Tommy Likey: Anything can Happen
Last year the Raptors took off in January en route to a great year and what looked to be a building block for this year. Last year we had a good excuse for sucking early, a brutal Western road schedule, a truck load of new dudes and question marks all over the place. But that was last year. And we pulled it off. So the question is can we do it again with a team that just doesn't look so good?I say yes. Why can't we turn this thing around? Isn't it possible that we'll be looking back at today's Double OT victory as the season's TSN turning point? I feel like Moon's 4 point foul at the end of regulation could have taken us in one of two directions.
Direction 1 - Trainwrecktown, a.k.a. Spearsville, where we get angry, and self implode by blaming everyone, partying away our effort and finally ending up locked in a bathroom with our kids for 3 hours before being wheeled out half naked on a stretcher into an awaiting amublance before getting a visit from Dr. Phil telling us we need help.
Direction 2 - Goodnessville
There is hope behind door #2. Bosh seems to have suddenly come back to life being as aggressive as we've ever seen. Parker is asserting himself on O. Moon is turning into a defensive powerhouse. Jose is already everyone's favourite no turnover 'write in' all-star. Even Carlos is settling into a role I can handle. And 3 straight, even vs. only one good team, is still 3 straight.
Now with Detroit and Boston on the docket along with a all of a sudden not super Crappy Hawks team you may still be thinking ".500-ville'. Fair enough but......
But Strangers Things Have Happened. Just this weekend I saw a J-Love Hewitt Bumload of evidence that anything can happen.
For example, would you believe me if I told you Chris Farley has been resurected in the form of a 3 year old girl? Probably not. I haven't seen her fall through a table, do a pile of drugs or show off her fat belly, but this photo speaks for itself.
And while waiting to see the new Daniel Day Lewis movie There Will be Blood (7.1 out of 10) I'm almost positive I saw an add that suggests SlyStallone pulled Rambo out of his coffin, retired him to Thailand as a Zen like Snake trainer and he's going to save an entire Village from a very bad man.
I'm equally as certain that Eli, and not Peyton Manning is actually moving on in the NFL Playoffs.
And what about the first full page "blow this whole Leafs team up" article in the Globe? (The surprise of course being it took this long to publish the annual story).
Still not convinced?
Think about it like this. We sneak out a win vs. either Detroit or Boston and beat the duds. We hit February with a little bounce in our stride. Moon wins the Dunk contest, Jose gets a coaches vote-in as does Bosh. We dominte the weekend and February features Miami once and Indiana, Minnesota and New York TWICE EACH!
.620 to Goodnessville
It could happen. But for a .620 run we need a few other things to happen. Bargnani will likely have to do something other than suck, and the bench will have to follow his lead. T.J. has to come back and compliment what Jose is doing. And of course Bosh (as if in Response to his 1 rebound game) has to continue to dominate.
But is any of that so far fetched? Why not root for that, instead of anticipating a ho hum year. It's Winter, a.k.a. Raptors time. Like Favre in a snowstorm. So take that Colangelo in the Tunnel look of stone death off your face and let's prepare for a glorious run, cause it's clear to me that anything can happen.
posted by WG @ 9:43 PM
6 Comments:
I think right now one of the main keys to our future success is Bargs. The soph REALLY needs to get on track; we desperately need his size and his scoring right now. If he can learn how to REBOUND and focus more on getting high-percentage shots, that's an extra 15-20 points & 8-12 rebounds we weren't getting before. Hopefully he can turn it around.
Miami, Indiana, Minnesota, and New York. Twise EACH?! Nooicce!!!
Miami once, but i ommitted the Clipshow....always a treat.
I've almost entirely given up on Bargnani rebounding the ball. It's really not that hard. Whatever Leo migth tell you. The shot goes up...you get to the far side. It's not rocket science. You pass the ball. You shoot the ball. You rebound the ball. Even being in the vicinity would be nice...
Physically there's no difficulty, but you do have to get into that mindset. And for a player that has spent most of his time on the perimeter, getting into that mindset isn't going to happen overnight. He's getting there, though; he had 6 rebounds in yesterday's game against the Kings. His shot is completely off nowadays, though; he's no longer a threat from the outside.
I like the optimism! Well Bargs for me has to find his touch or else his futile...
Did you see him after missing a few treys go baseline for a fadeaway near airball? Ouch indeed.
As for rebounding. I play hoops too, albeit for the Thursday Night Marauders. Some games I say "I'm going to throw 2 sweet bounce passes". Do I? Not necessarily but I'm always looking for them. Some games I have a little guy on me (which is exciting since i'm a little guy) and I think POST TIME hook shots! And other games...on a rare occasion i'll think "i'm going to go mix it up under the glass". And you know what. That's the easiest of them all.
If your mind can't figure that out, you simply have a low basketball IQ. I'm hoping that's not the case with the big fella...
cause when all else fails, defense and rebounding will keep you in the game.
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