<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The NBA-worst Raptors (7-22) won for just the second time in 14 games at home this season, coming from behind to beat the lowly Atlanta Hawks 108-102 in the second installment of the battle for the basement. "I think the win definitely is a stepping stone for us and our fans have been waiting for this for a while," said Raptors swingman Morris Peterson, who stepped up in a big way on the night he became the Raptors' career games leader (418 games). "I think we owed it to them. All they ask is for us to come out and play hard and give 110%. When we do that, we're a pretty good team. When we don't do that, we're a bad team." </div> Raps Mo Hawks down <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It was Morris Peterson's night and Raptors coach Sam Mitchell was more than happy to present him with a verbal present. The Raptors swingman set a franchise record by playing in his 418th career game last night, surpassing the injured Alvin Williams (417). Included in that record is an NBA active-high 307 consecutive games, a number that impresses Mitchell. "It tells that Mo answers the bell every night," Peterson said. "I'm sure he's had a lot of aches and pains and bruises, but this kid really wants to play. It's tough to go out there 308 games. That's a testament to Mo and he should be proud of that." In his two years with the Raptors, Peterson has been a regular on the practice court. "I think since I've been here, I really can't recall a day where Mo missed practice because of injury," Mitchell said. "Maybe last year, maybe once. But I wouldn't bet I'm right about him missing practice." </div> <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2005/12/29/1371981-sun.html" target="_blank"> Peterson comes to play</a> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">How bad can they be? People wonder that about the Raptors, they really do. They see a star in Chris Bosh and a guard of some promise in Jose Calderon. Charlie Villanueva looks to have a solid offensive game for a rookie. Morris Peterson has morphed into a front-liner and a dependable player on the road. </div> The last word <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The game was slipping away, as so many others have already this season, and the question wasn't if the Raptors would lose but how. The Atlanta Hawks, as woebegone an NBA team as Toronto, had pulled out to an eight-point lead with eight minutes to go and all that remained to be seen was what kind of goofiness the Raptors would come up with. Would they take ridiculous shots? Forget to guard someone? Toss a few balls in the stands? Let a couple of rebounds elude their grasp? As everyone awaited the implosion, it never came.</div> Raptors show poise <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Wise and ink-stained mentors have drilled it deep into a thick skull that it's neither sound journalism nor sane judgment to go on record feeling sorry for NBA players. And who would? It's not that the multi-millionaires won't accept the sympathy. One of them or another can always be heard complaining about the food on the plane or the grind of the road or the San Antonio police department. But in a world brimming with relative poverty and despair ? and here we're thinking of the under-appreciated geniuses who slog it out on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour ? no one's in the mood to wipe away platinum-plated tears. Still, your soft-hearted correspondent started feeling a little bad for Rafael Araujo, the worst player on the worst team in basketball, last night. And it wasn't at the moment you might think ? the moment in Toronto's 108-102 win over the almost-as-woeful Atlanta Hawks when the 18,326 assembled booed Araujo lustily after he had one of his not-atypical 20 seconds of complete uselessness. In that memorable sequence, the hulking mass of hopelessness missed a layup, got a shot blocked and missed a three-foot jump hook that would have been an easy two points for anybody on the floor but him.</div> Pity poor Araujo
