I’m not a silver lining kind of guy, so I will get that out of the way to begin with. The Heat, who are playing for absolutely nothing, came out smoking hot, and hit almost every shot they took in the 1st quarter. The Raptors gave them open look after open look, and they knocked them down. I’m confident my girlfriend could have hit most of those open jumpers…seriously, she can ball for a 5 footer.

Anyways, the Raptors kept it close in the 2nd, quietly took the lead in the 3rd, and extended the lead in the 4th. Great, good job guys. The highlight of the game for me was when the game was over, the Raptors all came to center court to salute the crowd, and Bosh slapped the Raptor in the balls (dude was on stilts, but still).

Thank G*d for Jack Armstrong today. He was the lone saving grace in the disgusting display put on tonight at the ACC, for me anyways. Every time Chuck started to hit a homer, Jack would step in and add a lot of levity to the situation. He has really salvaged a lot of the games over the last few years for me. It is crucial MLSE keep him on after the Sportsnet contract expires, I think we all deserve as much…

Jack had some gems tonight that sort of took the wind out of Swirky’s sails, and I’m paraphrasing all the quotes here:

• The Raptors are inconsistent because they don’t guard well.
• The Raptors had the opportunity these last few games to be fighting for an identity and mind set heading into the playoffs.
• Raptors not matching Miami’s intensity…inexcusable.
• It’s not a switch, it’s habitual…you can’t just turn it on in the playoffs.

I have a question, and it is plaguing me: does Swirsky, in his heart-of-hearts, actually believe the Raptors can beat Orlando in the playoffs, or is it the PR machine in full effect? I just want to break that series down quickly:

1. The Magic have great two guys called Rashard Lewis and Hedu Turkoglu. These guys play the 2 and 3 spots, positions the Raptors have no way of stopping.
2. The Magic have a guy called Stan Van Gundy. If you thought the masterful job Lawrence Frank did last year in the playoffs was something, wait till you see what SVG does with the Magic.
3. Moon will get 15-17 looks a game, and miss 11-13 of them.
4. Forderon will get outplayed by Arroyo/Nelson at the point.

Yea, that about sums it up for the Raptors/Orlando series.

IBM Winning Strategies:

1. No nonsense
2. 48 minutes - defensive intensity
3. Perimeter guys - produce

Luckily for the Raptors, who didn’t achieve any of the 3 winning strategies, just showing up against the Heat guarantees a win. Not the kind of showing you want to see with a the playoffs around the corner.

This was a tough game to do the play-by-play, I tried to stick with it, and almost got through it, but my dad stopped in for a visit…cut me some slack though, it’s the Heat man:

1st Quarter:

• Bosh wins the tip…game over, lol.
• Bosh takes it to the paint, and drops a dime to Rasho for the hoop.
• Quinn penetrates and lays it up…
• Quinn comes back and drops a J.
• Davis penetrates and kicks to Cook for the trey…o man…
• Bosh finds Rasho for a turn around hook.
• Mark Blount hits a trey…
• Moon blocks Quinn on the drive.
• Bosh draws the foul in the low block, hits both from the line.
• Parker gets in the paint, and gets the tear drop to stick (offensive goal tending).
• Rasho forces Blount to shoot an air-ball as the shot clock expires.
• Bosh hits a jumper in rhythm from Fords swing.
• Parker goes baseline and hits the layup in traffic, Heat timeout.
• Blount turns it over with Rasho on him.
• Quinn hits a trey in Ford’s eye.
• Rasho lobs an alley-oop to Moon for the baseline dunk.
• Blount draws the double and kicks to Cook for a trey.
• Quinn finds Cook in transition for an open trey…
• Ford swings to an open Moon for a jumper in the corner.
• Moon steals the ball and Ford finishes the layup on the break.
• Blount gets free, and hits the deep jumper.
• Bosh grabs his own missed shot, and draws the foul, hits 1 of 2 from the line.
• Calderon checks in to a nice ovation.
• Bosh gets the ball out of the timeout, and attacks the defense drawing a foul…hits 1 of 2 from the line.
• Raptors force Cook to shoot a contested trey, he misses.
• Bargnani grabs Delfino’s missed shot, and draws a foul taking it back up, hits both from the line.
• Parker throws the ball away off the double-team.
• Bargnani blocks Barron in the post.
• Delfino pops a trey from the elbow extended.
• Williams gets free of Calderon, the J-Will blows by Andrea and Rasho, lays it up +1…I’m actually disgusted.

