It’s tough being a Toronto Raptors (34-32) fan right now. The Raptors are 2-8 in their last 10 and have lost the first four games of their five game road trip. Things are not going to get any easier tonight when they take on the Northwest Division leading Utah Jazz (44-24).
The Jazz will look to match their franchise record 19 game home winning streak tonight. You have to go back to December 27th against the Boston Celtics to find the last time the Jazz lost at theEnergySolutions Arena.
Starting 5:
Jose Calderon/Deron Williams
Anthony Parker/Ronnie Brewer
Javari Moon/Andrei Virulence
Andrea Bargnani/Carlos Boozer
Rash Mestrovic/Mehmet Okur
Key Match-ups:
With Chris Bosh still sidelined with a knee injury, the Raptors are out matched at every position on the floor. Carlos Boozer should dominate in the post and Mehmet Okur should stretch out the Raptors defense with the three ball.
Deron Williams is averaging an unbelievable 16.5 apg this month and is third behind Steve Nash (11.4) and Chris Paul (11.3) for the league lead with 10.3 apg. With Jose Calderon mired in a scoring draught and playing his worst basketball without Bosh, Williams should continue his monthly success tonight.
Game Notes:
Chris Bosh has targeted Wednesday as a possible return date. The Raptors take on the Miami Heat at the Air Canada Centre; GM Bryan Colangelo will meet with Spanish basketball federation officials in Europe this week to discuss the lawsuit the Raptors filed, suing the federation for money Toronto says it is owed on the Jorge Garbajosa insurance claim; Anthony Parker is averaging 18.4 ppg in March; the Raptors are 15-19 on the road this season.
Jazz centre Mehmet Okur is averaging 19.3 ppg this month; Carlos Boozer scored a season high 41 points against the Nets on Saturday; the Jazz are 28-3 at home this season.
Technorati Tags: Anthony Parker, Bryan Colangelo, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Deron Williams, Jorge Garbajosa, Jose Calderon, Mehmet Okur, Utah Jazz
March 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I was really looking forward to that Sacramento game, it was our only chance of returning home with something. Tonight in Utah will be elementary for the Jazz. The only question is whether we get blown out in the 10-20 or 20+ range.
Utah has been a tough matchup over the years because of their sound basketball technique. But the Raptors have managed to play them tough because we used to be a semi-athletic team even when we sucked and that bothers the Jazz. I think tonight without Bosh in there its going to be a nightmare.
Arsenalist’s last blog post..Clueless 4th quarter stretch kills Raptors in Sacramento
March 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Coming soon! … 34-33.
khandor’s last blog post..Take that, Mice
March 17th, 2008 at 11:31 am
i think it will be something in the same spirit as what denver did to seattle last night…deron is going to have a triple double. the abuse he is going to inflict on jose and tj is going to be upsetting for everyone.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I should have stuck to my guns in 2004 (Aruajo draft) when I vowed not to be a raps fan anymore. My life would have been much less stresful. I’m seriously considering this right now. All I have to do is to invest 2 or 3 weekends of my year to see an outside team (Pistons, Sixers, Celtics) and to invest in a satellite so I can watch the games.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
u could always get league pass, and have access to every single game. it’s like 100/year or something, i think i’m gonna get it starting next year.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Sick, then thats what I’m gonna do! I’m tired of watching these clowns…I honestly enjoyed watching the CIS mens basketball tourney more than watching the raps. If anyone saw the Acadia/Carleton game, it was actually really good. CIS basketball is improving a lot.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
rm…lol…cis? come on man. i can’t watch that stuff. at least watch some ncaa.
cis is probably improving, but they all suck, there is like 1 or 2 guys a team who can dunk…like watching wnba for me…low performance.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
everyone is pretty down on the old Raps right now. Dont you guys remember only a couple years ago when they were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and a laughing stock? then they hire BC, he creates a team that sets a franchise record for wins, make the playoffs and cement themselves as a playoff calibre team in the East.
this year they were on pace to win more games until their franchise…the player the team is built around goes down with an injury and they lose 8 of 10, but amazingly dont even lose the 5th seed (yet). Bosh will be back and the Raps will be back to a playoff calibre team. they are still a few years away from really contending, but considering where we were only 2 season ago…I’ll take the losing streak while CB4 gets healthy.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
i think it has to do with all the crap we have been fed about being so damn deep. you figure that being the ‘deepest team’ or one of ‘the top 5 deepest teams’ in the league, you can at least go 500 with your all-star out. bosh goes down, and everything falls apart.
also, bosh goes down every because of injuries, and this season we seem to be worse off then last year. we wont even win 47 unless they go on a rockets-type run!
as for being better than 2 seasons ago, yes we are, but you have to be better than 2 seasons ago, and especially 1 season ago. remember, people were talking about 50 wins only a couple weeks ago. far stretch from where we are now.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
It’s been a while…
No excuses - this team still needs alot of work, even with bosh in the lineup but it seems like you guys were expecting a championship from them, in my opinion this is a work in progress…
1. This whole experience could be a good thing for BC because it gives him an idea of the true character of the team under tough circumstances.
2. They are losing to some of the best teams in the NBA.
3. It could be possible that our expectations for this year were way to elevated…. we are now being brought down to reality, which will be good for the team in the long run.
We can’t just think about today. I’m confident BC will make the changes necessary to get us to the next level over the next 2-4 years…
March 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
by next level, do you mean eastern conference powerhouse, or contending for a championship?
March 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
lets hope that the raptors losing coincides with Bosh’s injury cause i cant handle the losing anymore. it’s just hard following a team that stinks the arena up and doesnt play defense.
come back bosh please…what would you guys think about the raptors picking up Gerald Green or Rueben Patterson?? they are both available and it seems to me that they could use Green’s finshing around the basket on the second squad and Pattersons defence and rebouding, just a thought
March 17th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
i could live with getting patterson for cheap. he is a tough defensive/rebounding player. green wont come, he said he didn’t want to play in toronto during his draft year, no reason that would change now.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Raps Fan,
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re: rm…lol…cis? come on man. i can’t watch that stuff. at least watch some ncaa.
cis is probably improving, but they all suck, there is like 1 or 2 guys a team who can dunk…like watching wnba for me…low performance
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Your perception of CIS men’s bball is from a by-gone era … as, in today’s game, there are plenty of Canadian university teams that have 80-100% of their rosters filled with players that can dunk the ball … including a number of very talented athletes.
e.g. relatively non-athletic teams like Queen’s, Toronto, Laurier and Waterloo … had as many as 10 players each who could all dunk the ball in a variety of different ways with ease.
In general, dispite what it looks like on TV - due to the comparatively production value - CIS men’s hoops … is no no longer ‘just your father’s game’.
khandor’s last blog post..Beasley, Love and Sir Charles
March 17th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
insert the word ‘poor’ between ‘comparatively’ and ‘production’ …
khandor’s last blog post..Beasley, Love and Sir Charles
March 17th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
By next level I mean contending for a championship - for this franchise and city you can’t expect anything less - as per the comments seen on this board. I think if BC does anything less than bring a contender here in his tenure he will consider himself a failure.