A Super Outing On A Super Sunday

Make that 7 in a row for the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.

And on top of that, make that another monster game by Raptors captain Chris Bosh. With 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists, the Raptors were able to come away with yet another win in front of the home crowd. Bosh has said it so himself - he hasn't been this excited in awhile. And you know what? Neither have us Raptors fans. The Raptors are currently on pace to match the most amount of wins before the All Star break in franchise history. On top of that, the team is on pace to match their franchise high 47 wins in a season.

Things are looking good in Raptorsland. But you would have never thought that if all you watched was ESPN.

Highlights of the Raptors-Kings game were shown during the broadcast of the Celtics-Magic bout, and only one thing was made clear during the segment - Chris Bosh WILL leave Toronto.

What is their problem? It just never stops with these guys.

For example, every Raptors fan knows about the amazing win the team pulled off against Kobe and the Lakers. But the mere thought of the Raps winning would have never even crossed your mind if you saw the highlight package. Of course, there was the time the Raps played the Knicks on a Thursday, allowing them to show highlights on TNT. And out of nowhere, they talk about how the Lakers bigmen are more versatile and skilled than the Raptors' Bosh and Bargnani. Literally, OUT OF NOWHERE, they talk about the Lakers bigs, during an entire highlight package between the RAPTORS and the KNICKS.

And what about all these people on TV going about how Bosh will leave, and there's no doubt about it. Where are they hearing this from? Chris Bosh has made it a priority to leave all this free agency talk for the summer. We're in the middle of the NBA season, and what matters most to him is the success the Raps see this season.

ESPN, TNT, Andy Roddick, and whoever else doesn't follow the Raps but pretend like they tap Bryan Colagenlo's phones, go talk about something else! Go talk about DWade and how his team is on a 5 game losing streak and 3 games below .500. Go talk about how it's best for LeBron to leave for New York. But PLEASE stop acting like you actually watch Raptors games. Because you don't. Just leave your agendas at home, and don't worry about the igloos the Raptors players have to live in while they stay here - we'll make sure to keep them properly maintained.

With A Side Of Red - Feb.07/10

Good morning GamePoint readers and Raptors fans everywhere. Here's your order of everything Raptors news as we set for tip off against the Kings about an hour from now at the ACC!

- Word coming from the Raptors this morning are that all 3 of DeRozan, Turkoglu, and Calderon should be able to give it a go today.

- After the comedic "Mask-Gate" situation over the last few days, we've gotten a confirmation that Turk WILL wear the mask.


More than 1 Evans to talk about!!!

- Tyreke "Too Easy" Evans will be making his Canadian NBA debut this afternoon. The rookie sensation is a current favorite to win this season's NBA rookie of the year award. The stats speak for themselves: 20 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds. The last rookie to do that? Michael Jordan. Here's what the latest set of the NBA Rookie Rankings had to say about the explosive Kings guard:

"Evans is starting to feel the bumps and bruises that come with playing in the NBA. Evans bruised his hip against the Jazz on Friday and struggled in Saturday's game against the Bobcats, scoring four points in 29 minutes, his fewest minutes since Nov. 8. Evans then missed Monday's game in Denver with a sore right ankle. Evans is playing it safe, though. "You've got to take care of your body because it's a long season," Evans told the Sacramento Bee. "If you go out there and play hurt, you can mess it up and make the injury worse. That last game (against the Bobcats), I couldn't give it my all. I just didn't feel comfortable being out there and couldn't really play hard."

- The man. The myth. The legend himself. Reggie Evans will possibly attempt an early comeback for this Wednesday against Philly. Reggie has missed the entire season up to this point due to a foot injury he suffered in a pre-season game against the Celtics. His much needed energy and tenacity will be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Evans has grown to be a fan favorite in Raptorsland because of his enthusiasm and the fact that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's also developed a habit of hooking up the Raptors faithful with tickets through contests via twitter. Make sure to follow him here:

http://twitter.com/ReggieEvans30

- Lastly, it seems as though Marco Belinelli will not be able to play today.

There you have it Raptors fans! Whatever it is you have with you, I hope you enjoyed it With A Side Of Red.

More Than Meets The Eye; Drama In Disguise

Deceit.

Greed.

Conspiracies.

Friday, February 5, 2010 will forever go down as "Mask-Gate".

