The Toronto Raptors (9-8) will look to get back in the win column tonight when they host the Charlotte Bobcats (6-9) at the ACC. The Raptors are coming off a tough loss in Washington Saturday night, 101-97. The Raptors were without Chris Bosh for the second straight game and even though players stepped it up it wasn’t enough. Jason Kapono scored a season high 23 points and Jamario Moon had his second career double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Caron Butler had a game high 29 points and Antawn Jamison added 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Arenasless Wizards.
Charlotte has lost five games in a row and are 1-5 on the road. The Bobcats are playing the second half of back to back games. They lost to the struggling Chicago Bulls on Sunday 111-95. Ben Gordon scored a season high 34 points and Ben Wallace grabbed 19 rebounds in the victory. Bobcats Jason Richardson scored 22 points and Emeka Okafor had 21 points and 9 rebounds.
Starting 5:
Raymond Felton/Jose Calderon
Jason Richardson/Anthony Parker
Gerald Wallace/Jamario Moon
Emeka Okafor/Andrea Bargnani
Primo Brezec/Rasho Nesterovic
Key Match ups:
Raptor forward Chris Bosh isn’t expected to be in the line up for tonight’s game, which means that Andrea Bargnani will get the start. El Mago scored a career high 26 points in Fridays win over the Cavaliers, but was non existent against the Wizards. Look for the 7 foot Italian to bounce back with an impressive game. Defensive minded Emeka Okafor should get the job of guarding him.
Gerald Wallace is a tough match up for any Raptor. At 6″7, 215, Wallace is quick and strong. He leads the Bobcats in scoring averaging 18.4 ppg. Jamario Moon will have another tough assignment tonight at the ACC.
Predictions:
The Raptors should hand the Bobcats their 6th straight loss. With Charlotte playing its second game in as many nights and the Raptors playing well at home, it should equal a victory for the home team. Look for Jason Kapono and Carlos Delfino to see increased minutes.
X-men:
Charlotte: Emeka Okafor. Okafor averages 12.0 rpg (4.1 obpg). He can score downlow and block anyones shot. He’ll be a factor on both ends of the floor tonight.
Raptors: Jason Kapono. Kapono is shooting 55% from the field in his last 3 games and 50% from beyond the arc.
Game Notes:
Bobcats forward Emeka Okafor has 10 double-doubles this season and averages 2.1 bpg; guard Jason Richardson averages 20.2 ppg in his career against the Raptors; The Bobcats are without two of their younger stars for the season, Adam Morrison and Sean May.
The Raptors are second in the NBA in free throw percentage (84.1) and sixth in 3-point percentage (43.8); Jose Calderon has 4 straight double-doubles and 58 assists and only 7 turnovers in his last four games, all as a starter; Jamario Moon has gone 9 straight game with at least 1 block; The Raptors are 5-4 at home this season.
Technorati Tags: Toronto Raptors, TJ Ford, Jose Calderon, Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, Charlotte Bobcats
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December 3rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I don’t think Bargnani is playing tonight, is he? That makes Okafor a Rasho/Hump/Joey G. problem, unless Smitch does the right thing and uses Baston over Graham.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:12 pm
if smitch uses joey graham on okafor…i will write post after post of hate about the man. that being said, joey ‘might’ see some action tonight if he isn’t injured. richardson and wallace are going to be a handful.
i dont know if bargs is gonna play or not, but i expect hump to get plenty of minutes tonight.
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
either way. Raps are prolly gonna get spanked tonight.
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Going to be a long month. Not much you can do when the players don’t play. Joey a starter is a first!!
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Joey Graham…that was a nasty dunk man!!
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
pretty entertaining game. with Bosh, Bargs, and TJ out, guys like Calderon, Delfino, Humphries and Graham step it up. Games like this show the importance of Bryan Colangelo. the guy is a genius and makes Sam Mitchell look like a great coach when he is a mediocre coach. big win, but some tough games ahead. Suns, Celtics, ROckets, Hawks, Mavs, Pacers. combined these teams are 24 games above .500 as of tonight…gonna be a tough week and a half.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Raps with a great and much needed win. Hopefully our guys will be healthy for the Suns game on Wednesday. Good to see Joey jumping back to game form. Very surprised that we shut down their offence completely. Also surprised to see Felton without a point and whatever happened to Walter Hermann (I think he only played a few garbage minutes down the stretch)? Good to see guys like Humphries step up and Delfino and Calderon continuing their very strong play. The next few are going to be tough ones, but today we definitely showed some grit.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:06 pm
big win by the raps without the big 3. it was pretty funny to see the bobcat offence shut down completley. Guys like Wallace and Richardson should have led the way with Okafor grabbing tonnes of boards and felton dishing out double digit assists. the bobcats are pretty weak without May and Morrison, not like they are great NBA players yet, but better options off the bench then ANderson and McInnis.
