Cheating liars and a couple of KO moments

I cannot for the life of me think of something that I care less about than what Lance Armstrong told Oprah about the decades he spent cheating and lying about drug use in his pursuit of cycling excellence.

Yawn.

Trust me, whatever he says will have been so spun by some of the great media relations crisis management people that it will be milquetoast and cliché, I’m sure. There will be key phrases and talking points and it will be all rehearsed to the point of being theatre.

But that’s not even the biggest point, although it’s one everyone should remember.

What irks me is the phoniness of the whole process and how this smacks of some plea for forgiveness or understanding that comes about five years too late and after Armstrong was almost diabolical in his determination to ruin those who dared speak against while he was perpetuating the fraud that he won those races on the strength of his own abilities and not after blood doping or HGH taking or whatever he did.

Look, that a cyclist cheated ranks right up there on the news scale with Sun Rises In East. Heck, Armstrong cheated to win; I would think there are those who cheated as much in order to finish in the top 10 of some races. It was, and probably still is, part and parcel of the upper echelon of the sport and even casual had to realize it back then.

No, it’s the way he’s handled himself when accused up until this time that people need to remember. He was a bitter, vindictive liar and a cheat and you cannot justify those actions in the light of the original transgression.

Yes, he helped raise a lot of money for cancer research and that is admirable. He also raised a lot of money for himself, don’t forget that. And he took a lot of money out of the pockets of people he tried to ruin.

Armstrong was, and is, a liar and cheat who did some good because he was a liar and a cheat.

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Not entirely sure this is a reassuring, or a good thing.

We’re at our gate for the flight to LaGuardia, which went entirely smoothly in a stunning turn of events, and at the next gate over, there’s a flight supposed to leave about the same time as us to Newark.

Dude comes on the microphone about 45 minutes to departure time and he says, and I’m paraphrasing:

“We’re going to have a mechanical delay, two of the tires on the plane need replacing. It’ll be about half an hour.”

Not 10 minutes later, same guy on the mic again and he says, and I’m paraphrasing:

“Well, folks, turns out the mechanical issue wasn’t an issue, we’re going to start boarding now.”

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Don’t know why I know this but I’m in Brooklyn and I remember Norah Jones is from Brooklyn and I could listen to that woman sing every day for the rest of my life.

Am I right?

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The Raptors?

Well, they have a bit of regrouping to do after the defensive failings of the other day against Milwaukee and it’s tough week with a road game here, back-to-back at home, at Philly and then the Lakers.

But there are going to be tough weeks and they have to hope some of the habits – the good habits – they picked up in the last 14 games (10-4) will stick around. I imagine they will but the effort is going to have to be even greater now that the level of competition is turned up a bit.

Oh, and the only news out of yesterday was that Amir Johnson took part in most of practice, Jose Calderon went through it all and Kyle Lowry was excused to attend a funeral.

Full expect they’ll all be available this evening; and yes, we’ll be here at 7:30 p.m. or so for the traditional IGBT.

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The things you rarely see.

We round this corner in the cab about a block from the hotel and what do my eyes spy?

A woman using a payphone.

I don’t (a) believe payphones work any more; and (b) how much money would you have to put in anyway? They’re not still a dime, are they?

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Now, this is utterly ridiculous.

Did you see the story that the latest suggested name for a new CFL team up in Ottawa is the Red Blacks?

Yeah, Ottawa Red Blacks.

I cannot fathom what that means and whoever dreamed it up should consider another line of work.

Me? I’d go with Pelicans.

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I see KO’s out as coach at USC, fired mid-season and read this LA Time story and you can figure out why.

This might be the best quote of the piece, from one of his players, J.T. Terrell.

“KO, any day of the week, is just priceless. You never know what you're going to get.”

I’m trying to think of the best KO story from his tumultuous season in Toronto and I’ve got two.

First, it’s Halloween and they are opening the season at home. One of the TV guys – I honestly don’t recall who it was – is doing one of those cute stories where he tries to capture memories of youth. He asks KO: “What’s your favourite Halloween memory” or something weak like that.

KO swears – probably not even under his breath – and as he walks away, he says:

“Will the ridiculousness never end?”

And, this one’s not bad.

The story gets out about him breaking the lamp in Phoenix (“If you found out Jalen Rose broke his hand, you’d break a lamp, too,” he said) and how his life is maybe out of control a bit and that his bosses might not appreciate his lifestyle.

(Think Brian Burke squared, or trebled, or quadrupled; KO wouldn’t have last 10 days under this regime).

Anyway, we’re in New York the day the story comes out and me and Stumpy have to drag our sorry butts to shootaround to get his reaction and it’s New York so there are about a billion people in the Garden.