Well at least that's what Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo is hoping it doesn't turn into. With a couple of days in between games, basketball news is naturally very hard to come by. Combined with the relatively improved recent play from the boys in red and white, and the media folk are at a standstill.

Energetic practices.

Easy going atmosphere.

Winning ways.

This is not what the media thrives on. Give us something to work with here. Anything dammit.

And as quickly as we asked, an answer appeared. And of course, being typical Toronto media, we pounced on it. After Turkoglu suffered a small fracture to his right orbital bone during the home game against Indiana, the Raptors' prized free agent went through a protective mask fitting. The action?

“I told them it’s uncomfortable. I just have to do my best without the mask.”

And the reaction from Colangelo:

“It’s pretty simple: He’s going to have to wear the mask."

So now the question is - Who will budge first? One has to think the player will always fall in line with what the GM says. But something tells me Turk either isn't done protesting, or is quite irked about the situation. All year, he's come off as a guy who will do things his way. Now to his credit, he does put the good of the team first, but it's always been done in a way that he feels comfortable with most. For example, all year long, the fans have begged him to come out of his shooting slump. But time after time, Turkoglu has explained that he won't take the excessive amount of shots typically needed to come of a funk because that's not what his game is about. If Hedo could have it his way - which he often does - he would play an entire game setting up his teammates for easy baskets - which he has - and he'd be just fine with.

Then of course this mask situation. Hedo was seen sporting the mask this morning during practice in an attempt to get comfortable and appease the organization. But just imagine he pulls what he did in Orlando and ditches the mask after the first quarter? If the said scenario does take place, I'm hoping the broadcast crew pans the camera immediately towards Colangelo. Just because I know the look on his face will be avatar worthy.

Along with the pizza pizza commercial that provided us with "Yes Coach!", the infamous "Ball" quote, and now this mask ordeal - if there's one thing that Hedo has provided us, it's a season full of entertainment.

With A Side Of Red - Feb.05/10

Have you ever experienced one of those mornings where you wake up, wander around your kitchen for a little bit, have a glass of juice or milk, hop back into bed, then realize you're having trouble getting back to sleep?

Well readers, that's exactly what happened to me. And being afraid of having to deal with the grumpy mood that might rear its ugly head, I've decided to introduce a new segment to my blog called "With A Side Of Red". Its purpose? Think of it as a random collection of Raptors information just for the fans. Whether its media, the latest rumors, highlights, interviews - whatever it is - you can be assured that it'll be good enough to go with your coffee, lunch, newspaper, iPod playlist, or even your midnight snack.

So Raptors fans and GamePoint readers, I introduce to you the product of my lack of sleep, the first installment of "With A Side Of Red"

Check out Ahmad Rashad's All Access Interview with our franchise player CB4. It's an easy going interview that goes over things like Bosh's summer workout, Olympics, language barriers on the court, among other things. Enjoy.



In other news...

One of the more talked about topics in Raptorsland just so happens to be Andy Roddick's twitter account. The famous tennis player caught the attention of countless Raptors fans when he went on a twitter spree late last night. The message? "Bosh To Miami"

Here's one of his twitter gems:

"attn all raptor fans: lets be realistic with ourselves for a second .. he is not staying there.... let him be happy in sunny south florida"

I'm not really the biggest fan of tennis, and now no longer a fan of Andy Roddick, but I will admit that he knows how to be a jerk. You can check out the rest of his "tweets" regarding the matter on his official twitter account:

http://twitter.com/AndyRoddick

And there you go Raptors nation.

Whatever it is you have with you, I hope you enjoyed it With A Side Of Red.

Ten Points Away From The End Of The World

Whew.

That was a close one.

And by a close one, I mean that we just avoided a 2012-esque world catastrophe. Imagine what would have happened if we had lost to the New Jersey Nets? You know, the same team that with a record of 4 wins and a ridiculous 44 loses! That would not have been a pretty sight whatsoever.

Many fans bought a ticket to tonight's game expecting one of the easiest wins of the season. After all, Toronto had no trouble dismantling the Nets in their first meeting. But not tonight. This rematch turned out to be a very tightly contested game. Don't let the final score fool you, from start to finish, neither team really broke away to take a commanding lead. Fortunately for the Toronto Raptors and their fans, the home team was able to pull it out with a final score of 108-99.

