An awful lot of noise last night, was something going on?

Everyone survive Amateur Night?

Anyway, sorry this is a bit later than usual, the wireless at the Houston airport was suspect, the two-hour layover at DFW was about the only time I could get to post it.

Welcome to 2011, may it be better in every way than 2010.

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THREE POINTERS

Now, this was nice

Ran into Hakeem Olajuwon in the hallway right outside the Raptors locker room while we were waiting for Jay to do his post-game stuff.

The one thing he said he wanted to do:

Say hello to Solomon Alabi.

Doesn’t know him, never met him but Dream hung around the hallway for about 20 minutes until he could go into the locker room and say hello.

Hakeem stopped to say hi to almost every Raptor and had a nice long chat with Alabi off to the side.

Solomon? He was over the moon happy. He’d never met Dream, who was, of course, one of his idols and the kid was grinning from ear-to-ear. And appreciative.

“That was nice of him. I didn’t even know if he knew who I was.”

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Tough crowd

Joey Dorsey’s at the free throw line down the other end of the court from us and I can hear some kind of chant from the people up behind that basket.

Can’t make it out for a few seconds and then, with the help of my man Jonathan Feigen of the Chronicle, I figure out what they’re yelling:

“Rockets reject, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.”

“Rockets reject, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.”

 

“Rockets reject, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.”

That’s cold.

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DeMar’s DeLightful night

Yes, a heckuva a game from the young lad, especially the 29-point second half, when he was as aggressive as he’s ever been.

And know we know that he knows what’s needed because he dropped this on us after the game:

“Sometimes if I feel we’re not getting to the free throw line enough, I take it upon myself to be aggressive, try to get the team going, try to get the opponents in the penalty so we can all shoot free throws. I think little things like that help.”

Yes, they do indeed and they need more of that more often from him. And seeing how he knows he can do it, I think it’s time to demand that he does more regularly.

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And on to other stuff, as usual:

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I see it’s 2011 already. Funny how that happens,

And you know what that means, right? Besides bad football, never-ending parades and naps?

It means …

Resolutions.

And, luckily, I was able to find a couple of pieces of paper lying around and I shall share them with you now.

I, Jay Triano, do hereby resolve to not swear during halftime interviews or in post-game media sessions unless it’s a really boring night and the writers need something. Oh, and to use Julian Wright as a defensive specialist more often.

I, Bryan Colangelo, do hereby resolve to use either the expiring contracts of Peja Stojakovic and Reggie Evans or the money left in the Chris Bosh trade exception to do something – anything – to make things interesting around here in February.

That takes care of the bosses, how about some New Year’s wishes for the worker bees?

I wish Amir Johnson wouldn’t foul or fall down as much.

I wish Jose Calderon wouldn’t walk like a 52-year-old beat grunt.

I wish DeMar DeRozan knew how good he was when he attacks the basket.

I wish Ed Davis could spend 12 hours a day being taught how to score by Alex English.

I wish Joey Dorsey was five inches taller.

I wish Jerryd Bayless was four years older because that’s when he’s going to be a very good point guard.

I wish Linas Kleiza could dribble better.

I wish Reggie Evans had better feet.

I wish Andrea Bargnani was more demonstrative and showed a pulse all the time.

I wish Leandro Barbosa would pass a bit more.

I wish Julian Wright gets rewarded with regular minutes and lots of shots for all the work he puts in.

I wish lots of stuff, don’t I?

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Anyone else get all melancholy at this specific time of year? Not so much about looking back at what’s transpired by looking forward to what might come?

Aside from the Dec. 31 nonsense, I have New Year’s near the top of my holiday list, a changing of the numbers on the calendar, yes, but also a chance to kind of start anew.

I think we all need to vow to be better people in 2011 than we were in 2010, to treat each other with respect, to love our families and our friends, to do community service and works of charity whenever and however we can.

For the longest time, I’ve seen Jan. 1 as a chance to start again, and to be better.

Let’s all try, shall we?

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More Dream

Yes, he still has a place in Toronto and gets back our way an awful lot, he told me

“But only in the summer. Too cold.”

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How’d that one play in the pages of the Chronicle?

Like this.

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Let’s grab one out of the mail, shall we?

And since I think tonight’s going to be a quiet night around Casa Doug, here’s one more shot to click, write and send. You know I love hearing from you.

Well, at least some of you.

Q: Hey Doug. I couldn't agree more that yesterday's game was one of the best efforts ever from the Raptors. With that said, I still found it bitter-sweet because of Jerryd's ankle injury.

It was clear from his first two spills that something was wrong... even considering the depleted roster, I was surprised he was kept on the floor.

It makes me wonder: who is ultimately responsible for making the call regarding player health and safety during a game? Is it the player, coach, trainer, or someone else?

Happy Holidays to you and Super Family!

 

Chris D, Toronto

A: The ultimate responsibility always goes to the player; it’s his body and his pain threshold and his livelihood. That said, there’s never one guy who makes such a determination. It’s always a consultative process and the trainer might have more say than anyone. A player could say he wants to go back and feels good enough to, but if there’s no medical clearance, he won’t. Conversely, there may be medical clearance but if there’s still a pain issue, the player will be held out. And seldom, if ever, is a coach involved in those discussions during a game.

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Know what’s tough?

The 4:30 a.m. wakeup call comes to end a long, holiday-week road trip and the first thing you see on a glance at the Blackberry is a reminder of a hotel reservation for next week.

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Here’s one for you. Forget pizza, the fans in Houston on Friday night got a free haircut because the Rockets won.

No points totals, no nothing. A win and a free cut.

Not sure if it’s a regular thing or what but that’s pretty cool.

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Comments

[Matthieu]

Bonne année Doug!
And yes, quite impressed by Olajuwon's attention: high-class act!

[capt kirk]

Eh Doug, Happy New Year Super Scribe. Thank you for a Great year of basketball coverage and looking forward to a interesting 2011. How important is a division win against Boston? Playoffs?

[Boko]

One last wish to add to your list: I wish Sonny the knowledge of what it takes to be the best team-mate possible. (If we win more while you're playing, the contract will take care of itself).