It continues to be a wild, wild ride

Well, wasn’t that something?

Sure, teams get up early and leads disappear all the time, it’s part of the game; letting a four-point lead with nine seconds to go in the fourth quarter is, well, inexcusable and quite extraordinary.

Yes, this is one delightful team to cover sometimes; and overtime is a stress-inducing part of the gig. Surprised myself by getting the gamer in on time.

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THREE POINTERS

Everyone's fault

So DeMar can't throw the ball inbounds and has to blow the final timeout -- and everyone who wonders why they don't waste timeouts in second or third quarters instead of waiting for a TV timeout should realize now why they don't -- and then Jose has to throw an impossible pass at a bad angle to someone who's covered and everyone wants to blame someone.

Blame 'em all, especially the players.

You know what you do in those situations?

You get open any way possible. You run your man dead into a screen, you surreptitiously elbow someone in stomach to create space, you grab someone's jersey or shorts to get open, you push off.

You make a man's play. You do not let someone hold you, you do not slip a screen. It's Basketball 101 and it is not coaching, it is playing and those guys played too passively when force was called for.

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Know the situation

Yes, there were all kinds of one-off mental lapses in that one to fill a “How Not To Play” book; here’s one you might have missed.

There are about 17 seconds left in the third quarter, Raptors are up one and have a last shot. Everyone on the court should have known that the Sixers had a foul to give and would take it at an appropriate time. If they didn’t know, they weren’t as aware as I was and that’s inconceivable because I was probably talking about fashion or Yuengling in the IGBT thing.

And this is not piling on because I don’t know what anyone else would have done but there is no way in the world that Kyle Lowry should have dribbled the clock down to about four seconds before starting his move because as soon as he went, he got grabbed with the foul the Sixers had to give and it left the Raptors with 1.4 seconds left to inbound the ball and get a shot off.

They didn’t score, of course, and they would have had a far better chance if Lowry had gone with eight seconds to go, got fouled with about six seconds left and they might have had a better look at the buzzer.

The next time you hear someone talk about “basketball plays” that’s precisely the kind of thing they’re talking about.

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Sorry means …

Virtually nothing.

Yes, the Raptors got another “oops, we blew it” note from the league over the non-shooting foul call at the end of Wednesday’s loss to Chicago.

What else?

Well, as Dwane put it in a chat before the game, mostly because he didn’t have a whole lot else he could say, at least it shows the complaint system works to some degree.

And if it ends up that enough teams show enough evidence that some specific referee is a serial incompetent, it could cost that ref playoff assignments and the money that goes with them.

But that’s about it and that’s not going to be made public so big whoop to the mea cupla – the second one – from the league.

-

More? A little bit sure.

-

PUCKS TONIGHT!

Yay?

-

Forget Jrue. You say Holiday in Philly, I say Billie.

-

Remember in last week’s mailbag, the question about Natalie Achonwa and the answer about how we’ve been writing about her for a while as the “next big thing” in Canadian women’s basketball?

Here you go; others are, too.

-

Not surprisingly, the big story in the locals was Jrue Holiday after that gem of a game.

-

So between flying and trying to race to practice and writing something about something and a Mighty Red Tigers coaches meeting tonight, there might be time for mail.

Click. Type greetings. Send.

-

Hey, remember the story yesterday about The Nicest Customs Lady ever?

Well, it got the memory going and pardon another story that has nothing to do with anything but this one’s kind of good, I think.

Stump and I are coming back from some long trip, we’re a bit blurry and probably tired and could very well have had a few the night before.

We’re in line at Canada Customs to get back in our native land, Stumpy’s already at the podium about 20 feet down to my left; I’m worn out and bit cranky and just ready to go home when I hear:

“Hey, Smitty! Smitty! Doug!”

It’s Stumpy and I acknowledge him with a nod, the Customs dude looks perplexed and Stump says, quite loudly:

“What city are we coming from?”

It’s Chicago, I kind of look grumpily and tell him that, he relays the information to the Customs guy by saying, “guess it’s Chicago” and the dude waves him on.

