Built Ford Tough

Along with Holiday. Those two always seem to go off whenever they play the Raptors. No Iguodala tonight should mean a solid game from Evan Turner. Remember how everybody was saying that Turner and Iggy wouldn't be able to work together? Well, so far that has proven to be true. Look at his numbers with and without Iguodala in the lineup this year: With Iggy: 2 games 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2-6 shooting 0 points, 4 rebounds, 0-3 shooting Average: 2.5 points, 5 rebounds, 22%(2-9) Without Iggy 6 games 14 points, 10 rebounds, 6-11 shooting (2-3 ft) 15 points, 8 rebounds, 6-13 shooting (3-3 ft) 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4-13 shooting (7-8 ft) Average: 15 points, 9 rebounds, 43% (16-37) (Not counting last nights game)

Must lose game tonight. Loser is only a half game back of the Clippers for last in the league. Is Iguodala playing tonight?

I don't buy that for a second. His name was all over Bosh sign and trades. Everytime a scenario involved Bosh going to Toronto, Beasley was linked to Toronto. Once or twice can be a coincidence, but with how often he was linked to Toronto, you have to believe he was offered. Miami was trying to do anything to get rid of him. The fact that he was traded for 2 2nd round picks shows that any team with cap space could've acquired him. By the sounds of it, Beasley was offered to anybody who had the ability to absorb his salary, which Toronto was capable of doing. He can say that he was never offered him, and nobody will ever really know, but I highly doubt he wasn't offered with how desperately the Heat were trying to deal him.

http://video.thescore.com/watch/jay-triano-swears-at-halftime I love Triano. He better not get fired this year because his outbursts are far and away the most entertaining parts of Raptor games.

Ok, this thread is going nowhere. Probably a good time to lock it now.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss253/desiwun/trianohorsesh1t.jpg Gotta love RealGM's Raptor board. They really don't miss anything.

Jay Triano does it again! From "What the [expletive] you gonna do?" to "We're playing like horse[expletive]!" I love this man. PS: Irving is now at 13/5/2 on 3/4 shooting and 6/7 from the line in 21 minutes (he is probably done for the night too, as Duke is up 75-35 with 3 minutes left). Nice job of bouncing back from those early fouls.

I've actually almost made one numerous times before, but I figured it would be a bit much. Kyrie Irving has 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists on 2-3 shooting and 4-5 free throw shooting in 17 minutes tonight, in case anybody was wondering.

Great start to the 2nd half for the Raptors. This is the kind of play that I like to see from them. Way to out tank the Wizards. Brilliant decision from Triano to insert a lineup of Andersen/Evans/Weems/Banks/Calderon. Seriously though, I turn the game to the Leaf game for about 5 minutes and I turn it back only to see the Raptors down by 20. What the hell happened?

That is fine, but do it without cursing every second sentence.

I'm really liking the improvements that Weems is showing with his long range jumper. He has always had great mechanics on his shot so it isn't a surprise at all to see him knocking down perimeter jumpers. He has all of the tools to become a very good shooter and over the last few games it seems like he is deveolping a lot of confidence in his long range jumper. 2/2 tonight so far and you knew that both of them were money the minute they left his hand. It is amazing how much more interested I am in this team when DeRozan and Weems are on the floor, though. When those two aren't on the floor, and Davis still injured, there just isn't anything worth watching in regards to this team. PS: Sullinger now has 26/11 on 13-18 shooting. Irving picked up 2 quick fouls, though, so he won't see much action tonight.

Young certainly isn't shy, eh? 5 shot attempts in like 4 minutes. And in other news, Jared Sullinger has 22 points and 9 rebounds on 11-6 shooting right now. Is it sad that I'm more into watching the OSU and Duke box scores to see how Sullinger and Irving are playing than watching this game?

Chill out. There is absolutely no reason to freak out like this. You too, platoon. PS: Miami played the Celtics in the playoffs last year, not the Hawks.

Packed house at the Verizon Center tonight! That would've been an absolutely nasty poster from Johnson if he managed to finish it over McGee. Speaking of McGee, he is ridiculously long. Dumb as dirt and doesn't have much talent, but god damn, he is huge. Raptors can't handle his size and they are getting killed on the glass right now (13-3). Sonny Weems is playing awesome right now. He definitely deserves to stay in the starting lineup. 9 points on 4/5 shooting. PS: Perry Jones had 12 points/11 rebs/4 blocks earlier today. Seems worth mentioning, especially in this thread. Probably a combination of both. I can't imagine the Raptors are a very popular draw around the league and the Wizards don't exactly have much to look forward to outside of Wall.

