A SOLID VICTORY

The Raptors went into tonight’s game versus the Atlanta Hawks at the ACC with a better defensive game in mind, than the one they produced when beat by the Hawks earlier this November.

That’s exactly how the Raptors played, except for a moment or two in the second quarter, but won the game 93-88. This was the second straight game in which the Raptors have held their opponents to less than 90 points.

Before the game even began, the Raptors were given a scare, as Chris Bosh got stuck in the elevator shaft on his way to the game. He made it to the ACC at around an hour before the seven o’clock tip off.

He wasn’t able to participate in the warm up drills or shoot around, and it showed. Bosh was taking a lot of jumpers that looked awful, and was hardly driving the ball to the basket.

The Raptors did receive scoring help, early in the game too, from Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono and Joey Graham. Since Bosh wasn’t scoring, he turned into a playmaker and had five assists in the first quarter to makeup for his shaky start.

That lifted the Raptors to a 24-21 lead after the first quarter.

They continued to play strong basketball with limited turnovers and excellent defence. During the second quarter the Raptors held a 12 point lead, which vanished, but regained it for a 10 point lead. That too, was erased and for the rest of the half. The Hawks rolled to a 50-46 lead at the break.

The play of Mike Bibby and his perimeter shooting was killing the Raptors as he had 15 points in the first half. The defence did contain Joe Johnson to just five points, and thanks in large part to Anthony Parker who was active defensively.

Chris Bosh had ten points at the half and was working on a triple-double with seven assists and five rebounds.

Like the game versus the Bobcats, the Raptors bench gave the team a huge boost to start the second half. Joey Graham was big again with his performance, and so was Jason Kapono.

Andrea Bargnani had a slow night and finished with just 7 points and 4 rebounds due to foul trouble, and had 4 fouls to start the third quarter.

The Raptors kept pushing for the tie and the lead, but the Hawks always seemed to answer. Toronto did get the lead back, and for good, on a Chris Bosh jumper to make the score 67-65 with two minutes to go in the third quarter.

CB4 once again carried the team, with a 15 point third quarter and ended the game with 30 points, 10 rebounds and finished just three assists shy for his first career triple-double. With his 15 points, Chris Bosh matched the total output by the Hawks and their 15 points in the third quarter. The Raptors won the quarter 23-15.

To start the fourth quarter, the Raptors went on an 8-0 run, and within the first 4 minutes, Joey Graham electrified the crowd with two dunks, and the Raptors defence did the rest.

Joey Graham finished the night with 11 points and 5 rebounds. It is good to see Graham put up back to back solid games, and hopefully this will continue.

Jason Kapono finally hit a three pointer, was 2/4, and finished the night with 16 points, including a sweet no look pass to Bosh for an easy lay-up. That was part of the strong fourth quarter run by the Raptors.

After some weak games, Anthony Parker stepped up on defence and held Joe Johnson to 18 points. Mike Bibby was put on lock with just 9 second half points.

Jose Calderon just wasn’t himself in this game and had just 6 points, and missed some good looks he usually makes. He went 0/4 from three point range, including two wide open looks. His passing game wasn’t affected and dished out 11 assists. During play, he picked up a rebound, but while landing he rolled his left ankle, and his stomach fell onto the ball.

The Hawks did have balanced scoring throughout their lineup, as 4 of 5 starters were in double figures and had five for the game. The Raptors had 4 of their own in double figures. Zaza Pachulia had a monster night on the boards, collecting 17.

The Raptors defence was too much for Atlanta though, and held them to 42% shooting. After allowing the Hawks to hit 6 three pointers in the first half, the Raptors only allowed two in the second half.

For the game, the Raptors protected the ball and committed just nine turnovers, while Atlanta had 15. The Raptors outscored the Hawks 34-24 in the paint. The rebounding edge barely went to Atlanta 44-41, but the Raptors dominated in the second half.

Jermaine O’Neal missed his third straight game with knee and ankle injuries, and is listed as day-to-day. Josh Smith was probable for the game, took part in the warm-up but didn’t dress due to a high ankle sprain.

The Raptors are an even 4-4 at home, and up their overall record to 8-7.

Up next for the Raptors is a three game Western road trip beginning on Sunday November 30th, where they will make stops in Los Angeles to visit the Lakers. Then will head to Denver and face Utah on a national televised game in America (ESPN) and this trip will last six days. The Raptors this season are 4-3 on the road.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

CAN BRIAN BURKE DO THE JOB?

Well then, it’s pretty much official now. Brian burke will be the next President and General Manager of our Toronto Maple Leafs. All that is left is Burke’s signature on the contract.

Is this signing of Burke going to lead the Maple Leafs out of their current failures within his six years, or will things continue to be the same going forward?

Burke has been around in the NHL at various levels of employment and has done a decent job and at the same time left a few negatives.

With the state the Leafs are currently in, they were desperate for a GM and only wanted one man. Before it got to Burke, others topped the list, such as Ken Holland, Lou Lamoriello, Jim Rutherford and Scotty Bowman.

All four gentlemen declined, didn’t want to leave their current jobs, or they didn’t want to get involved in the mess that MLSE has created. It would’ve taken a lot for Ken Holland to leave his post as President and GM of the Detroit Red Wings. The team he has built took a while, but has paid off with four Cups, and probably more to come.

Why would Lou Lamoriello want to leave his job with the New Jersey Devils? It’s in a low key hockey market, he is one of the highest paid hockey executives, and is just coasting along fine. A lot of that coasting should be credited to Martin Brodeur though, because without him there would be no Stanley Cup banners hanging in New Jersey. Once he leaves, Lou will have some work to do, but again, in a low key hockey market where he’ll be getting PAID.

Then there was the possibility of Jim Rutherford coming to Toronto, who was born and raised in Southern Ontario. That would’ve been some kind of match up. He too, is in a low key hockey market and has a good job.

Scotty Bowman was down for the job, but wasn’t promised to be ‘the guy’ because he still had to answer to the idiot Richard Peddie and his bonehead board of executives.

That reason right there, is basically why and probably the reason, why Holland, Lamoriello and Rutherford didn’t want to come to Toronto.

Now, why was Burke so eager to get the hell out of Anaheim, where he was offered a nice contract, which he could’ve lived off of and retired. The Ducks also have two young superstars in Cory Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.

We all know family was one of his main reasons why he left the Ducks. But again, why Toronto, there were other teams interested in him and in the region Burke wanted a job in.

Chicago, Boston and Ottawa were all said to be interested in Burke. I doubt he would’ve gone to Ottawa, because well, who would go to Ottawa?

Chicago or Boston would’ve been great fits for Burke. Both teams have good young teams on the rise, and both teams have a young nucleus in place. The Bruins have Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel, and Milan Lucic and have Zdeno Chara locked up. The Blackhawks have Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane, Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook and Cristobel Huet. Both cities are desirable and good places to live.

There were rumblings that Chicago owner Rocky Wirtz was going to go after Burke aggressively.

Still, Burke wanted Toronto, and the Leafs wanted Burke.

There are so many things wrong with the Leafs right now. MLSE is just stupid, bad ownership right there. There really is only one true building block in Luke Schenn. There are trade possibilities to bring in some youth. But no trade clauses stand in the way of that. The Leafs only have five draft picks each, upcoming in this seasons draft and the next.