He goes through the lamp stuff and finally someone says something like: “Hey, Kevin. There’s a suggestion that perhaps your lifestyle and drinking are a bit of an issue, too. Do you have anything to say to that?”

KO, who absolutely enjoyed a cocktail after every game but I never saw him do anything untoward on a game day or before a practice, bristles. Really bristles.

The words may not be exact but he says:

“Look. I go out. The only time I was ever drunk on the road was in Seattle. A night before a game. With you, Doug!”

You can’t imagine how small I felt; and, yes, we did have a Metropolitan Grill dinner that dragged on and on.

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No Gay now, price too steep; and the road finally beckons

Well, that had to be a thoroughly disappointing day for many of you, didn’t it?

Big lead – and, yes, we did learn that it is truly a game of runs – turns into a tough loss and the homestand is over.

Thankfully, lots of time left for angst and joy, anger and happiness and the trade deadline.

Can’t wait!

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THREE POINTERS

Nothing coming any time soon

Not game specific, that’s for sure, but according to a highly-placed source, any chance of the Raptors picking up Rudy Gay in a trade are diminishing rapidly and it’s less and less likely something will happen.

The reason?

The asking price is far too high.

As I mentioned last week, the players most coveted include the likes of Jose Calderon, Terrence Ross and one of the young bigs – and I know Valanciunas’s name has come up in conversation – and I would suggest Bryan should have no interest in that kind of chatter.

Gay’s a good player – he’s a definite upgrade on what they have now – but if it’s such a steep price that it robs you of your assets, it’s not worth it.

All it does is make you different, and not necessarily better.

So you can put the chatter on hold for now; I’d say it’s 5-95 at best that they even have more serious discussions.

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Gotcha

You knew – and if you didn’t you should have known – that the thin frontcourt situation would eventually jump up and bite the Raptors in the bum.

I don’t care what anyone thinks of Bargnani and Valanciunas but they need more big men; they can’t keep playing Johnson and Davis forever. Eventually they’re going to wear down, eventually they’ll come up against a team that’ll eat undersized small-ball fours and rookie backups.

Johnson and Davis were very good yesterday, no question; they also looked dead tired when the Bucks finished with impunity around the rim in the final minutes.

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Revert to form

I think this team operates far more smoothly with Jose as the starting point guard – and a 34-point first quarter yesterday and a 10-4 record of late proves me correct – but for the 18 or 20 minutes he’s on the court, Kyle Lowry has to be more like himself.

He cannot pound the ball at the top of the circle waiting to make the perfect pass as the shot clock runs down. He has to move the ball more quickly or get into the paint and get the defence moving; if he doesn’t, his effectiveness even as a backup is diminished.

I know the coaches see the same thing, I know his teammates see the same thing. He’s got to see it.

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What else?

This is what else.

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Okay, so it’s not quite the Naismith Cup, which I’m sure is in someone’s house holding potpourri or something, but those zany media relations guys from Toronto and Milwaukee have something on the line when the teams play.

Because J. LaBumbard of the Torontos is from Wisconsin (a Wisconsinite, Winsconinonian, Cheesehead?) and because his Milwaukee counterpart has a sense of humour, there’s a copy of the sheet music to The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald at stake every time the teams play. The PR director of the winning team gets to keep it and since the Raptors haven’t beaten the Bucks in eons, it’s permanently stored in Milwaukee.

So …

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Glad we finally found a way to run this about The Other Dream Team and since some of you have asked, you can get a DVD through the documentary’s website and I understand you can rent it through iTunes beginning tomorrow.

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Hmm, let’s see.

Flight today, game tomorrow, flight and game Wednesday, flight Thursday, game Friday.

Yeah, all this home time has come to a screeching halt.

A quiet night in Brooklyn sounds like a good idea, no?

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Told you the football winners would be Denver, Green Bay, New England and Seattle, didn’t I?

What? It’s Baltimore, San Francisco, New England and Atlanta?

Never mind.

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The homestand?

Has to be a bit disappointing, which is entirely surprising given how the season began, but when the six games started, they really were thinking at least four, and hopefully, five wins.

They got three, were exposed a couple of times for lack of size without the two injured seven-footers and maybe that does calm down expectations a bit.

There are 45 games to go – that’s an awful lot of games – and they are pretty much where we figured they’d be: Scratching and clawing out of the early-season hole.

They aren’t as good as 10-4, not as bad as 4-19; they are somewhere in that middle and now that things get back to normal schedule-wise, finding where in that middle they fit will be interesting.

