I have to give the Raptors credit for a win against the Pistons. This was their 3rd win against a better team in 2008 (Boston and Orlando the other other two). The Raptors grinded out a win. Don’t let the score fool you, the Pistons twice came within 4 points of the Raptors, both times, battling from deficits of 17 and 15 points. The fact that the Raptors were able to whether the imminent attack(s), and maintain the lead in the 4th quarter, in crunch time, well…I’m not accustomed to that. It was almost a perfect game for me: the crowd was pumped, hotties were popping out of their tight tops, my roast beef sandwich was perfect, the half-time show was impressive, and I almost didn’t have to hear Chuck/Leo’s voice the whole night until Leo got Jose for the post game. I have to be honest, I was actually deflated a bit…but I digress…

I wont be spitting my normal PBP, as I was at the game, and didn’t want to be ‘that guy taking notes in the crowd’, and frankly…daddy needed a night off. If you are interested in what went down, check out:

AltRaps - Raptors Roll Call March 26 vs Pistons
Arsenalist - High quality Raptors beat Pistons for feel-good win
Cuzoogle - Change is good, wins are better

I am more concerned with what went down in and around the game. The flow for the last week or so:

• B.C. cuts his Euro Trip short because he was worried the team he built was in jeopardy of falling from grace. Not sure what he was going to do back in T.O., but we can all hope that he didn’t fall in love with another Euro who could shoot, but wasn’t good at playing ball while he was on the other side of the pond.
• Bosh calls out his team for doing things he himself is guilty of. I don’t have anything smart to say about that, just that he is an idiot, and shot the ball more than he took it to the rim last night…hypocrite…
• Jose approaches B.C. and Smitch to plead with them to start TJ, and stop the madness.
• Smitch thought Jose was on to something, and made an adjustment everyone who is familiar with the situation has been calling for-for a couple weeks.
• Raptors win a game against a better team, while holding it together down the stretch.

That about sums up the last little while for our Raps. Now, what concerns me:

• Why the F*CK didn’t Smitch make this adjustment earlier? I mean, it payed dividends right away, against the Pistons no less. Not only did TJ get the call to start, so did Rasho, and they both had solid games. You think Bargnani would have done 15pts/9rebs given those minutes against the Pistons front court? The answer is no. If this doesn’t expose Smitch as a glorified assistant coach, then I don’t know…
• TJ is a spoiled brat. Is he happy he got the start? Was he happy when Jose got that incredible welcome when he checked in, but TJ didn’t? He got the same playing time, but all that changed was that he started the game, as apposed to coming off the bench. BUT, he played under control, scored when he should have, passed when he should have…in fact, he passed a couple times when I thought he should have passed/shot.

So am I happy things are back to normal, for now? Yes. Is Jose my favourite Raptor for doing what was neccessary for this team to get back to normal, for now? Yes. Can this arrangement continue past this season? Probably not. Hopefully BC does something to correct this in the summer.

Technorati Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Boston Celtics, Bryan Colangelo, Chuck Swirsky, Detroit Pistons, Jose Calderon, Leo Rautins, Orlando Magic, Rasho Nesterovic, Sam Mitchell, TJ Ford