Tag: Toronto Raptors (Page 6 of 13)

      Bulls drub Raptors, 104-88, take sole possession of last playoff spot

      April 11, 2010 /

      Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 26-4-7, while Joakim Noah added 18-19-7 as the Bulls rolled past the Chris Bosh-less Raptors on Sunday.

      Down only 10 at halftime, I wasn’t very impressed at the lack of energy from a historically energetic Toronto crowd. By the time most fans made it back to their seats, the Raptors were down 19 with 8:00 remaining in the third quarter. This game was crucial to the Raptors’ playoff hopes and the crowd let them down. (In their defense, the team didn’t give them much to cheer for, either.)

      So the Bulls have the inside track for the eighth and final playoff spot, but they have a tougher schedule (BOS, CHA) than the Raptors do (DET, NYK). Toronto holds the tiebraker, but it may not matter.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Maybe the Cavs should just get a bye

      April 10, 2010 /

      It’s a battle of attrition between the Chicago Bulls and the Toronto Raptors for the final playoff spot in the East. The Bulls had a chance to take sole possession last night against the Nets, but lost. Yes, they lost to the Nets. That, coupled with the Raptors’ loss to Atlanta, leaves the teams tied at 38-41 with three games to play.

      Do either of these teams deserve to play in the postseason?

      The two teams square off on Sunday (on NBATV) and the Raptors hold the tiebraker if they’re still tied at the end of the season. In addition to the Raptors, the Bulls face the Celtics and Bobcats next week while Toronto has the Pistons and the Knicks. While it appears that the Raptors have an easier schedule, Boston and Charlotte might be coasting into the playoffs while the Pistons and Knicks may relish an opportunity to play a meaningful game at the end of the season and spoil Toronto’s playoff hopes.

      The Bucks are also watching closely. Milwaukee gets to swap draft picks with Chicago as a part of the John Salmons trade, so the Bucks could move up to #12 if the Bulls miss the playoffs. If Chicago makes the postseason, Milwaukee will get the #15 pick instead.

      The Raptors hold the tiebraker, but the Bulls are playing better basketball of late. They’re relatively healthy while the Raptors will be without Chris Bosh for the remainder of the regular season. Even though Sunday’s game is in Toronto, my guess is that Chicago eventually gets the final playoff spot.

      That is, unless the Celtics decide to take last year’s spirited playoff series with the Bulls as motivation for next week’s game…hmm…

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Toronto writer says Bosh is dogging it

      April 1, 2010 /

      Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star thinks Chris Bosh may be saving himself for this summer’s free agency period.

      This spoke to a larger and troubling trend. Bosh is averaging 6.2 free-throw attempts per game in March, this when he was getting to the line more than 10 times a game in October. There are enthusiasts of teen abstinence with less aversion to body contact. One can’t help but conclude that the impending free agent is saving himself for (another) marriage.

      “They’re crowding the lane a lot more,” Bosh said, explaining himself. But anyone who watches can tell you the defences haven’t changed, Bosh’s approach has.

      Perhaps he is opting for jump shots to limit his risk of injury with a $130 million (all figures U.S.) payday looming in July. But don’t the Raptors, desperate to make the playoffs, deserve honest effort for the $15.8 million they are paying him this season? Perhaps he doesn’t want to continue to expose the startling lack of explosiveness he’s been showing in his rare sorties to the goal, what with the health of his brace-sheathed knees.

      Wow, tell us how you really feel, Dave.

      Here’s a look at Bosh’s production by month:

      Continue reading »

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Bosh (kind of) discusses summer plans

      March 29, 2010 /

      Chris Bosh answered questions from the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the chances that he lands in Miami this this summer.

      He knows Wade “a little bit, not a lot,” he said. So scratch the friendship angle.

      “It’s nice here, but there are a lot of nice places,” he said. So scratch the South Florida angle.

      “Winning,” Bosh said when asked what his decision will hinge on. “I’m fortunate enough to have enough money. After seven years in the league, I want to play on a contender.”

      The Miami Herald has more about how well Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh know each other.

      “I know Dwyane a little bit, not a lot,” Bosh said. “We haven’t spent that much time outside of USA Basketball. People always are going to look for some kind of connection. That’s understandable. People are going to try to make things up. There is always going to be speculation. So I’ll let everybody write their stories and keep going about my business.”

      Bosh also said that he expected it to take a while for the big names to make up their minds.

      `I think it’s going to drag out for a while,” Bosh said before Sunday’s game against the Heat. “There are so many possibilities and scenarios, with guys staying with their own teams and trying to get other guys [to sign].

      “You have to look at combinations and possibilities of what could happen. So I don’t expect it to be over too quickly.”

      First off, this sure sounds like a guy who’s leaving town, doesn’t it?

      There’s still a feeling that Toronto could swing a sign-and-trade for Bosh, so that he can sign for an extra season and more money, but that would require enough in the way of assets to get Toronto to bite. Why would Bosh bother to agree to such a scenario when it would only fleece his new team of their draft picks and/or young players? That would hurt his new team’s championship chances, correct?

      The only scenario I can see at the moment is the Lakers. If Bosh wants to play in L.A. with Kobe, the Lakers could send Andrew Bynum to Toronto in return. However, Bynum’s long history of injury is only getting longer.

      I still stand by my prediction that Bosh is going to walk and the Raptors will get nothing in return.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Did Chris Bosh really say that he doesn’t want to play second banana?

      February 19, 2010 /

      Ric Bucher wrote the following in the ESPN rumors section:

      …since Raptors PF/C Chris Bosh made it clear over All-Star weekend that he’s not interested in leaving Toronto to be the second banana elsewhere.

      Here’s what Bosh actually said, courtesy of the Toronto Sun.

      “I was just looking at what people say and it’s like: ‘Chris is going to go here and play with him or this, this and that.’ I’m like: Wait a minute. I feel like I should be built around. And maybe that’s just my ego talking, but I feel that I’m a very good player in this league and I’m only going to get better. So … maybe we should be getting somebody (in Toronto).”

      From the what-did-he-mean-by-that portion of the program came this little tidbit from Bosh: “Things you like and dislike change daily,” Bosh said, “(which makes it) impossible almost to not only predict the future, but predict your feelings.”

      How do you leave this exchange thinking that Bosh “made it clear that he’s not interested in leaving Toronto to be the second banana elsewhere”? To me, it sounds like a guy who is angry at the media for assuming that he’s leaving Toronto this summer. He suggests that the team should be “getting somebody” in Toronto, but the Raptors aren’t going to have any cap space for the next couple of summers — they did their “getting” last summer when they signed Hedo Turkoglu.

      So if the Raptors finish the season with 44 or 45 wins and bow out in the first round of the playoffs, does anyone really think that Bosh isn’t going to think long and hard about playing elsewhere? Being “built around” is fine, but as history has shown, it takes two superstars to win a NBA championship, and the Raptors only have one.

      Bucher is taking Bosh’s words as gospel — that he’s not leaving Toronto to play with LeBron or Wade elsewhere — but in the very same interview Bosh admits what he likes or doesn’t like changes daily, and says it’s impossible to predict the future. I have no problem if Raptor fans find comfort in Bosh’s words, but Bucher is making that extra leap by saying that Bosh has ruled out playing somewhere else, and that’s simply not what the man said.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

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