|
The Rick Report: Game #17
Toronto Raptors 95 Philadelphia 76ers 88
Toronto 9 - 8
December 3rd, 2003
Trying to watch Raptors games this season has been like crawling on hands and knees through a sweltering desert begging for a few drops of water. Well, welcome to the oasis, and it's about goddamned time. New guy Donyell Marshall was absolutely on fire, and Vince Carter just kept going back to the well to the eventual tune of 12 assists, many of which led to 3-point long bombs by the big man. Welcome to the honeymoon phase of a player's career with a new team, folks, let's hope this one lasts a while.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Jalen Rose also made a huge contribution, but not in the way you think. Sure, the 8 assists were nice and all, but did you notice that with just a little help from Lonny Baxter he also managed to completely replace both Lamond Murray AND Milt Palacio in the 9-man rotation? Sweeeeeet. Raptors fans across T.O are unanimously raising their glasses in a toast to this trade so far, while the North American Union of Rim Repairmen have filed an injunction to have the trade overturned.
It's worth noting that with the starting lineup we had at the beginning of the season (Davis, Williams, Curry, Carter, Williams), we had exactly one scoring option on the floor to start the 1st and 3rd quarters. I can't believe we were playing .500 ball. Now, if K.O. sticks with the new lineup from tonight (Marshall, Bosh, Rose, Carter, Williams), and with Alvin recovered, we have a full FIVE scoring options in the starting lineup. This team I would have paid some money to watch.
Alvin Williams has very quietly completed his rehabilitation, as he logged a perfect shooting night for the first time in ages. This confusing reverse combination of Vince passing to Boogie for buckets should keep opposing team defences scratching their heads for the next little while. "And the additional options on the floor should also allow Chris Bosh to have some nice quiet rookie double-doubles just like he did tonight." That was my dull, put-the-fans-to-sleep, Leo Rautins voice. Let's try some Chuck Swirsky: "Uh Leo, quiet except for those two vicious dunks and that crucial end of game block he unleashed! Are you kidding me? This kid still needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble, but he is a starter for the rest of the season. Book it!"
The past few games have been a great opportunity to see some other teams who suffer from the same fundamental problem that we've been dealing with all year, and now we can all gloat in the fact that we did something about it first. In Orlando, Tracy McGrady is single-handedly keeping games close enough for them to all be painful losses. That's just perfect! And now in Philadelphia you have Allen Iverson, for whom the refs feel so sorry about his surrounding cast that they put him on the free throw line 23 freakin times. But he shoots a sizzling 8 for 32 (yes, that's 25%) and so they still lose. So now tomorrow we get to play Boston... and remind Paul Pierce that we are no longer part of the club.
|
|
|