2nd Quarter:

• Quinn penetrates and finds an open Barron in the corner for a jumper.
• Bargnani answers with a trey.
• Delfino turns the ball over, then Bargnani blocks Quinn on the break!
• Rasho forces Powell to turn the ball over on the layup attempt.
• Powell gets to the baseline and lays it up over Rasho.
• Rasho comes off the pick-and-roll with JC and puts down a two-hander.
• Powell draws a foul on Kapono on the drive, someone need to stop this guy.
• Powell penetrates again, but Rasho blocks him at the rim.
• Kapono hits a jumper inside the arc.
• Bargnani blocks Cook at the foul line.
• Barron is left all alone under the rim, and puts back the missed shot.
• Barron is open again, and hits a deep jumper.
• Calderon finds an open Kapono for a J from the corner.
• Bargnani drives and gets called for the charge.
• Rasho bats the offensive board out to Parker.
• Ford finds Rasho under the basket for a short hook.
• Quinn finds Powell for an easy layup in transition.
• Parker gets raped by Blount, twice, at least he gets the foul.
• Rasho hits a turn around hook from Parkers feed off the curl.
• Quinn nails an open trey…
• Bosh draws a foul from Parker’s lead pass, hits both from the line.
• Ford commits an offensive and defensive fouls on Quinn in back-to-back plays…
• Rasho misses a wide open jumper from the corner.
• Cook gets Parker off his feet, takes a step in and nails the jumper as the shot clock expires.
• Moon swings the ball to Parker for a trey from the corner as the shot clock expires.
• Moon fucking bricks a trey with Bosh open posting up.
• Bosh gets triple team, holds on to it for too long, skips it to Parker who loses the ball inside the arc.

3rd Quarter:

• Cook pulls up at the foul line, loses Parker, and nails the jumper.
• Parker turns it over, and Lasme dunks on the break…Raptors timeout.
• Ford hits Parker with a skip pass and Parker nails the trey.
• Moon fucking misses another jumper.
• Jack: “If you’re not sure, don’t shoot it.”
• Blount bricks another jumper.
• TJ gets inside the arc, pulls up, and sticks the jumper.
• Cook abuses Ford with the running bank shot.
• Ford nails a trey with 3 seconds left on the clock over Quinn.
• Raptors turn the ball over in transition…
• Rasho finishes an ugly break after Bosh bobbles the ball from a bad pass from Moon.
• Quinn takes it to Ford and nails a jumper from the foul line.
• Bosh runs down an offensive board.
• Ford gets in the lane and hits a leaner.
• Davis hits a deep jumper.
• Bosh bricks a jumper from the elbow.
• Bosh strokes a jumper inside the arc, Heat timeout.
• Cook loses Parker and sticks the jumper, wow.
• Parker answers with a trey in Cook’s eye.
• Ford blows by Quinn, and draws the foul, hits both from the line.
• Moon blocks Cook’s jumper, but the ball gets to Davis who nails a trey as the shot clock expires.
• Rasho hits a running tear drop in the paint.
• Barron hands off to Cook who nails a deep jumper.
• Calderon finds Bosh on the baseline, who pump fakes and takes it to the rack, draws the foul and hits both from the stripe.
• Calderon finds Bargnani with a wicked pass, Bargnani hits the short hook +1.
• Delfino steals the ball, and sends Bosh on the break who draws the foul and hits 1 of 2 from the line.

4th Quarter:

• Calderon finds a slashing Rasho for a layup.
• Bargnani steals the ball from Davis, and Kapono hits a jumper on the other end.
• Rasho follows up Bargnani’s missed dunk attempt.
• Calderon finds Kapono in the corner for a trey.
• Kapono hits a deep jumper in transition.
• Delfino steals the ball, and sends Calderon on the break for a layup.
• Sorry guys, I had full intentions on finishing the game, but my dad came by, and he likes to tell long stories that go somewhere, but take a long time to get there.

Technorati Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino, Chris Bosh, Chris Quinn, Chuck Swirsky, Daequan Cook, Earl Barron, Jack Armstrong, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Jason Williams, Jose Calderon, Kasib Powell, Rasho Nesterovic, Ricky Davis, Stephane Lasme