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The only thing personal for Calderon was the seemingly personal goal he had of finding ways to slow down the Spurs.

"I play for my teammates,'' he said. "All I want is for our team to win. Everyday I feel I'm getting better because I'm feeling more comfortable with my teammates."

Damon Stoudamire admits the notion of returning to Toronto crossed his mind when the Memphis Grizzlies bought out the point guard's contract.

Shaquille O'Neal practised with the Phoenix Suns for the first time yesterday, showing no sign of the hip injury that has sidelined him since Jan. 21.

"It was different. It was very intense," he said after the one-hour workout. "I learned a lot. Now I can see why they can go at the pace they play at. When you just do short bursts like this, then you can save it all for the game."

Dawna Townsend may be one of Canada's top basketball officials, but she's still just a "sugar plum" to some.

The Toronto referee earned her profession's highest honour when she was appointed last week to the officiating crew for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Argentine dynamo blitzed the Raptors for a season-high 34 points last night, mixing deadeye outside shooting with his typical forays to the basket, once again exposing Toronto's lack of good perimeter defence, a hole that general manager Bryan Colangelo has to be worried about with 10 days left until the NBA's trading deadline.

Sam Mitchell's father-in-law passes, an unfortunate set of circumstances that means Mike Evans is the coach of record against the NBA champions. Meanwhile, Jay Triano gets to wear the sharp suit and call the timeouts tomorrow night as coach against the New Jersey Nets, one of the league's many dysfunctional families.

With four rings, they clearly played this particular game before. They don't lose their poise very often and know how to withstand the other team's big run