Yes, once a season gets going cities, days and the like all tend to blur together for all of us.

At least once in a four- or five-game trip, I will get back to the hotel after being out somewhere and have to head to the desk, hand my key to whoever’s there and ask: “What room am I in, I forget?”

-

I apologize in advance to the fans of these teams but I am virtually certain that San Francisco and New England will be the combatants in the Super Bowl two weeks hence.

Write it down, take it to the bank. Don’t take it to the bookie.

-

 

 

 

The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Sixers

And a fine good evening to you all

Raptors at Sixers, game-day Dino-bytes

Our post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game.

 

TORONTO (14-25) at PHILADELPHIA (16-23)

Wells Fargo Center

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.

TV: TSN2; RADIO: FAN590

WEB: Join The Star’s Doug Smith for an in-game blog beginning just before 7 p.m.

 

Probable starters

Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Ed Davis, Aaron Gray; Philadelphia: Jrue Holiday, Jason Richardson, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, Lavoy Allen.

 

Key backups tonight

Toronto: Kyle Lowry (hometown kid’s been on a roll the last five quarters), Terrence Ross (hasn’t had an impact on a game in a while); Philadelphia: Nick Young (he scores with ease most nights), Spencer Hawes (provides about 10 points a game off the bench.

 

Season series

Sixers lead, 2-1

Toronto won the last game decisively after a couple of hiccups earlier in the season; Sixers, at least coach Doug Collins, were miffed at a late-game Toronto basket the last time out.

A tight all-time series, Raps are 33-34 vs. Philly and 16-18 here.

 

What happened this morning?

Same old, same old

Couple of shootarounds but with little hard news surrounding either team, they were entirely uneventful. The Raptors have been talking about playing hard and taking nothing for granted, a practice they’ll have to put into place tonight against the struggling Sixers.

If either coach is contemplating lineup moves, they are keeping them close to the vest; don’t see what either team might do anyway.

-

Worth thinking about?

The first tie-breaker between teams with the same record at the end of the season is the head-to-head record; if Raptors win, the season series will end tied, if they lose, Sixers have first tiebreaker.

-

Esoteric stat of the day, Part 1

Kyle Lowry has 47 points in 49 minutes over the last two Raptors games.

-

Bad blood?

Not sure how far it extends to the players but that finish to the last game, and the fact the Sixers pretty much caved in on that game in the middle of the second half, could give this one a bit of an edge.

Players tend to remember recent beatings administered; the Sixers could be expected to come out rather forcefully.

Dwane Casey has been preaching the need to meet force with force every game; this could be a true test of his team’s resolve.

-

Slow news day?

The locals woke up to read yet another Andrew Bynum story in the papers today.

With that said, there is no current update on Valanciunas (who was to miss 4-6 weeks at Christmas; Bargnani, who was always out "indefinitely" or Kleiza, who is still bothered by a sore knee.

-

Here’s one for you

In the three games this season between Toronto and Philadelphia, each team has scored 271 points. According the Sixers PR staff, Toronto has three more two-point field goals, six fewer free throws and they’ve made the same number of three-pointers.

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Esoteric stat of the day, Part 2

Toronto’s 0-4 on the road against Atlantic Division opponents this year with two losses at Brooklyn, one each here (I'm in Philly) and in Boston.

-

The men in charge

Ron Garretson, Leroy Richardson and James Williams toot the whistles tonight.

-

 

 

Union issues, a rare compliment, and a fighting singer. It's all here

We’ve got a whole bunch of little items here today, was a quiet day with nothing that absolutely stands out so let’s go all over the place, shall we?

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I always had a sneaking suspicion that something was amiss with the NBA Players Association through the two lockouts I’ve paid close attention to.

It struck me that the leadership was somewhat lacking, that it was a “get mine, forget out yours” kind of organization that threw young players overboard to get a deal (and I don’t have a big problem with that, to tell you the truth; I’d rather pay for performance rather than promise) and there seemed to be something just a little “off.”

