The Toronto Raptors (17-16) invite LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (16-17) to the ACC for a matinee match up Sunday. The Cavaliers won the first meeting of the season on November 24th, 111-108. LeBron had his third triple-double of the season scoring 37 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists. The Raptors bounced back to beat the Cavaliers on November 30th, 91-82 with LeBron out of the line up. Carlos Delfino led the Raptors with 24 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
The Cavaliers have won two in a row to start 2008. They knocked off the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, 97-93. LeBron was two rebounds shy of a triple double, scoring 24 points, grabbing 8 boards and dishing out 10 assists.
The Raptors are coming off a loss to the Powerhouse Detroit Pistons on Friday night. The Pistons recorded their eleventh straight win in a row. Andrea Bargnani led the way with 25 points and Chris Bosh was impressive, scoring 23 points and grabbing 16 boards. This game was a measuring stick for the Raptors in the Eastern Conference, but the Pistons proved to be too much.
Starting 5:
Larry Hughes/Jose Calderon
Sasha Pavlovic/Anthony Parker
LeBron James/Jamario Moon
Drew Gooden/Chris Bosh
Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Andrea Bargnani
Key Match ups:
It’s no secret that LeBron James absolutely lights up the Raptors in his career. In 16 games he’s averaging 27.3 ppg, 7.1 apg, and 7.0 rpg. LeBron will get his career scoring average or better Sunday, but the key for the Raptors is shutting down the secondary scoring. Daniel Gibson and Damon Jones were a combined 9-17 from beyond the arc in the first meeting. Jamario Moon will get the call to guard LeBron and should make things difficult for him, but that doesn’t mean he’ll slow him down.
Andrea Bargnani had one of his best games of the season Friday night and it seems like his confidence is back. If Bargs continues to go to the rack and stretch the defense out with his three point shot then he’ll continue to be successful. Big Z will be matched up with El Mago and it will be hard for the Italian to score inside.
X-men:
Cavaliers
Daniel Gibson. Gibson is averaging 20.5 ppg against the Raptors this season including eight 3 pointers. Gibson benefits from open looks created by the focus on LeBron. The Raptors will need to limit Gibson’s open looks or he’ll continue his impressive play against the Raptors.
Raptors
Jamario Moon. Moon must be reading raptorstalk.com, because as of late Moon has been taking it to the rack. He’s lanky and can jump through the roof. He should look to drive to the basket every time. “Apollo 33″ should make Court Cuts this week.
Game Notes:
Cavaliers forward LeBron James leads the NBA in scoring, averaging 29.1 ppg; James also missed practice on Thursday because of a sore toe, but played Friday. It looks like he’ll be in the line up Sunday against the Raptors; the Cavaliers are 6-11 on the road this season; Anderson Varejao will make his first appearance against the Raptors this season. The Cavs matched the Bobcats offer sheet for the Brazilian.
Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic has four DNP’s in his last five games. Trade Possibility? ; Juan Dixon has been getting a few more minutes lately which could be the Raptors way of showcasing the guard for another possible trade. Dixon is a free agent after this season; the Raptors are 8-7 at home this season.
Technorati Tags: Anderson Varajao, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Chris Bosh, Cleveland Cavaliers, Damon Jones, Daniel Gibson, Drew Gooden, Jamario Moon, Jose Calderon, Juan Dixon, Larry Hughes, Lebron James, Rasho Nesterovic, Sasha Pavlovic, Toronto Raptors, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
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January 6th, 2008 at 8:30 am
the Raps need to win this game. they lost the “measuring stick” game to the Pistons because of a lack of bench scoring, but they’ll need to beat the Cavs to redeem themselves as a top team in the east (after Boston, Detroit and Orlando).
When I was watching the game on friday they had an interview with Sam Mitchell about the East and he said that after Boston, Detroit and Orlando the East was wide open, which it is. what i’m trying to get at is the Raps arent as good as these three teams, but are better than most (Bucks, Nets, Wizards, Hawks, Pacers)so they’ll need to beat these teams to stay in that 4 spot.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:18 am
they do need this win. I dont want see the raps drop to .500 at all. with Bargs, Calderon and Bosh playing well all the raps need is a guy to step up offensively. Parker, Moon, Kapono or Delfino…any of these guys will do ,but please someone do it.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
sounds like every game is a must win, lol. but this is. sadly, cleveland could push itself into the east elite with lebron, and a healthy cast. not sure which cavs team we are going to get tonight, but look for me behind the raptors bench yelling at smitch to put bosh/calderon back in the game today. gotta love free tickets.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
jealousy has set in Rapsfan. I’ve only ever been to one raptors game and it was against the Jazz and the combination of Malone/Stockton killed the carterless raps with their damn pick n roll offence.
January 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
hey gooden…shave
January 6th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
haha, ya Gooden that is one disgusting beard and what’s the deal with that patch on the back of his head?
Moon had some big dunks and blocks in the first half. Bosh is getting to the line, Calderon is passing the ball really well and Parker is finally playing well. GO T.O. GO
January 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
F*cking embarressing. why dont the raps continue to do what makes them successful? they were up 20 by moving the ball and going to the rack, but when it comes down to key posessions with 2 minutes left in the game you have moon and parker taking 3 pointers with a hand in their face. Drive to the Basket!!! get to the line!!! dont let them back in!!! Bosh, Moon and Calderon can take the ball to the rack, but do they when the game is getting close? NO they take terrible shots early in the shot clock. F*cking embarressing
January 6th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
… and then Smitch decides that Humps shouldn’t play the rest of the game, or that AP should sit so that others should guard Lebron.