With all this and more, why did Burke still want Toronto?

Here are a few reason why: 1) to get a rich contract, which he did at six years worth three million dollars (US) a year. 2) family reasons. 3) to have the most high profile job in the NHL. 4) to add to his already large ego.

Excluding his family reasons, Burke coming to Toronto was for himself to add to his career resume and make his name bigger.

The only reason the Leafs wanted him, was this year was the final year in his contract with the Ducks. Burke was the only one who responded well at the prospect of being the GM of the Leafs. And other high profile executives turned them down.

It looks like these two sides hooked up for all the wrong reasons.

There is some upside to this deal as well. Burke’s interest in coming to Toronto could also mean he wants to win and change the direction of the Leafs. It also has been reported that Burke will have autonomy, and whatever he says goes. Finally, no more answering to the monkey’s upstairs.

Here is Burke’s history with his past teams, what he did, what the team did, and in what state he left the team.

He began his career with the Hartford Whalers, and was the GM who drafted Chris Pronger second overall, after some trading was done. He was fired one year later.

Burke really made a name for himself when he was hired as the Vancouver Canucks’ Gm back in 1998, and turned the franchise around. First he brought in Marc Crawford, and made a smart trade by dealing away Paval Bure to the New York Islanders for Ed Jovanoski. In his first draft with the Canucks, he drafted the Sedin twins second and third overall. He also gave up a lot of draft picks to draft back-to-back. He traded away Alex Mogilny to the Devils for Brendan Morrison, which made up one of the most dominant lines in hockey with Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi.

In those 7 years as GM, Burke’s Canucks finished above .500 five out of the seven seasons. Won one division title, made four straight playoff appearances (2001-2004), but only won one playoff round out of five.

Before he left, he wasn’t able to re-sign Ed Jovanoski or trade, and Jovanoski signed on with Phoenix. Burke in his 7 years was never able to find a good goaltender and never saw the Sedin’s fully develop which they have done now.

The Canucks really don’t have a solid foundation, and expected a lot out of the Sedin’s, something that never happened.

Overall, Burke had an opportunity to make some real noise with Vancouver, but when it counted most his teams were never built to do any damage.

This brings us to his stay in Anaheim, as the Vice-President and GM, for whom he took over from Brian Murray. His reign as GM lasted from 2005-2008. In those four years Burke won a Stanley Cup in 2007, but he had inherited a team that Brian Murray had built. Burke did improve the roster by adding head coach Randy Carlyle. He dumped aging veterans Sergei Fedorov and Petr Sykora. He took a gamble with Teemu Selanne which paid off big time, and signed marquee free agent Scott Niedermayer. Brought in Chris Pronger through a trade, where he paid a hefty price giving up Ladislav Smid, Joffrey Lupul, and a first and second round draft pick in 2008.

In three season with the Ducks, Burke won a Stanley Cup, a division title, won 6 of 8 playoff rounds and the team finished above .500 three times.

After winning the Cup, Niedermayer and Selanne sat out half of next season and Burke signed Mathieu Schneider, and took a chance on Todd Bertuzzi by giving him a two year contract worth 8 million dollars (US). Bertuzzi failed miserably, and was bought out. When Burke left, he left the team with salary cap issues, and has five players signed to five lengthy deals, worth an excess of over 5 million dollars (US). The Ducks now are hardly competitive due to cap issues and level of talent.

Overall, Burke has seen the highs and lows. Has put franchises in good fortunes, but only to see them vanish, and leave the team in trouble.

Another problem that has risen with the signing of Burke is the organization has two people with big egos. One is Burke, and the other is head coach Ron Wilson. These two really have to check themselves and put the team first.

It will be interesting to see how Dave Nonis will do his job, because he did a fair job in Vancouver. He has one real accomplishment to his name, when he traded for Roberto Luongo, and gave up next to nothing.

Burke will have a huge job in front of him now and better make some smart moves because he is in one of the most demanding sports markets in North America and that’s what he wanted. His only option is to tear this team apart and start fresh. I just hope he doesn’t take any short cuts and plan on making the playoffs within a year or two. Looking back at his days with the Canucks, he turned that franchise around in three years and had them competing. Over the years Burke has shown he is aggressive and is willing to take risks.

For sure things will get shaken up and the culture will change, which is needed. We’ll just see if Burke came to help the Leafs or came for himself, only time will tell. And within that time something major will be done or close to it. And that ‘something major’ could either be bad or good.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

TOO CLOSE FOR THE RAPTORS

This wasn’t the most thrilling game, or Raptors style of basketball that was played. In the end, the Raptors did win 93-86 over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Lately, the way the Raptors have been playing, they shouldn’t take any opponent lightly, and it looked as if the Raptors were about to.

Coming into the game, the Bobcats were ranked dead last in league scoring, averaging just about 90 points a game. In the game, the Raptors offense was there, but the defence wasn’t. The Raptors got caught playing into the Bobcats’ style of play, and in their pace.

Even though the Raptors won by seven points, they just edged out this victory.

Up eight points early in the first quarter, the Raptors gave up the lead and lost the first quarter 25-24.

There were some bright spots, as Andrea Bargnani had six points and five rebounds. Chris Bosh had eleven points and was perfect from the field.

The Raptors did show some bite in the second d quarter, as Roko Ukic provide a spark off the bench, as well as the invisible Joey Graham. Toronto headed into the break up 51-46.

There were plenty of problems with that score.

Charlotte scored 46 points, which put them on pace for a 92 point night, which wasn’t what the Raptors needed.

Chris Bosh was the only one scoring for the Raptors, as he had 24 points at the break.

The interior defence shown by the Raptors was very slow on rotations and was just bad. Gerald Wallace led the Bobcats in driving to the bucket, and also made smart passes when double teamed, and was just a huge problem all night for the Raptors.

And he himself showed he couldn’t shoot from the field, but the Raptors couldn’t handle him and keep him on the outside. Wallace ended the night with a team high 23 points.

The second half was focused mainly on defence, and both teams showed that, and the Raptors won the battle holding Charlotte to only 40 second half points.

The Raptors offence picked up to, and instead of Bosh doing all the scoring, he got some help, but still carried the team on his back, with his 39 point, 11 rebound performance.

Andrea Bargnani didn’t have the most explosive night offensively, but still managed 11 points. Defensively, that was his story and played big with his 9 rebounds and three blocked shots. Now only if he could do this on a consistent level.

Bargnani has taken major strides, and has shown he is a different player and didn’t sulk if he wasn’t scoring, something he did plenty of last year.

After a good first half, Joey Graham ended the game strongly with a season high 17 points, and at times was a tad to aggressive, and his five fouls were evidence of that. Those 17 points were huge and went a long way, because of the knee and ankle injury to Jermaine O’Neal, which forced him to miss his second straight game.

The play of Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon over the last six to seven games has been sub par, and I’m being generous there.

Kapono hasn’t scored a three pointer in his last three games, and scored just four points tonight.

Parker scored just five points, and Moon had three, which came in the first half on a three pointer. Their defensive game has slowed down as well, and they both did a bad job trying to guard Gerald Wallace, and he was able to blow by them at any time.