Guess others thought so, too.

An independent investigation into the union’s leadership came out with a scathing report yesterday, damning executive director Billy Hunter for his apparent disregard for conflict of interest issues and suggesting that perhaps the union might want to change its leadershp.

(Ken Berger, who has been relentless in his reporting on labour and union issues for years, sums it up incredibly well here so I don’t have to go into all the gory details).

I think the ultimate result, now that there is some semblance of labour peace for a few years at least, has to be a new leader there, just as there will be a new chief negotiator for the league the next time the collective bargaining agreement comes up for discussion.

I’m not nearly smart enough to break down all the minutia of the report or the issues and the legality of everything but, as we know, perception is reality and the perception of the union to those who pay even close attention to it has to be that it’s broken and needs to be fixed.

I know agents who have been highly criticial fo Hunter for years, they think he gave too much in every negotiation and wasn’t nearly as forceful as he should have been. And I am equally certain that when players ask their representatives for advice – and they should because that’s what they pay them for, advice and counsel – it will be suggested to them that it’s time for a change; that regardless of what poeple think of Billy Hunter that maybe it’s simply time for a new voice.

Don’t blame them, but I’m also glad it’ll be years before anyone has to worry about contract talks and a lockout.

Wonder what Don Fehr will be doing then? Maybe there’s another players association he can “save.”

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So I wander up to the nice lady at U.S.Customs and Immigration at Pearson yesterday, present all the requisite papers and she says, "how long will you be in the USA."

Now, at this time every season, I'm never quite sure what day it is, so I reply:

"Um, tomorrow. No, wait, Friday. No, sorry, Saturday. Whatever two days from now is."

No, she was not impressed.

"Which one is it? What do you mean."

So I explain that I'm a sportswriter, I had flown to New York on Monday, covered a game Tuesday, flown back Wednesday to cover another game and was now going to Philly and that I was basically confused.

Thankfully, instead of reaching for her copy of the Patriot Act and re-booking me to Gitmo, she laughed.

Then she holds up my passport to check me out, stamps the forms and says:

"Have you lost weight? Your face looks a lot thinner than in this picture."

I don't care if I have to stand in line for hours, if she's working, I'm waiting to be processed by her.

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Oh, what might have been.

Did you see the one about Kevin Durant wanting to be a Raptor as a Raptors fan growing up?

Pretty cool all these years after the fact and, frankly, a testament to Vince Carter, who absolutely put the franchise on the map.

It’s not entirely new – our friends at the excellent Ball Don’t Lie blog link to a conversation back in 2008 where Durant mentions Toronto – but it’s fun to look back and wonder, isn’t it?

Of course, if I know Raptors fans – and I do – we would have to go through two, maybe three years of hearing them complain about how he was too skinny and really didn’t have a position and how could Bryan have passed on Greg Oden because you always draft big if you get the chance, right?

Anyway, was a fun diversion for an hour or so.

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Sure, you think of Philly and you might think of Philadelphia Freedom or the theme from Rocky or whatever.

Me?

How about a sporting icon warbling?

And check out the outfit, Smokin’ Joe had some style.

-

Oh, you zany NBA fans.

You saw the all-star starters announcement, right?

(I read about it; couldn’t watch an hour-long TV show about it) and fans are to commended.

Of 10 starting spots covering the two conferneces, they only got two wrong. Well done.

I presume the coaches will correct this – like they always do when the voters go off the rails – but electing Dwight Howard over Tim Duncan was senseless and giving Kevin Garnett a lifetime achievement award instead of voiting in Tyson Chandler was borderline scandalous.

It is what it is, of course, a popularity contest driven by home fans and on-line clickers so I don’t think anyone expected the people to nail it.

They did all right, everyone had their fun and now the coaches can fill out the rosters correctly.

Oh, and I’ll help them out the first of the week, it’s going to be slow around here next week since I’m not heading to Florida and I’m going to have to figure out how to fill this space.

