we lose now, but every time we had the game to a 2 or 1 point defecit they kept making a basket and a run of their own. Josh Howard was good tonight for them as well as Marquis Daniels and Van Horn. Mo surprisingly had a solid game on the road, along with milt but bosh didnt really have a good game, they kept doulble teaming him every possesion he got the ball so he really never got into the game.
I think that stats like charges should be counted, because Milt is one of the blatant chargers in the game. But his name is Milt, so I can't get mad at him. Anyway, I'm happy we lost. I really hope that we scrap this season. We are too far behind and if we make a push we will likely fall short. Phili really wants to make a playoff push, with C-Webb. So I think their record will be better in remaining games, and they also have a better current record. Indiana also is going to fight to make playoffs, and New Jersey if they pull it together with Kidd, VC, and Cliff Rob/Collins could make a playoff push. (I hope they try and fall short) Right now we would get the 8th pick. If we stink it up, we could get about 6th. I want us to stink it up this year, Trade Jalen during the summer, stink it up next year, then go for playoffs. We need to seriously rebuild over the next two years. None of this 1/2 Rebuilding 1/2 Playoff push.
That was a game of turnovers, pretty dissapointing, but it happens. Bosh really struggled in this one, and Daniels and Howard made us look like highschool players.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post"> Anyway, I'm happy we lost. I really hope that we scrap this season. We are too far behind and if we make a push we will likely fall short. </div> I think so too...I mean even if we did some how to make it to the playoffs(which is damn near impossible)...we would do horrible. I would just give the rooks like Sow and Hoffa some major PT, and give the regular minutes to CB4.