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There are a couple of creative types lurking in the back rooms, it appears. Not sure it’ll stick, but my boyz Paulie and Travis (you don’t know them but they are among the hardest working guys in showbiz) tell me they’ve come up with a nickname for young Mr. Ross.

Not sure it’ll stick, not sure how to spell it, but given his talents and the franchise, it kind of fits.

Yeah, Terry-dactyl. Or should it be Terrence-dactyl?

And does it work?

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Got to spend some time at Glendon College on Saturday afternoon (I think you’ll see the fruits of my labour in the paper tomorrow, it’s a super secret gig) and, man, did the memories come flooding back.

It’s a tiny gym stuck in a small campus in the middle of the city and, back in the olden days, it’s where the Raptors practiced before the Air Canada Centre was build and when the SkyDome wasn’t available.

And it made for some interesting times because the team was very much an interloper and an inconvenience to the school.

How much of an interloper and inconvenience?

Well, they had the gym from, I believe, 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and they were sticklers about it.

At about 12:55, the girls volleyball team would show up with the poles for the nets and the balls and everything and at the strike of 1 p.m. the gym was theirs. If the Raptors wanted to go long, tough noogies, it was volleyball time and the NBAers had to vacate the premises.

Ah, the good old days.

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The Goods On The Game, Bucks at Raptors

Welcome back.

Another Sunday, another matinee. A guy could get used to this.

It's all of the weekend mail at once

Know what I did last night?

Got this mail all done while watching football so I don’t have to set the alarm until maybe 8 a.m. and only have to do the game today.

So it’s up early, if I missed a late question or two, I’ll get to them sometime soon. Until then, enjoy this weekend’s one-time offering and we’ll be around here this afternoon around 1 p.m. for the big game.

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Q: Hi Doug - a bit of a preamble to this one. Many years ago I was living in LA (for some reason thoughts of LA always come back to me in winter) and they had a young phenom by the name of Kobe Bryant. The LA Times had a weekly magazine in which they did a profile on a local celebrity. In one profile, they asked young Kobe (I think this was in '97) what he did in his free time. He said that he like to sit on the beach in Santa Monica and read Greek poetry! I have to say I laughed a bit about that and it still is amusing to me. I never saw him on the beach there, I can tell you that.

Anyway, my question (finally) is this: what have you found out about an NBA player that surprised you a lot -- either amused you or impressed you. Could be a hobby, could be 'what I did on my summer vacation'. I'm sure if you cast your mind back over the years, some players have managed to surprise you (in positive ways, I hope).

Sheila C, Ottawa

A: One guy who really intrigued me was John Thomas. Remember him? Big Kitchen was a bit of a renaissance man, loved to cook and spent his summers just travelling Europe like a regular schmoe tourist. Not that that’s all that weird but in the coddled world of the NBA, I found it refreshing.

That Kevin Willis designed clothes always struck me as pretty cool, too.

This group? When I get around to a bigger profile of Terrence Ross, I bet you find it kind of neat that he’s a huge auto racing fan, F1 at the top of his list.

There’s three kind of unique ones.

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Q: Hi Doug - My question has to do with the referees and how they are assigned.

It seems to me that we see some of the same referees quite often but only see others occasionally - in this last category Dick Bavetta comes to mind. Are their schedules made up so each referee is assigned the same number of times to games featuring each team? I thought I read someplace that there are now 3 female refs but I only remember Violet Palmer doing the Raptors' games.

Penny D, Fredericton

A: It probably evens out – or gets close to even – over the course of a season but referees as “grouped” in about three different groups and assigned out of those. And you’re right we haven’t seen much of Dick or Bill Spooner or Joey Crawford here this year and I don’t remember seeing them more than once or twice on the road, too.

And two other female officials aren’t actually in a rotation, they are fill-ins because each full-time referee gets a week off here and there; they need replacements to fill those assignments.

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Q: Hi Doug. Sorry for the vague nature of this question, but it's something that I wonder about fairly often.

On occasion, you'll hear fans (and media members) suggest that a player, team or organization "owes it to the fans" to do something or other (trade a player/spend money/play at a certain level.)

Alternately, you'll sometimes hear that the fans "owe it" to the organization, a team or a player to behave a certain way (not booing, a show of support when a team/player is down.)

I guess my question is this; do the fans 'owe' the players anything at all? Do players 'owe' fans anything at all. And, as a member of the media, who give the players and teams the coverage and attention they need to keep butts in the seats, do you feel like you're owed anything? (a certain level of access, or the guarantee of speaking to a player after a game, etc)

Thanks!

Walter O, Waterloo

A: I think players are entertainers and owe the best effort they can give each night, I think fans owe other fans and players respect and should act accordingly and I think I am owed by the players respect for the job I have to do and honest answers to questions asked.