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Talk about your crisis being averted.

My iPad Mini and I plop ourselves down on a stool at The Field House, an excellent sports bar about 100 metres from my hotel, to watch some games and get some mail together and as I am wont to do in Philly, before the barkeep can even ask, I say I'll have a Yeungling.

Crushed, I was about to ask what else they had when she says, unprompted, "try the Stoudts Gold, you'll like it."

I did.

And I did.

And I only go places with smart servers.

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When I Rule The World, Vol. 12,484,809

Every saloon worth its liquor license will not only have a free jukebox with my iTunes playlist but it will also have wireless Internet access.

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No, I did not see a second of Lance Armstrong, mainly because it’s been my experience that pathological liars, cheaters and bullies don’t ever come totally clean or apologetic and some self-serving interview bores me to tears.

It’s like Ben Johnson without the bullying part; or Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds, I wish they’d just go away forever.

-

Yes, of course I can use some more mail, haven’t heard from some of you yet and it’s not a regular week until I do.

So ...

Click. Write. Send.

One night's dull, the next night is grand; it all evens out

Well, that was a great game, wasn’t it?

Huge rally by the home side, contentious calls, excellent plays, close game.

Can’t ask for much more, can you?

I missed the three OT game but that one Wednesday was the best I’ve seen this year.

-

THREE POINTERS

Got ‘em again

Wonder if an apology is coming again?

Of course that was a blown call on the final foul on Amir Johnson he was absolutely trying to take a shot when he got knocked down by Noah and it was all Dwane could do to hold his breath in his post-game media thingy lest he cost himself some money in a fine.

Too bad, really; although I will say there were other plays before that one that has much to do with the outcome as it did.

Still, that was a very below-average officiating crew that put up some dubious calls both ways, it blew one of the biggest of the game and the only recourse is to send the video to the league – and I promise they will – and hope for some kind of censure against those three, um, zebras.

Not sure they’ll get it but they should because if there was ever a blown call on a shooting/non-shooting foul it was on that play.

Now, it still would have meant Amir would have had to make two free throws to tie – and the way the night went that was no sure thing – but he should have had the chance.

-

Welcome back, Kyle

Yes, that was just the kind of effort – for the most part – the Raptors need out of Lowry, a good mix of looking for his own stuff and getting his teammates involved.

And one thing struck me in the first half that might make some sense. Hang with me on this.

We all know he has a penchant for gambling a bit too much on defence – watch the next few nights to see how often he’s caught under the other team’s basket trying for some steal he won’t get – but there is a way to mitigate that.

Haven’t run this by anyone who knows more than I do but it strikes me he’s a far better defender – for this team and its system right now – when they’re playing zone, as they did for a huge chunk of that second quarter.

He can hang around and only has to sprint back to guard a spot rather than run back and find a man to cover; it doesn’t expose he or his teammates nearly as much.

Don’t think they can play all zone when he’s on the floor but maybe a wee bit more.

-

A failing

I don’t know how many times Dwane’s talked about “attention to detail” and how it’s one of the team’s issues but last night there was one glaring example of not doing it that we saw an awful lot of.

This team sets horrible screens.

I mean they don’t even make contact with the guy they’re suppose to be screening, not even close, and there’s more than enough blame to go around.

First, the guy setting the screen – and this an Ed Davis issue I saw last night – seems way to intent on rolling rather than starting the contact and it gives the defender all kinds of time and space to avoid getting caught up.

Second, the guy using the screen – and this is a Kyle Lowry issue I saw last night – need to wait and set up his man, to run him into the guy setting the screen to use it effectively.

It’s a little thing but it’s an important one and if they do it right 10 more times a game, that might get them five more baskets and that means a world of difference most nights.

-

A bit more?

Got a little, sure.

-

So, everyone going to be glued to the TV tonight for the big all-star starter announcement?

Oh yeah, they’ve turned it into a grand television spectacle, turning what should take about 90 seconds to announce into a breathless, full-blown “show.”

