The Goods On The Game, Vol. 28, Merry Christmas

Good (late) evening. Anyone here? You know how hard it is to find a local with TSN2, fight off hordes of Leaves fans planning the parade route and then trying to fight off waves of Packer fans to get a basketball game on TV?

No, it' s not easy at all.

But I seem to have accomplished it, a lovely waitress came to my rescue; the wirless works, the soft drinks are poured (DD not available this late at night) and it looks like the feed is on. No sound, though, but that's okay.

One bit of news out of L.A., Marcus Camby's had a death in the family and he won't play. Probably good for Toronto, definitely bad for Marcus, who's one of the good guys I've come across.

Anyway, a breath of fresh air and we'll get ready to start. I'll be back in this file some time in the middle of the first quarter.

Quick question: Wings or fries? And don't say salad, my body will rebel.
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LET'S GET STARTED
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First touch is a Bosh post-up, I'd like to see that every night.
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Wonder if there are celebs there? Biggest they get these days is Penny Marshall. Guess she's still a celeb.
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Two offensive rebounds on one possession for the Raptors? I may not type those words again this season.
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Al Thornton is going to be a very tough cover for Jamario Moon.
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Remember when the Raptors couldn't figure out how to use Brian Skinner? Lots of other teams seem to know what to do with him.
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I liked Baron Davis a whole lot better in Golden State when he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Mike Dunleavy's a great coach but I don't see Baron and he being a good fit.
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Jose doesn't have a quickness advantage over too many point guards but he's got one tonight on Davis and that has to be something they exploit.
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Hmm, rumblings here at Cooper's that they might dump the NFL game off the big screen and go with the Raptors and the sound. That'd be very cool. And welcome.
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Raptors 15, Clips 6 with about six minutes left.
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I see three Leafs jerseys, a well worn Favre Packers jersey (wonder if the guy knows about the Jets?) and not a single piece of Raptor paraphenalia around here.
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Yes, that is a double-digit Raptor lead in the first quarter of the game. I point that out for no reason that to make some of you feel nervous.
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Good Jamario's here. An alert reader stuck in an airport reports he's got five rebounds already and I'd chalk it up to hometown scoring except I can't.
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Man, they look good tonight, don't they? The bigs are dominating, they're defending and how many of you are waiting for the other shoe to drop?
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Just showed Bryan on TV and it didn't look like he wanted to kill someone. Or fire them. Or trade them.
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These guys are like a gaggle of Rodmans tonight. That probably says as much about the Clips as it does Toronto,  though.
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This is a pretty good officiating crew. Bill Spooner and Bill Kennedy are two of my faves.
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The game's way too scrambling for the Raptors in the last couple of minutes. They have to play to their inside strength. The Clips love to junk it up and get into a track meet. Toronto can't.
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As I mentioned above, that's how you get a 6-0 Clipper run.
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Toronto 25, Clips 18 after one.
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Say this about Joey, he doesn't waste a lot of time or energy, you know, passing the ball. And maybe that's what's keeping him out of the starting lineup.
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WIll Solomon instead of Roko? I wonder about that.
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I guarantee when the Clippers did their scouting report, when they got to Solomon they said, we'll be okay if he shoots threes. And him just making one may give him ideas to take more. Bad ideas.
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People in here just applauded when Parker hit that three-pointer to put 'em up 11. Maybe they love is coming back? Nah. Maybe the cocktails have been flowing.
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O'Neal's back and he has to get the ball. These guys have gone away from everything that worked so well in the first six minutes. Not that that hasn't happened a dozen or so times already this season.
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I get irked every now and then at point guards who try to do too much. Sort of like how Will just played five minutes.
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Raptors 35, Clips 24 with just over six 'til halftime.
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Not sure what's going on with the faithful tonight but the comment section's loaded up.
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Only about five minutes left in the football game, maybe then we'll get some sound.
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That was a good, hard foul Jason Hart just put on Bosh, knocking him down. I wonder if the tables were turned, how many Raptors would hip check a big to take a wide open dunk away?
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Another offensive rebound by O'Neal for an easy put-back. Who are these guys?
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Remember when Al Thornton sort of killed Bosh in Toronto last year? I bet Bosh does, too. Not the same story tonight, is it?
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Watch Kapono? He never really stops moving on offence. Just runs in circles but eventually he's going to be open.
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This might be as well as they've played for a full half in the last 10 games. Good ball movement for the most part, solid defence, recognizing mismatches. No idea if it'll last but still ...
