<div align="center"> <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><span style="color:#CE364F"><span style="font-family:Impact">Atlanta</span> </span></span><span style="color:#CE364F">(9-5)</span> vs. <span style="color:#c8362d"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><span style="font-family:Impact">Toronto</span></span></span> <span style="color:#c8362d">(7-7)</span> </div> <div align="center"> When: Friday November 28th, 2008 @ 7:00PM EST Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON TV/Radio: TSN, FAN 590 </div> <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Impact"><u>THOUGHTS ON THE GAME</u></span></div></span> Two years ago, the Toronto Raptors looked somewhat similar to the '07 Hawks. Both were young, under-the-radar teams that played to their strengths and had the ability to overachieve against more talented teams. They inspired a lot of hope and optimism amongst their fanbase. When you compare the trajectories of both teams after those seasons, it just emphasizes how disappointing the past two seasons have been. Atlanta has truly built upon that epic playoff series against the Celtics, playing consistently and vaulting themselves into the status of "contender." The '06 Raptors neglected their weaknesses in favour of bolstering their strengths. Their chemistry and energy, once strengths, have deteriorated and become significant problems. What we've seen is a regression from a positive team culture based on effort and unselfishness, to a negative one that's fostered underachieving and frustration. The fact that the Hawks will be favourites in these matchups for a while to come further emphasizes this. We've all been focused on how the Raptors have failed to live up to expectations of late. But that's kind of led us to overlook a similar trend throughout the Eastern Conference. The number of moves during the offseason led many to proclaim that this year we'd see an elimination of the disparity between the East and West. Now look at the standings and the way these teams are playing. I think we can legitimately claim that Boston and Cleveland haven't missed a beat and remain serious championship contenders. Orlando has a comparable record but doesn't look a whole lot different from the team that couldn't beat either in the playoffs. Detroit was once in that group, but they've struggled since the Iverson-Billups trade and look to be a step below those two. Atlanta started off on fire but has cooled off since and can be placed alongside Detroit. After that, you have a whole lot of mediocrity and disappointment. Philadelphia was even more highly touted than Toronto and they've looked worse than us with a 7-8 record. Washington has regressed to the worst in the conference and has fired their coach as a result. At .500, Toronto tops the rest of the East and is still 2nd in the Atlantic. <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Impact"><u>STARTING LINEUPS</u></span></div></span> <div align="center"> <span style="color:#CE364F">Mike Bibby - Joe Johnson - Marvin Williams - Al Horford - Zaza Pachulia</span> <span style="color:#c8362d">Jose Calderon - Anthony Parker - Jamario Moon - Chris Bosh - Andrea Bargnani</span></div> <span style="font-family:Impact"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><div align="center"><u>KEY MATCHUP</u></div></span></span> <div align="center"> <span style="color:#CE364F">Mike Bibby</span> vs. <span style="color:#c8362d">Jose Calderon</span></div> I'm not going to pretend that Jose can play good enough defense to shut down Bibby. He's shown no indication that he can do, to this point. What Jose has to do is play smarter on the defensive end. Against Charlotte, we saw signs of this: he moved off the proper players, led opponents into help, and was active without reaching. Against Bibby, he'll have to be more conscious of his ability to shoot the 3 and double the post player less often. More important than any defensive contribution however, Calderon has to play better offensively. This entails more than just distributing the ball, because we know he can rack up 9-10 assists on any given night. That's no longer praiseworthy. Jose has to look for his shot and drive to the bucket off the pick-and-roll to ensure that Atlanta respects our offensive potential more. In the last game against the Hawks, the lack of scoring from our backcourt was arguably just as responsible for the loss as their lack of defense. <div align="center"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><span style="font-family:Impact"><u>LEO RAUTINS' INSIGHTFUL THOUGHT OF THE DAY</u></span></span></div>
Jermaine's still a game-time decision, but he didn't practice yesterday so I have my doubts that he'll suit up. I think everyone has their minds on the upcoming West coast road trip more than anything. There's no reason for Jamario Moon to continue starting over Joey Graham, but I've yet to hear news of a switch there. Smitch's random loyalties get so annoying.
Nice hot chicks. I don't mind Moon starting but I hope Joey gets a significant amount of time of the bench to continue to prove himself. This game is gonna be huge for us.
Sweetness. I just don't think Moon feels any reason to work on his game unless he gets a very obvious sign from Sam that he has to. The last time he got that sort of signal was when he was demoted to the bench in favour of Bargnani, and he proceeded to play fairly well off the bench for the next few games. If you reward his incompetence, he assumes that its alright to keep playing the same way.
