Well this west coast roadtrip isn't looking too promising. Ideally we'd be about 4-5 games above .500 right now, but our loss of focus has cost us 5th seed and whatever momentum we had from Jan/Feb. What's worse, I don't think this will come down to a Kobe buzzer beater at the Staples centre...

LAKERS HAVE LOST 4 IN A ROW!! THEY SUCK!! GO GET 'EM RAPS!!!!





we're dead...

Ugh - I'm in LA on business right now and previously bought a ticket for this. As much as I'd like to see a Lakers game live, I'm seriously debating whether to show up. I'm certain the Raptors won't.

That's pretty cool, I'd love to see a game at Staples regardless of the opponent, enjoy.

Agreed PBI. I had a plan in place to be in California for this road trip. Had the hotels, flights and everything picked out. If we were in 3 feet of snow and minus 20, I would have done it.

PS. Nat will be at this game as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRikrksH8es

1000000$ question - which team has the bigger stugots - 2006 or 2010 raptors?

Depressing part of that video is how large a lead Raptors had.

And it was 30% brutal defense and 70% Kobe couldnt miss.

Time for revenge!! Bargs for 82!!!!!!

Mr. Coffee, I hope you decided to go - it's actually been a fairly decent game so far. (58-50 at the half, Raptors up.) I have no idea whether we'll be able to keep up what we did in the second quarter, or if we'll be able to pull the game out in the fourth at Staples, but we're not getting slaughtered yet, which is nice.

What the hell did I just watch? Between Triano's absent minded substitution patterns, Turks turnover, Bosh jacking a three with 10 seconds left, the fan knocking the ball away from Jose, the unbelievably one-sided officiating, and Kobe being Kobe, I have no idea what to think. Exciting game to watch, though.

Wow that was fun. Just as its not likely Kobe will miss two buzzer beaters against the Raps in one season, nor is it likely that Turkoglu can put two solid games together in one season against the same team. What the hell was he out there for late in the game? What pictures of Triano and Colangelo does he have? And why are the other Raptors so supportive of him when he continually ruins everything for us. And also - why did Johnson see so much floor? We were getting absolutely pounded in the paint, Bynum and Gasol got such great position all game, and I dont think Evans saw the floor in the second half. Meanwhile Johnson was blowing lay ups and Odom was also abusing him.

Speaking of Evans, not sure if its the same at the ACC, but during every time out he was dancing like a Laker girl off to the side rather than hanging with the team. Only Raptor doing that.

Staples is a pretty cool venue, even if my seat felt like it was in San Francisco I was so high up. That said, I was pretty surprised - I've seen the Raps in 6 different arenas and I've never seen so few Raptors jersey's or international fans cheering on Calderon and Bargnani and Turk. I thought the place would be packed with Raptors support.

Anyways, would have been a great win but if they can play like that the rest of the trip, we should be able to break even, which is all we can really ask from this group. Right now, I just pray we dont drop to 8th. Milwaukee looks like 5 and Miami's schedule is so damn easy the rest of the way they probably have 6. Hopefully we hold off the Cats and grab 7th and Chicago continues to lose.

But as hard as they play and as well as they shoot the ball, this remains a flawed team and that defense won't win a round of playoffs - end of story. But after tonight, I think I can also say with some confidence the Lakers aren't repeating as champs.

Guess I was wrong. Good to see that the Raps kept this game close, but just as a win is a win, a loss is a loss. Not many will look back onto this season and remember that we took the Cavs to OT without Bosh, that we almost beat the Cavs a time before that, and that we lost to a Kobe buzzer beater at the staples centre. It's too bad, really.

Its pretty bad considering we've been getting blown out by our lesser opponents lately. Its scary i can see 9th place....

What do those things mean past this season after another first round exit? Nothing.

Actually they mean quite a bit. It's how the Atlanta Hawks started. They weren't such an elite team at the beginning when they first acquired Mike Bibby. But they managed to play competitive basketball at a high level with the top teams. It wasn't really until this season and part of last that they started beating teams they should be beating (and blowing some of them out). I'm not saying we're on the exact same track as Atlanta, but assuming we maintain the same level of roster continuity as they did, there is promise.

Prob with your assumption Marz, is that the Hawks signed Bibby who found a new life and flourished.

We signed Turkapoo, who...well.....you know.

Yes that was an exciting game! Raps in it the entire game. They played with great energy, good intensity & really competed hard. Game came down to the final seconds but I thought that those 2 missed OPEN 3s Calderon had in the 4th really hurt as did that turnover by Turk (he keeps crapping the bed in late game situations…). After the Turk turnover I thought the Raps were done, BUT then Bosh stepped up hit the 3 to tie! HUGE shot by Bosh & I was not expecting that one to go thru! Then Kobe the Megadouche does what he does best: win games.

Not having a timeout left after Kobe hit the go ahead bucket also came back to bite the Raps in the ass. Having to go the full length of the court in under 2seconds Vs. advancing the ball & taking it out on the sidelines in the front court… Twice in the 2nd half the Raps called a timeout when a player was stuck with the ball in play, on the sidelines & used up a timeout to save the possession... Cost the Raps late in the game…

This type of effort the Raps showed NEEDS to be an every game thing. As Jack Armstrong mentioned during the 2nd half, the Raps can play with anyone in the NBA when they really put the effort in… Raps have to play with the same intensity against Sacramento/Golden St. as they did Vs the Lakers.

We don't have the young talent they did that is either under control or has room for significant improvement so that's not really a good example but whatever, if you want to hang your hat on moral victories then I'm not going to stop you.

I disagree. Sure we don't have a developing Josh Smith, but we have a lot of young talent. Weems, DeRozan, and Belinelli are all young and have a lot of room to grow. Bargnanni hasn't hit his ceiling yet and hopefully will have a more targeted offseason with Triano at the helm telling him exactly what to work on. And Amir Johnson, assuming we resign him, is only 22! I see plenty of room for improvement, with or without my "moral victories".

If the future development plan of the Raptors calls for Johnson to be anything more than a high impact energy player off the bench, we are in serious trouble.

And expecting Bargnani to take more steps forward and emerge as an all-star is also a risky proposition. Not impossible, but not as likely as say Jose Calderon remaining useless on defense.