Btw, I hand the award again to the great NBA refs for choosing to start calling fouls and phantom goaltending against the Raps at the right moment. Awesome job guys!
January 6th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
i was going to write a post for todays game, but it would have been much the same as the pistons post, with a lot more cursing and name calling, and frustration.
the only people who worked hard on the boards were parker and moon. no one else realized we needed to grab them to win the game. james is incredible, i think he dropped about 24 points in the 4th, man was possessed. i knew after he dropped the second straight three, that things were going to get spicy.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
the refs didn’t help either. i don’t know how they called that goaltending, wasn’t even close (from where i was sitting anyway, didn’t catch the replay). lebron got every single call, it is pretty ridiculous.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I thought the refs were great most of the game. they were letting both teams play and allowing a little contact and not calling touchy fouls until the fourth where LeBron would get tapped and there would be a call and that BUllcrap goaltending call was a joke.
I dont like blaming guys for losses, but you have to look at Bosh for not taking his team on his shoulders the way Lebron did. Bosh was taking it to the rack when he was double teamed, but there was a posession where Varejao was the only cav guarding him and he passed it out for a quick 3 from Parker. I just think that when the game is one the line or with a few posessions that Bosh should put the ball on the floor. LIVE AND DIE BY YOUR FRANCHISE. Lakers and Cavs both live and die by Kobe and LeBron. I know CB4 isnt Kobe or LeBron, but he’s the closest thing the Raps have. It’s your team Chris
January 7th, 2008 at 8:36 am
oh yeah…you’re right Rapsfan, Hump played great. he came in with energy got to the line and gave the raps some good minutes, but then doesnt see the floor again.
Parker did a great job on Lebron, but like you said he guarded him for which must have felt like 4 hours. give the guy a break. put Delfino, Graham or Moon on Lebron. frustrating game
January 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
<– is stating to (maybe) panic now
January 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
oops … I meant *staRting*
January 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I agree with Bosh having to step up. The only way to learn is to be thrown into the fire & get burned a bit! I think the whole teams looks to Bosh down the stretch because he has awesome potential. I don’t understand why he doesn’t shoot when he posts people up. He could shoot over most players in the league with his jump shot. Other players have to work their tail the slash though the lane for the high percentage basket. Just run an isolation play for Bosh. If he’s double teamed Bosh should kick the ball out and be confident his teammates will re-post him. But who is going to re-post Bosh when keeps passing the ball out when he’s got a short jumper! Bosh has to step up! He’s a lot better than he thinks he is! One day it will click!
Die Hard Fan!
January 7th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
<-- is also panicing. although, in all fairness, i was somewhat panicing during the summer when boston got allen and garnett, philly got evans, jersey got williams and magloire, and we got a couple shooters.
bosh has never got the ball back on a re-post, that i can remember anyways. he is doing his jermaine oneal impersonation of holding the ball for 10-12 seconds before doing anything. he needs to make a quick decision, and run with it. please don't shoot more, drive more. if you don't want to drive, learn some post moves, some good ones are:
-baby hook
-pump fake-duck under
-fade away a la rasheed
mind you, he needs help out there. the rest of this really deep team (sarcasm) don't seem interested.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I’d love it too if Bosh didn’t delay. He has to make his move before the defence is all over him with Double/Triple Teams. Bosh has show he can distroy players when he’s quick in the post… but he has to be quick! Why isn’t he? It’s contagious to the team! Tear it down Big Man!!!!! Tear it Down!!! But when your 5 feet from the net, like the ‘Raps Fan’ says “fade away a la rasheed” It’s money in the bank. We’ll work on the 20′ Jumper later Bosh. Lets make sure the ‘Bread & Butter’ is still cookin’! When Bosh is on fire the rest of the teams seems to fall into place. They just need to be lead.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
This was a tough loss. It was great to see greatness in action (ala Lebron) but tougher to lose a game that was almost ours. Free throws and horrid rebounding kept them into the game and not to mention a 4th quarter meltdown. F*cking A.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
the raptors have a good way of making a perfect storm for themselves. i really did enjoy seeing lebron though eddy, dude is just sick. when you talk about perennial all-star, max-player, one of the best of the game, bosh kind of pales in comparison. not a knock on bosh, but more an indictment on swirsky and the gang for continually hammering us with how great bosh is, and mentioning him in the same breath as lebron, wade and carmelo. i dont think he is there yet, maybe a 1b type situation.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Ohh… Swirsky… he does get a little too excited towards our team/players at times. Ontario/Toronto fans have been dreaming of a winning team since before the Leafs. When a team finally gets a win our 20,000+ fans give standing ovations and wet their pants because they aren’t used to it. Then we tut our horns and treat our players like they are gods. The media has nothing better to do but swarm our players. With all the attention our players egos swell a bit and they loose focus, loose the next game and start the vicious circle again. It’s hard to not let you ego swell when you are swarmed by a ‘Country of Fans & Media’ that are excited like little school girls. As fans we must take responsibility too. We are the six man!
January 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
you’re totally right julio (sorry man, i’m not gonna call you papi, lol). but all the propaganda is hard to avoid. but i have been minimizing for the last month or so. i don’t listen to the swirsky pre-game and i don’t read his blog, or listen to his radio show. arsenalist, coach and dinosty entertain me much more.