The guard play from both of these teams was won by the Raptors’ Jose Calderon, even though he hasn’t been playing like his usual self since pulling his hamstring. Once again, he quietly scored 10 points and added 9 assists.

While the two starting point guards of DJ Agustin and Raymond Felton combined to score just 17 points and 11 assists. But, DJ Agustin did give the Raptors trouble as well; he put his quickness to work and had 13 points.

Overall, this game was to close for the Raptors liking, and should look at their defence first. Especially their interior defence, as they allowed Charlotte to score 42 points in the paint, and the Raptors only scored 22. The Bobcats also pulled down 15 offensive rebounds, compared to the Raptors’ 7. Those two stats played a huge factor for the Bobcats to stay alive, because even they proved why the are the league’s lowest scoring team.

This game was the first win in three games for Toronto, and only their third home win in seven games at the ACC. Toronto is now 7-7 on the season, and faces the Atlanta Hawks this November Friday 28th, and the last time these two teams played, the Raptors were blown out 110-92.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

WHAT A SAD GAME

Put another one in the loss column.

The Leafs came out flat and played that way throughout. The Leafs pretty much lost to a team worse than them, the Atlanta Thrashers to a final score of 6-3. Both of these teams came into the game on three game losing streaks.

Bad goaltending, mixed in with bad team play spelt disaster for Toronto. They were outplayed in the first period and the game, and had way too many turnovers. Atlanta cashed in on one of those turnovers.

Tomas Kaberle was the one who got caught at Atlanta’s blue line as he missed the puck trying to dump it in.

Colby Armstrong took it the other way on a 1 on 1 rush, got Curtis Joseph to bite on a fake and froze him for a second, before beating him high over the shoulder.

On that goal Joseph’s rust showed, as this was his first start since November 2nd. The play of Jeff Finger on that play was week, and he had similar plays like that one on Saturday versus Chicago where he got burned twice.

The difference in the first period was the play of the two goaltenders. Joseph had his moments making some strong saves to keep the Leafs in it, but didn’t keep it up. Whereas his counterpart Johan Hedberg was the reason his team won.

Hedberg had a great save that should be the save of the year so far on a Leafs 2-on-1 rush. Toronto had some good crisp passes going before Grabovski hesitated slightly and was robbed, on what should have been an easy empty net goal.

The second period was where Atlanta won the game, outscoring the Leafs 3-1.

The rookie Luke Schenn got confused by the Thrashers’ good down low play, and left his man open in front of the net. Todd White had an easy tap in goal right on the doorstep.

About three minutes later, Atlanta score again to make it 3-0. That goal came after the Thrashers’ hard work along the boards and crashed the net. What looked like a goalie interference call, but wasn’t. Atlanta had Joseph down and out of position, and Chris Thoburn had an empty netter. And he was the player that knocked down CuJo.

The Leafs did show some life after Nik Antropov skated down the wing and had his pass deflect off an Atlanta player to go in the net. The goal came 27 seconds after Atlanta had scored, and the momentum seemed to shift in the Leafs’ favor.

After a penalty to Antropov, Atlanta scored a second after the penalty expired. It was Ilya Kovalchuk who controlled the puck on the power play.

His first shot attempt went wide of the net, but after another shot from the point, the puck bounced right to Kovalchuk. He then chipped the puck by John Mitchell to himself, and snapped one over Joseph. That goal was very well orchestrated and the finish was just as good.

Kovalchuk just wasn’t scoring as he and Ian White got into it during the period. The two starting talking after White had hit him into the boards. First Kovalchuk charged White and then sucker punched him. Kovalchuk got a double minor penalty, and as soon as he left the box, he spotted White and the two fought.

All in all, there was some good hitting in the game, and the intensity level was up there.

With the score 4-1, Kovalchuk’s goal did it for Toronto.

Toronto did have chances to score, most notably on the power play late in the second. Antropov had the puck in the slot and shot wide of the net.

Six minutes into the third, Jeff Finger scored his first goal as a Leaf, but Atlanta was quick to answer and Mathieu Schneider scored a soft one that went through the five hole of Joseph. That shot was on a 2-on-1 basically from the point with no obstructed view.

To top off the night, Atlanta scored their sixth goal of the game, and Todd White got his second. It was a pass from behind the net that went off of Luke Schenn, then off of Joseph’s pad.

Niklas Hagman added a late power play goal, but that really didn’t matter.

Both Jason Blake and Mikhail Grabovski got hammered with some big hits. Blake got nailed for admiring his drop pass. Grabovski with all the stick handling he has done with his head down this season got clocked. It was only a matter of time before that was going to happen.

Toronto’s home ice woe’s continue, and they have only won three out of eleven games this season at the ACC. This game was the eighth time the Leafs have given up five or more goals in a game. And newcomer Lee Stempniak recorded a point in his Leafs debut with an assist on the first Toronto goal. Overall, he had a good first showing, as he showed off his speed. Both teams went 1/5 on the power play, and Toronto was out-shot 35-30.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

A SPECIAL NIGHT RUINED

On back to back evenings the two Air Canada Centre tenants played excellent matches, but the results favored the guests.

First it was the Raptors who lost to the Nets after an 18 point lead.

Now, it was the Maple Leafs who lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4, squandering 3-0 and 4-2 leads.

The Leafs played a good solid game and beat the Hawks for two periods. In so many games this season, the Leafs have rarely played a full 60 minute game.

The first and second periods were all Leafs, and the Hawks showed some life late in the second period.

Toronto out shot (11-6) and out hustled Chicago in the first period to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Pavel Kubina. And a failed penalty shot attempt by Matt Stajan was a missed opportunity to up the lead.

The second period was action packed as both teams traded shots and goals.

Toronto continued their strong play into the second and scored on a power play. Matt Stajan made up for his penalty shot, and the Leafs really worked the puck around and had men in motion. That is something they have lacked on most power plays this season.

Before that goal was scored, Toronto had a five on three advantage and didn’t score, and continue to struggle on five on three’s.

With a strong rush, Toronto managed to put another one behind Nik Khabibulin. Dominic Moore scored that goal to make it 3-0 on a backhand shot just a few feet off the goal line at the side of the net.

Chicago did edge closer on two straight Patrick Sharp goals. One was off a deflection on a power play and the other was off a sick deque, which left Jeff Finger hanging at the blue line. Sharp was in on a two on one, decided to keep the puck, and made a perfect shot that beat Vesa Toskala high blocker side.

Toskala was noticeably better in this game than his previous four or five, where he was letting in soft goals and didn’t look ready to play. The four day layoff helped him and the Leafs team to play a better game.

With the Leafs up 3-2, the Hawks looked determined to tie the game, but 67 seconds after Chicago had scored, Alex Ponikarovsky scored on a soft shot that fooled Khabibulin.

That goal looked to be the final blow, but the Leafs probably forgot that there was still another period to play.

The Blackhawks took full advantage of the lazy play by Toronto, and out shot the Leafs 15-9, and scored two goals to tie the game.

For the most part, the Leafs defence did a good job of shutting down Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews, but they struck in the third.

