1. O Canada!
So what if the Atlantic Division is horrible, at least a team has finally risen to the top of the heap. And as unbelievable as it sounds, that team is the Toronto Raptors. With a 3 ½ game cushion over their competition, the Raptors are enjoying their first taste of success since a young Vince Carter took the franchise to the postseason. Quietly, the Raps have ripped off a streak of 12 wins in their last 16 games, but next up is a big time showdown between two of the leagues most promising young studs as Chris Bosh locks up with Orlando’s Dwight Howard tonight in Toronto. When these two get together its reminiscent of the budding rivalry between Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan in the late 90’s.
2. Irish Green or Soylent Green?
Can things get any worse for the Boston Celtics? First, their slide continues as they have now lost a franchise record 15 consecutive games after falling to the Pistons last night. There’s been Tony Allen’s self destruction; and then there’s Paul Pierce. Pierce has been out of action since December 20 after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot and on Tuesday he was sent home from Detroit with a swollen left elbow and a fever. Throw in the comments by Pierce that he would rather have a veteran on the team than Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and you have all the ingredients for a dysfunctional meltdown of classic proportions. By the way, Paul, you are the veteran on the team.
3. D’oh!
One day after saying that he was only going to Las Vegas because he was “into the free money,” Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas was fined $10,000 by the NBA powers that be. But as badly as Thomas simply wanted to “get my check,” it looks like he will now have to put forth a bit of effort. Third and fourth place in the slam dunk contest only pull down $16,125; second place gets $22,500. So, if the rookie really wants to be stuntin’ after he pays his penalty then he’s going to have to fly like an eagle and pull down the $35,000 first prize.
Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Pau Gasol vs. Houston 41 min, 30 pts (FG: 13-28, 3FG: 0-1, FT: 4-6), 13 reb, 5 ast, 5 blk
Wednesday’s Game to Watch: San Antonio (32-16) @Washington (28-19) The Spurs are back on the road after getting five full days off since losing back to back games to Utah and Phoenix. Tonight starts the second half of an eight game road trip for San Antonio who is 16-8 away from home this season. Washington is 19-5 at home where Gilbert Arenas scored 37 against the Lakers and Caron Butler put up a career-high 38 against the Sonics in their last two home games. It’s a classic battle between offense and defense with lots of All-Star power on the court among Butler, Arenas, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.
Buzzer Beater: If there can be anything comforting about a 15-game losing streak, this little tidbit is it. In this decade, every team that has experienced a similar span of futility (15 straight defeats) has ended up with the number one pick in the draft. Paul Pierce might want to rethink his idea that teams don’t grow through the draft because those top picks turned into Yao Ming, LeBron James and Dwight Howard. Ask the coaches, players, GMs and fans of Houston, Cleveland and Orlando if they’d like to go back in time and trade those kids away.
One reply on “Around the Rim: Revenge of the Purple Dinosaurs”
toronto gm exec of the year — It’s amazing to see the difference a good GM makes. I doubt Sam Mitchell suddenly went from one of the worst coaches in the league to one of the best. The difference is that the GM has put some quality players around him.