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Raptors get important win before trip out West

MICHAEL GRANGE

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 10:41 PM EST 11/03/08

Nesterovic excels in Bosh's absence as Toronto beats the SuperSonics, Michael Grange reports ...Read the full article

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  1. Clark The Mighty from Canada writes: Big deal.

    Sonics and Heat always lose.

    Raps gave up too many points. Mitchell can't coach a sophisticated D.

    Raps are going out early in the playoffs.

    FIRE MITCHELL!
  2. Tony! Tony! from Canada writes: Clark the Mighty: You're at it again, you adorable little ragamuffin! I love your desire for attention -- it's so gosh darn cute, I can't even handle it!

    Keep up the good work, you little cutie-pie!
  3. HC Bargs from Toronto, Canada writes: Just got back from the game. A win's a win so I'll take it, but the Raps are going to get rockd out West if they put up that same kind of record and - I never thought I'd say this - but Clark is right: the Raps will lose in the first round again if they continue to play this sh*tty.
  4. Roger S from Canada writes: It seems that Raptors were doing better when Sam sat down. Well, we all know, they could even better if Sam steps down.

    Nonetheless, as usual, Jose was solid and TJ sucked.

    The funny thing is, in half time interview TJ mentioned that he wants to be a player like Marbury, excuse me, did he say M-a-r-b-u-r-y? Now you know why this guy is a loser.

    A change is need, and it should include at least one of those two names above.
  5. Roger S from Canada writes: Raptors are strugling right now. Jose should take more shots and drive more. Sometime he defers to his teammates too much. Next five games will be tough, he has to step up.
  6. John Nicholson from Oshawa, writes: Sam Mitchell is the Coach and will remain so for as long as he wants.

    Raptors won because TJ (better effort. still too many TO's) and the bench players Humph, Kapono, and Delfino played much better. Kapono even made 2- 3pt shots !!!

    The keys to the Rap's winning, especially without Bosh, remains TJ and the bench contributing each game.
  7. HC Bargs from Toronto, Canada writes: John Nicholson...were we watching the same game? TJ played awful. It seemed every possession he had he turned the ball over because he was trying to do too much. He needs to settle down and stay in control.
  8. Roger S from Canada writes: This post shows how the unreal love to Ford causes blindness of those TJ-supporters. He must mean TJ didn't play bad enough to blow Raptors.
  9. M Spiker from Ottawa, Canada writes: I can't recall seeing an NBA team make as many bad TOs as the Stupersonics did today. I may have been suffering from snow blindness but I swear I saw them misplay a routine inbounds after a basket -- there wasn't a Barney on their side of the court and the 2 TOnics managed to muff a 15 ft pass. I am used to seeing this type of play on the team I coach...but they are only 7 year old girls.

