GT: Toronto @ Washington (1-29-08)

[fishercob]

This was the most Stevenson drove all season long and actually finished. Maybe he's getting it. Teams are starting to defend him because he can shoot the three and he's using a little fake and taking it to the basket, which has been rare. I also think it helped that Calderon plays defense like Steve Nash, which is it let people drive by him.

I wouldnt get carried away with celebrating Deshawn's drives. Toronto doesn't have an effective paint-policer. Bosh is long, but weak. They don't have a shot-blocking or shot-changing center. Props to Deshawn for stepping up and takign advantage of his opportunities, but we dont need him putting his head down and going to the hole against the Pistons.

[dobrojim]

Great, tough, emotional win. Huge step up by Blatche and McGuire.

The game changed when Stevenson took over on Calderon. Stevenson is indeed a superior defender to AD, but Deshawn made a critical adjustment: he forced Calderon to his left; while he's got handles, Calderon cannot finish to his left. I hope the Wiz coaches pick this up on film and continue this adjustment tomorrow night.


GREAT WIN!

Good observation (I noticed that too)

and the reverse is true to an extent on Bosh. Note on the late
play that AB overplayed him to his left. It tied him up pretty well.

[fishercob]

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Good observation (I noticed that too)

and the reverse is true to an extent on Bosh. Note on the late
play that AB overplayed him to his left. It tied him up pretty well.

True, but that would have been a foul on AB in the first quarter. There was definitely contact on that play before the foul call on AJ.

[dobrojim]

For all the hate he got in the Milwaukee loss, it turns out the birthday boy, EJ, coached them up good today.

Dominic was all over the place and the Wizards matched Toronto's energy.

For that matter, give Sam Mitchell, Kris Humphries, Jamario Moon, Calderon, Parker, and Bosh all credit for playing hard. They never conceded. Kapono dropped a great shot, too.

Good game.

It would be great to face Toronto as 4-5 or 6-3 in the playoffs.

as long as we're the higher seed....not sure we'd beat them without
home court....then again, if we're all full strength who knows?

[dobrojim]

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What saved EJ today was calling Dominic on McGuire's good day INSTEAD of having Darius in there for Brendan.

yeah but if the real story is that Wood ran out of gas due to
illness, that explains pretty much everything. DMac got the
minutes because no Caron. And Song is too slow too guard
their spread out offensive approach.

[dobrojim]

Is Blatche usually this good? He shows a lot of promise. I would of love to seen him go head to head with Bargnani. Everytime Blatche starts he amazes me.

AB has shown promise but has also been mistake prone.
He doesn't always get the minutes. I was a little surprised
by him getting the start tonight. This was his best game since
an early game against PHL this year. Wiz fans are definitely
happy to have him locked up for a five year deal at peanuts
for a big man. Kudos to EG on that one. He's only 21. You gotta
love the potential that you saw on at least 3 plays tonight:
the up and under, the 3 ball, and the swooping finger roll.
That and good rebounding.

He is also an excellent passer for a big.

[dobrojim]

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So you actually think they can win a playoff series? I think not. Other than Bosh they have no scorers and in general they just are a very soft and weak team. We were playing without two All Stars and still won the game. If you Take Bosh and Calderon out of their lineup you think they could beat us? Just take a look around the league. Teams without their stars usually struggle but not us. With Caron we win tonight's game by 15+.

in a somewhat similar sense to us, they have a system and it
works frequently. They have a superstar, at least the refs think
so and with his range, footspeed and length, I suppose I have to
agree even if he is "soft". They could win a playoff series. Sure.
Maybe not against DET/BOS but probably against anyone else.
And now they have some playoff experience as well after last
year.

[N1QUE24]

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So you actually think they can win a playoff series? I think not. Other than Bosh they have no scorers and in general they just are a very soft and weak team. We were playing without two All Stars and still won the game. If you Take Bosh and Calderon out of their lineup you think they could beat us? Just take a look around the league. Teams without their stars usually struggle but not us. With Caron we win tonight's game by 15+.

Yeah, too bad you forgot were also missing TJ Ford and Jorge Garbajosa.

Sorry, you fail.

[gowiz999]

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Yeah, too bad you forgot were also missing TJ Ford and Jorge Garbajosa.

Sorry, you fail.

Yeah, Ford and Garbajosa sure are as good as Butler and Arenas. I must have forgot. Comparing two role players to two all stars is crazy.