That’d be about it.

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Q: Hi Doug. In today’s blog (Thursday) you said in reference to DC playing Amir and Ed Davis together: "It’s not something they can plan on getting away with too often – nor should they try – but Casey managed it well for one night when it really mattered."

Can you explain the basketball reason behind what you said? They seemed to work really well together and not sure why it would not work on a regular basis.

A T, Niagara Falls

A: My point was that on this roster as it’s constructed now with two viable big men injured, I think they need one of Davis or Johnson on the floor at all times. That would mean splitting them up a long stretches while one of them gets some rest.

Yes, they do work well together and they’ve made it work for a few games.

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Q: The possibility of the Kings moving to Seattle had me thinking: Why is the NBA is so many cities where it is the only major league sports team? Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake, San Antonio, Portland, Memphis. That's 20 per cent of the league. Just a coincidence or is something else happening?

Barry, Barrie

A: Mostly because those city you mention don’t have the corporate money or fan base to support a second winter professional team. Some of them have minor league hockey and some minor league baseball but those in particular aren’t big enough or rich enough to handle a second team in town.

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Q: Greetings Doug. I know you are not the greatest admirer of the college game but last Saturday's UConn - Notre Dame women's match was worth watching. It was one of those slug and shoot games that coaches hate, fans love, and trainers fear. The interminable weaving that pervades the men's game withdrew to its hiding place. Players ran, scratched, pushed, and hobbled from play to play producing quality basketball moments. The crowd noise rose so loud the broadcasters had to shout at times. In the end, the level of professional animosity developing between these two schools rose even higher and it was just a middle of the year game with nothing more tangible on the line than a mark in the W column.

What initially hooked me into watching the game was the props, as the kids say, being given to one Natalie Achonwa. She was lauded as the best player on the Canadian national team and the first non-American to play for Notre Dame. When the buzzer sounded she led the Big East with eight double-doubles and had me convinced that when she enters the WNBA that I need to put down some money to watch the games online.

How can we make her name more widely known in this country and is there anyone else from the Great White North in the college women's game that I should be watching with like interest?

Mike D, Oshawa

A: Now, I don’t want to toot my own horn too much but I’ve been writing about Natalie Achonwa for a very long time. There was one from 2011 and I remember doing a piece even before she went to Notre Dame. And I happened to be in an establishment with many televisions last weekend and made sure one of them had Notre Dame-Connecticut on so I could watch.

Anyway, there aren’t nearly as many Canadian women as men in the upper echelons of NCAA basketball but if you get a chance to see Utah, pay attention to Michelle Plouffe, another excellent young Canadian, ditto with Kayla Alexander at Syracuse.

If you were to check out basketball.ca, I’m sure you find others to watch there.

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Q: Good day, Mr. Smith. Just wondering if you think Roger Clemens will ever make the Hall. Do you think his record is Hall-worthy? Thanks for the great blog!

David M, Ottawa

A: Not too long ago, I would have said no, he had scant chance but I’m sensing, just from reading various baseball writers, that the blackmark of steroid use might be lessening a little bit and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got in sometime in the next four or five years. I don’t think there’s any doubt that his numbers and career stand up as Hall-worthy, it’s the other stuff that was the issue.

But, again, I think the tide is turning.

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Q: Hi Doug...Academy award nominations are out. Do you have any Raptors that were left off the list.

Best Supporting...Quincy Acy?

Best Director...Mr. Cope

Art Direction?...Amir's hair stylist

Sound...Landry Fields, when he misses a chippie.

Special Effects...The Beast

Speaking of Rawhide, now that Burkie's is no longer offering the red hots, any suggestions for the ACC types...Bryan's Burgers?

Bob E, Kanata

A: Now that’s a list!

Original screenplay: Pimptastic Boss.

And they had the Burkie Doghouse sign down within hours of his firing, was gone when I got to the arena that night

Sure, Bryan’s Burgers works and maybe Dwane’s Dogs?

Taking care of business in a businesslike manner

Well, that one was over quickly and painlessly, wasn’t it?

No real need to play the final quarter – hell, no real need to play the final three quarters with the low level of competition and, um, talent the Charlottes have.

But whatever …

They played it out, got it done in 2:04, was an easy one to write and now it’s time to move on.

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THREE POINTERS

Best. Break. Ever.

Early in the first quarter, a play that will warm the cockles of any coach in any league in any country at any time.

Amir Johnson rebounds a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist miss, doesn’t look anywhere but ahead and rifles an outlet pass to Jose Calderon in the middle of the floor.

