The last 7 days for the Raptors have been difficult to say the least. Physically and mentally they have been taken to both extremes. In a week where they played both of the top 2 teams in the league, the Raptors were looking to find out if they were ready to acquit themselves at the highest level of play in the league. Here is how I saw those games. Continue Reading

The Toronto Raptors (8-7) started a very difficult 3-game road trip tonight in Los Angeles, where they took on Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the Lakers (13-1). The Lakers are 8-1 at the Staples Center, while the Raps are 4-3 away from the ACC. The Raptors were given a huge blow with the subtraction of Jermaine O’Neal from the starting line-up, still suffering from an ankle injury sustained a week ago. The Raptors were hoping for big performances from Bargnani, Moon, and Joey Graham to keep this one competitive. They will need to pick up the load left with JO’s absence. Continue Reading

The Raptors came into Friday’s game against the Hawks needing a win to close out a 4 game home stand at 2 – 2 after losing to the Celtics and the Nets. A victory over the Bobcats on Wednesday gave them a better frame of mind against a team that had beaten them once this season. With Jermaine O’Neal on the bench, the Raptors needed to find a way to contain the Hawks on the boards and control the perimeter after being torched by Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson. The Hawks were looking to return to the form that had gotten them off to a 6 – 0 start before losing to the Celtics. Since that loss they were 3 – 5 bringing a 9 – 5 record to Toronto and looking to turn the momentum early in the season. Continue Reading

I’ll spare you the hindsight of how $20mill should actually be spent, what to do with valuable trade assets when a team has certain needs, how not to replace valuable exiting players with euro scrubs and why lasik isn’t necessarily the best way to correct your vision. Continue Reading

After a few days of getting a lesson in shooting from the Boston Celtics, the Toronto Raptors (6-7) welcomed the lowly Charlotte Bobcats (4-9) to the ACC in what on paper looks like a rout for the Raps. Yet, with their lack of defense lately, and that Charlotte beat Philly a few days earlier, this game might have be closer than it looked on paper. With many rumblings about the future of Sam Mitchell, the team needed, for their own confidence as well as their coach’s, they need to get an easy win when it comes along. Continue Reading

The Toronto Raptors (6-6) welcomed the Boston Celtics (12-2) at the Air Canada Center for a Sunday afternoon matinee. The Raps were looking for retaliation of their loss to the Celtic on Nov 10^th, when Paul Pierce lit up the Raps, scoring at will for 36 total pts, to lead the Celtic in a come from behind victory. The Raps also wanted to get avenge their Overtime loss on Friday Night to the New Jersey Nets, who also came from behind for a victory against Toronto. There was concern in Raptorland on Friday when Jermaine O’Neal looked to have injured his bad knee in the 4^th quarter. Luckily, for Toronto, JO did not do any damage to his knee and was able to start this game against the Celtics. But on this day, it really didn’t matter. Continue Reading

The Toronto Raptors (5-5) rolled into Miami to take on the Heat (6-5), just one night after a disappointing loss against the Orlando Magic. 24 hours removed from a game in which the Raptors turned the ball over 24 times against the Magic, the Raps wanted to take it to the undersized Heat. They were also given a bonus before the game: Jose Calderon was going to start the game. Continue Reading

Each and every Monday we check in on the past weeks games and look forward to the next 7 days in Raptors land.

Ironically, even though the Raps went 1-2 in the last week, lost Jose Calderon to injury, and media buzz already started speculating on how long before Sam Mitchell gets fired,  it was a good week for the Raps. Continue Reading

The Miami Heat (5-4) rolled into Toronto for an afternoon matinee with the Raptors (4-4). The Raps, who had lost 2 straight and 4 of their last 5 games since starting 3-0, came into today’s game well rested having not played since Wednesday’s loss to the 76er’s 106-96. They welcomed in Dwayne Wade who is the league’s second leading scorer averaging 27.8 ppg. The Raps were short-handed for this game, as they were without the services of Jose Calderon, who injured his hamstring against the 76er’s, was replaced by Will Solomon. This game also displayed the return of Andrea Bargnani back into the starting lineup, taking the place Jamario Moon at the 3 spot. Continue Reading

The Toronto Raptors (4-2) came into TD Banknorth Garden to play their divisional rivals, the 6-1 Boston Celtics. The question in Raptorland before the game was which Raptors team was going to show up in Boston, the high-intensity and defense-first team that won 3 games to start the season, or the team that has mailed it in before the opening tip and looks lost and hopeless. On this night, it was the former, as the Raptors jumped out on a 16-7 run. Jermaine O’Neal was on fire, as he went 5-7 for 10 of the Raps first 14 points. Boston came out slow, was pestered by the Raps tough D, starting the game 3-13 (23%). Boston then went on a 9-0 to tie the game, fuelled by some good Boston D and timely rebounding. Off the bench came Jason Kapono, who went 2-2 (1-1 from 3) for 5 points and the Raptors finished the quarter leading 23-18. The Raptors shot 43.5% for the quarter and held the Celtics to just 31.3% from the floor. The Raps out-rebounded Boston 13-10. Continue Reading