Dr. J. Naismith

When Vince Carter sucks it up, plays through pain and drops 32 on you; when you have a terrible 3 point shooter taking 6 three-point attempts (Jamario); when your good 3 point shooter goes 1-8 from 3; when you can only score 90 ON THE NETS, who give up over 100 on average…then call up Tenor Saw or the Fu-Schnickens (there’s one for ya), it’s time to ring the alarm.

There were all kinds of excuses bounding around tonight, with Chuck and Leo talking about fatigue and a million other reasons why the Raptors looked like garbage, other than the fact that maybe they are. At this point, with the team looking like they are in complete disarray heading into the playoffs…sorry, backing into the playoffs, there isn’t any reason to be optimistic about the Raptors chances of getting out of the first round. They are going to have to suddenly revert to that energetic Raptor team that shows up once in a while, but every night.

Personally, I thought Jose’s move of offering to go back to the bench (or accepting it) was a classy move, but it also lacked some balls. If you know that you are a better at starting then coming off the bench, then make it known and show that you are a leader. Jose just hasn’t looked himself on a consistent basis since returning to the bench, while TJ has actually silenced many critics by playing fairly stable basketball. I hate seeing guys perform beneath their abilities and that is what Jose is doing right now.

Just so I have this straight, the Raptors can’t rebound the ball for their lives and Hump is a DNP-CD? Hell, at this point, I might even throw Gatorade Graham in there to shake things up a bit. True, you have to get set for the playoffs, but you also have to send a message to the team that you aren’t going to win anything playing like this. Hell, can we suit up Linton Johnson III? Hump’s rebounding and overall game has seriously dropped off, but it’s a little bit of chicken/egg. Did his game really drop off first, resulting in him going to the bench, or did he spend too much time on the bench, thus resulting in his poor play? The guy had two simple functions out there. Rebound and run the court. You put it past that, it’s just not going to happen for the guy. But hey, you have to admit that sometimes he gets a little too caught up in his own “game.”

Let’s just hope the Raptors are getting the losses all out now and are going to perform a miracle playoff run. Turn it into a Disney movie or something.