He better not. Colangelo might trade for him immediately after the game if he goes off for 40 or something.

Going by that logic doesn't that mean that the Heat have been a disappointment, then? If people expected a near perfect start and they are only barely above .500, that would count as a disappointment, no? I'd also agree with the Clippers. I definitely thought that they would be better than they are. Kaman has played like complete garbage this season, Davis looks even worse than he did with Dunleavy as the coach, and I didn't think that was possible. The most disappointing thing about them, though? They are out tanking the Raptors.

How much of a factor do you think Kleiza was in Colangelo not wanting Beasley? Everybody and their mother knew that Colangelo loves Kleiza's game (tried to trade for him, sign him two summers ago and this past summer) and I think he knew that he was going to be throwing an MLE deal at Kleiza this summer. Do you think that might've played a factor in him not wanting Beasley? He has had his sights set on him for years now. Or was it strictly the character issues?

Yi is out for Washington tonight, too. If that makes any difference. Sounds like Evans will miss the game for Toronto, though. Again, if that makes any difference. These are the games that the Raptors need to lose. I'm fine with them winning games agaisnt contenders like Orlando, but when playing against the other cellar dwelling teams like Washington, Philly, LAC etc... they need to lose. I don't often actually cheer for the Raptors to lose, but tonight I will be. EDIT: In case you were wondering, Barbosa isn't playing (he didn't even come on the road trip) and Kleiza most likely will as he practiced with the team the other day.

And it is official, Alabi is going to the D-League: http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/alabi_dleague_111510

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2010/11/14/16138041.html Looks like the coaching staff is finally going to do what Raptor fans have been pleading for all season long; throwing DeRozan to the wolves and seeing what he can do. It shouldn't have taken injuries to Kleiza or Barbosa, nor should it have taken 10 games, but better late than never, I guess. Bosh also had some comments for him:

Shelden Williams was unknown? News to me. I'm sure you could use numerous teams and say the same thing. Hell, you can do it with Toronto and throw out names like Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Jose Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa. Wright is the best wing defender, but he doesn't get consistent enough minutes to really count (same thing with Banks). Out of Barbosa, Kleiza and DeRozan, Weems is definitely the best defender of the bunch because he doesn't really have any glaring weaknesses like those three do. Barbosa is too small, Kleiza is too slow and DeRozan can't get through screens to save his life. Weems isn't great at anything, but I can't say that he is bad at anything defensively either.

Prison Break LOST Dexter Chuck Heroes (1st season only, though)

http://deadspin.com/5336974/how-an-nba-scorekeeper-cooked-the-books http://deadspin.com/5345287/the-confessions-of-an-nba-scorekeeper I don't think that anybody should be surprised about this considering everybody seems to question the legitimacy of a lot of stats, but I thought that they were both interesting reads. My favourite part of them was reading about how the Clippers purposefully lowered the stats of their players in order to low ball them when it came to contract negotiations. Cheap bastards.

Looks like DeRozan had another solid game, at least offensively. First time in his career that he has had back to back 20 point nights and for them to come against two of the best teams in the East, on the road, in a back to back is pretty impressive. He seemed to struggle with Wade, but it is Dwyane Wade, who doesn't struggle guarding him when he is on his game? If these last two games don't prove the point that he needs to get at least 30 minutes every night, I don't know what will. Wish I could've saw this game, or caught a replay, but I'm not about to wake up at 5AM to watch it. What was going on with Wright tonight, though? Did the Raptors suddenly re-acquire Antoine Wright? What was with the chucking from deep? He has played so well and always played within himself but tonight he seems to have played like Antoine instead of Julian.

So is LeBron James soft? He flops a lot, overexaggerates "injuries" and is constantly [expletive]ing to refs during the game. What about Kobe Bryant? He is constantly yapping at officials. Chris Paul? He flops and complains all of the time too. Kevin Garnett? Tim Duncan? Dwyane Wade? Dwight Howard? Just because a guy flops and complains to officials doesn't mean that he is soft. Every star player complains to refs and flopping, as annoying as it can be, is a legitimate thing to do when it constantly works, like it does for Pierce.