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is Don't play dumb with me. It's a game you can't
win.
Cram it up your cramhole!
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Living in a van down by the river
Posts: 15,843
Representing:
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Daily Raptor Dish - 08.03.10
Raps foiled by Philly
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A sense of uneasiness has crept inside the Raptors, a feeling of impending doom if the team’s attention to detail continues to be ignored.
For now, there’s no danger of missing the playoffs, but the danger lies in the Raptors’ inability to seize the moment.
Staring at a four-game Western swing that tips off Tuesday in Los Angeles against the reigning champion Lakers, the last thing the Raptors needed was to get wiped out on their home floor.
The Raptors weren’t just beaten, they were exposed.
It wasn’t so much their deficiencies on defence, their refusal to attack the basket and get to the line, their uncharacteristically poor decision-making or sloppy ball-handling.
What was alarming was the team’s mind-set, an approach to the way they play that must be addressed and corrected.
And the quicker, the better.
As Antoine Wright correctly pointed out in the aftermath of Toronto’s 114-101 loss to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, there’s a chance a team that once looked to be a lock for post-season play may no longer be a playoff player.
“If we don’t change this, we’ll be looking in from the outside,” Wright said. “We can’t afford to be losing games like this. Our margin for error is so slim.
“We have to figure it out. We just can’t expect to win games by just showing up. We have to somehow find a way to channel our energy in the right place.”
It was felt the return of Chris Bosh would
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Timing off for Bosh
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At least Chris Bosh has something to build on as he returns to imposing his will on games.
It certainly will take time for Bosh to get his wind back and to get his legs underneath him.
It certainly will help the Raptors’ cause if he reverts to his all-star form in a hurry, but all things considered, Bosh said he felt okay in his return Sunday from a seven-game layoff.
An ankle sprain sidelined Bosh for six games, while a stomach virus kept him out of the lineup on Friday when he had been set to make his comeback.
In his absence, the Raptors were 3-4.
“I felt all right,” Bosh said after the Raptors were downed by the Philadelphia 76ers 114-101. “It’s just like any other game coming back from a little absence.
“It’s a little tough just getting the legs back, but I think it was a decent effort. I’m just happy to start playing again.”
There was an anxious moment when Bosh fell to the floor when he got tangled up with a Sixer.
He favoured his ankle and was forced to make a quick trip to the locker room.
Turns out he needed to get his ankle retaped.
Bosh wasn’t demanding the ball and neither was he drawing defenders like he normally does when healthy.
For only the second time this season, he didn’t make a single trip to the charity stripe.
Bosh played nearly 33 minutes and recorded his 40th double-double of the season.
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Raptor alarmed by lack of team focus
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The loss, achieved with a distinct lack of passion and purpose, dropped Toronto to sixth in the NBA's Eastern Conference at 32-29 and hardly comfortably. There are teams clawing at them from behind – Miami, Chicago and Charlotte aren't going to go away – while the Milwaukee Bucks have already passed them.
Embarking on a four-game trip to face the Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers that starts Tuesday in Los Angeles isn't going to make it any easier for the Raptors.
"Milwaukee is playing great; Chicago's playing great," Wright said. "Those are teams that are right with us now and they're fighting for that fifth spot. There's not that much margin for error right now; you lose a game like this, you can go from fifth to seventh or even eighth and you don't want to be fighting to get back in the hunt."
The Raptors were a step slow and a beat behind all day against the Sixers; they walked when they needed to run, processed situations far too slowly and, when the game was truly in the balance, did nothing right.
Somehow getting back within seven points with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter – a time when a good team might be able to summon some resolve and steal a game – the Raptors allowed the Sixers to score on six consecutive possessions.
No matter what Toronto was doing on the offensive end, the lack of defensive intensity at that key moment of the game was appalling.
It was also a direct indication of the lack of the laser-type focus good teams have, a trait the Raptors rarely show.
"I don't think I can fault the energy or the effort, but maybe the focus," coach Jay Triano said. "We just didn't seem to be as locked in on this team as we should be."
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Bosh return fails to spark Raptors
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Chris Bosh sauntered into the dressing room from the showers and turned his back on the reporters clustered around his stall. From there, there was an extended process of drawing one long pant leg over each long leg, pulling a sweater over his head and, ultimately, addressing the other process he is facing on the court with the Toronto Raptors .
The 25-year-old was a shadow of his usual self in his return to action from a seven-game absence, unable to carry the Raptors past a team buried deep in the fringes of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Toronto fell 114-101 to the Philadelphia 76ers at home Sunday, its fifth loss in six games.
“I felt good ... felt pretty good,” Bosh said. “It's just going to take some time. Just got to get my legs under me, and once I get my legs under me and my strength back, I think I'll be fine.”
He was held to only 12 points in 33 minutes of playing time, his lowest offensive output since Dec. 23, and his second-lowest of the season. Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 32 points for the Sixers, who as a team hit a remarkable nine of 12 attempts from beyond the three-point arc.
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Raptors, Bosh out of sync in loss to 76ers
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After one of the Toronto Raptors' two mind-boggling over-and-back violations, point guard Jarrett Jack shot Amir Johnson a look that was equal parts incredulity and bewilderment.
Throwing the ball into play just past half court, almost any pass would have been safer than the one Johnson chose, a lob backward toward centre court for Jack.
Jack was the author of the other such turnover, attacking the basket with his usual abandon, but throwing it out of traffic behind him to nobody. Chris Bosh caught it just behind half court, and threw the ball skyward in frustration.
It was that kind of afternoon for the Toronto Raptors yesterday during their 114-101 loss at the Air Canada Centre to the lottery-bound Philadelphia 76ers.
Read more: Raptors, Bosh out of sync in loss to 76ers
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Holiday boosts 76ers over Raptors
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Yesterday, for all of Holiday's forehead-slapping turnovers - and there were four of them - he countered with at least three or four head-nodding plays.
Not a bad ratio.
The most noticeable of Holiday's mistakes came with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game and the Raptors trying desperately to cut into the Sixers' double-digit lead. Holiday's mistake was a backcourt faux pas: heroically attempting to be a one-man press breaker against three defenders. The ball, knocked loose from Holiday, was scooped up by Jack and immediately dished to teammate Jose Calderon, whose three-pointer made the score 94-87.
Gulp.
Sixers coach Eddie Jordan immediately called a time-out and looked at Holiday as if the rookie had crashed his car.
In the three minutes of game time that followed, Holiday almost single-handedly buried the Raptors: first a baseline lay-in, then a three from the left wing, and then a creative drive to the hoop.
"After he made the turnover at half-court, he knew he made a bad play," Jordan said. "So he stepped up and cleared his head and he attacked when he had to."
The last of this trio of buckets, which Holiday scored by faking the use of a screen to his left and instead driving hard at the right block and finishing with his left hand, pushed the Sixers' lead to 107-94 with 2:34 left and sent a good number of fans heading for the Air Canada Centre's exits.
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Sunshine Girl – 07.03.10
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SUNshine Girl Kala is 22 years old and loves the outdoors. Much like Seinfeld's George Costanza, our girl one day hopes to become a marine biologist. Better start learning how to take golf balls out of a whale's blow hole!
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03-08-2010, 08:42 AM
But i dont like her.
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