Week 15 – Catching up with the Raptors Well, let’s see, we lost Chris Bosh for a few games, lost to the Magic, the Cavaliers, the Lakers, the Hornets and the Grizzlies, but we recovered to beat the Al Jefferson – less Timberwolves, but barely. This team is now 20 – 34 and they play the Spurs, then have the All-Star break to rest, though they should have training camp at this point and start over! Then they have the Cavs again and the Knicks a couple of times, then the Wolves again, then the second game against the Suns to end the month. Not much to look forward to at this point. The Magic game – Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard had huge games as the Raptors offered little resistance. Jose Calderon lead the team with 16 points while Chris Bosh had 9 rebounds. Joey Graham had the first of a series of solid games this past week. Lost by 23 and it was flattering at best! The Cavaliers game – LeBron James – 33 points, monster block on Chris Bosh, Wally Szczerbiak – 16 points, Daniel Gibson – 18 points off of the bench. The Raptors looked awful again as the Cavaliers toyed with them the whole game after opening a 22 point 1st quarter lead. For the Raptors, Chris Bosh had a good game with 29 points while Jermaine O’Neal offered 20. Anthony Parker was solid with 8 assists. Lost by 18 but really had no chance after that first quarter as LeBron sat a lot of 2nd half. The Lakers game – Kobe Bryant – 36 points, Pau Gasol – 31 points, Lamar Odom – 13 points and Derrick Fisher had 12 points as the Lakers continued the season without Andrew Bynum, but just keep rolling on. The Raptors played an ispired game and kept within reach for most of the game but couldn’t climb all the way back as Jermaine O’Neal, Joey Graham and Andrea Bargnani all had more than 20 points each in the loss. Chris Bosh added 12 and left with a sore knee. Anthony Parker started for the ailing Jose Calderon and added 18 points and 9 assists. Jamario Moon scored 2 points as Joey G started. Roko Ukic added 8 points and 2 assists off the bench. Loss by 8. The Hornets game – No Chris Paul should bring joy to the hearts of opposing coaches, but the Raptors could not find a way to stop Peja Stojakovic who scored 28 points and David West, James Posey and Rasual Butler all added 17 points. The Raptors held an 83 – 75 lead with 6:52 left and held an 11 point margin, but still lost. The key to the game was the 3 point scoring of the Hornets who hit 15 while the Raptors could only manage 7. Loss by 9 The Grizzlies game – Probably the worst NBA game I have seen in the past 10 years or so, it should be removed from all highlight packages as game not played and the fans should all be refunded and offered therapy. Two bad teams playing badly. Only 6 players score 10 or more points – Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo and Hakim Warrick for the Grizzlies and Jose Calderon, Joey Graham, and Jason Kapono for the Raptors. With a combined score of 148 points, it was painful to watch. Marc Gasol played ok, but looked like a very old man all game, while the Raptors just keep fading. Loss by 8. The Timberwolves game – The Raptors played a bit better, but without Al Jefferson, this Wolves team is bad. Randy Foye dropped 33 while 5 other ‘wolves scored double digits – Mike Miller, Sebastian Telfair, Kevin Love, Ryan Gomes, and Rodney Carney, while the Raptors were lead by Jermaine O’Neal with 22 and Joey Graham playing well with Chris Bosh down scoring a season high 24 points. Jason Kapono scored 18 as did Andrea Bargnani. Win by 8. Raptors close the week with a 20 – 34 record second last in the Eastern Conference, but only 5 games behind the Bucks for 8th overall. With the Bobcats, the Pacers, the Knicks and the Bulls and the Nets between us and 8th, the prospects are not good for this team. At least the Wizards are in worse shape than we are at this point. Thank goodness the all-star break is on now.