Early in the period, Patrick Kane scored on a quick snapshot from a pass behind the net only 55 seconds in, and made the score 4-3 Toronto.

Off of strong fore checking and complete control of the puck, the Hawks tied the game on another play from behind the net. Ben Eager was the goal scorer, whom should’ve been tossed from the game due to his actions in the first period.

It was another hit from behind, this time on Mikhail Grabovski, and Alex Ponikarovsky came into help his teammate and tackled Eager to the ice. Finally, someone other than Luke Schenn stuck up for his teammate.

On the play, and for some strange reason, Eager wasn’t given any discipline at all, while Ponikarovsky was given a two minute roughing penalty.

With the game tied at four, the game headed into overtime, and the Hawks won quickly, scoring only 49 seconds into the extra frame. The goal came off another slick pass, which was a slap pass from the point that confused the Leafs. David Bolland with some soft hands stopped the puck; stick handled around one defencemen and easily beat Toskala.

Once again the Leafs out shot their opponent, this time 38-36 and both teams went 1/3 on the power play.

Jonas Frogren got to play, due to a foot/leg injury to Carlo Colaiacovo, which was sustained during practice.

Rookie John Mitchell was back in the lineup after missing five games with a shoulder injury and recorded an assist on the fourth Toronto goal.


Of course before the game was played, former captain Wendel Clark was honored as his number 17 was raised to the rafters of the ACC. For some reason, MLSE can’t get a ceremony done right. If you timed this ceremony to the one Tie Domi got for his thousandth game, Domi’s was longer.

First of all, Domi shouldn’t have been given such a ceremony. He really hadn’t done anything great in his career. And so what if he was a fan favourite, and if that’s the case, every Leaf player that was favored by the fans should be given a ceremony. How about giving one to Wade Belak, and he was just placed on waivers, so lets bring him back.

Anyways, back to the Clark ceremony. It was too short, and nobody was brought in to make a speech about him or anything like that. Compare that to Patrick Roy’s ceremony, where three former coaches were brought in.

When Clark finished his speech, they immediately raised his banner, they didn’t even let him get a few pictures in or even touch it.

What happened to the passion that we Leafs have? Barely anyone was wearing the moustache.

Lastly, this ‘honoring’ bullshit has got to stop. It is time to retire numbers. Here is some cold hard evidence of this. Shayne Corson was allowed to wear number 27, and know way was he able to match the legacy of Frank Mahovlich or Darryl Sittler. Currently, Matt Stajan, who wears number 14, which was once worn by Dave Keon, will, and I doubt it, ever match Keon’s legacy.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

VINCE STEALS THE SHOW

What a game it was on a Friday night in Toronto. The hometown Raptors were up against cry baby Vince Carter and the New Jersey Nets. Whoever says the hate towards Vince Carter has died should think again, and should look at the solid evidence that was presented by the 19 800 Raptor fans at the Air Canada Centre.

The crowd was hyped up and ready to go, and so were the Raptors. And they got off to a blistering start outscoring the Nets 32-22, which was highlighted by Chris Bosh taking all of his defenders to school. With that, Yi Jianlian and Sean Williams both got two quick fouls and quick hooks.

Things continued to look good for the Raptors, especially when they only committed 6 first half turnovers. One player that was thought to give the Raptors fits was Devin Harris. That never developed in the first half. It was Jose Calderon exposing Harris with his passing and scoring touch.

The Raptors dominated the game with ease, and went into the second half with a strong 14 point, 61-47 lead.

The game at the start of the third quarter looked to be all locked all up and sealed with an 18 point lead with 8 minutes to play in the quarter. That didn’t materialize, and the Nets showed signs of life led by Vince Carter and his crowd quieting 39 points.

Just like the many Raptor losses this young season, they laid back with a double digit lead, their bench failed once again and quite miserably, and the turnovers piled up. In the end, 14 were given up, and at extremely crucial moments of the game.

The fourth was huge as the Nets trounced the Raps 35-26, and tied the game up to send it to overtime tied at 111. The two teams traded 14 point advantaged halves.

How the game got to that point was just a devastating blow.

First Jose Calderon hit a clutch three that put the Raps up by five. That looked to be the exclamation point, because Jose said so.

The Nets came right back, giving everything and more, and pulled to within two points with just seconds left to play. Vince Carter and Devin Harris (30 points) were providing all the huge shots.

With the Nets fouling, and what appeared to be an advantage for the Raptors, failed on them. Give the goat horns to Anthony Parker and his ever dwindling play, as he was sent to the line, with the Raps up by two. Parker split the shots, and the Raps lead was down to one possession with four seconds left to play at 111-108.

On the Nets possession, everyone knew Vince Carter was going to get the ball. Well he did, made some room for himself, and knocked down a huge three from way downtown. Just like he did when he first appeared in Toronto after the trade, and hit a buzzer beating three in regulation. The Raptors only 0.5 seconds to do something, but didn’t get anything out of it.

The shot Vince knocked down took the wind right out of the Raptors. Oh yeah, the guy that was covering Vince on that shot was Anthony Parker. His futile defense stunk, and why the Raptors didn’t foul on that possession is beyond me.

Overtime was an eventful five minutes, where the two teams were like boxers that traded huge knocks. When one team had the opportunity to deliver the knockout punch, they just couldn’t get it.

The Raptors ended up being down by five with seconds to go, and a desperation three from Chris Bosh was good, that cut the lead to two points. On the other side the Raptors got the foul shot miss they were looking for, and were only down by three. This time, they answered with another three, and from, guess who, Anthony Parker, but he still remained the goat.

Why, you may ask. Well, with 2 seconds still left on the clock, he didn’t guard Vince Carter tightly, and Vince was able to retrieve an inbound alley-oop reverse dunk to essentially win the game with only 0.5 seconds left, again.

This loss by the Raptors is just a killer, and they’ll have to rebound quick and put it behind them, because they face the defending champion Celtics next.

To add insult to injury, Jermaine O’Neal went down with a knee injury in the fourth quarter, which happened when he went up for a rebound. And was fouled hard by Sean Williams, as he grabbed the back of his jersey and pulled O’Neal down by the shoulder. He was able to get up and walk around, and things looked good. But something just wasn’t right, as he missed two free throws, and was out from there.

Once again, Chris Bosh had a solid night scoring 42 points, and has now scored 40 or more points in two of the last three games. For some reason the Raptors are 0-2 when Bosh scores forty points in a game.

This time around, the Raptors did get scoring help, from Andrea Bargnani who had a career high 29 points and added ten rebounds. Jose Calderon quietly put up 26 points and had 15 assists. And still, the Raptors managed to lose this game, which is just sad.

In this game you could point to the third quarter where the bench for the Raptors was on the court and let the Nets back in the game with bad offense and defense.

The Raptors bench only scored 15 points from 4 players. You can exclude Kris Humphries because he was the only player that worked hard, driving the ball at every chance he got and was able to score 9 of the 15 in only 20 minutes of work. If you compare that to what Anthony Parker did in his 42 minutes, it is night and day. Only 8 point came from Parker.

The Nets bench was way better, as one player pretty much outscored the Raptor bench. Jarvis Hayes had 14 points, and in total the Nets’ bench scored 31 points over 6 players.