I have to apologize for a few mistakes i made in the pregame. bargs didnt start, but it was hard to find a site that said for sure that he’d be out; the bobcats mixed it up with starting Dudley, who did very well; Emeka Okafor didnt do too much this game, epecailly in the second half, but Kapono was a decent Xmen, but i could have picked Humphries, Delfino, Calderon, or Graham. big game on wednesday…should be a shootout but hopefully CB4, Bargs and TJ are back.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:09 pm
here on raptorstalk.com we’ve had a lot of blogging about what to do with Calderon, but after the last 5 games the question isnt so much what we should do with Jose as what do we do at the point guard? I like the way Jose is playing and he is only getting better. he has the potencial of a Tony Parker. maybe the talk should be about trading TJ? I’m at about 52% TJ and 48% Jose, but the more calderon plays the better he gets.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Could I get some comments here please, just go to the following link
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2007/12/nba-news-another-big-night-for-delfino.html
December 4th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Hopefully the injury to TJ is temporary because the type of injury he sustained seems to end a lot of football carears. Audition games are always fun to talk about when the home team wins. Who the boys were auditioning for remains to be seen but I’m looking forward to Wednesday night’s game. If only to see who starts/plays in the game. I would not be surprised if nothing changes between now and then.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:40 am
i agree juddi, the question is what to do at the point. tj started the year off as one of the most consistent players on the team, but calderon…wow.
sorry there is no post-game rant, but i was half watching the game, and working on a project that is killing me.
i do have some thoughts on last nights game though:
1. why doesn’t dixon get any time at the point? he is no worse than krispy kreme?
2. sam mitchell, again, is really growing on me with his use of the time outs, and substitutions (except using krispy kreme). doesn’t take much for me: call a time out when there is a run begining to mount to kill momentum. use the right guys at the right time. keep the rotation tight.
3. these guys play better without bosh/ford/bargnani on the floor. i understand that the big 3 (little dino 3’s??) is a crucial part of the time. but the style of play is different, and frankly, i enjoy it much more.
4. why the hell did hermann ride pine? he had big games against the raptors last year. with bosh/bargnani out, the bobcats did a decent job of garbage plays around the rim. hermann could have help.
5. where the hell is this defense coming from?
6. welcome back graham, if only for a short period of time. that was a nasty dunk he put down.
7. moon is really making a bid for ROY. another solid game.
8. thank god maceo didn’t see the court. he is way to aloof for my liking. and coming from me, that says a lot.
9. is it me, or does every time humphries attempt a shot, make you nervous too? to his credit, he is way better around the net. not so much from beyond 12.
it was a crucial win last night. december is going to be a nasty month, and we need to capitalize on these winnable games.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:47 am
one more thing:
i want to hang out with delfino, socially. dude has been launching daggers, and playing like a champ. plus he looks like he rocks prada and pounds shots of tequila while sucking down packs of du mauriers…sign me up.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Thanks for the comment. I’m really hoping that the Carlos DELFINO and the Raptors will go all the way.
It’s makes me even more happy to see the way Carlitos is playing after suffering for minutes in Detroit.
And who knows, maybe just maybe Sam MITCHELL mught be interested in bringing Walter HERRMANN to Toronto. He, Mike D’ANTONI & Gregg POPOVITCH are the only coaches who understand how the international players play.
Well Done Raptors. Go get the Boston Celtics this coming Friday. Just can’t wait for that.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
uh oh . i think delfino is a druggie. is he not in desperate housewives ?
December 4th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
lol, he might be
December 4th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Yep, they played well. Maybe it’s because the players know that they will get touches and a chance to shine?
If you are a player and you are not getting the ball/touches yet are consistent with your shots and another player is … a) always getting fed the ball on blocks (but loses the ball or misses, b) jacking up 3’s even if they are 3/13, or, c) driving to the lane and then handing out a turnover(oops I meant assist), or making amazing acrobatic misses … it would be hard to bring it 100% on offense or defense, and you’ll probably end up standing around and watching the game instead of being in it.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Are you suggesting that Bosh Bargnani and Ford are hampering the other players on the team with their poor shot selection and selfishness?
I think the problem with Bosh right now is that he has still not discovered his game entirely. I would agree that he looks indecisive at times with exactly what he wants to do with the ball, and considering that the entire offense is run through him; if he is indecisive then that does not bode well for the othe players on the court.
If you watch Tim Duncan you will notice that he knows what to do with the ball as soon as he touches it. He either makes a quick back to the basket move for a jump hook off glass, or he will pin his man and turn for a layup, or a quick dish back out to parker for penetration or he resets and gets it back….this is not complicated, Bosh can do it, and I’m sure when he learns how to do this the Raptors will be a much better team.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:00 am
i think that in the games where Bosh has done well he has taken the ball to the hoop before the double team comes, knocked down shots before the d could get a hand in his face, and passed out of double teams. when bosh passes the ball out of double team and the other raps swing the ball to the open guy (hopefully Parker, El Mago, Kapono, and Delfino) then the percentages of shots go up.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:21 am
Exactly, I think the Raps will have an enormous chance this year if they move the ball and take good shots. Raptors sometimes struggle with their execution
December 5th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Well the real season starts tonight. Score wise I’m sure it’s going to get ugly. The excuses being the team is short handed and all. Funny how the injury situation repeats itself every December ??
The theme I hate the most is the idea a win in December counts less then a win later in the season.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:30 am
my fear with bosh is that he will turn into a jermaine oneal in the sense that when the ball gets to him in the post, the offense stagnates. you will notice that his best games come when he gets the ball, and makes a quick move, no matter what it is. he is a much more talented player offensively than oneal, but that fear lingers for me.
melvin: everyone struggles with their offense from time to time. there needs to be a strategy that gets you a couple easy baskets when the jumpers arent falling. i think that is this teams problem. when they are struggling from the perimeter, they continue to jack up shots, and not move the ball they do when they are successful.
ketepec: as for wins counting less now then later, there may be some merit to it. i figure that early in the season, most teams are getting back into a groove, and rediscovering their teamates. the premeire teams dont fall into this category, which makes them the best in the league.
we have seen phoenix and dallas struggle for the first few games, get their act together, and just roll through the rest of the season.