Section 101 Player Points - Jan 6 vs Cleveland
Jose Calderon - still kicking ass offensively with another double double and even stepped it up a bit defensively.
Anthony Parker - I’m happier than anybody that he shirked the invisible man cloak. He is one of the more frustrating story lines of the year to me, even more than Bargs. I think last year he was consistently above average on both sides of the ball and that has disappeared this season. Great D on Lebron early, his sweet stroke returned, but I think he was running on fumes toward the end.
Chris Bosh - want to be an AllStar? Don’t disappear on your team and learn to take hits to the body and still play hard. He was a complete non-factor in the second half. His girlfriend and cousin were, though. Just ask Lebron. As Mr. James informed them toward the end of the game, the Raptor loss was "your fault".
Jamario Moon - B…aggressive…B B B….aggressive! The moon that all the fanboys love was on the floor in the first half and then he and Bosh must have tired their arms patting each other on the back at halftime, because it all went away. He reverted to long distance jumpers and i think some sort of Moon-repellant was sprayed in the defensive paint at halftime.
Andrea Bargnani - Like Bosh, you hit him and he folds up like Japanese art. Everybody would have been amazed had he come out and played well again, so we have to take this as a "to be expected" game from him.
Rasho Nesterovic - Another good effort from Rasho. Again, I think he plays well off the bench, but I would have preferred to see him on the floor each time Ilgauskas was there. Great matchup and I think he has proven to frustrate Z in the past.
Carlos Delfino - my word, has anybody seen a slump like this in recent memory, save Lamond Murray? Not sure how he can snap out of it. I pegged him as breaking out in this game, assuming he’d be frustrated by his Piston performance. Guess not.
Jason Kapono - continues to prove himself to be a very expensive Fred Jones-type mistake by Colangelo. Fix it. Now.
Juan Dixon - this man should never shoot the ball. Ever. He has improved his passing, so lets stick with that and see where it takes us, okay Juan? Oh, and talking smack with Lebron doesn’t further your career or the Raptors playoff hopes at all.
Kris Humphries - speaking of smack talk, here is physical proof of what happens when you do it. Played all of 5 or so minutes and then proceeded to act like his team were world champions. Talk like that when you HIT FREE THROWS.
Joey Graham - one bad turnover, but in the few minutes he played, he actually was passable on D. I think it might be time to unleash him a little bit. Can’t hurt any more than Kapono at this point.
Maceo Baston - 2 years, 3.8mil. Gee, I wonder why the Pacers declined to match THAT offer?
Sam Mitchell - went from looking disinterested (maybe proud or surprised?) in the first half to animated and pissed in the second. Good time for him to hit Shoppers up and renew that blood pressure medication.
Driving the Bus: Anthony Parker
Under the Bus: Juan Dixon
Jan 6th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Could you re-iterate who said something to LBJ? Did you hear what it was?
Jan 7th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Elliot Friedman said LBJ caught fire in the 2nd half cause the raps bench was talking smack to him and pissed him off…..He even said TJ ford told the bench to shut up (and let sleeping dogs lie) but it was too late…..
Was it Bosh’s family that pissed Lebron off?
Jan 7th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Didn’t see anything in the wire reports or main write-ups of the game, but the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s beat writer had this in his blog:
“–In the fourth, LeBron was talking trash with the Raptors bench and Chris Bosh’s cousin and his girlfriend. This I can tell you about LeBron, talking trash does not faze him. Seen it for years. But Bosh’s fam got something out of it, I think he sent his jersey over there after the game.”
Jan 7th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
it’s in quite a few papers this morning, most of which are on the Altraps news page.
That Trini must have been sleeping in her own cold bed last night if the glares from Bosh meant anything. He was pissed and Bron kept talking to Bosh about it.
Humphries and Dixon taunted James as well, yammering on about how “chicks were talking trash about you”.
I picked a great game to sit along press row.