The play of rookie centre Brook Lopez was very impressive as he scored 14 points with six rebounds.

The Raptors at home this season are now 2-3, and 6-6 overall.

What looked to be a laugher for the Raptors, turned into insane hysterical laughter.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

SLOPPY BASKETBALL HURTS TORONTO

Exacting revenge wasn’t in the cards, as the Toronto Raptors were downed by the Orlando Magic 103-90, at Amway Arena.

After being ousted in five games last year in the first round of the playoffs, you’d think the Raptors would’ve wanted some sort of payback. And for a moment it looked it was going to happen.

The first quarter was played smartly by the Raptors, except for a few turnovers. The presence of Jermaine O’Neal really helped the Raptors on defence and he did a good job of containing the freak of nature Dwight Howard. Who on the season so far is averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds, and finished the night with only 18 points and 9 rebounds.

In return, both O’Neal and Chris Bosh were able to work down low and the Raptors came out of the first with the lead, 26-21.

So, at this point you may be thinking to yourself, how did the Raptors let this one get away?

Well then, it all started with not protecting the ball and turning the ball over, and that’s where things began to fall apart. All tolled, the Raptors had 24 turnovers on the night, and the bulk of those came from the point guard play of Will Solomon and Roko Ukic. Solomon had nine and Ukic had two.

That just shows you how important and how much the Raptors miss Jose Calderon, who is out with a hamstring injury. So far, the two point guards have done a horrible job in filling in for Calderon.

Overall, the two point guards put up horrible numbers, combining only to score 16 points and had just five measly assists. To put that in perspective, Chris Bosh had four assists.

The Raptors really caught a break on the final score, because they should have been blown out with the amount of turnovers they had. Luckily for them, Orlando did a bad job on converting those turnovers into points.

Defensively, O’Neal had Dwight Howard covered nicely, but foul trouble was O’Neal’s demise, and eventually was fouled out. The first quarter was played clean, but in the second he picked up two, and in the third he got an early foul. The fourth foul was the worst, as he fouled Rashard Lewis on a three point attempt that missed. Give some credit to Lewis for some excellent acting skills, because that was a soft call by the officials.

With O’Neal out, Dwight Howard was able to do what he wanted, because no else on the Raptors was able to match him physically.

The third reason why the Raptors lost was they got no scoring help from other players.

Chris Bosh was his usual self posting another double-double, with a monster night of 40 points and 18 rebounds. And J.O. chipped in with 16 points and 10 rebounds in limited minutes (26) because of foul trouble. Those two had 56 of the 90 Raptor points.

The other three starters, Andrea Bargnani (5 points), Will Solomon (10 points) and Anthony Parker (4 points) had 19 points and 9 rebounds combined. Defensively they were no better because the Orlando starting five all were in double figures.

The bench play from the Raptors was even worse, as they only got 15 points from 6 different players.

As for the Orlando starters, three out of the five had 22 points. Which were Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson, and they also had 7, 1 and 5 assists respectively. Their shooting numbers were outstanding, as those three shot 50% on 24/48 shooting.

Even with Dwight Howard having had a sub par night according to his standards, the Raptors still couldn’t gain an advantage. They were badly exposed on the dribble-drive penetration and kick-out by the Magic players. The Toronto defence was slow to switch and box out players. With that, the Raptors were scorched on three-point shooting, as Orlando shot 48% (11/23). While the Raptors only shot 14% (2/13) from three point range. Both those made three’s came in the fourth quarter.

Here are two stats that should get you thinking. Rebounding, the Raptors won there, 44-37, but still managed to lose. Here’s the killer, Dwight Howard went 8/11 on free throw shooting.

If Howard had shot according to his season’s free throw percentage (.521) and the Raptors had capitalized on the Magic’s 17 turnovers, the game could’ve had a different outcome.

Both teams played very sloppy basketball and the team that won, was the team that was able to hit the most three’s. The Magic had 9 more made three’s than the Raptors. They only made two more field goals than the Raptors, 37-35.

With the loss, the Raptors are in an ugly slide having lost 5 of their last seven games and are 5-5 on the season. Meanwhile, the Magic have won four straight and are 8-3 on the season.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

THE LEAFS PLAYED TEN GOOD MINUTES

After four years, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally played a game in Calgary versus the Flames. This was just the first leg of a three game Western Canada Odyssey.

The Leafs opened the scoring and ended it. Unfortunately, they didn’t ended for the good, but tried for another two goal deficit comeback that fell short. Ultimately, Toronto lost the game 4-3.

In the first period the Leafs had a great start, out hustling the Flames and breaking down their defence. For their efforts, Toronto was awarded with a power play, and made good use of it, after squandering an earlier opportunity. Alex Ponikarovsky was the goal scorer, after the Leafs made good crisp passes and got Miikka Kiprusoff moving side to side. Ponikarovsky shot a quick one-timer high short side at 9.20 into the period.

After that, Calgary locked down defensively and rarely gave an inch to Toronto to maneuver. Ten minutes of good hockey was all the Leafs played.

Offensively, the Flames tied things up on a Dustin Boyd goal, which was created off a bad bounce. The rookie Luke Schenn was caught flat footed as the buck bounced on him, in his own zone, and Todd Bertuzzi flew by and made a nice pass to Boyd.

With Mike Cammalleri out, due to the flu, Boyd was given a chance to play on the top line with Jarome Iginla, and scored two goals.

Then the sloppiness kicked in for the Leafs, and got caught on a bad line change, which caused them to take a penalty. Jamal Mayers was booked for interference.

After good puck movement, and a tired effort clearing from Jeff Finger along the boards, the Flames scored to take the lead.

With the puck not cleared, Dion Phaneuf got the puck at the point, and let go a quick wrister from the point, that made a through a crowd towards Vesa Toskala. There was a big rebound available and the Calgary captain, Jarome Iginla had an easy tap in for his tenth goal of the year.

The defensive lock down from Calgary was solid, and were hard to beat. Also, the Leafs made things easy for them too, by skating the puck about 70 feet, and held up their own players. With that, there was no speed being generated and no momentum.

If the Leads did crack the Calgary defence, well then, they had to deal with Kiprusoff, and he isn’t such a bad goalie. On the night, he stopped 29 out of 32 shots.

The Leafs defensively were okay, and didn’t take stupid penalties. In fact, they only took one, and allowed a goal. Overall, the Flames were getting good looks at goal, and were able to get some good cycle games going.

There cycle game showed in the final minute and a half of the second period, as the Leafs were just standing around, and allowed a back breaking goal with 28 seconds left. It was Dion Phaneuf, from a bad angle, through traffic, who stepped into a wicked slap shot. That shot was dirty, because it hit the far post, and he too most likely had an obstructed view of the goal, and even with a bad eye. Phaneuf had a good night offensively with a goal and two assists.

Those late goals are always tough to give up, especially when you’re facing a tough defensive team down 3-1 going into the third period.

The Leafs had a tough time getting things going, and gave up another goal to make it 4-1. And Dustin Boyd scored off a rebound, from a Mark Giordano slap shot.

