Raptor Recap: 27-23 San Antonio...

Manu Ginobili was amazing last night... he was everywhere and seemed to be making everyting as he had 34 points and 15 rebounds. The crowd was really into the game, which was nice to see, but the Raps couldn't pull out this very winnable game, as it was basically a one-man effort...

The Good: Jose Calderon had a great shooting game, and kept the Raptors close, even when it looked like they were going to get blown out... Rasho Nesterovic played good "d" against Tim Duncan, and threw in a few baskets... other than two ill-advised threes, Jamario Moon had a good game, although didn't play enough to make a huge impact...

The Bad: Juan Dixon and Carlos Delfino were absolutely horrible. Dixon threw the game away when they were within 2 or 3, as he simply threw the ball away in the fourth quarter during a key possession, which allowed Manu to come back and shoot a three pointer. Dixon was also the defensive blunderer the next time back up the court. Toronto never really threatened after that 7 point swing. Carlos Delfino was horrible. He jacked up shot after shot, and only made 1 three pointer and four layups... he missed the other 10 shots he had... destroying any momentum the Raps could have had... he also was terrible defensively, repeatedly trying to cheat on Manu by taking an extra step towards helping on another player, leaving Manu wide open and allowing him to get hot. Once again the Raps let another superstar camp out at the 3 point line and just make shot after shot. Temp coach Mike Evans did some bad rotating, which left Dixon and Delfino in there far too long and killed the Raptor's chances... Bosh didn't show up to play and seemed to be a shell of a player after getting hurt in the first half.

Overall: A disappointing effort... especially with such a boisterous Monday night crowd...

Next: The Raps try to end a 3 game home losing skid against Vince and the Nets on Wednesday... Nets are a team in turmoil with the trade deadline coming up... Raps should win this one... but really, they should have beat the Clippers last week and the Spurs last night too, but didn't... so who knows?