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This is the first time I've seen them for any length of time but, man, the Clippers are certainly not good.
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Raptors 51, Clippers 32 (maybe it changes after replay but I doubt it) at the half.
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Do not adjust your boxscores. The Raptors did indeed have nine more rebounds in the first half than the Clippers did. I know, I rubbed my eyes, too.
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Great. OT in the football game. Still no sound.
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So if you're a grunt at the Staples Center, it's better to cover the Lakers than the Clips. For the Lakers, we have baseline seating in the corner; for the Clips, we're more than halfway up the lower bowl in the stands.
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I don't think Jermaine O'Neal gets nearly enough credit for being one of the top shot-blockers in the league. When I was talking to Rick Carlisle about him last week, he said that's the one thing that made him stand out for his entire career.
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JO's got it going tonight. This is the best he's looked, I think, since before the ankle injury. And he's not forcing the issue very much.
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You know how happy they must be that the Clips are shooting about 35 per cent? And the good thing about it is that a lot of the shots are contested. Not many open looks on the perimeter. Which proves that the Clippers don't move the ball nearly as well as, say, the Spurs. How's that for an understatement?
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Yay! Football game's over, someone won apparently. I can hear the dulcet tones of Matt Devlin. And the crackling verbiage of My Man Jack.
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Raptors 61, Clips 44 with 6:15 left in the third.
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I'm not sure there's an empty table in this place. On a Monday? Late? Raptors-Clippers? I'll never figure out people. And GM? Not a famous person in the joint, unless you count me and no one does.
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Okay, it's a 17-point Toronto lead with 5:39 left in the third. I wonder how many fans would feel secure enough to call it a night? I'm thinking about none.
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As soon as Bargnani catches the ball, I know whether he's going to drive or shoot. And that would lead me to believe that highly trained professional opponents would know that, too. And guard him accordingly.
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They don't have anything now until a Christmas night practice in Sacramento. I think the starters have to play nearly every minute the rest of the way and Jay should use his timeouts to get them rest.
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Maybe they could use a jolt of Jake Voskuhl's instant offence.
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Or Bosh back in the game.
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Screaming at your TVs yet?
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O'Neal is absolutely abusing whoever's guarding him. But if Zach Randolph steps out and makes threes, it's a wash.
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See what I meant about Voskuhl?
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Raptors 69, Clippers 60 after three.
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Voskuhl lays out Randolph going for a rebound. That's something you haven't seen from a Raptor in a while.
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The WIll Solomon minutes HAVE to be short.
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Know what I think? They outta trade that Bosh fellow.
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The fries are a bit cold. Quite disappointing.
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Will Solomon making big threes? They can't lose when that happens, can they? I still say it's time for Jose to finish. Like right now.
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There's that play where AP curls off a double screen and takes a fadeaway from about 15 feet. We haven't seen it very often since Sam got fired but it's one of the most effective plays they've got.
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Al Thornton is currently 1-for-10 from the field and has had three of his shots blocked. That's payback.
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I guarantee you Baron Davis will try to take over this game in the final eight minutes. I'm not sure he's going to be able to.
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These are not the most important six minutes of the season, but they're close. They absolutely have to win this game.
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Toronto 86, L.A. 71 with six minutes to go.
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I think that tape of Penny Marshall stopping to say hi to Jack and Matt will be on the RaptorsTV highlight reel of great moments for the rest of time.
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Notice who's not in the game for Toronto?
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Hey!!!! Did you just see Nate Jawai behind the bench? A tan jacket! Not his blue one.
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Put a fork in 'em, the Clippers are done?
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Okay, the Bosh three was cool; the Bosh air-balled three just make about six tables in his joint break out into uproarious laughter.
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Wow, a laugher. This is unusual. But all around, the best game they've played in weeks. What's it mean? Probably nothing because they have to do it again on Boxing Day but a win's better than a loss. And the chance to go 3-3 on this trip still exists and if you had told them coming out they go 3-3, they probably take it.
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Toronto 97, Clippers 75.
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Comments

[aditya]

what does denver (without anthony) beating blazers tell you about denver....??? they better without him (no i am not joking, anthony misses a lot of easy shots and takes bad shots at time)?