Toronto did get two goals back, one from Nik Antropov, his sixth of the year, who tipped in an Ian White point shot with 5.07 left in the game. The third Toronto goal came from Matt Stajan, one that you could put into the ‘fluky category’. It was off a face-off, and Craig Conroy won it so cleanly, that he beat his own goaltender. That goal came with 54 seconds left in the game.

To think, after so many attempts to score off of good fore checking, Kiprusoff lets in a softie. What are the odd of that?

With Calgary smartly clearing the puck, and the Leafs not hitting the net, this game was done.

Jason Blake was a healthy scratch for the second time this season, and Ryan Hollweg replaced him in the lineup. Six different Toronto players each recorded a point, and Matt Stajan had game high with two. The Leafs now, for the thirteenth game in a row, had 30 plus shots on goal. Both teams ended the night with 32 shots each. Nik Kulemin is in a serious goal scoring funk, and hasn’t scored in 13 games. Mikhail Grabovski picked up an assist to continue his hot streak.

Just a thought to add. Isn’t weird how the Leaf haters across Canada could talk so much shit about the Leafs, and yet get excited about them coming to town. In the telecast, they stated that the Leafs/Flames game was the hottest ticket in town. I mean, do these haters actually hate the Leafs, or do they no want to show their true feelings? To me, I think those fans are jealous that their team can’t create a buzz like the Leafs and get everyone talking. Down here in Toronto, I don’t think there is a lot of hate toward the Western Canadian teams. Just to the other two Eastern Canadian teams.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

RAPTORS GAVE IT AWAY

For the second time in four games the Raptors were stymied by an elite team in the Eastern Conference. First it was the Detroit Pistons, and now the Boston Celtics, to whom the Raptors lost 94-87 at the TD Bank North Garden.

This game is going to burn for a while, because the Raptors at one point in the game had the defending NBA Champs on the ropes. They were up by 16 points and the Celtics wouldn’t allow the Raps to deliver the knockout punch.

It was an entertaining ball game with a playoff like atmosphere where both teams traded big shot for big shot. But this was one the Raptors should have had.

They did everything right in the first half, their shooting was good, their ball handling was excellent, and the passing was superb. The Raptors only allowed the Celtics to score 36 points in the first half, which is a season low for Boston.

For the Raptors’ Jermaine O’Neal, he finally had a break out game, and collected his first double-double with Toronto. He had 19 points and 8 rebounds in the first half, and 10 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh had a slow night offensively with only 9 points, a season low. The Raptors finally got the scoring help they needed from other players, which propelled them to a lead at the break

In the second half, O’Neal and Kendrick Perkins went nose to nose with each other, as Perkins tried to get to O’Neal, because he knows he cannot guard him. For their pushes and exchange of words, they each got technical fouls, and Perkins picked up an extra personal foul as he started the shoving.

That altercation may have gotten to O’Neal, because he only scored 4 points in the second half, with zero in the third.

The bench scoring was led by Jason Kapono with 14 points, and chipped in with 6 assists. Joey Graham had a good game too with 8 points in 18 minutes. The inconsistent Andrea Bargnani had 2 points, compared to when he came up big for the Raps off the bench versus Charlotte on Sunday afternoon with 18 points. For the game, the Raptors bench outscored the Celtics 28-12.

The Big 3 was contained, and the key was to stop Paul Pierce, as he is the focal point of that offence and drives it. The Raptors did do a good job, and held Pierce to score the bulk of his first half points at the free throw line. The first half score was 48-36 for the Raptors.

To contain the Big 3 of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Pierce, you have to play 4 defensive quarters, and the Raptors only played two.

In the second half, the Big 3 let loose, led by Pierce with 36 points, getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Nobody on the Raptors was able to stop him, because his moves were so decisive, that as a defender you didn’t know if he was going to drive the ball or pull up with a shot.

Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, each had 21 and 19 points respectively, and Garnett had ten rebounds for the double-double. In total, the Big 3 combined to score 76 of Boston’s 94 points, which came out to a percent of 80.

The Raptors for the most part did a good job of keeping the crowd quiet and out of the game. The defensive intensity of Garnet and the offensive flare by Pierce hyped up the crowd and began the rally.

Garnett’s defensive antics got to the Raptors, as he kept challenging them to do something and come his way. Then he got into the face of Jose Calderon, and barked at him all the way up the court. The 6’2 Spaniard wasn’t afraid of him, and got into it with the 6’11 Garnett.

The Boston defence, in the end, was just too much for the Raptors. The Celtics didn’t let Toronto get back into its offensive groove and held them to 43% shooting. The Celtics challenged every shot and pass and didn’t allow the Raptors to drive the lane. With that, they held the Raptors to only 39 second half points.

The Raptors had their chances in this game when they were up and could’ve added to the lead, but didn’t take advantage of Boston misses and turnovers.

On the flip side, after a doing such a great job of clogging up the lane, the Raptors broke down defensively and the Celtics were able to drive easily to the bucket. The Celtics outscored the Raptors 58-39 in the second half, which was headed by a huge 35 point fourth quarter. And Paul Pierce had 22 of those points.

Both teams tied for rebounds at 39 a piece, and the Raptors had the advantage in the assist department with 25, compared to Boston’s 17. In the game, there were seven lead changes and seven ties.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

LEAFS WIN BIG

That was quite the game played between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre on Hall of Fame weekend.

Unlike the first meeting between these two teams earlier in the season when the Leafs got beat 6-1. They were actually in this game and outplayed the Canadiens to win 6-3.

If you think the heat in this rivalry was down, well then, it went up a couple of notches after tonight. This game started out chippy and ended that way. This game was truly a throwback to the days when the Hall of Fame inductees played.

In the first period, the Leafs started out skating and beat the Canadiens to a lot of pucks. Just for that a bonehead play was made by Tom Kostopoulos of the Canadiens as he ran Mike Van Ryn into the boards, face first. And he knew he was in trouble and got some licks in from Carlo Colaiacovo. After the scrum, Mike Van Ryn was lost for the game, to what appeared to be a broken nose. Kostopoulos got a ten minute misconduct penalty, five minute major for boarding and a two minute roughing penalty.

Ian White filled in for Van Ryn on defence for the remainder of the game.

On the five minute power play the Leafs opened the scoring on a smooth rush through the neutral zone and around a Montreal defender by Mikhail Grabovski. Who continued his hot streak and dished off a saucer pass to Niklas Hagman who scored.

The Leafs had plenty of time left on the power play too, and then were given a 5-on-3 advantage. Nothing was made of the opportunity, due to good shot blocking by the Montreal penalty kill, and an errant pass by Nik Antropov.

Things were set up nicely, and Antropov made a hard cross ice pass that was banked off the boards and out of the zone.

An early goal in the second by Grabovski put the Leafs up 2-0, but it appeared the Leafs slacked off for a bit. They got burned, as Montreal scored two quick goals to tie the game.

First it was Robert Lang off a rebound, who was left all alone in front of the net on the power play. Then Tomas Plekanec scored, also on the power play.

It was a shootout in the second period, as both teams scored three goals each, and the Leafs were up 4-3 going into the third.

