By far the most entertaining Raptor game I have seen all season. It was worth staying up, and risking being out of commission during my 9am meeting in the morning. The Raptors came out strong and played well for 3 quarters, then it all fell apart in the 4th. Horrible substitutions and match-ups cost the Raptors the win. Smitch should be hog tied and bull whipped for his incompetence.

Nesterovic starts the game playing very well, scoring, rebounding and playing good interior defense, but doesn’t see the court from halfway through the second period onwards. Smitch deemed it acceptable to sit Calderon and Bosh at the beginning of the 4th, with Martin running wild for 5.5 minutes. He takes Humphries out of the game with 4.5 minutes in favour of Moon, who has seen a reduction in his productivity over the last few games. Kapono didn’t get enough shots again, and Bosh shot the ball too much (he got to the rack everytime he wanted too, so it hurts twice as much). Calderon played a solid game, but dribbled the ball, uncharacteristically, off his foot on an ill-advised push with less than a minute to go instead of calling a timeout….phew, that was a lot to get out, hope it was legible.

In spite of all that, it was a fun game to watch, now down to business:

1st Quarter:

• Rasho came out strong, scoring and rebounding.
• Moon flashes through the lane; he missed a makeable layup, but I will take it if the Raptors how more of that.
• Bosh hits a couple nice jumpers, the key: no hesitation, grab and shoot.
• Raptors interior defense is horrible…I seem to say that a lot.
  • Roy hits an open layup.
  • Pryzbilla open dunk.
• Raptors perimeter defense sucks….I seem to say that a lot too.
• Moon continues to attack the rim.
• Jose laying bad defense on Blake.
• Humphries gave me a heart attack with his pump fake on his first possession, luckily he kicked it out to Kapono.
• Aldridge hits Roy with a sweet back-door pass, which Roy converts into a 3 point play.
• Kapono is always locked and loaded, dude needs more shots…on fire again.
• Bargnani his Humphries with a sweet pass for a dunk.
• Humphries shouldn’t be allowed to create his own shots, he is starting to piss me off with his shot selection. Although, the other things he does makes up for it.

2nd Quarter:

• Frye hits open jumper to start the second.
• Delfino answers with a trey.
• Bargnani finally executes a usefull pump-fake that he converts into a layup over Pryzbilla.
• Martin is getting plaing time again, and doesn’t hit an open Bargnani on 3 possessions…why Martin? Why? Does Calderon really need all this rest he is getting?
• Raptors can’t rebound, opportunity for Colangelo to address via trade, can’t go into the playoffs not rebounding well, Jersey showed us what will happen in that case.
• Humphries posting up, and launching a sky-hook maybe isn’t a preferred offensive option.
• Portland was getting open looks, but unanable to finish until Roy nails deep three; what a baller.
• Is it me, or is the “Ask the Expert” getting more ridiculous by the game?
• Parker nails a transition three off a Calderon steal: it’s been a long time AP.
• No ball movement for the Raps.
• Parker finishes on the break off of James Jones air ball.
• Roy playing off the chain, doesn’t hurt he gets a lot of open looks.

3rd Quarter:

• God forbid the Raptors start the second half with anything other than a jumper, which they surprisingly miss.
• Parker drains a tough bank shot off the drive.
• Raptors weak perimeter defense is what’s keeping the Blazers in the game.
• A timeout was needed after Webster hit his second straight trey (8-2 Portland run) at the 8:45 mark.
• Luckily the Raptors answer with back-to-back treys from Calderon and Parker.
• Bosh has a sick spin/post move, finishing with his right hand, then hits a jumper to move the lead back up to 4.
  • Quick timeout by the Blazers.
• Nice pick and roll between Calderon and Humphries for three point play.
• Bosh taking bad jumpers…bad.
• Parker hooks Humphries up with two sweet passes, that Humphries converts into 4 points, in 40 seconds.

4th Quarter:

• How many open shots is Outlaw going to miss?
• Kapono nails a jumper to move Raptors up 7.
• Outlaw misses open dunk.
• Martin misses two shots, while Bargnani was WIDE open on the wing…WIDE! Martin sucks, he really does…
• Martin leaves Jarret Jack WIDE open for a trey…WIDE! Martin sucks, he really does…
• Bosh bites on Outlaw pump-fake, and comits a foul on the perimeter. Made no sense considering Outlaw missed every jumper before that one.
• The refs blow it by calling a horrible charge on Bosh. It is upsetting to see them drop the ball so blatantly bad like that.
• Blazers timeout, Roy comes out of the timeout, and converts a wide open layup…someone forgot to play some defense, and by someone, I mean everyone.
• Raptors need timeout at 5 minute mark to regain some composure, the game is slipping away.
• Why the hell is Moon coming in for Humphries? Hump had another good game, and Moon…not so much.
• Chuck: “You are looking at a superstar (Roy) in the making.” Is that why you were the only person in the world who voted for Bargnani for ROY, after El Mago missed chunks of the season with injury?
• Raptors offense is stagnant; Calderon misses layup, misses shots and not moving the ball around at all.
• Chuck: “Leo, you should ask Roy to become a Canadian citizen.” …idiot.
• Could have used Humhries’ rebounding down the stretch.
• Parker comes down the lane for a drunk, and 1 baby.
• Why do the Blazers keeping calling a timeout, with the Raptors on their heals? I’ll take it, but question their thinking.
• Then they don’t execute out of the timeout, weird.
• Jose dribbles ball off his foot with under a minute left on the clock, instead of calling a timeout - game over.

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