Saw the second half. Was unimpressed with our young guys. I mean in the 4th, it looked like only Hunter was going to get us points, Hunter.

JMax has not moved up since early in the year offensively. Delfino can't carry a group like this. He is better with the starters. Several times he had the ball and did nothing to create. He is a "flow" player. Did not see enough of Amir.

Hey, just waiting for the playoffs. Watched a bit of Wade tonight scouting them out.

Sometimes it helps to know what you don't have. If Jmax cannot carry the load next season then its best to know now before the summer.

Ros - Never heard the TOR announcers so I can't comment. I know our guys are homers but I have been listening to them for so long that they seem like old friends. Blaha and Kelser were always my favorites so its been very enjoyable with them teamed up together.

Kelser does give you more insight than most guys do. It is mainly about the Pistons but thats because we are good and the team can stand on its own in keeping the audience. There was a time when they did talk up the other team more to keep people interested.

Just watched this thing rapid fire on the DVR after a long night bar hopping in Chi-Town.

Overall impression... Toronto got lucky as hell as the end. Banking in a 3 pointer? Amir Johnson goal tends Maxiel's shot, which was good as in. Then Linsdey dribbles the ball off somebody's heel.

Whatever. Good learning experience for Amir.

Except... it was a little weird watching Delfino try to create for himself over and over... bad idea. I like Delfino and all, but he just wasn't passing the ball to the new kid.

I can watch 4 more of these before the real season begins.


Rip and Dyess were money, so we got that going for us.

__________________
"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

Toronto Star's version of the game:

TheStar.com - Sports - Raptors pull one out

On free throws. I played a lot of cut-throat. You make a basket, and then you shoot free throws. If you make your three free throws, you get the ball out for the next play. I got to 100% on free throws. So did the other guy who was always one of the captains when we chose sides for five on five. The solution was they kept moving the free throw line back until we were shooting double length free throws. Otherwise, we could not keep the other guys interested in playing. (Not to much fun if me or the one other guy won every game.)

Now for Delfino. Tay was very passive in his first full year playing. He averaged about 10 points a game I believe, with starters minutes. Delfino, given the same starts, would have scored more. On defense, Tay was pretty good, but lacked the size to guard some of the more physical small forwards. Overall, Delfino is the better defender vs. what Tay was that year. While both players can help handle the ball, for the most part, you would rather have the ball in Delfino's hands cause that tends to make the ball move around a lot better.

One thing about Tay, we have virtually never used the guy as a shooting guard. If we had, it might have helped his scoring average some. With Amir and JMAX in as our two forwards a lot last night, it suggests we could now use Tay at shooting guard yet for this playoffs. Depending on who the opposing point is, you could then move Delfino to point. How about this: Delfino, Tay, Amir, JMAX, Dale Davis.

My first impression of Amir was that he does get pushed around down low (Bosh abuse)... and he hasn't experienced the type of help defense that goes on in the NBA....but it's just one blip on the radar. With a strength program this summer he should be able hold his ground better.
I just see this kid as a can't lose prospect... but it may take a couple years to blend his full game... I'd like to view him as a new lotto pick from this point forward... gotta get him signed first

I like the Raps announcers. They do seem to have a lot more knowledge of opposing teams and the game.

Blaha and Kelser also don't really add to the excitement as announcers, kind of bland and predictable, whereas someone like Kevin Calabro from the Sonics adds that extra oomph to the game. He is my fav commentator. Can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

You can hear him in action in this Shawn Kemp Top 10 Plays video. (All except plays 9 and 2)

YouTube - NBA Legend Shawn Kemp Top 10 Career Plays

okay guys, better late than never on the hog-cap eh? it was a looong weekend (traveling to toronto then hitting the bull riding at the palace and softball practice sunday).