Yawn.

Anyway, as you recall, this is the first time voters chose two guards and three “front-court” players because they figured – and I was part of it – that the bigs are so interchangeable it made sense.

Maybe.

I’d still think a more representative manner to chose starters would be one point guard, two wings and two bigs and maybe that’s the way things shake out in the future. Seems a bit more fair to me, although the difference in point guard and shooting guard can, and sometimes is, a bit blurred.

But I guess it doesn’t matter at all in the end.

The fans got to choose the starters and I presume there’ll be at least one head-scratcher among the 10 but it’s up to the coaches in each conference to fill out the roster with seven backups and they usually get it right.

The fans? Well, they can be part of the process because it’s all fun and games for them; even if they blow a choice or two, there is recourse to have it fixed, thanks to the coaches.

-

Speaking of TV, was glancing at yet another Criminal Minds re-run yesterday afternoon – the one where the graphic cartoonist has the psychotic break after his girlfriend is killed and goes on his own murderous spree – and, of course, there are commercials and promos.

And I’m thinking that one of the things I’m most proud of in my entirely television watching life is that I have never, ever, not once watched an episode of either Hoarders or Intervention or the idiotic one about bidding on storage bins.

Yes, my good people, there are too, too many channels with nothing on.

I’d say about 57 of them, right?

-

Let’s get at it folks, and you Irregulars know who you are.

I’ve got this afternoon and a bit of tomorrow in Philly to kill and perchance a period of Stool Time Saturday so …

Click. Write. Send.

-

No, there’s not a chance in hell that I will intentionally watch any of this Oprah-Lance Armstrong telethon thing tonight.

I will either be at this cool sports bar under the arch at the Reading Terminal Market or on a stool at The Palm or somewhere like that; no way I’m paying attention to it.

Besides, I’m likely to have my phone fully charged and I’m pretty sure the tweeter thing will let me know what he says

-

Okay, I have a few things on tap this morning and then the flight to Philly, will get back to comments as soon as I can.

And maybe it’ll give me time to get my head around this Manti Te’o story, which is one of the more incredible tales I’ve heard.

And, along with a story or two, will help me through tomorrow.

-

 

 

The Goods On The Game, Bulls at Raptors

Good evening, everyone

Bulls at Raptors, game-day Dino-bytes

The post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game.

 

CHICAGO (21-15) at TORONTO (14-24)

Air Canada Centre

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.

TV: Sportsnet; RADIO: FAN590

WEB: Join The Star’s Doug Smith for an in-game blog beginning shortly before 7 p.m.

 

Probable starters

Chicago: Kirk Hinrich, Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah; Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Ed Davis, Aaron Gray.

 

Key backups tonight

Chicago: Marco Belinelli (might be a gleam in the eye of the ex-Raptor); Nate Robinson (tiny point guard can score in a hurry); Toronto: Terrence Ross (comes in off two sluggish games), Amir Johnson (playing through pain, as usual).

 

What happened this morning

Rest and rehab

The Raptors didn’t have a shootaround so it was time with the training staff for Jose Calderon (hip, back) and Kyle Lowry (ankle).

They’ll do some work in the gym later this afternoon to see which, if either, of them can go tonight.

Yeah, the spectre of neither of them going is scary, is it?

-

Road warriors

About the Bulls.

They’re good, they play hard all the time and defend like demons and the old say about “defence travels” has seldom been as appropriate.

Chicago is a rather pedestrian 11-10 at home but 10-5 on the road.

-

Esoteric (perhaps inconsequential) stat, Vol. 1

Toronto has out-rebounded four straight opponents.

-

Who’s in charge?

Scott Foster, Kane Fitzgerald and Olandis Poole blow the whistles tonight.

-

A big fan

I see K.C. Johnson got to Bulls shootaround today and caught up with coach Tom Thibodeau to chat about an ex-Bull.

It’s here.

-

How hot are they?

The Bulls come off a game where they held the Atlanta Hawks to 20 points in the first half, five points in the second quarter and 29 per cent shooting.