On the wing, Landry Fields takes off a split second before Johnson corrals the ball, Calderon takes the outlet pass, doesn’t hesitate – or dribble even once – and launches a 45-foot pass to Fields, who is at least a step, maybe two, ahead of any Bobcat.

Fields catches the pass in stride, finishes with a dunk and you cannot draw up a quicker, more lethal break than that one.

Doesn’t happen very often but when it does, it’s fun to watch.

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Speaking of Fields …

What he’s been giving them on the boards has been tremendous and it helps take all kinds of pressure off the big men when he’s out there at the small forward position.

He had 11 rebounds last night – his second 11-rebound game in a row – and it’s the way he gets them that impresses me most.

Fields certainly isn’t the most physically imposing basketball player on earth – or even on the team – but watch him fight for rebounds if you get a chance.

He’s very good at rebounding in traffic and he just has a sense of where to be when the shot goes up. That’s instinct you really can’t teach and if he keeps giving them that, it won’t matter if he doesn’t make a jump shot the rest of the season.

He will have done his job.

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Solid help when needed

If you had thought they’d get a combined 25 minutes with 10 rebounds that began in the first half from the duo of Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray, you are way smarter than anyone.

But it was just what they needed – and got thanks to a blistering start from the starters that allowed Dwane the luxury of buying some time – and those two guys did precisely what end-of-the-benchers need to do.

Be ready when called, play hard and within limitations and not hurt the team when they’re on the court.

Can’t imagine it’s going to be a regular thing but it was nice that it happened on an easy evening.

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A wee bit more before I finally get into the day.

(This extra day-after-game rest is good most days but it takes some getting used to, always feel just a little bit behind).

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Only because I tend to decompress after games in places that have lots of TVs I couldn't help but notice what was on the screen next to the one that had Lakers-Thunder on.

And l don't know about you but if it's The World against North America in curling you have to wonder how hard it is to make those teams. Helluva pool of players to find only 4 per team. There are four per team, right?

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Now, I honestly can't remember who wrote this in the IGBT last night and that's too bad because I can't thank him or her.

But Quincy and Aaron are on the court and I'm told we need to have this here this morning.

Can't say I'm a big fan - can't really say I'm a fan at any level but ...

Yes, that is (M)Acy Gray.

Get it?

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Three-legged dog walks in the saloon, jumps up on a stool, bartender asks what he wants:

“I’m looking for the man that shot my pa.”

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Cue the fun music.

So Raptors practice starts at noon today in the arena and that's exactly the same time that Brian Burke is supposed to address the assembled masses in the media room at the arena.

Me? I’ll be far down the hall and up a ramp in an ante room off the Raptors locker room, actually.

Not sure I’m ready for the bombast, he’s already spoken to my paper as it turns out, and the crowd will be stifling.

Only in Toronto, I’d bet, will a handful of television networks carry live a news conference of a failed sports executive who was fired two days ago.

I’ll put the over and under at 11 on the number of TV cameras at the event and I’m willing to bet there are more than 50 reporter types hanging on every word.

As I mentioned, it’ll be live on, I’d guess, three or four television networks as well as at least two radio stations and the tweeting from reporters will be insane.

It is the perfect example of the media overkill that goes on these days, blanket coverage that’s far more about getting content that providing news.

Sure, I’ll listen a little bit – I presume it’ll be locked on every television in the building – but with the crush of people, it’ll be listening from afar.

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And while I’m sitting around practice, perchance I’ll work on some mail for the morning.

Wanna help me out?

Click. Say hi. Send.

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In case you were wondering, the football weekend will end with New England, Denver, Green Bay and Seattle still standing.

You’re welcome.

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The Goods On The Game, Bobcats at Raptors

Hi everybody.

What's new?

Bobcats-Raptors game-day Dino-bytes

As usual, our post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game.

 

CHARLOTTE (9-25) at TORONTO (13-22)

Air Canada Centre

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.

TV: TSN; RADIO: FAN590

WEB: Yes, the usual fun and frivolity of an in-game blog shall commence just before 7 p.m.

 

Probable starters

Charlotte: Kemba Walker, Jeffery Taylor, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Tyrus Thomas, Bismack Biyombo; Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Ed Davis, Amir Johnson.

 

Key backups tonight

Charlotte: Gerald Henderson (he’s getting some better shooting range), Ramon Sessions (key to the team’s second unit); Toronto: Kyle Lowry (had just a so-so game against Philadelphia), Mickael Pietrus (he needs to give them more off the bench).

 

Season series

Bobcats lead, 1-0.

Who can forget that night down in Charlotte when the Raptors came back from down 10 in the fourth quarter only to see Charlotte get a late bucket to win. Oh yeah, Raptors had about four shots of their own to win and Andrea Bargnani was so egregiously fouled on the final attempt the league had to come out the next day and admit the refs blew the call.