[Simon S-G]

I dont know if you get the sound there but Armstrong's crowing about Solomon giving the Raps "good minutes" here. I dont know what game he's watching, perhaps a rerun of a Turkish league game from last year, but I don't see these solid minutes he's talking about

[pooks]

www.justin.tv/scuba2steve is ok...a teeny bit of freezing but not too much.

Enjoy!

[WildAce]

Bargs is shooting under 27% from the floor and only 10% from 3 in his last 10 games so obviously something has to be done. That is just unacceptable, and no a trade shouldn't be what happens because of that slump (and lack of plays run for him). He's too silky a shooter when he's got his confidence going and in his shot.

[Rob M]

The LA TV crew is pretty good - although they keep referring to the Raptors as "these guys", they are ripping Baron Davis for his self given nickname - "Boom Dizzle"... I thought it was a rule you can't give yourself a nickname...

[aditya]

47-29...u think we blow this lead? lets hope not....btw clippers are playing like a NBDL team

[RichB]

Here's a better feed than justin.tv:

http://www.atdhe.net/

Enjoy!

[Rahil]

Radio reports it's only Penny today.

[raptors]

Can someone post a better link to the game, please????
I can't see the game without hitting my computer

[Alex T]

Good choice on Cooper's! Good little place isn't it!? Was in there just the other night when we got "Thundered"! Enjoy the game (hopefully we win tonight!)

Blogger's note: It's the official Chicken Wing And Fries establishment of the Erindale Little League Yankeees house league team. Was all summer. Fine spot, kid-friendly and a great staff.

[brad]

nice answers by JO at the halftime interview, longer then usual

Blogger's note: No sound here, except for Tirico and the football boys. I'll take your word for it.

[RichB]

Doug...I can't believe that you're at Cooper's at 11:42 p.m. covering the game and plugging away on your blog. You must be angrier than the rest of us with Rogers/TSN/MLSE (and anyone else you/we might want to blame for this ridiculous standoff). I hope your employer is paying for your wings and drinks tonight. You deserve it!

Blogger's note: This is what they pay me the mediocre bucks to do. So I do it. And, honestly, it's fun. It'd be exponentially better to be sitting on my couch but ...

[aditya]

bosh has missed so many free throws (2 straight as of now).....clippers broadcasters cant stop praising bosh....for w.e. reason.....

andy rautins (leo's son) with 29 pts tonight....sick.....

[pooks]

Ok quick question, what's worse: Chris Kaman's old hairdo or Brian Skinner's beard??

And why on a team called the Clippers?? Make like your name and use one.

[Rangzen]

Watching the game on the NBA league pass and it's funny how the LA tv crew were commenting earlier, in a very condescending manner (at the beginning of the game) on how they would love to see Jose fare against Davis.

Holy @##$ how many blocks does JO have? That could be his 5 or 6th one!

[papa]

wow, I think the raps might actually win this game. merry christmas from the raptors, I suppose.

[The Raven]

Good God, Andy Rautins equaled the Syracuse record with 9 triples in above game...

[Geeky Kewl]

Its an 11 point lead for the Raps...against the Clips...and yet why am I so nervous?

I know the Clips were due for a run... but the Raps better learn to step on someone's throat when they got them on the ground.

[RichB]

Uh oh...cue the Clippers comeback/Raptors predictable collapse!

[Raven]

Good grief, Andy Rautins equaled the Çuse record with 9 triples in the above game. sick indeed...

[aditya]

how does bargnani pre-meditate so many of his moves?

IT IS CLEAR HE IS SUFFERING FROM A LACK OF CONFIDENCE? I MEAN HE NEEDS SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP;....I WANT THE KID TO DO GOOD.....

[papa]

damn, I'm not a bargs basher by any means - I like the kid - but get him off the floor!!!!! whenever he's on the floor the clips make a run. if there's ever a night to ride bosh and o'neal, it's tonight. they're on fire together. get hump in there, I'd even take hassan playing the 5...anyone but bargs!

[Derik]

Here we go again...

[Rob M]

Bosh - Layup, then dunk, then drive and two foul shots. Why can't he do this more? Hopefully he's finally woken up and realizes sometimes he needs to carry this team.

Jay is showing bad signs of resting his main players when the Clips are threatening a run.

And finally, hate to see a guy get hurt, but no problem with Voskhul pushing Zach R from behind to try and get a rebound...

[pooks]

Is anyone really starting to like Voskhul?? He's sending bodies to the floor it seems.