Toronto Raptors Ramblings

Season Opener Running Diary

12:00 - Here we go, Raps ready to rock their 9 new faces. #15 is again my favourite Raptor and yes there was a rumour in today's paper that Vince was making inquiries about rejoining Toronto. Low prof, under the radar 'pssst...you think this could work' kinda stuff. More on that when I recover from the thought.

Chuck Swirsky is announcing with Leo Rautins tonight. Leo coached my high school team a few times so i have a soft spot. All said though he knows his hoops and he isn't annoying. Advantage Leo. Chuck is just Chuck. Love him or hate him. I love what he tries to do. High energy high fun. Sometimes he comes up short in execution....but A for effort.

9:46 - Bosh has shown a couple of tight moves, a little reverse. Vince rams home a reversal. Screw you Vince

4:47 - Nutbar gets a foul. Nutbar?

4:42 - note. the raptors have 3 white guys on the floor right now. They've tried to replace Matt Bonner in numbers alone. It might work.

4:40 - Swirsky just said "nutbar" again. beautiful.

3:30 - OUCH. Bargnani gets the ball underneath, nobody between him and the rim. Oddly enough decides he's got no shot, he's disengaging. "I'll fire when i'm god damn good and ready". Moves back two steps, now two defenders are in front of him. He goes up and...misses short. Way short. Grabs his own rebound and tips it in. That did not look comfortable. At
all.

Although this possession was a success I think we've shown it as an example of what not to do.

3:19 - Garbage man just got a rebound without jumping. The name Garbage Man is not an accident. This guy is going to get some Garbage stats. Also known as the right place at the right time. Down the court he misses a three...good thing he's on my bench. oh yeah. I drafted the Garbage Man in my fantasy pool!

2:12 - 'Passing is contagious' - Leo. Don't you love hearing that? It gives me hope. I really hope it is.

1:39 - Calzone drops a floater! Not just any floater the knee up at the defender one. Man you gotta love those. When you actually take one of those shots you almost feel as if you are cheating. Sure...stand in my way. My knee is flying at your chest, if you get in the way it's
just not my fault. Like when kids flail their arms and beat the crap out of siblings with the whole 'you walked into it' theory.

FLAGRANT FOUL. BOSH GOES DOWN. Where the freak is Garbage Man right now? Hit somebody! Okay...just rewound the PVR, Garbajosa gave him a look. Step 1. Next is the huge elbow. Wait for it. Patience. It's coming. Garbage Man just added #24 to his hit book.

Leo: If i had to describe Garbajosa i'd say think about going to a men's leagues around town. You see that old team. The guys who win, year in year out against the young college studs. That's who he is. I call this guy "Mens' League".

Love the fact that leo is thinking about a nickname for the Garbag man. Garbagio. Men's League. hm. not gonna stick.

End of one NJ 28, Raps 27.

2nd Quarter
11:30 - Humphries just tried a very panicky shot. At least he's not Araujo. I hope i don't spend the entire year saying it. but then again...at least he's not Araujo.

10:32 - Chuck said Nutbar again. That's about 6 of them. Over under in this game is set at 24.

10:22 - "Fred jones with a charge on Nutbar. Nutbar was moving wasn't he? That was a flop"`(quickly appproaching 24).

9:23 - 'Kaboom' goes Chuck! Humpty just finished a dunk. He's already better than Araujo. Can you feel the love of all Raptors fans. Not only does this guy not have to be good, he only has to be better than Araujo. This is gotta be one of the best situations for a guy in the league. Can you say Free pass?

(by the way, in the time it took me to write that there were 3 more Nutbars! This is great).

Now that we are on ads, maybe i should point out that 'a nutbar' is also a crazy person where
i come from. i.e. 'what a nutbar'. Think Emily Valentine. Oh...and Nutbar is actually Bostjan Nachbar.

We're back. The Score has decided to let us listen in on the Italian cast of this game. Really is this necessary? 1 minute, no clue what they said. Wow, except Leo just translated it. They basically said Toronto is better than U.S. cities because Canada is more like Europe. ha ha. They aren't translating that on TNT.

