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The Rick Report: Game #10
Toronto Raptors 101 Houston Rockets 97
Toronto 5 - 5
November 17th, 2003
As the clock ticked out on the finish of this game the Internet message boards were over-run with fans reminding each other that they had predicted Chris Bosh for Rookie of the Year. Well, that may be a little too optimistic but the boy took a large step towards becoming a man during this game. He nailed the game-tying three in regulation. Calmly hit some free throws to tie it again in the first overtime and ended up scoring 9 of the Raptors last 11 points. He finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds. Bravo kid! Step back out there and take a bow.
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| Of course, some perspective is now needed. The Rockets are a notoriously shallow team. Each of their starters played over 40 minutes in this game. Their top sub, Bostjan Nachbar, played 15 minutes total. By those last 5 minutes these guys must have been sucking wind out there.
The Rockets also failed to get the ball to Yao Ming in the overtimes. Why wouldn't you give the ball to the guy who effortlessly puts up 20 points on only 12 shots? Because the guys who are responsible for getting him the ball are Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. Neither of these two ever met a one-on-one situation they didn't like. These two knuckleheads combined to shoot 14 of 41 and only handed out 5 assists. Steve Francis may have out-scored Ming by 5 points but he needed 15 more shots in order to do so.
Vince Carter endured another terrible night of shooting (4 for 20) as the Rockets seemed to run three defenders at him every time he touched the ball. On this afternoon, however, Vince's teammates knocked down some big shots. Carter ended up with 9 assists. Unfortunately, he wasn't always that careful with the ball as he also handed out 9 turnovers. There was still plenty to be pleased with in this game. JYD, Michael Curry, Antonio Davis, and Milt Palacio all had solid games. Even Alvin Williams knocked down a couple of shots. Perhaps it might be best to skip over Lamond Murray and Morris Peterson's stat lines (combined 5 for 20). Rick Brunson had a perfect night: he didn't miss a shot.
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| At the beginning of the regular season I said I'd be ecstatic if the Raptors were 5-5 after the first 10 games. Well, they made it and I am happy. There seems to be a pattern to their games though. I'm not sure if you've noticed. At home they've squeaked out 5 wins, on the road they've been buried 4 out of 5 times. While the home court means quite a bit in the NBA, I'm not sure if it totally explains the Raptors Jekyll and Hyde efforts. Perhaps the Western Conference is even better than we think. Right now only one team in the west has a sub-.500 record. The good news is that the Raps have a nice string of games against Eastern Conference foes and we'll know better how the team stacks up for any possible play-off run.
As for Rick Brunson, he's accumulated 2 points and 1 assist in 5 minutes of action in the first 10 games. Admittedly he is still recovering from a severe bout of LQC. Right now his DNP-CD to Points ratio is 3:2.
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