<font size=""4"">Bargnani rings in</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Raptors assistant general manager Maurizio Gherardini, who was Bargnani's GM last year at Benetton Treviso, told the Toronto Sun last night from Bologna, where he was attending the Italian Cup, that the plan is for Bargnani to play for Italy this summer, if he is healthy and rested. </div> <font size=""4"">Raps get feel for playoffs</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"The guys saw how it's going to be. Intense, every possession. One possession could cost us the game," Peterson said of the second half of the season. "We're going to have to go through and find ways to win these playoff-type games. It's plain and simple. I can sit up here and say how it's going to be, but every experience is different. We're going to have to be more mentally ready now. This is a team (Detroit) that we could possibly face in the playoffs, so we're gong to have to find a way to win." </div> <font size=""4"">Raptors preparing a mental playoff picture</font> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Raptors are headed into relatively uncharted waters beginning with tomorrow's game in Chicago, a date here Wednesday with New Jersey and then the 29-game run to the post-season that starts right after next weekend's all-star break.</div> <font size=""4"">The Raptors have passed their mid-term, but there's still more work to do</font>. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"We've been in a million of these games man, together," smiled Billups in reference to the close victory against the Raptors. "We know exactly what to do at what point in every game, you know when we're down, when we're up, when it's close, we've been through every situation so when we get in those kind of grinds and those kinds of games, we know what to do." Billups concurred that the only way for the Raptors to learn is go through it themselves. "It's about experience and fighting a lot of different battles," remarked the one-time Toronto Raptor. "A game like tonight, they should learn a lot from. They should watch the tape and see what we did late in games and how we stayed poised and how we stuck to our principles defensively."</div> <div align="center"><font size=""5""><u>Sunshine Girl - 2/12/07</u></font> </div>