    Judging from PJ's reaction to this farce they are officially in the tank (aka race for Beasley). Even then I am surprised he didn't grab Durant by the throat.
  10. albert strauss from Toronto,Ontario, Canada writes: Interesting feature of CB s absence:- Sam is being forced to try combinations he never would have thought of. (and I dont know if it is he who is thinking of these). These combinations are bringing people out of the shadow of CB s manufactured all starism to shine in their own right. It is even getting AB to play NBA ball. Keep it up SAM in spite of yourself and dont hurry back CB. Necessity may make Raps coaching look respectable regardless of who is calling the shots
  11. Kate Y from Canada writes: A win is a win, i dont want to complain too much. However, does anybody understand what Sam was trying to say during the halftime interview"...TJ is TJ, ... miss a few shots that"s fine". If I remember this right he said the same words from day one. All other players didn't get the same privilege.(???)
    Thank god that Sam didn't try his "best combination" of using TJ and Jose together in the 4th period.
  12. John Nicholson from Oshawa, writes: HC- I did not say TJ played great, I said better, with 4 ast as well as 4 to's & 6pts, as well as Kapono, Humph, and Delfino 37 pts, while playing with him. Without his input Rap's lose the game. Without Bosh everyone must contribute to Win.
  13. John Nicholson from Oshawa, writes: Roger S.- I am a Calderon fan, first, and believe he is the PG of the future for Raptors. But I also believe that TJ is a very good PG and Rap's need him at his best in whatever Mitchell determines that is his role, currently with the 2nd unit or bench players. Raptors lacking in any current Superstar scorers must get contributions from all who play to win.
  14. JOHN PALANDRA from Toronto, Canada writes: Kate i honestly think Sam was scrambling for a nice thing to say. He didnt want it to seem as though he was frustrated with the way TJ played because that would be a storyline the media would jump on. Sam has learned to solve problems internally and not vent his frustrations through the media. Who remembers his first year when he went off on Jerome Moiso ? "zero, zero, zero, zero"...classic
  15. Roger S from Canada writes: I got you John. Raptors can't afford TJ Ford and second unit blow 6 pts 4th quarter lead into 6- pt deficits in a tied game like they did in Orlando. Second unit must play better for Raptors be able to win. I agree with you. At least those guys should be able to hang on. I found an interesting fact long time ago. Sam Mitchell and Toronto medias are free to take shots at Jose, Andrea, and even Bosh when they don't play well. Tons of articles will tell you why, Jose was in funk, Andrea can't defense and Bosh didn't play at the level of all-star. IN THE MEANTIME, Sam Mitchell and media writers have been relunctant to criticize TJ Ford while this guy has been playing questionable basketball for most of his careers in Toronto. They keep telling us that TJ is pass-first pure point guard and he is the future of the franchise. I think Toronto medias mislead fans and Sam Mitchell sends wrong messages to TJ. WHAT WENT WRONG?
  16. Roger S from Canada writes: I got you John. Raptors can't afford TJ Ford and second unit blow 6 pts 4th quarter lead into 6- pt deficits in a tied game like they did in Orlando. Second unit must play better for Raptors be able to win. I agree with you. At least those guys should be able to hang on.

    I found an interesting fact long time ago. Sam Mitchell and Toronto medias are free to take shots at Jose, Andrea, and even Bosh when they don't play well. Tons of articles will tell you why, Jose was in funk, Andrea can't defense and Bosh didn't play at the level of all-star.

    IN THE MEANTIME, Sam Mitchell and media writers have been relunctant to criticize TJ Ford while this guy has been playing questionable basketball for most of his careers in Toronto. They keep telling us that TJ is pass-first pure point guard and he is the future of the franchise. I think Toronto medias mislead fans and Sam Mitchell sends wrong messages to TJ.

    WHAT WENT WRONG?
  17. Conrad Sola from United States writes:
    Juan Dixon "second unit" played better than TJ "second unit".
  18. Lance zhu from Kingston, Canada writes: Go Raps go!
  19. D D from Canada writes: With Bosh still out, looks like the record will be 34-33 when they come back from the west.
  20. Chris Yang from Canada writes: Roger S, are you Raptors fan, or a Spanish sports fan? Shouldn't you be throwing flares at opposing players in soccer matches or something? Sheesh, JC is an extremely excellent player but I don't understand all this hate for TJ. We need them both (and of course, performing at top level) in order to win games. They carried us last year, they will have to again, especially with Bosh out. What about athe (short) period of time when JC was struggling and TJ was carrying the load? Did anyone complain about him. Or do I have to bring up the times when Juan Dixon had to run the offense?

    With Bosh out, this team has really been in the hole. TJ has been acting strange, Bargnani is inconsistent with his shooting (although he's been doing much better on the defensive end), Moon has been better but still takes WAY too many threes, so I'm not sure if we can win anything on this road trip. Maybe against the Kings, but that's really all I can see. Unless a(nother) miracle happens and everyone besides AP/JC/RN steps up their play, I wouldn't be surprised if the Raptors hit 0.500 again soon.
  21. Rich Chan from Vancouver, Canada writes: I don't think that anybody that seriously watches these Raptor game and only look at the boxscore can truly understand what a liability that TJ Ford is. He turns over the ball as much as he scores. In fact, when you score, you get at least two points; if you could give 2 points instead of 1 for turnovers, TJ just might have the same amount of points as turnovers. I'm really tired of the media turning a blind eye on TJ's mistakes when they are so obvious. It's really sad when TJ gets too competitive against the guard that he is going one-on-one with, cuz chances are, he would probably beat the guard on the dribble but has a hard time passing out when he starts getting double-teamed. TJ is just a very athletic point guard with 0 basketball IQ. I don't care if his highschool team's record is 75-1; all NBA players have great highschool and/or college records, but in the NBA he's just a very poor athletic players. Very dumb is layman's term.

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