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Sunday's 85-79 loss to the Sixers was discouraging to watch — not because of the loss itself, but because of how unimpressive the Raptors' second unit performed in the fourth quarter. Jason Kapono looked good and more aggressive than usual while scoring nine fourth-quarter points on a variety of jumpers, but the remaining four Raptors on the court — Kris Humphries, Andrea Bargnani, Will Solomon and Hassan Adamas — were thoroughly out-hustled and outplayed by the Sixers. Philly outrebounded Toronto 52-39 for the game and 11-6 in the fourth quarter, and this could be a common occurrence this season if Bargnani continues his apparent allergy to glass — he snagged just one board in 26 minutes of play. So much for all that extra muscle. I know it's only pre-season but players like Solomon, Adams and Bargnani all have something to prove and the pre-season is when they should be providing answers instead of creating more questions. Solomon looks shot-happy and turnover-prone, Bargnani looks unmotivated and Adams has been a ghost while averaging a scintillating 1.3 points, 1 assist and 2 rebounds in 16.3 minutes of playing time. I hear Adams is supposed to be somewhat of a defensive specialist but so far he's mostly specialized in being invisible when he's on the court. At the moment, I fear for the Raptors' season if Jose Calderon goes down for any significant length of time. OK, on with the links... Liberty Ballers (formerly sixersoul) has a Sixers fan's take on Sunday's game. James from Dino Nation continues to build his rep as the hard-working man in Raptors blogging with his latest Paul Jones interview. Lance Hornby previews tonight's tilt against CSKA Moscow. Good line from Moscow's coach Ettore Messina when he says that, in his team's previous game against Orlando, Dwight Howard "looked like Godzilla." Michael Grange discussed the potential for another European coach (after Mike D'Antoni) to cross over to the NBA. RaptorTalk has the "Top Ten Positive Signs Coming Out Of Raptors Pre-Season So Far". Here's an entertaining Youtube clip of some British guy schooling Devin Harris on his own court. Ball Don't Lie has a svelte-looking Mo Pete working a KFC counter in Germany. I'll let you know when Dirk Nowitzki takes his turn at the Wienerschnitzel in Baton Rouge Eddy Curry sat on a physio-ball and it exploded. I don't have a joke for this and sadly, I also don't have video. Free Darko wraps this up with a preview of every single NBA game in October in November — in a single blog post.
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