Pistons 100, Raptors 84; Sixers at Raptors, 7pm on The Score
Well, there wasn’t much to cheer about last night, was there. Not only did the Raptors lose in Detroit, but Washington missed 19 free throws in falling to Orlando. 19! That’s mind-boggling.
So that makes the New Jersey playoff matchup even more likely. I’m OK with that, as I’ve said; even though Washington would obviously be the easier road, I believe they can win either way, and I like the challenge New Jersey represents (and booing and beating Vince Carter will be fun). Washington would simply be less stressful.
But there are other factors in play; if Washington loses, and Orlando wins tonight New Jersey stays in sixth, Orlando moves to seventh and Washington drops to eighth.
This is significant, because whoever plays Washington basically gets a free ride. So if the Raptors get past New Jersey, I don’t want them playing a Chicago team that’s just swept Washington, didn’t have to play its starters big minutes and has had a few days off; I want them playing a Chicago team that just had to deal with Dwight Howard and Grant Hill for 5 or 6 games.
Of course, if New Jersey wins, and Cleveland beats Milwaukee, we still face the Nets but the Bulls drop to fifth and play Miami and the Cavs become our second round matchup! Crazy stuff.
Anyway, it’ll all play itself out tonight, surely the most relevant final day of the regular season Raptors fans have experienced in some time, if not ever.
As for the Raps last night, the loss doesn’t mean anything, but I would imagine, as an evaluation game, the coaches must be a little disappointed. Uros Slokar and Mo Peterson were the only Raptors who really did anything positive; though Mo did miss 10 shots, he scored 14 and was crashing the boards all night before tweaking his knee. Slokar showed a good dose of aggression, and wasn’t at all intimidated by Rasheed Wallace or Antonio McDyess; he ended up with 18 on 7-10 shooting. Only three boards though…
But Luke Jackson and Pape Sow were the big disappointments… they didn’t show me anything. Has Sow improved at all since two years ago? He still looks so raw… I’d’ve expected him to develop at least a little something at this point. And I’m kind of shocked at how bad Jackson looked; he looked great in that one game he played significant minutes - Miami - but he looked slow, scared and tentative last night, like his confidence was gone. I hope he snaps out of it.
Meanwhile, Juan Dixon is still laying bricks (he better break outta that slump right quick) and though Kris Humphries was his usual active self, he was 2-9 from the floor. And the defense, well… did anyone give more than a token effort on that end of the floor? I would’ve thought these guys, who are playing for contracts, basically, would’ve given a little better effort.
Ah well. I’m just glad it’s over. Looks like Mo’s injury isn’t too serious, thankfully. Not that I expect he’ll be getting big minutes, but it’s always nice to know he’s there in case Stephen Graham shows up to play for Joey again. (Stephen had another 40 point game in the D-League last night by the way… and Joey didn’t play for us… yep, I’m 99% convinced they just switch places sometimes. That was clearly Joey dropping 40 in Sioux Falls).
I do hope the Raps win tonight. The fans deserve it and it would be great to get the 48th win on home court, knocking another Vince Carter-led team from the franchise record books. It shouldn’t be that hard - Korver and Igoudala are out for Philly - but then again the Sixers played the Cavs tough for 48 minutes last night. But the Raptors need to go into the postseason on a high note, so I hope they come out strong with a fired up crowd behind them, bury the Sixers early, and then can rest Bosh and Parker for the second half.
So that makes the New Jersey playoff matchup even more likely. I’m OK with that, as I’ve said; even though Washington would obviously be the easier road, I believe they can win either way, and I like the challenge New Jersey represents (and booing and beating Vince Carter will be fun). Washington would simply be less stressful.
But there are other factors in play; if Washington loses, and Orlando wins tonight New Jersey stays in sixth, Orlando moves to seventh and Washington drops to eighth.
This is significant, because whoever plays Washington basically gets a free ride. So if the Raptors get past New Jersey, I don’t want them playing a Chicago team that’s just swept Washington, didn’t have to play its starters big minutes and has had a few days off; I want them playing a Chicago team that just had to deal with Dwight Howard and Grant Hill for 5 or 6 games.
Of course, if New Jersey wins, and Cleveland beats Milwaukee, we still face the Nets but the Bulls drop to fifth and play Miami and the Cavs become our second round matchup! Crazy stuff.
Anyway, it’ll all play itself out tonight, surely the most relevant final day of the regular season Raptors fans have experienced in some time, if not ever.
As for the Raps last night, the loss doesn’t mean anything, but I would imagine, as an evaluation game, the coaches must be a little disappointed. Uros Slokar and Mo Peterson were the only Raptors who really did anything positive; though Mo did miss 10 shots, he scored 14 and was crashing the boards all night before tweaking his knee. Slokar showed a good dose of aggression, and wasn’t at all intimidated by Rasheed Wallace or Antonio McDyess; he ended up with 18 on 7-10 shooting. Only three boards though…
But Luke Jackson and Pape Sow were the big disappointments… they didn’t show me anything. Has Sow improved at all since two years ago? He still looks so raw… I’d’ve expected him to develop at least a little something at this point. And I’m kind of shocked at how bad Jackson looked; he looked great in that one game he played significant minutes - Miami - but he looked slow, scared and tentative last night, like his confidence was gone. I hope he snaps out of it.
Meanwhile, Juan Dixon is still laying bricks (he better break outta that slump right quick) and though Kris Humphries was his usual active self, he was 2-9 from the floor. And the defense, well… did anyone give more than a token effort on that end of the floor? I would’ve thought these guys, who are playing for contracts, basically, would’ve given a little better effort.
Ah well. I’m just glad it’s over. Looks like Mo’s injury isn’t too serious, thankfully. Not that I expect he’ll be getting big minutes, but it’s always nice to know he’s there in case Stephen Graham shows up to play for Joey again. (Stephen had another 40 point game in the D-League last night by the way… and Joey didn’t play for us… yep, I’m 99% convinced they just switch places sometimes. That was clearly Joey dropping 40 in Sioux Falls).
I do hope the Raps win tonight. The fans deserve it and it would be great to get the 48th win on home court, knocking another Vince Carter-led team from the franchise record books. It shouldn’t be that hard - Korver and Igoudala are out for Philly - but then again the Sixers played the Cavs tough for 48 minutes last night. But the Raptors need to go into the postseason on a high note, so I hope they come out strong with a fired up crowd behind them, bury the Sixers early, and then can rest Bosh and Parker for the second half.