Toronto leads the all-time series 15-14 and is 8-6 against Charlotte at home.

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Speaking of refs

Tonight’s whistle-blowers are Violet Palmer (she was on that crew for the game in Charlotte), Kevin Fehr and – ta-da!!! – David Jones.

Perchance you remember Jones? He was the official that Amir Johnson tossed his mouthguard at out in Portland last month. This is the first Toronto game he’s worked since.

Asked Amir this morning if he’d speak to him.

“We’ll see.”

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Esoteric stat, No. 1

The Raptors have led wire-to-wire in each of their last two wins.

-

Injury update?

Terrence Ross practiced Thursday and took part in shootaround on Friday.

The uber-cautious Raptors suggest he’ll be a game-time decision. If it’s no, we’ll be stunned.

Oh, and there’s not much chance Linas Kleiza goes, either. React however you wish to that one.

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A budding star

We had a quick conversation with Jonas Valanciunas about his star turn in The Other Dream Team documentary and, of course, we asked about future thespian plans.

“Hangover 3.”

-

What’s up in Charlotte?

Let’s see what Mr. Bonnell scribbled about this morning, shall we?

-

Esoteric stat, No. 2

Toronto has a plus-42 overall fourth-quarter scoring differential over their opponents in the last five games.

-

Who to watch?

Toronto needs to pay particular attention to Bobcats point guard Kemba Walker.

The second-year guard averages 17.8 points per game and ranks eighth in the NBA in steals.

Raptors did good jobs limiting Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday in their last two games, hitting a trifecta would be a good thing.

-

 

 

 

Mental toughness, movie time and me and Method Man

So, how big a trap game is this for the locals?

Charlotte, owners of an underwhelming 9-25 record, arrives tonight smack dab in the middle of two other key Eastern Conference games for the Raptors and if there’s one that they could possibly spit up, this is it in spades.

I imagine they know that, you can be assured that Dwane has hammered that point home a zillion times this week but, again, we’ll get a look into the psyche of this team by how it plays tonight.

Do they have that sense of urgency so necessary against any opponent?

Or do they bring the laissez-faire attitude they had against Sacramento, in another trap game following a big win over Portland and before a key game with Philly?

Who knows, and that’s why this team is so interesting to cover.

As the great Rick Bonnell down in Charlotte points out, the Bobcats have won two straight on the road and are feeling not so bad about themselves and since one of their wins this season came at the expense of Toronto, you can be sure their confidence will be high as well.

That loss, of course, should also rankle the Raptors and, while I don’t think any athlete should need it, it should also serve as some kind of motivation, shouldn’t it?

If you remember, that was the game the league admitted that the referees blew on the non-call against Andrea at the buzzer and if there’s such a thing as payback, this would be a night to show it.

So far since the middle of December, the Raptors have pretty much taken care of business as they should have. They’ve won games they “should” win, played hard most of the time and when challenged, they’ve responded.

Tonight is more of a mental challenge than a physical one; getting up for a so-so team is sometimes hard, the tendency is to look at record and recent history and coast just a tiny bit, hoping that turning it on at some key point in a game will suffice.

It won’t. They better hope they know that.

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Well, that was a delightful evening.

Thanks to the good folks of the local Lithuanian community and the Raptors, got invited to a screening of The Other Dream Team and, as I mentioned before after I saw it on a computer thanks to a friend, it’s an amazing story about the role basketball played in the emergence of a nation.

The director, Marius Markevicius, has done a masterful job weaving the story of the 1992 Olympic bronze medallists into a historical piece.

I’ll have a lot more on Markevicius and the movie sometime later today (there’s some tape transcribing to do and we didn’t get to chat with Jonas after the film so that needs to be done) but suffice it to say that it was a great, great night and now I have to pay a bit of attention to the various awards shows coming up because it’s going to win.

And, before you ask, I don’t think there will be a general release in Canada for some odd reason but the flick is going to be available on iTunes shortly. Trust me, I’ll tell you when that is because I think fans should see it.

Oh yeah.

Lithuania. Basketball. Tie-dye. Grateful Dead.

Naturally …

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Pardon the digression.

I work with words. I write. I consider myself at some level an educator. I provide readers with information and hope it allows them to broaden the depth of their knowledge.

I am not a teacher but aspects of my job include that.

That the man ostensibly in charge of the education of a city’s youth would find it in any way possible to blatantly steal the work of others and pass it off as his own is shameful and, frankly, a disgrace.

I didn’t follow this Spence fellow when he was whatever he was with the Toronto school board because it’s not the board that’s in charge of my son’s education.