The Leafs’ Niklas Hagman scored on the power play, which made the score 3-2 Leafs. Then Saku Koivu came back to tie the game, as he walked out of the corner all alone and scored one high, glove side. The Leafs answered back and it was Nik Antropov who scored off a mad scramble in the crease for the lead.

You just knew the third period was going to have a frantic finish, and it did. The Leafs added some insurance goals to put the game out of reach for Montreal.

This time it was Pavel Kubina who scored on another power play to make the score 5-3, and Alex Ponikarovsky added another to seal the game. It was a great goal too, as he worked hard in the defensive zone, and eluded his man to create a 2-on-1 rush with Antropov. Nik made the pass, and Ponikarovsky did the rest with a nice forehand fake, and scored on the backhand.

Montreal had a goal waived off due to a high stick making contact with the puck. If that goal had counted, or was scored legally, the score would’ve been 5-4 Leafs at a crucial point in the game.

With the game all but over, some of the Canadiens players got testy. Most notably Andrei Kostitsyn, as he received a ten minute misconduct. He was acting like a total jackass towards Grabovski, whom he charged earlier on in the play to create the shouting match. And those Belarusian’s went at each other nicely, and if it weren’t for the referee’s holding them back, everyone would’ve been treated to a nice scrap.

Even Saku Koivu, the so called ‘classy guy’ that he is, acted like an asshole towards Grabovski as well, and started talking shit to him for no apparent reason at the time.

Overall, the Leafs played a good game both offensively and defensively, and out shot the Canadiens 41-20. In the past 11 out of 12 games, the Leafs have out shot their opponents and have had at least thirty shots in those games. Montreal only had three shots in the first, twelve in the second and five in the third period. The three goals that were scored, were tough ones to stop, and would’ve been goals no matter what, except for the Koivu goal.

This time around the Leafs power play was much better, going 3/8, while Montreal went 2/6.

Once again the line of Hagman, Grabovski, and Kulemin was the best on the ice from either side. The line combined to score five points, with two goals coming from Hagman, a goal and assist from Grabovski and an assist from Kulemin. Nik Antropov the slumping forward who had only one goal and assist in his last four games had a goal and two assists on the night.

Look for the hate created in this game to spill over in the next match up between these two teams.

To note, the Montreal game misconducts taken, were complete cheap shots and classless. They were done by stupid players, and one of which is now somewhat of a tough guy after tonight’s game, and he knew exactly what he was doing while in the motion of running Mike Van Ryn into the boards. Andrei Kostitsyn is a punk who can’t fight and tried to act all tough while hitting Grabovski.

If anyone says the Canadiens are a strong team or have gotten stronger, well they aren’t. They are cowards. They all give hits and cheap ones too, their captain talks a lot of shit and no one looks forward to the consequences. They’ve been getting away with too much and will get their just desserts soon time. The signing of Georges Laracque to add toughness was a bust. Where was he in all this, because he was brought in to defend his teammates? He did none of that, and Montreal is too small and with no grit whatsoever.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

PISTONS ARE STILL THE BEST IN EAST

On a night where two 3-0 teams faced off against each other, there was a buzz in the crowd. For the Toronto Raptors, it was an opportunity to start a season 4-0 for the first time ever in franchise history. For the Detroit Pistons, they had the opportunity to show the NBA that they are still the veteran Pistons and could play with or without the departed Chauncey Billups or the newly acquired Allen Iverson. In the end, the Pistons showed they were too much, and outsmarted the Raptors 100-93.

The blockbuster deal made by the Pistons was for financial reasons and got a hall of fame player in Allen Iverson. He not playing tonight, due to the physical not yet taken by Chauncey Billups which has put the trade on hold, was supposed to bode well for the Raptors. The Raptors and their fans got a rude awakening, more so the fans and the Pistons showed they are still the best in the East.

They were led by quiet assassin Tayshaun Prince with 27 points on 10/13 shooting from the field, and made everything look too easy. Nobody was able too guard him, not even the reliable Anthony Parker or the athletic Jamario Moon.

Getting the start at the point guard position was Rodney Stuckey (14 pts) and he was almost an exact carbon copy of Chauncey Billups. His post-up game was something else and Jose Calderon couldn’t do too much in the way of stopping him. Of course the smarts of Rip Hamilton and his ability to read the defence and roll off screens were in full affect and he put up 22 points.

Rasheed Wallace (11 pts) was his usual annoying self getting under the skin of the opposition and it worked on Jermaine O’Neal. In the second quarter, O’Neal tried a lay-up type move on Wallace, missed the shot, and argued for a foul. In return he got no call, but one against him, a technical and just because he motioned for his head band, which is pretty damn asinine.

A lot of Raptors players showed their frustration towards the referee’s and they had good reason too. Chris Bosh couldn’t quite understand the way the ref.’s were calling the game, and it looked as if Jose Calderon was speaking another language. On a scramble play for the ball on the floor, Calderon had possession and called a timeout. Instead the ref. called for a jump ball, and it was Calderon the six footer up against the 6’7 Jason Maxiell. No match there.

The Raptors’ offence was completely shut down with the veteran and smothering defence from the Pistons. The Raptors’ defence couldn’t get a hang of the Pistons’ offensive rhythm. At times, when the Raptors climbed out of a 15 point deficit, it looked as if they were going to tie or take the lead. The defence of the Pistons came up big and they only allowed the Raptors to get within two points and not tie the game.

What did it for the Raptors was their play in the second quarter, where they outscored 34-23, and were down 54-46 at the half. If the Raptors had played better in the second, the game would’ve been closer, because the Raptors won the first and third quarters by three points each, and lost the fourth by only two points.

This game was such a tease for the Raptors faithful, because it really looked like the Raptors were going to comeback. Again, and you can’t say enough about this, but the defence of the Pistons was too damn good.

All-Star Chris Bosh could only do so much and he tried his best, but his 26 point and 13 rebound effort just wasn’t enough. Jose Calderon had a good night too with 24 points and 8 assists. Usually when Bosh and Calderon are on their games the Raptors play well.

Other role players didn’t do their jobs, like Jermaine O’Neal, who only had 8 points and 3 rebounds. His defensive presence was bleak throughout the game and got into foul trouble in the first half with two, and missed the entire second quarter. His bad play translated into him missing significant minutes in the fourth.

Here are some other scary stats from the rest of the Raptors team. Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker combined for only 14 points and 7 rebounds. While the bench play from Jason Kapono, Andrea Bargnani, Will Solomon, Joey Graham, and Kris Humphries combined for 21 points and 11 rebounds. From that group Joey Graham went scoreless and committed a stupid turnover, when he let the ball slip out of his hands to go out of bounds off a rebound from a foul shot. And all was clear for him to grab that rebound nice and smoothly but he botched it like a bad nose job.

On the night, the Raptors were out-rebounded 43-38, but offensive rebounds were a problem in that stat, as the Raptors allowed the Pistons to get 10 compared to their 6. Turnovers really weren’t a problem for either team, but the Raptors did commit 8 of them in the first half, and the totals ended up 5 for Detroit and 11 for Toronto.

The Raptors now fall to 3-1 this season, while the Pistons improved to 4-0 and are one of four remaining undefeated teams in the NBA.



