R.I.P. 05-06 Raptors

The Raptors finish their home schedule tonight, so let's just call this one the funeral post, a eulogy that recounts the season's Five Top Nights and Nightmares:

Nightmare 5: Kobe Bryant drops 81 on the Raptors.

Associated Press

Kobe Bryant: A Night(mare) to remember.

Nightmare 4: After looking like they were climbing out of a dreadfully deep hole, their midseason western road trip runs aground in Portland, when no one knows what to do at the end and they lose a very winnable game 96-94. Of all the close, clueless losses, this is the one I recall most easily (four days later, Kobe goes off in Nightmare 5 and within days, GM Rob Babcock is canned).

Nightmare 3: Vince Carter throws a dagger into the ACC night. Anytime VC comes back there's a sense of injustice in the house, but this was particularly so, and those RaptorsHQ guys really hit it on the head as they were hit on the head.

Nightmare 2: Maccabi Tel Aviv come in for a preseason game, and go out with a victory. Widespread ridicule ensues, including a mocking spot on the Colbert Report (that I haven't been able to find, unfortunately, but if anyone has the link, send it along).

Nightmare 1: Wrapping up a 1-15 November with a 26-point home loss to Memphis. Gaspipe night at the ACC.

Now for the happier stuff:

Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star

Bryan Colangelo: New face in town.

Night to Remember 5: Morris Peterson hits the game-winning shot a big shot as the Raptors win stirringly lose another last-second braincramper, this one to the Cavaliers. Still, a good night during his best pro season for MoPete.

Night to Remember 4: Charlie Villanueva drops 48 on the Bucks. For all the barbs Rob Babcock took, taking Charlie V was his one shining moment.

Night to Remember 3: Chris Bosh and Mike James take New York. Even if James is on his way out as a Raptor, there were a few nights where they made beautiful music together (and also a few where James ignored everyone else on the floor -- including Bosh).

Night to Remember 2: Bryan Colangelo arrives. Finally, the Raptors get it right. Now if only MLSE leaves him alone to do his job for the next three or four years.

Night to Remember 1: Kobe Bryant drops 81 on the Raptors. We finish as we began. Because it's history.

Comments

[Sean]

Ummm.....Bosh plays in the All-Star Game?

[cy]

I was more thinking of stuff that happened within the context of the Raps as a team and ... aw, skip it. I just plain FORGOT. The All-Star Game was so far off my round-the-clock-Olympic radar this year I plumb forgot it.

[J.E. Skeets]

Nightmare 6: Raptors 'Crazy In Love' Pre-game Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLjfDkkcKM&search=toronto%20raptors