But I have followed it the last few days because blatant plagiarism is a blackmark on writing and education; it cannot in any way be condoned.

That he resigned is the only just conclusion to this matter; and I’m glad he resigned because if he’d been fired he would have been paid more money and that’s wrong.

It’s not often I think someone should lose his or her job, I tend to forgiving like that; this was such egregious fault, a dismissal or a firing had to happen.

End of rant.

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We all know TV runs the sports world, right?

It has a hand in who play whom and when the games start. It is involved in all manner of scheduling, from the full season to in the game.

It is all powerful because it pays big bucks and leagues and teams are forced to kowtow to far too often.

So should this – brought to my attention by the good folks at The Basketball Jones during my daily foray to their sight – should not in any way surprise anyone, right?

And doesn’t the simple fact that the camera and microphone are so intrusive speak to TV’s power?

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Got mail?

Want to chat?

Say hello?

Find out stuff?

Click. Write. Send.

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Yes, folks, I run in some pretty cool circles.

Method Man and I sitting around chatting yesterday – or Meph as we know him – and Sam’s over there talking to Raghav and it’s a pretty good day.

Thanks to the good folks at Off The Record – and Sam, who brought my name up – got to do the show yesterday.

And that opened a can of information I didn’t know, although I did know Method Man and was basically familiar with the Wu-Tang Clan from the olden days.

But thanks to The Mighty Q I know about Cheese and his unseemly demise on The Wire and, again thanks to The Mighty Q, to some I will henceforth be known solely as Crazy Beggar.

Got a nice ring to it, no?

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Pretty doesn't count, winning does

Well, that certainly wasn’t pretty (the urge to stick a pin in the eyes was omnipresent as the game unfolded, actually) but I don’t imagine anyone connected with the team really cares.

It was a game they pretty much had to have and they got it by hook or by crook.

And since you’ve all already read the game story here (right?) here’s the usual fare, a tad late but still here.

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THREE POINTERS

Minute management

Worried about throwing a rookie out there in what was a pretty important game and knowing there was no matchup that would have even given Aaron Gray half a chance at making a contribution, Dwane had to roll the dice with his only two healthy big men.

And he did a masterful job, I think, especially in the third quarter when the Raptors actually took control of the game.

In that quarter, he used both Ed Davis and Amir Johnson for the full 12 minutes, the only quarter he did that in, and they avoided foul trouble, anchored a defence that held the Sixers to 44 per cent shooting and helped an offence that shot 63 per cent from the floor.

Most importantly, Davis didn’t pick up a foul in those 12 minutes and Johnson only had one, assuring they’d be able to go in the fourth as well.

It’s not something they can plan on getting away with too often – nor should they try – but Casey managed it well for one night when it really mattered.

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Those little moments

You know how Dwane – and every NBA coach – seems to harp on those little moments when clarity is needed on the court?

Teaching moments.

Smart basketball plays.

Well, at the end of the first quarter, the Raptors had one, blew it and, yes, the coach was ticked.

Sixers got the ball with about 12 seconds left down five; Toronto had committed only two team fouls to that point. Everyone in gym should have known they’d take a foul to disrupt the Philadelphia possession, probably with about four or five seconds left in the quarter.

Dwane’s screaming “zebra, zebra, zebra” (that’s the code word for “take a foul you ninnies” and I’m not sure why so don’t ask) and what do the Raptors do?

Watch Evan Turner dribble the length of the floor, get into the paint and make about a 10-footer the buzzer.

Didn’t mean much in the long run but it was a bit of a brain fart good teams don’t usually have.

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The shot

No, it’s not all that big a deal and please don’t make too much out of it but, yes, Jose tossing a lob to Fields with 15 seconds to go in a game that was over was not the right thing to do.

Like I said, it’s no big deal but getting the ball back with about 27 seconds left they should have dribbled just over halfcourt, pounded the ball while the fans left and tossed up a 40-footer with three or four seconds left.

I imagine next time, they will.

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And, in other news …

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I never had to deal with Brian Burke on a daily basis, in fact I don’t think I ever interviewed him, but I did know him a little bit through introductions and conversations with Bryan and I recall one day having a rather lengthy chat about NBA reporters’ travel while standing on Bay Street outside the arena with Burke and Maurizio.

To me, he was bombastic, a bit loud, opinionated, friendly, a bit brash and I’m sure a huge pain in the ass to deal with if you covered his team.

Big whoop.

He was not at all corporate, it seems he held grudges and, no, he didn’t seem to fit the MLSE “brand.”

Did he deserve to get fired on the eve of a bastardized season? Probably not. But one of the best reads about the whole thing comes my friend Rosie and it hits the nail pretty much on the head, as far as I can gather from being around that building an awful lot.

