<div align="center"> - <font color="Navy"><font color="Navy"> Detroit Pistons @ Toronto Raptors TV: Toronto (TSN), Detroit (FSN) Venue: Air Canada Centre Date: Sunday, April 3rd, 2005 TipOff time: 6:10 PM Eastern</font></font> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">- Starting LineUps</font> <font color="Black">The Raptors: </font> <font size="1">Rafer Alston-Morris Peterson-Jalen Rose-Chris Bosh-Rafael Araujo</font> <font color="Black">6th Man:</font> <font size="1">Donyell Marshall</font> <font color="Black">Coach:</font> <font size="1">Sam Mitchell</font> Team Leaders: <font face="Comic Sans MS">Scoring:J.Rose-17.8 Rebounds:C.Bosh-8.8 Assists:R.Alston-6.7 FG%:M.Bonner-54.4% FT%:J.Rose-84.2% 3PT%:M.Bonner-44.6% Blk:C.Bosh-1.3 Steals:R.Alston-1.6</font> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="6">.......</font></font> <font color="Black">The Pistons:</font> <font size="1">Chauncey Billups-Rip Hamilton-Tayshaun Prince-Rasheed Wallace-Ben Wallace</font> <font color="Black">6th Man:</font> <font size="1">Antonio McDyess</font> <font color="Black">Coach:</font> <font size="1">Larry Brown</font> Team Leaders: <font face="Comic Sans MS">Scoring:R.Hamilton-19.5 Rebounds:B.Wallace-12.1 Assists:C.Billups-6.0 FG%:A.McDyess-52.7% FT%:C.Billups-89.9% 3PT%:R.Dupree-50.0% Blk:B.Wallace-2.4 Steals:B.Wallace-1.4 </font> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Keys To The Game:</font> - Guard Defence: Hamilton and Billups have killed us every time they came here. Rip is very quick off screens and Billups always connects with him and Prince for backdoor passes. Our guards must be alert and not get caught on screens. - Contain The Offensive Boards Ben, Sheed, and Ty have abused us on the offensive board this season. Must put a body on them, because we don't have the athletic ability down low to outjump them. We have to play fundemental defence and put a body between them and the basket. - Quality Shots: You're not going to get many 2nd chance points against a quality defensive team like the Pistons. So we have to be selective in the shots we take and this starts with Rafer. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="6">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Game Matchup:</font> vs Chris Bosh vs Ben Wallace Despite the great improvement in Ben Wallace's offensive arsenal, he's still not a cosistent threat offensively. Chris should give him the 15+ Foot jumper and make sure he puts a body on him to prevent him from going to the offensive glass where he leads the league. Offensively, Bosh can't be intimidated and must go hard at Big Ben. He could use his jump shot as a tool, but he can't rely on it. If he isn't confident and strong going to the basket, he'll have problems all night. So Chris has to be aggressive and smart when going against the best defensive player in the league. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Green">The X-Factor:</font> Donyell Marshall Making his first start this season at the Palace versus the Pistons, 'Yell came out agressive and shot the ball pretty well. Now that CB4 is back, Raps will look for the same thing from Marshall considering he apllies so many mismatches against opposing teams. The only thing he has to do is improve his shot selection a little bit, otherwise whenever he's semi open, he should take the shot. <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> <font color="Red">Say What?! (Prediction)</font> I may be going on a limb here, but I really feel we can win this game. With Lrry Brown coming back, it definityly gives an edge to the Pistons, but with the home cooking, the Raps will steal this game. Raps win, 94-89. </div> <div align="center"> <font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="7">.......</font></font> </div>
Hmm...It's Sunday and we're at home...So we have an advantage, however, the Pistons have Brown back so they can definitely take this one. I just feel like Bosh will have a big game today, as well as Marshall, but nobody else on the Raptors will step up. I hope they prove me wrong, but I see Detroit taking this 97-90. <u>Prediction(s):</u> Chris Bosh: FGM-FGA 9-16, FTM-FTA 11-12, 27 Points, 13 Rebounds, 2 Blocks Chauncey Billups: 21 Points, 5 Dimes. Pape Sow gets into a fight with Ben Wallace, which results in Hoffa getting involved, but Hoffa starts fighting Pape, and then Milt comes to the rescue by creating peace. Pape then takes the basketball away from the ref and gets ejected, and takes the ball with him to the locker room. --- Interesting Fact: <div align="left"> <font size="1">Raptors point guard Milt Palacio has eight brothers and sisters and has thought about being an elementary- school teacher or principal when his playing days are through. </font> </div>
Raps lose 113-103. Donyell didn't have any points in the game. I wonder what happened there. And Chris could have had another double-double if he'd grabbed one more rebound Did you guys see Rafer singing along to the music and bobbing his head during one of the breaks? That was hilarious. I wonder what song it was.. Oh yeah..and Pape had an awesome dunk in the 4th quarter it was great to see him play. he looks pretty good so far.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If you find Delfino dead in his crib, don't believe the suecide letter.</div> I'm happy Pape got something, he's trying to get on the highlight reel. Decent game, the Raptors kept in there, but the Pistons who seem to coast against us were able to come out with the win.
Awful game by Rafer. Can't even imagine having this guy as our point guard for the next 2-3 years. Evidently he doesn't even need his teammates because he thinks he can do it all by himself.
It really looked like Rafer was out for himself last night. He got embarrased big time by Tayshaun Prince, not only did he get the block, he saved it which led to a 3 pt basket on the other end. I think thats when they really got buried.