Yeah, they can defend.

-

Who starts?

Coach Dwane Casey pulled a late switch Tuesday in Brooklyn by inserting Aaron Gray back into the starting lineup.

It allowed him to limit the minutes for Amir Johnson a little bit and he liked the matchup of Gray with the Nets Brook Lopez.

There was no indication which way he’d go tonight but Johnson’s speed is probably better for a matchup with Noah than Gray’s size.

-

Esoteric stat, Vol. 2

Jose Calderon is a stats machine. He leads Toronto in double-double with nine and triple-doubles with two.

-

 

 

Dull night, dull game and a crooked cabbie story

That was a rather dull night, wasn’t it?

Game had very little oomph, it seemed to drag on forever and outside of the Aaron Gray dunk, not sure there’s a memorable moment.

Yet, still …

-

THREE POINTERS

Too fancy, schmancy

Look at the numbers:

Jose Calderon plays 29 minutes with zero turnovers.

Kyle Lowry plays 15 minutes with zero turnovers.

Yet the story of the game was the 14 turnovers Toronto committed and the 24 points the Nets got off them.

So where was the screw up?

Well, it was in trying to do too much with too many players unfamiliar with each other trying to make the picture-perfect play.

It’s trying to throw bounce passes in traffic in the paint; trying to throw lobs from bad angles; it’s, as Dwane said, simply trying to do too much.

“It’s admirable that we’re trying to move the ball but see the great play but make the easy play. We’re trying to just squeeze it and it’s not there; we have to make better decisions with the basketball.”

It’s not that there was any one player worse than the others. Gray, who hasn’t played in a week, had three of them; Amir Johnson, Ed Davis and DeMar DeRozan had two each.

All of them have to be a bit more careful with the ball.

-

It’s what they do

So, I’m watching Terrence Ross miss about seven jump shots and Alan Anderson miss the four shots he took in his eight minutes of play and only one thing comes to mind:

Shoot ‘til you miss; shoot ‘til you make.

Actually, two things, that and:

You’re either hot or you’re due.

Seems Dwane is of the same mindset because when the subject of Ross’s tough shooting night came up, he quickly dismissed it.

“He’s a shooter, he’s got to keep shooting it, he and Alan both are shooters, I expect the next one to go in and they have to believe that, too. That’s what they’re on our roster for, to shoot the basketball. I believe in them, that’s the shots they work on every day in practice and they’re going to fall.”

-

A minor criticism

We all know DeMar DeRozan is having a pretty good year, his game is expanding, he’s defending a bit better and even if the natural progression is a bit slower than some want, it’s still there.

Still …

Still I’d like one night – and I know people in the organization feel this way too – for him to say, “screw it, we’re hurt, we need this game and I’m getting it for us.”

And he needs to go off for 30 or 35 points, take and make the big shots and put his team on his back.

Maybe it’s just not in his nature quite yet but it’d sure be nice if he could find that will, wouldn’t it be?

I guess it’s nice that he’s had a 37-point game this year – it took him 60 minutes of a triple-overtime game to get it – and the 30 he had at the win in New Orleans was nice.

And, yes, I am fully aware this is picking a nit but there are some nights when he just needs to grab a game by the throat and take it.

-

More?

-

So, I’m looking through the list of Brooklynites and there’s all kinds of famous ones but this dude’s got to be near the top of list for his genre, right?

And if you ran a loop of Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield, that’d be pretty cool, right?

Now, that’s just of that era; the likes of George Carlin, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld might be on more contemporary list.

-

Yeah, we may as well start the weekly process.

Mail? Sure.

Click. Write. Send.

You know that I love to hear from you, right?

-

Now this is paying the price for not being from here. And a telling tale about some the crooks driving cabs in the New York City area.

