SkywalkerAC

oh no! we have no depth! oh woe is us! whatever should we do?

i for one am through with this team. we have no upside whatsoever and CB4 is not a real superstar. we don't have any good roleplayers and we're doomed to be a mediocre team in the east because the west is oh so dominant.

obiwan kenobi you're my only hope...

even PRINCESS LEIA had some ****ing balls when it came to the rebellion. yes, the death star was an obstacle but how about some testicular fortitude?

have you ever seen an ewok talk back? no. because they respect their elders, especially those that eat a healthy diet of rolled oats.

.500 is not a horrible season. in fact, it's in our favour because we need to upgrade through the draft.

i know we're all excited about our pick and we have more to gain than most teams despite being post-lotto.

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bigbabyjesus

sorry, but the difference between picking at 16 or picking at 19/20 isn't worth not getting home court advantage. especially given that this draft is deep, amd picks from 7-25 will generally be the same talent level.

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SkywalkerAC

wow. wtf. don't drink and post.

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King Bosh

Right on, man. All things considered this has been a rather successful year for the Raptors. If you think back to 2 seasons ago when we had Mike James running the point and one of the worst teams in the league, pretty much every Raptor fan would have been incredibly pleased if you told them that by this point we'd have a division championship and (likely) 2 playoff appearances under our belt. People also seem to overlook the amount of man games this team has lost due to injury, with Bosh missing time on 2 occasions, Ford (which has been both a blessing and a curse in many ways), and last but not least, GARBO! Everyone forgets about Garbo, but I really think that if we had Garbo available all year that the team would be in a much better position. Without him they lose probably their grittiest player, a solid defender, and a guy who swing between all 3 front court positions.His absence has forced Toronto to rely on Humphries and Moon far too much (even though they've both been fairly pleasant surprises this year, they've both also struggled mightily at times, and Garbo certainly could have helped alleviate that).

All things considered, I'll be pretty pleased if they just make the playoffs. Obviously 6th seed would be nice (just 1 month ago I was thinking 3rd seed, but, you know), but there's been a good deal of adversity for the team this season, and hopefully it helps them in the future.

SkywalkerAC

TJ and Rasho back in the starting lineup for the home stretch. It's ok if they struggle against Detroit, they need to find their identity and learn how to win again.

CB4 is playing well.
Moon is playing well.
Rasho is playing well.
AP is playing well.

Back to their original positions, we have to hope that both PGs can get back to both playing well over 48 minutes.

Look for Andrea to get more high pick and roll action with Jose off the bench, have less foul trouble, and find some semblance of a comfort level.

I'm curious to see if TJ can spark our offense despite only having one 3-point shooter in the starting lineup. How potent is his pick and roll with Bosh and can he get Moon and Rasho easy looks at the basket?

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SkywalkerAC

Big, big win tonight. Momentum here we come. Just need one of those teams above to slip up...

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SkywalkerAC

So much drama has built around this team. I see every win from here on out galvanizing and energizing the team to a fever pitch. There's so much pent up emotion on this team it's scary.

With Jose and TJ back in their original positions, expect the fire to return to this team. Ballocks has talked at length about our inability to celebrate. I think this PG switch, crazy as it might be, will catalyze the emotional firepower of this team. Expect to see TJ on the verge of tears he's so charged; expect to see Jose's 3-finger into dagger fistpumps and screaming all the while.

Bosh doesn't have his legs yet, which is frightening, but he's just dying to do his Raptor Flap (you know the celebration i'm talking about?) and turn on full attack mode. I used to say this same thing about VC putting on his game face and we never got to see much of it but Chris is a different kind of player, person, and leader.

Who's up next? New York?

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SkywalkerAC

We've got:
NYK
NO
CHA
ATL
CHA
NJ
MIL
NJ
DET
MIA
CHI

Wiz have:
SAC
LA
UTA
MIL
MIA
CHI
BOS
DET
PHI
IND
ORL

Sixers have:
PHO
CLE
NJ
ATL
ATL
DET
IND
WAS
CLE
CHA

All three are winnable schedules. This is going to be a dogfight for playoff position. Couple BIG games coming up against VC and the Nets. This is going to be a lot of fun...and stress.

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ballocks

i don't know if i agree, sky. i think we clearly have the easiest schedule as it stands today. the wiz have about seven games as underdogs, the sixers have four or five, and they also play each other. i'm actually looking forward to that one- everyone else will have packed it in for the season or started getting ready for the playoffs, but washington and philly will still have unfinished business to take care of. late-season regular season games that have meaning are always fun. good appetizers.

but yeah, we have only two games left as decisive underdogs (new orleans and detroit). we should be able to make up some ground- but of course, this team should've done a lot of things by now.

i'll say it again, though: i'm as disappointed by the raptors' play this year as anyone anywhere but when you look at it, this is still the best chance we've ever had to make it to the finals. it's ridiculous.

peace

seifer0406

By the look of the schedule, Washington should take the 5th seed and the Sixers should drop to 7th. If our team stays healthy and take advantage of the easy schedule down the stretch and get into a groove, the series against Orlando should be a competitive one.

SkywalkerAC

Oh, I definitely think we've got the easiest closing schedule of the 3.

2 wins in a row baby! Back into the 6th spot.

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SkywalkerAC

The Suns bring the Sixers back to earth and Washington gets the competitive Kings at Arco. Go Kings.

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seifer0406

We are now tied with the Wizards (They have the tiebreaker) and 1 game ahead of the Sixers.

All 3 teams have 3 relatively easy games coming up. If the Raptors come out with an effort similar to tonight's then I expect the rankings to shuffle once again. The Raptors need to win at least 5 games of the last 8 to secure 5th, and about 3 more games if we want to secure 6th.

RX

We def want 6th and Orlando...best chance of going to rnd 2

SkywalkerAC