7:38 - 5 more nutbars in the past 2 minutes. over under is now at 60.

6:38 - Humphries on the ground stealing us a loose ball. Have i mentioned he's got a free pass this year? Chuck took this moment to let us know 'we call him the Hammer'. Not sure why yet but okay.

5:44 - "The bank is open" claims Chuck after Parker drops a deuce off the glass. That's Chuck making it work. Parker is playing his best game of the year, game 1. Carter just came back for his 3rd dunk. Screw you Vince.

4:57 - despite our decent play the Raps have now given up about 14 points on layups. This is awfully familiar territory we are heading into here.

4:15 - Raps just showed their first signs as a run and gun team, T.J. moves it quick, Mo
finishes with the foul. Great movement, quick pass instead of extra dribbles. Fantastic. unfortunately there's 4:16 to go in the half. Baby steps.

3:00 - P.J. Tucker. 30 seconds in the game. 2 rebounds. Blocked once. Fouled. Chuck just threw out his nickname for Tucker. "Nails". That's right. Hammer and Nails. He's about to break out the toolbox. Can you feel it? Nah...he's saving that for the third quarter.

Wow. Tucker just threw one over his head. And by 'one' i mean a shot from 6 feet. These Raps are all over the place right now. Great, bad, ugly.

1:15 - Leo riding Chuck, telling him he isnt going to be get his hair back. Chuck on the other hand thinks that bald is back baby! Chuck also let's us in on a the secret 'Swirsky Bobblehead Night'. Get ticketmaster on the phone...stat.

1:00 - TJ Ford hit a three. Savour that.

37: Garbage Man is cold. Missing everywhere. Good thing he does a little of everything.


Halftime Score: Nets 53, Raps 49.

Half Time
Raps hoisted up 54 shots by the half. Wow. Apparently 100 shots might happen from time to time. Unfortunately we are not finding the 3 point love from last year. 3 - 13.
Garbage Man: 0-2
Mo Pete: 0-4

Well at least my prediction of Mo Jacking 8 three's a game is on track. Raptors are 21-54 (38.9%) for those counting. Which is actually good news for the second half. Although 10 of those shots were impossible throw over my head in desparation i'm crapping my bed shots...so they'd never go in. Well with only 5 Turnovers and 54 shot attempts you need to be winning. Not playing defence will do that to you.

Excited to note that I'll be at game 1 and 2 this Friday and Sunday. The Charlie V home opener
and the return of Matt Bonner. Can't wait for Bonner to enter the game. Crowd to go nuts.
Charlie V, not as exciting. Nobody too thrilled to boo him, nobody really interested in cheering him.

Third Quarter - computer crash
Fourth Quarter - computer crash
Funny Quips -computer crash

Well the good news is that this post just got cut off by 1000 words. Unfortunately my computer crashed, nothing auto saved and voila. Glad I published the first bit at half.

The second half was not pretty. Raps shot just as bad if not worse, couldn't get to 100 shots (but 94 was pretty nice) and Vince stepped it up and we didn't play D...game over. The over under on Nutbar finished at 54, smashing the early line. Mo Pete with 7 three point attempts was one under my 'season average' prediction of 8 per game.

My girlfriend also announced the reason i was so cold was that she has the heat on at 60. She thinks we can tough it out. I don't work 10 hour days to tough it out on my couch. The War on the thermostat has begun.

Anthony Parker was the highlight for the Raps, doing all kinds of Euro League MVP moves. The Bargnani era was welcomed in by 6 minutes of confusion and fouls. A rough start for our rookie so the keyword this year is patience.

All in all lots of good signs, lots to learn for the Raps from this one and lots to talk about. 41 wins still to go. As mentioned I'll be at this Friday's home opener sitting in row G, so get ready for some trash talking. If you have a message for any Buck's let me know.

posted by WG @ 8:53 PM