Raptor Recap... Game #9

0-9... you have to be kidding. The Raps found a new low. They were absolutely owning this game through 2 1/2 quarters... and then what happened?... This one falls squarely on Mitchell and Jalen Rose.

Game notes:
- Raps were impressive early on, despite the fact they weren't making shots early... if they had made some of their jumpers, this game would have been a blowout.
- Mitchell imposed his new "early hook" policy, where if you made a mistake, you were pulled immediately...
- Up a bunch in the 3rd quarter with Boston making a run, Jose Calderon makes a bad turnover in his first two minutes back in... Mitchell pulls him... for who? Derrick Martin?! Who's on the floor? Hoffa, Villaneuva, Joey, and Mike James... with Martin?!?! Rose, Peterson, Bonner, Bosh were all sitting on the bench... Martin goes on to play the next ten minutes or so, and the Raps fall behind by 6... big surprise...
- By the time they get the starters back in, Jalen looks terrible... totally lost his flow. Takes a bunch of bad shots, and gets absolutely schooled by Paul Pierce. It's no secret that Jalen can't play D...
- The Raps make an impressive comeback, showing they aren't dead, all behind Chris Bosh... then what does Mitchell do? He stops going to Bosh for about 6 minutes, and the Raps completely fall out of the running... Bosh barely gets even a touch. ?? Extremely puzzling coaching here...

It doesn't make sense that this team is losing so much. Bosh is playing amazing ball. Charlie V has already shown his skeptics that they were wrong... he might not become an All-Star, but he can definitely play in this league... and the two point guards (James & Calderon) have been solid. Heck, even Joey G has been a solid NBA player. So why aren't they winning? Crap from the vets, and some really really bad coaching... Sam has made a lot of questionnable decisions, but he also has been ineffective in getting his players to buy into any kind of system. His offensive sets are completely stagnant. This is amazingly frustrating as a fan who can see that this team should have won at least a few games this year if not for some bad coaching decisions and some absolutely garbage performances by the highest paid players on the team. We should have hired Paul Silas when we had the chance.

Next game: the Heat... I think they can get this one... and I make a bold prediction that tomorrow they will get their first win of the season... I honestly thought it should have been yesterday though.