Raptor Recap... New Orleans

It's been a while since I've done a recap... mainly because the recap would be pretty straightforward... raps have sucked... period... last night the Hornets came in and just beat them soundly. In the first half, David West made it look so easy against Rasho, Bosh and Bargnani... terrible matchups... The raps should have put in Kris Humphries early on... Peja was routinely wide open at the 3 until Delfino came in... and Bonzi Wells was owning Jamario Moon... Chris Paul didn't even need to score at all (and didn't)... then in the second half, the Raps just collapsed... no interior defence, bad switches, and just poor execution. The offence didn't matter, there was no defence.

The Good - Delfino had a good game for once... good D on Peja, and played in the flow in the offense for once... The new guy, Linton Johnson and the other scrubs (Hump, Moon) played well to make the final score look closer than the game actually was... Jose led these misfits well, and played a good game, although should have looked for his shot earlier... Bosh played well in spurts, but was awful on defence...

The Bad - I'm baffled at how after 70 games, Mitchell still hasn't figure out how to get a spot 3 point shooter like Kapono some shots... Seeing New Orleans get Peja open shots, it's quite frustrating... Kapono played terrible. Bargnani was terrible. How did AP not get more than 2 shots? Ball distribution in general was bad... why? TJ Ford. I started booing him everytime he touched the ball at one point. 4 bad and unforced turnovers, ill-advised shots, no defence... he was absolutely horrible. He was the reason the Raptors went stagnant on offence and defence in the 1st and 3rd quarters... please trade this guy... NOW... For Corey Maggette? Shane Battier? Someone?

Overall: Terrible. This team is terrible right now. I can only hope they turn it around, but they are running out of time. They have a very soft schedule here out, so they better take advantage...

On another note, watching New Orleans during the shoot-around, I realize how much more fun their team is... These guys were doing 360 dunks, alley oops, put-back dunks, turn-around 3s... just fun... the Raps? They were doing layups, and a 3 point drill.... zzzzzzz... =P

Next game: Charlotte, tonight... please play some defence!