[P'Oed]

ummm... we played WITH Butler and lost to the Bucks without Redd and Charlie Nohair...i don't see how you can play this up that much to these Raptors fans about beating them without Butler and Arenas


God...it's like one day everything is an absolute disaster and the next we're the best team in the Eastern Conference with some of you people

[Rafael122]

ummm... we played WITH Butler and lost to the Bucks without Redd and Charlie Nohair...i don't see how you can play this up that much to these Raptors fans about beating them without Butler and Arenas


God...it's like one day everything is an absolute disaster and the next we're the best team in the Eastern Conference with some of you people

It was worse 2-3 years ago when we would lead at half time and then the Wizards would go on their trademark 3rd qtr collapse and fall behind, only for them to come back in the 4th qtr, but they would lose anyway. Those couple of seasons with Hughes and co. took years away from my life.

But yeah, win or lose, shrug it, and think about the next game.

[P'Oed]

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It was worse 2-3 years ago when we would lead at half time and then the Wizards would go on their trademark 3rd qtr collapse and fall behind, only for them to come back in the 4th qtr, but they would lose anyway. Those couple of seasons with Hughes and co. took years away from my life.

But yeah, win or lose, shrug it, and think about the next game.

i totally agree...I just don't agree with calling Toronto a "soft" team. They just went to Boston and did what we did and gave us an incredible game tonight. Clutch shot after clutch shot and they weren't "lucky"...how is making all of those shots lucky? they're a pretty damn good team from what I've seen of em and i look forward to seeing them again tomorrow.

[gowiz999]

Yep, Parker and Moon's shots were not lucky at all. Both of those players are renowned long range shooters that can drain 3s all day long. The Raptors are also the greatest team in the NBA didn't you know?

[P'Oed]

dude, Blatche had his 2nd 3 pointer of the year in this game..was that lucky too?

was Gilbert's shot against Utah last year lucky? I guess by your assesment it was. I guess all jumpshots are luck. Were Toronto's 3's down the stretch against Boston lucky? I love the Wizards as much as you do but get back down to reality. We didn't blow them out for God sake.

[Shaazzam]

GG Wiz fans. Took it to us and gutted out a big win for your team.

[wateryd]

i was at the game tonight ... now THAT was a basketball game. definitely got my money's worth, wow. as EJ said in ivan's game story, "tonight was the nba at its finest." saw blatche's name on the scoreboard when i walked in and knew it would be tough. in the middle of the second quarter i really thought the wiz were gonna get blown out. but they hung in there, came out with great intensity in the third quarter and once blatche went on his run, the crowd was into the game for good, caron often leading the cheers from the bench.

daniels just turned something on in the second half. he's been a complete non-entity on offense the past few games but by the end i was back to wanting the ball in his hands, making the big decisions. after he made those last couple free throws he walked back to the bench making one of his antonio faces, basically saying, "nope nope."

this was definitely mcguire's breakout game. he was a monster on the offensive glass, simply jumping above everyone to get the rebounds. so many big ones down the stretch, and the crowd was appreciating it, big time. it's still definitely 4-on-5 on offense when he's out there, but if he crashes the boards like he did tonight, they can live with that as he tries to make that 4.5-on-5.

extremely deflating when parker hit that 3, but the second it left his hand you knew it was good. and maybe they should have had more bigs out there but that was just an AMAZING shot. OT was very tense without much scoring those first few minutes. huge call went our way with antawn on that 3, and then making all 3.

bosh gets calls. that's just the way it is. look at his game log, he shoots this many FTs with surprising regularity. i got a new appreciation of his game watching him in person, he's a smooth player who makes up his mind on offense, and that gets him a half-step of space and helps him draw those fouls. calderon is just fantastic, a really smart and efficient player. how many big 3s did he hit? humphries should really get almost all of bargnani's minutes. bargnani looked absolutely lost and clueless.

but yeah, great great win. continue to be proud of this team, very rare for a pro squad.

[Fairview4Life]

Yep, Parker and Moon's shots were not lucky at all. Both of those players are renowned long range shooters that can drain 3s all day long. The Raptors are also the greatest team in the NBA didn't you know?

Parker is a renowned long range shooter who can drain 3's all day and has hit clutch shots in Europe for 5 years and for the Raps over the last two. Hell he hit almost that exact same shot (except as a 2) when Maccabi beat the Raps 3 years ago.

The Raps played like crap, and the Wiz didn't. But trying to make broad sweeping claims about the Raps playoff chances over this one game is just silly. The Raps have also won in New Orleans, San Antonio, and Boston. They weren't soft in those games. Why focus on this one and not those 3?

[lupin]

I guess we won't find out where Haywood was...not a peep, not a mention of his name (not illness or his 9p/8r/3bs contribution) in the AP game story or Ivan Carter's articles. Sad (reporting).

[Guy Smiley]

The Raptors might have lost the game but they won the poll in convincing fashion. Popularity is more important than wins or losses. I'm proud of the Raptors last night. I hope they can continue to win every poll on TEH INTERNETS.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Great game and great win minus Arenas and Butler. Jamison and McGuire were a force on the boards, that was the key. Blatche forced Bargs to the bench early and really out play them. The Game today should be great.