I’m standing outside the hotel making idle chitchat with the doorman and I ask him what the fare to LaGuardia would be. He tells me (boss, you’ll find out when I do the paperwork) and he suggests that if I’m leaving the hotel around 8 a.m., I’m probably better off taking a Town Car on a flat rate than pay the meter rate in a Yellow Cab. Traffic won’t hike the price, it’ll be more comfortable and besides, he says, a Yellow Cab might take me the scenic route.

Or …

Seems three Japanese businessmen, new to the country, arrive one day in a cab and the meter reads $47.50. The bandit driver charges each of them the meter fare, they tell my guy later on, because he says it’s like an airplane, each passenger pays for a seat.

Crooks.

-

Wonder what took so long?

Saw the story yesterday that some guy is suing the San Antonio Spurs because they rested those four guys in the game at Miami.

Yes, America is a litigious society with too many lawyers with too much time on their hands, it has been affirmed again.

Anyway, I figure this case gets laughed out of court, right? I know it was a tough break to show up and not see the key players on one team and you can debate Gregg Popovich’s merits forever but it’s a caveat emptor world out there; sometimes people get hurt, sometimes people get sick and it goes for sports events and theatre performances and all kinds of things.

But a lawsuit? Seems a stretch. And very American.

-

Okay, not entirely sure about Dino-bytes today and what time they might be done; it’s pouring rain here, my flight’s not supposed to be back until after noon so we’ll give it our best.

But, yeah, I’ll get to the game for an IGBT.

-

 

 

The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Nets

Hello, all.

Things well?

Raptors at Nets game-day Dino-bytes

A post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game.

TORONTO (14-23) at BROOKLYN (22-15)

Barclays Centre

TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m.

TV: Sportsnet; RADIO: FAN590

WEB: We’ll be here with the usual in-game blog starting just before 7:30 p.m.

Probable starters

Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Ed Davis, Amir Johnson; Brooklyn: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Keith Bogans, Reggie Evans, Brook Lopez.

Key backups tonight

Toronto: Kyle Lowry (was scoreless and ineffective Sunday vs. Milwaukee), Alan Anderson (shot poorly last game, needs to provide bench scoring); Brooklyn: Kris Humphries (ex-Raptor always seems to have a big games against Toronto), Andray Blatche (big man can have a big impact on the game).

Season series

Nets lead, 2-0.

Toronto was the foe when the Barclays Center hosted its first regular season and game and they played good guest by losing; teams also met at the Air Canada Centre with the Raptors being accommodating hosts.

All time, Toronto trails the series 33-34; and they are 12-31 on the road against the Nets. That, of course, includes games in New Jersey and two in London two seasons ago.

-

What happened this morning

Everyone showed up

It looks as if Toronto’s two banged-up starters – Jose Calderon and Amir Johnson – are good to go after being hurt Sunday. And Kyle Lowry was back after an excused absence to attend a funeral.

-

Starters blazing

Toronto had four starters with 20 or more points on Sunday and need close to that production this time around.

Against the Bucks it was DeRozan with 23, Johnson with 22, Calderon with 21 and Davis with 20.

The last time the Raptors had four 20-plus scorers in the same game was December, 2010, against Denver.

Oh, yeah, Toronto lost both those games.

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Esoteric stat, Part 1

Toronto’s had four straight games of more than 25 assists as a team.

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Red hot Nets

For all who wondered during his time in Toronto, if PJ Carlesimo would ever be a head coach again the answer is yes.

And a pretty successful one.

Since taking over from Avery Johnson, Carlesimo has coached the Nets to an 8-1 record and they are riding a six-game winning streak heading into tonight’s game.

PJ’s also taken the shackles off the offence, Brooklyn is averaging 101.8 points per game in his nine after averaging 94.5 per game under Johnson.

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Esoteric stat, Part 2

Amir Johnson has 11 assists in his last four games as a starter. Seven of those have led to Ed Davis baskets.

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Who’s in charge?

Marc Davis, David Guthrie and Marat Kogut blow the whistles tonight.

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Where to find us

Oh yeah, there was a late switch. The game will be on Sportsnet's main network; it wa s originally scheduled for Sportsnet One.