The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

LEAFS LOSE IN OVERTIME

It was a game of good puck management, and both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes had their share of good control and sloppy puck movement. In the end, the Hurricanes prevailed 5-4 in overtime, with just a brief moment of good puck control.

The strength of the first period was all the Hurricanes needed as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. Three of the first four goals were scored in the first six minutes of the game. Those good twenty minutes just held up and led them to overtime.

Those extra five minutes weren’t even in the cards for the Maple Leafs, because they were absolutely outplayed to open the game, and their puck management was horrible. Just like they have done so, so often this season, they mounted a comeback after being down 3-0 and 4-1. This team loves playing with fire, and most of the time, they battle the fire with a good fight.

If you look at the overall game, the Leafs should’ve deserved the two points because they played 40 strong minutes compared to Carolina’s twenty. The Leafs out-shot the Hurricanes 42-24 and wouldn’t let them gain the offensive zone at all in the second period and parts of the third.

What spelled the loss for the Maple Leafs was their defensive point play which was lacking. Three of the five goals by Carolina, came off of plays from the point. The eventual game winner in overtime came off a slap shot from the point off the stick of Niclas Wallin, which all began with good puck management.

For Carolina, all the credit should go to goalie Cam Ward, if not for his team’s bad defence, the score could’ve been 4-1 for the Hurricanes. Cam Ward played a superb game and was peppered with plenty of shots, but was up to the task. He was the deciding factor in this game.

As for Vesa Toskala, he could’ve been better, especially in the first, because he was not sharp at all and it showed. On Carolina’s third goal of the game, it came off a purposely missed point shot that hit the end boards, and bounced out to an open player with an open net. Toskala looked like a fool and was badly out of position, and completely misplayed the whole set up. He did make saves when the team needed it the most.

The bulk of the Leafs scoring came from the line of Niklas Hagman, Nik Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski, who had seven point combined on the night. Grabovski had two goals, plus the one to tie the game, and now has back to back games where he has at least scored twice in each game. Hagman had the other goal, which was the first for the Leafs. Mike Van Ryn was the other goal scorer for the Leafs.

Even though the Leafs were good offensively, and well enough to win on most nights, they still showed some weaknesses. The offense gave up too many odd man rushes the other way and got scored on twice on those rushes. The problem for concern was the amount of drop passes made by the offence when entering the offensive zone. Those were some easy picks for the Hurricanes and made good use of them.

The power play continues to be an issue for the Leafs as they went 1/3 on the night and had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1.20 in the third period to take the lead. On that opportunity, they generated chances but were futile. A lot of the players looked nervous, especially Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle. When they should’ve taken a shot they didn’t, and when they shouldn’t have, they did.

On the season, the Leafs haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation, which is pretty impressive, and in the last seven games the Leafs are now 4-2-1.


The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

For some reason the Maple Leafs love playing with fire and getting into 2-0 deficits. This time around, they were down to the number one team in the league, New York Rangers.

Just like the Leafs have done so often in the past 2-0 deficits, they came back to win the game when all the odds were stacked against them, and won the game 5-2. The Air Canada Centre crowd was louder than ever for the first time in 4 years. Even the corporate clad platinum seat crowd was on their feet and actually into the game.

To begin, the night was already special, with it being a Saturday night and all, versus an old school Original six team. It looked like the only way the Leafs were going to win this game was if they won on special teams. The Leafs went one for two, doing a good job of staying out of the penalty box, and only took two penalties and killed both. Meanwhile, their power play was once again ineffective, going 0/5.

Secondly, the Leafs were facing Etobicoke native Stephen Valiquette, who has had the Leafs number in his career, securing three wins in three games. The last win came two weeks ago in New York, with a 1-0 shutout victory. Thirdly, the Leafs were facing the league’s best team, which has a great defence. Their offence isn’t too bad either.

To begin the game, both teams traded chances and shots. The Rangers chances looked so much more dangerous than the Leafs did. Since the Rangers have one of the best defenses, it looked as if they didn’t care if they took penalties, and took three of them in the first period. The Leafs barely got any chances, as they fell into the Rangers’ trap over and over.

The Leafs played better even strength hockey then they did with the man advantage. That was a killer because the Rangers’ fourth line scored a goal with nine seconds left in the period, which came from Ryan Callahan. In the latter half of the period, the Rangers had the Leafs pinned in their own zone.

Being down by a goal wasn’t so bad, but the Leafs could’ve been up instead of down. The Leafs fore-check still maintained its strong cycle game, but still couldn’t answer Stephen Valiquette. With less than five minutes to go in the second, Rangers coach Tom Renney used the TV timeout to his advantage, and gave his players an earful. Man, did it work. The Rangers came out of that huddle, stopped whatever the Leafs tried to do, and scored a goal in return to go up two zip heading into the third.

The Rangers carried that momentum into the third period and pretty much had the Leafs on lock. Toronto did have good cycles going, but for brief stints, and that was it. When rookie John Mitchell took a sloppy holding penalty, the game looked to be over. You can only stop and contain a strong team for so long before they finally breakout and snap. Instead of the Rangers, the Leafs snapped, and how.

First they killed off the Mitchell penalty, which was highlighted by a game saving save from Vesa Toskala, where he just got a toe on a cross crease pass that looked destined for the back of the net.

As John Mitchell came out of the penalty box, the Leafs had a good fore-check going, and the ‘almost goat’ John Mitchell scored his first career NHL goal glove side on Valiquette. He just waited long enough for Valiquette to get out of position and beat him smartly with 7.24 left in the game.

The momentum was back on the Leafs side, and they tied the game 1.26 later on a Jason Blake deflection in front of the net, through the five-hole. The Rangers looked shook, and Tom Renney called a timeout, but this time to no avail. The Leafs came out of that break and scored 52 second later to go up 3-2, this time from Pavel Kubina who took a shot from the point through a screen. The Leafs weren’t done there, as John Mitchell scored his second of the game far side again, on a broken down defence from the Rangers. That goal came 1.12 after Kubina had scored.

The Rangers were shot, just in complete disarray after having played a good defensive game for 48 minutes. The Rangers couldn’t get back on track after that barrage from the Leafs.

To completely ice the game, the Leafs scored a fifth goal on a John Mitchell rush that had goalie Valiquette slide out of the net and knock the puck off his Mitchell’s stick for the hat-trick. The puck bounced to a trailing Dominic Moore and he scored into the empty net, and this goal came 1.51 after the fourth goal. In the third period, John Mitchell tallied two goals and an assist, and Dominic Moore had a goal and an assist. While five other Leafs had one point each.

The Leafs finally beat Stephen Valiquette for the first time in four games, and out-shot the Rangers 17-4 in the third period and 35-20 for the game. The five goals they scored came in a span of 5.21.

The Rangers defence was excellent in the first two periods and bits of the third, and made the Leafs’ fore-check look weak. The shots that got towards goal were easy saves, and only a few challenged Valiquette.

On the other hand, the Rangers offence wasn’t its high flying self as it has been in previous games. It was good, but not great, and the Leafs defence was up to the task and did a terrific job of limiting the Rangers’ chances. Vesa Toskala quietly put together a solid game with some key saves that could have put the Leafs out of the game.



The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.