Wednesday, April 12

Toronto 97 Miami 104

Toronto lost to the Wadeless Miami , 97-104 last night as Shaquille O'Neal registered a triple double (15/10/10 ) . O'Neal toyed with the much smaller Raptors guarding him. Poor Matt Bonner . He looked like a pesky fly as Shaq wags the the ball looking for a receiver. Gangsta Shag was really bad last night.
It was a no bearing game for the 2 teams except that the Heat will want to distance themselves from fast approaching New Jersey Nets for the 2nd place in the Eastern conference. The Raptors want to distance themselves from equally fast sinking gutter.
I am not sure the Raps want to do that , meaning want to improve their standings. The bottom place team in the NBA has the biggest chance of landing Marcus Aldridge or whoever is the top draft pick prospect. Its a case of the more battered you get , the betterer your chances.

Mike James ( 32/3/6) continues to impress or depress depending on your point of view. It is his 4th consecutive 30 plus performance and his much improved ball sharing that are noticeable lately. Somehow his critics, and there are many , think he is padding his stats.

James has a polarizing effect on the Raptor Nation eversince he arrived as a replacement for Skip To Houston . To James' disciples , he is acting as the take charge guy in a team composed of youngsters. Providing veteran leadership . A protector of his flock. On the other hand , he is Jesse James personifed - trigger happy , a ballhog , and a gambler to James critics.

The James non believer cited his wayward pass in the closing seconds that was intercepted costing them the game vs. the Bobcats ( a poor passer)
Or the game vs. the Cavaliers , wherein he left Flip Murray , who made the winning basket , to triple team LeBron ( a gambler )
Or the many games the Raptors lost due to his untimely shots ( trigger happy).

On the other hand , how many games did James win for the Raptors with his last second shots , his hustle and his will to win. ( take charge guy)
How many lost games were reversed when he rallied the Raptors with his never say die attitude (leadership).
Who stood up vs. the much bigger Juwan Howard ? Who protected Joey Graham when he was being berated by a vet of the opposing team ? ( protector )

The James' haters think that he is a scorer in a bad team yet the same people praise Chris Bosh improvements in scoring. Are'nt they on the same team ? asks the pro James people.

Some of the animosity towards James surfaced after he reportedly gave an inkling of how much he wants for his next contract ($6-10 million/year) . A looter like Antonio Davis and Hakeem Olaujowon who left the team after getting a fat contracts , said his detractors.

But why begrudge one for asking what he thinks he is worth counter the James flock.

In any case , the $6-10 mil James case is the first test for the $ 3 million GM , Bryan Colangelo.

Meanwhile, let me leave my $300 computer and go eat my $2 breakfast.

Vince Line

New Jersey lost to Chicago last night 101-104 . Coach Frank said the Bulls were highly motivated.Chicago is fighting for the last playoff berth with Philadelphia and Orlando.
Vince scored 43 points grabbed 6 rebounds and added 3 assists.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Raptors cannot afford to let go of James . Bryan needs to sign him now.

1:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i don't know if james is good or bad for the Raptors . I know that he is trying day in day out with his play .

4:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

James just do what he has to do to win games for the Raptors. He does not care what some people are saying. Let the free agent market decides how much he
is worth.

4:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a James hater because he dribbles too much and shoot with no conscience.
I think the Raps is better off without him. Let him go !

5:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

vince is hot!

5:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the Nets wii be a good match for the Heat. UNlike last year , NJ will give Miami a good fight. If only Vince stayed...

6:21 PM  
Blogger coach said...

reign -
james shoots w/ no conscience = his shooting percentage is 46% and 44% in 3 pt. line. actually , these are pretty good. he needs some reigning though.
steph n -
end up like eric dampier - james' model is billups. that means it is unlikely that he will back slide. only time will tell.

9:27 AM  

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