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Oh yeah, the headline.

The Philadelphia Daily News can be a bit cheeky when it comes to the city’s sports teams – it works for the fans and we know how they can be.

Might have told this one before but for some reason I cannot remember, I ended up in Philly on an early basketball off-day and was somehow assigned to cover an Ottawa Senators-Flyers playoff pucks tilt.

Senators win, take the series, the Philly goalie plays like me and we awake May 5 to see this headline:

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Speaking of Philly, and I can’t believe I remembered again, here’s how that game played down there in the papers this morning, courtesy of my man Bob Cooney.

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So I wander into the press room at the arena about 3:30 yesterday afternoon B. Arthur (not to be confused with Bea Arthur) is doing a live standup TV hit, there are camera people everywhere and the place is thick with stressed puck scribblers. And I get to thinking: Man, it’s fun to cover the most stable of the three main franchises the MLSE collection.

Think about it. How classic is that.

But since Bryan Colangelo go here, the HOTH have been in the playoffs twice and the pucks zero time and the TFCs? Well, they should be buried again this season by the time the guy they hired to maybe coach the team sometime in May if he can get out of his professional contract and doesn’t have to fly monthly to New Zealand to play national team games.

Since Bryan Colangelo got here, the Raptors have had, um, one general manager; the pucks have gone through John Ferguson Jr., Cliff Fletcher, Brian Burke and now Dave Nonis. The TFCs? I have no clue but the number of men in charge is large.

Since Bryan Colangelo got here, the Raptors have had three coaches – Sam, Jay and now Dwane – and the Leaves have gone through Pat Quinn, Paul Maurice, Ron Wilson and now Not Rick Carlisle. The TFCs? Don’t get me started.

So the next time someone holds up the Leaves as the model of the organization, pardon me if I do a spit take and laugh uproariously.

The pucks can only wish they had the recent history and stability that the basketball does.

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It's not in the paper but here's a game story

Okay, not sure how this will work but here’s a game story off last night’s action. Will have the usual fare maybe a bit later than normal on Thursday morning.

Oh and I don’t know how to do photo credits so it was the multi-talented Rene Johnston who shot these.

 

It ended in victory.

And a bit of a controversy.

And an apology.

The Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, 90-72 before a sparse crowd announced at 15,629 at the Air Canada Centre – a significant in their hoped-for ascension through the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings.

Jose Calderon was sublime, 14 points and 11 assists in 31 minutes, pressed into extra service because he was playing so well; and the first thing he said after the game was that he was sorry.

Calderon had thrown an ill-advised lob pass to Landry Fields for the last basket of game – with just 15 seconds left and the game nowhere near in doubt – angering Sixer coach Doug Collins, who had a verbal set-to with Raptors coach Dwane Casey in the hallway leading off the court.

“That wasn’t me,” said Calderon. “I want to say I’m sorry for the last play. I didn’t realize the time and I feel bad about it.

I know coach Doug Collins was mad about that so I’m going to use you guys to apologize for that.

“That’s not Jose Calderon, I didn’t realize the exact timing. I threw that without realizing what I was doing.”

The play really wasn’t that big a deal, the Raptors would have to take a shot at sometime before the buzzer began but it broke some unspoken code and even Casey made mention of it.

“I didn’t want them to shoot that last basket but, again, you can’t control guys,” said Casey.

“Things happen, we’re big boys and that happens. Believe me, we’ve had it happen to us 15, 20 times this year, we’re down getting our butts kicked … and they’re trying to put their foot on our throat.

“We never want to embarrass anybody. It goes back to coach (Adolph) Rupp at Kentucky. He always wanted to hold the ball and I believe in that. But, again, Jose must not have heard me, he saw Landry going for a lob and thought there was more time on the clock.”

But the incident couldn’t take away from the way the Raptors registered their 13th victory of the season to inch closer to Philadelphia in the conference standings.

The Raptors were certainly not sharp but there more than good enough at key junctures of the game to win going away.

Using basically a seven-man rotation – Terrence Ross missed the game with a bum ankle, Aaron Gray didn’t off the bench and Mickael Pietrus lost his starting job to Fields and played just eight minutes – they held Sixer guard Jrue Holiday in check and were better whenever the game got close.

It may have been exhausting for the players, but it was necessary.

“It was tough but I kept checking with them, kept checking with them,” said Casey. “I just felt like the rhythm certain groups had, had it going; Jose did a helluva job executing and running the show.

“It kind of short-changed Kyle (Lowry) a little bit but I just felt comfortable and Jose had us going. He was making shots and I wanted to keep him in.”