Raps manhandle Wizards
"(It was) good for Maceo (Baston, nine minutes, six points, four rebounds) to get a chance to play and Joey (Graham)," said Mitchell. "And for Juan to get extended minutes, because we're going to need him. He has been playing well the last week or so. I think I'm getting more confidence in him, too."
NBA players' financial security no slam dunk
"I've seen (an NBA player) having two cars a day to drive. You know, 14 cars," said Raptors sharpshooter Jason Kapono the other day. "Think about how absurd it is. You say 14 cars. All right, you may have some kids, a family of nine. But a single guy having 14 cars?
"It's one thing if Bill Gates wants to do that. But when you're 22 years old and you don't even have kids yet, it's not good."
Stoudamire opts to join Spurs
While Stoudamire has decided to join the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent, the Raptors will get a boost when Ford rejoins the team to start practising as early as the beginning of next week.
Ford, who hasn't played since suffering a neck and back injury in a fall during a Dec.11 game, is ready to return to the team after spending a couple of weeks in his hometown of Houston working out with former NBA star John Lucas.
Toronto Sun
Raptors send a message
"We are happy, but we're still upset we lost (on Tuesday),'' Jose Calderon said after his 11-assist, one-turnover night was neatly in the books. "We have to play like this (last night) every night.
"To me, it doesn't matter if we win by 30 or one. We just want to win."
Jamario's busy weekend
While Bargnani has yet to establish himself in his second season, the league's assistant coaches, who selected the teams, obviously have seen enough of last year's first-overall pick to merit his inclusion.
Ford's health returning and Stoudamire out of the picture
"I told them before and told them again, defensively we're pretty good at making initial stops. And I understand there's nights we give up athleticism, we give up bulk, we give up height, we give up size. We have to understand that if a guy's bigger, stronger and little quicker, we've got to box him further out. Because if it comes to jumping balls, we're going to lose that. So we have to be smarter about boxing out, we're going to have to take some chances, we're going to have to be aggressive."
National Post
Raptors destroy Wizards on second try
"That's a big bonus. Last night was real tough on us," said Bosh, who scored 16 points in 20 minutes, a welcome respite after logging 50 minutes on Tuesday. "Any time you get a chance to kind of sit and rest a little bit, it's worth it. I'm proud of my teammates. I'm glad the way this whole team kind of stepped up and played basketball tonight."
Washington Post
Raptors Start Fast, Then Leave Wobbly Wizards in the Dust
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If this had been a game of H-O-R-S-E, it would have been over in the first quarter," Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson said. "They came out like they are supposed to at home after a loss. We said before the game that they play at a faster tempo at home and we just didn't match it and then once they started making shots, they got rolling. They were on fire."
