<div align="center">@ <font color="Navy">The Washington Wizards (6-5)</font>@<font color="purple">The Toronto Raptors (6-8)</font> Time: 3:00 PM Eastern Place: Air Canada Center TV: Local</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Raptors Head Coach</font> Sam Mitchell</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Raptors Projected Starting Lineup</font></div> <div align="center"> Rafer Alston, Jalen Rose, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Loren Woods</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Wizards Head Coach</font> Eddie Jordan NOTE: Eddie Jordan will not be at the game, he is in the hospital for a blood clot</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Washington's Projected Starting Lineup</font> Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Bench Factors</font> Morris Peterson(Raptors), Jarvis Hayes(Wizards)</div> <div align="center"><font size="5">Key Matchup</font> Chris Bosh vs. Antawn Jamison <font color="Purple"> Chris Bosh:</font> 14.1 points per game, 1.5 assists per game, and 7.3 rebounds per game <font color="navy">Antawn Jamison:</font> 24.4 points per game, 2.4 assists per game, and 9.4 rebounds per game</div> <font size="5">Keys to the Game</font> <font color="purple">Toronto:</font> <ul> [*]Expose Matchups- Toronto has a key advantage at the SF matchup, VC is much stronger than Jared Jeffries, if VC wants to play today then he will have a field day against the weaker and slower Jeffries [*]Force Bad Shots- Arenas and Hughes are known to take bad shots. Pressure them and force them rush passes and take shots they do not want to take. [*]Isolate Antawn- Do not let the offense run through him, if they force it to run through Arenas or Hughes, Jamison wont be as effective because he has struggled when has been the second option this year [/list] <font color="navy"> Washington:</font> <ul> [*]Run Through Antawn- They are a much better team when they let the offense run through Jamison, this game is no exception. Give him the ball early and often, I think he is stronger than Bosh and he can utilize that. [*]Guard Play- This is huge, BOTH ARENAS AND HUGHES MUST HAVE GOOD GAMES. Hughes has looked downright horrible at times this year shooting the ball, he can't force it, it has to come naturally, if he isn't feeling it then don't shoot. Same goes for Arenas. [*]2nd Chance Points- This is a universal key. It is always a key to win games, but I think it will be a bigger key tonight. Jamison, Walker, Ruffin, and Haywood all have to crash the offensive board. [/list] <font size="5"> Prediction</font> Washington pulled the game out at home the other week, and I think they will pull this one out. I take Washington by 3
Washington wins 114-109 in Overtime. Haywood and Hughes had huge games for us. Hughes with 33 points, Haywood with 22 and 10 boards. Great game by us, nice way to keep it close at the end of the game and pull it out in overtime. I will post recap and boxsore once they are up.
Times like this I am glad I have league pass, this wasn't a game I thought would be worth watching but It had to be one of the best games of the season. Got to be Larry Hughes's best ever game I would of thought, he looked like a superstar out there. The Wizards should be in good shape when Kwame returns.
Quite the game - Larry Hughes for MVP! A three pointer that he drained in the 4th quarter got mistakenly called a two (he was clearly 5 inches or so behind the line) was actually a deciding factor, along with a weird fan throwing up a towel during Washington free throws. He was ordered to stop for the game-deciding free throws by Larry Hughes, and Hughes sunk 'em both, to send it to OT. Then a very nice stretch by the Wizards in overtime got them the win. It seems the Wizards are very streaky. In the third quarter there was a nice stretch where they played good basketball - then they fell apart, turning it over, taking bad shots, settling for jumpers, not executing, and gave Toronto a 10 point lead. But behind Larry Hughes' aggressive slashing they got back into it. It really was fitting that the game was decided on a foul, because that was the momentum that the Wizards were riding - getting to the line by being aggressive. That's really the key, so far as I see it, for the Wizards for the rest of the time until they can establish their post game - slash, slash, slash, then slash some more. Force the ref to blow the whistle. Because settling for jump shots makes them a soft team. They're guard oriented right now, but they have to take advantage of that, instead of letting it work against them. Also, one last thing - Haywood looked very solid, I thought. If they can get Etan in there, and maybe get Kwame to contribute a bit, I'm not so sure they can't really contend in the soft East.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Quite the game - Larry Hughes for MVP! A three pointer that he drained in the 4th quarter got mistakenly called a two (he was clearly 5 inches or so behind the line) was actually a deciding factor, along with a weird fan throwing up a towel during Washington free throws. He was ordered to stop for the game-deciding free throws by Larry Hughes, and Hughes sunk 'em both, to send it to OT.</div> He's not a weird fan, he's the raptors "superfan", who attends all Raptor home games at that spot, and throws his towel up whenever the opposing team shoots FT's. --- Anyways, since there's no thread in the Raps forum, i'll post my thoughts here. I'll post my quick thoughts on the Raps and Wiz. The backcourt was huge. First off, Larry Hughes came up huge in the 4th and in OT. Unbelievable performance, a triple double i think? He got to the free throw line often, and made the free throws that counted. Arenas had some key baskets in the 4th and OT and a pair of back to back 3's in the first. Haywood ate the Raps up. Huge night offensively inside, taking advantage of Marshall, Bosh and Woods. I gotta admit, I didn't expect Haywood to do this again to the Raps, I though they would be prepared. For the Raps, they should of stopped running plays for Bosh at the start of the 4th. He was out of sink, and didn't deserve to be in there. It should of been Marshall, VC, Rose, Alston and Bonner/Woods. I was very happy with Vinces and Jalens performances. The Raps kept running plays at certain times, and the they took advantage against the weak guards of the Wizards. However, Carter and Rose should of gotten the ball inside everytime down court IMO. Until the Wizards came up with an answer, then Sam should of considered running something else, but Rose and Carter were running things inside for the Raps, and they went away from it. Carter took a few jumpers in the 2nd half, but other than that, he was attacking the basket and getting it done. Overall, this was a very very entertaining game. I gotta say, the 2nd best Raps game of the season as a Raps fan, just because they lost. Number 1, is the game in Utah. BTW, AllNet, if you're still checking this thread, was the game broadcast by the Wizards station or the Raps station on your League Pass?
Larry Hughes has been pretty clutch in the 4th quarter this year, if he could play like that for all 4 quarters, we would be talking about him as an allstar. I am loving Haywood's play as of late and when Kwame comes back I think this team will be a top 5 team in the east realistically. They can contend in the East if Kwame has a productive 15 pt, 9 board season.
Even without that kind of production from Kwame, I still think they can contend. The key part of the season, in my mind, will be the transition from a guard oriented game, to a more post oriented one when Kwame and Etan return.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting FFSBasketball:</div><div class="quote_post">Quite the game - Larry Hughes for MVP! A three pointer that he drained in the 4th quarter got mistakenly called a two (he was clearly 5 inches or so behind the line) was actually a deciding factor, along with a weird fan throwing up a towel during Washington free throws. He was ordered to stop for the game-deciding free throws by Larry Hughes, and Hughes sunk 'em both, to send it to OT. </div> yo man, dont be hating on Nav Bhatia. hes the raptors superfan. he is the man. he goes to all the raptors games. we all like him, he is the next best thing to the actual mascot. he and vince are close friends.
I wasn't "hating", I think it's funny how all these Raptors fans came to his defense. But I'd never seen or heard of him before, so to me, he's a "weird fan" throwing a towel. Ever seen another fan do that?