my friends and i got to the air canada centre about an hour before the game and were treated to excellent seats in the 8th row. the arena seems pretty crowded, as the seats feel on top of each other, whereas the palace is more wide open. Raptors TV was broadcasting from within the concourse and it was cool to see them have 4 guys dedicated to the game like it was ESPN or something. the place was pretty empty until game time, but it was completely full at tip-off. we really didn't get any heckling, and there were plenty of Pistons fans walking around.

now, last year the Palace had a deal where they would buy a section of tickets in a group. last year when my friends went, they said there were at least 50 people and the section was pretty loud. this year they sold 8 tickets total, and it was noticeable, as the Pistons fans were scattered around the arena and were pretty quiet throughout. at most we generated some laughs, as the toronto fans cheered loudly after a made free through, and then when he missed on the next shot we mimicked them. i truly believe there would've been more Pistons fans there, but they were all going to the Tigers game instead.

what was really interesting (and makes me remember what is so nice about being a Pistons fan) is that the Raptors were really, really proud of winning the Atlantic Conference. i saw at least a hundred fans wearing 'Atlantic Conference Champs' shirts, whereas we don't even bother printing that stuff up anymore. one nice thing about the Palace is the lack of advertising. the jumbotron here had constant advertisements both before and during the game.

as for the game itself, it was cool to see amir get some time, and he looked great in person. he immediately made 2-3 impact plays, although i forgot what they were...but in general, the way he fought for offensive boards and snatched them from other players (like bosh) was really impressive. he doesn't give up on plays and that was nice to see. he was blazing fast and in control for his size. that's not to say he was perfect - he bit on pumpfakes, ran out unnecessarily at times, and was pushed around by joey graham ... but that will come from experience and realizing he's not in the D-League anymore. you could also tell that joey graham had been looking forward to this game for a long time. he made it a point to get back at maxiell and had a sick posterizing dunk over him. i was actually pretty disappointed in max's play, which seemed forced...and he's going to have a hard time trying to be a starting power forward in this league. bosh owned him hardcore...granted bosh has a significant size and experience advantage, but that lack of size was definitely an issue.

no one is mentioning how awesome the bench played in the 2nd quarter, with a versatile lineup including amir at the 3 and delfino at the 2. toronto wanted to run, and we ran right back at them and beat them at their own game. i truly believe they could've won in the 4th, but the refs completely swallowed their whistle and called it one-sided ... then throw in the no-call on the kicked ball and the lucky banked 3-pointer, and that's the game there. it was great to get the bench some crunch time minutes, and also nice to get dupree in that situation for one game this year. other random points - tj ford can't shoot, and toronto will never beat us in a series as long as we have sheed guarding bosh and their guards remain terrible shooters. also flip murray couldn't contain ford or calderon to save his life. it was brutal to watch.

as for toronto, the crowd was fantastic. they really want to see a winner and are excited that their team has become good. they were easily silenced / frustrated by a couple of plays that went poorly, but they were very loud toward the end of the game. they didn't seem to care that their starters were barely winning the game against our bench. they were very loud and it will not be an easy place to play in the playoffs, but i will give credit to the Pistons bench, who played under control and were not really affected by this. but, once dice went out, we had absolutely zero go-to players for offensive production, and that showed. i mean, who are you going to get points from with a group of dupree, delfino, amir, max, and hunter?

again there was not much heckling after the game. a group of opposing fans were exchanging 'Let's go XXXX!' chants, but that's about it.

final notes about toronto:

- very cool city, especially being able to travel between the hotel and 'mall' section without going outside
- canadians love the word 'centre'
- it was nice to stay at the hotel while the 'model and talent search' was going on
- The Keg is a great place to eat and i highly recommend it for the food, atmosphere, and all of the tall blonde waitresses / hostesses
- lots of canadians are far more concerned about their appearance than in the US
- i should have pictures later, and i tried to get some good ones of the Lady Raptors who beat Automotion in the Dance Team playoffs
- that cop on the highway came out of nowhere!!!!