To tell you the truth, I was hoping the Raps would dominate tonight for a full 48 minutes. And though there will be more than a fair share of fans who would feel the same, I'm just glad we got out of there with the win. Remember, come the end of the season, there will only be two columns you look at. The win column. And the loss column. The most important thing to is to get the win; it doesn't matter how you do it, just win.

There had been a spell during the second quarter - after the Raps went 0/6 - when the fans began to boo mercilessly. This city is itching to get behind a proven winner, and rightfully so, they expressed their displeasure. Fortunately, the Raptors responded behind big nights from the likes of Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Sonny Weems, and Amir Johnson.

Regardless of the win, questions do need to be asked and addressed. The biggest one has to be: Why do we keep falling behind teams by 10 or more points? This was the 6th game in a row that it's happened. Elite teams do have a reputation of slacking and turning it on when needed. But here's a news flash Raptors fans - WE ARE NOT ELITE! We can't afford to trail by that many, evident by what happened last night in Indiana.

Something's gotta happen to change that. I'm also looking forward to the team being at full health again. Yes, we're deep. Yes, multiple people step it up. But we're in a part of our schedule where we need everybody to be firing on all cylinders. I'm especially hoping Turk comes back soon so we don't go through another abysmal scoring drought.

But hey, congrats to us. Disaster avoided.

Raps Forgot To Pack Their Lightning In A Bottle

For the fifth game in a row, the Raptors allowed the opposing team to jump on them. And for the fifth game in a row, the Raptors thought they could just turn it on. Successfully coming back from 10+ point deficits four games in a row will do that for you. The phrase "Comeback Kids" get thrown around next. And before you know it, you come crashing back to Earth after being knocked in the face by the reality of the situation.

That's exactly what happened when the Raptors let one get away in a 130-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers. During yesterday's media scrum after practice, there was a bit of talk regarding the style of attack the Pacers played with. That small ball, green light on any shot kind of offence that gives most teams fits when the ball is going in the net at a good rate.

The Raptors' counter? Stick to your guns. Make Indiana adjust to how you play, and not the other way around.

Unfortunately, the Raptors fell into a trap and played the type of game the Pacers preferred. Nevermind the high scoring first quarter of 34-32. But any fan that managed to catch the game on The Score could spot it immediately - the game was hectic and unorganized. There was absolutely no structure on the offensive or defensive end. By halftime, I had even lost how many times a broken play had occurred, or how many loose ball situations there were.

By the time the Raps realized their season high 5 game winning streak was in serious jeopardy, it was already too late. With an injured DeMar DeRozan, as well as Hedo Turkoglu not being able to give it a go, Toronto already had more than their fair share of hurdles to overcome. And just to throw salt on the wound, the Raps also managed to lose Jose Calderon to injury after rolling his ankle.

With a must win game tomorrow at the ACC against the New Jersey Nets, the Raps must find a way to do something they haven't been capable of doing in the last 5 games, and that's dominate a team for a full 48 minutes.

DD and Turk Out; More Burn For Wright and Weems

In a few hours, the Toronto Raptors will wrap up their home and home bout with the Indiana Pacers. And for the second meeting in a row, they will have to somehow find a way to get things done without the services of DeMar DeRozan and Hedo Turkoglu. Fortunately for the Raps, one of their biggest strengths has been their depth. It almost seems as though every night, someone different is stepping up to be the difference maker.

With DeRozan and Turk out again, Sonny Weems and Antoine Wright are expected to fill the void. They're recent surge in improved play, usage, and minutes have come around the same time, so here are their stats in the last 3 games.

Weems:

25 min
9.6 pts
3.6 reb
2.3 ast
57% on 21 shots

Wrights

26 min
12.3 pts
5.3 reb
1.3 ast
63% on 22 shots
77% from 3 on 9 shots

It's a small sample size, but it's encouraging to see that these two have stepped it up when required. There was some talk about Marco getting more burn when DD went down, but Weems has been doing a great job so far. As for Wright, he's impressed me the most, and he's reminding me of Mo Pete and/or AP from our Atlantic division season.

Make sure to catch these two in action, along with the rest of the Raptors squad in action as they try to win the season series with the Pacers tonight on The Score @ 7pm.