Wednesday February 4 2009 - 10:37pm Eastern
LA Lakers @ Toronto
Final Score:
115-107, Lakers
“Alice Fazoolis” Player of the Game:
- LAMAR ODOM
13 points
6 rebounds
6/13 FG
“Smith and Jones” Player of the Game:
- KOBE BRYANT
36 points
9 rebounds
5 assists
2 steals
13/28 FG
4/8 3PT FG
6/8 FT
Shout-out to the Raptors:
- JERMAINE O’NEAL
22 points
9 rebounds
9 blocks
4 assists
9/17 FG
4/4 FT
Stats that stood out:
- Joey Graham: 24 points (career high), 4 rebounds
- Pau Gasol: 31 points (12/17 FG), 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
- Raptors outscored 57-44 in the 2nd half … after putting up 63 in the 1st half
- 2ND Chance points: 20-11 Lakers
Thumbs Up:
- Jermaine O’Neal throwing a block party with 9 … and Joey G stepping up on both ends of the floor. They’ll need both of those players if the Raps lose Bosh for any extended period of time
Thumbs Down:
- Chris Bosh going out in the 4TH quarter with a sprained right knee. If he’s out for a long period of time, wow, that could impact a ton of things (standings, trades, and much more)
Smith says:
“Solid effort against Kobe and the Lake Show, but a loss is still a loss and this team is now 13 games below .500. Bryant and Gasol were simply too much for the undermanned Raptors – despite the efforts of guys like O’Neal and Graham.”
Jones says:
“Much better effort , energy, and focus tonight. Jermaine O’Neal showed great leadership and the Raptors matched the Lakers in every way tonight. But down the stretch, Toronto could not stop Bryant or execute offensively when it counted.”
“V-Tech” 3-In-To-Win Give-Away:
The Raptors were 6 of 15 from 3PT range
Next game:
- Raptors @ Hornets
– Friday February 6 2009
- Tune in at 7:30pm Eastern for the pre-game show and just after 8:00pm Eastern for the “Pizza Pizza” starting line ups
E. Smith
Missed the post-game show? You can listen to it here:
[audio:http://qml.quiettouch.com/files/radio/fan590/hotaudio/rapspostgame-fan-20090204.mp3]
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That was a great game tonight.
The team played hard – and that does count towards something if you are paying to watch the games (which I am). There is a big difference in the quality of the night’s entertainment between a good loss and a bad loss when you are paying to watch!
In the last 5 minutes the refs swallowed their whistles – but only under the Lakers basket! Gasol; goes over O’Neal’s back to take the rebound and the Lakers break out and score 2 to go up 4 points.
O’Neal makes a great block that looks clean live (cleaner on the replay) and gets called for the foul!
And that’s after the Raps go to the basket on successive plays and can’t buy a whistle!
For a game where the refs are calling it very even, all of a sudden down the stretch the Raps are taking on the chin when they go to the hoop!
I have relatives in Cleveland and watch games at the Q and on cable here. Their announcers would NEVER say one of their role players had a good game because the opposition didn’t know how to game plan for him! They would NEVER let a bad call go by without a comment – they might even be considered biased towards the home side.
Why does every Toronto Raptor announcer find something to say that downplays the good play of individual Raps after a game? Why aren’t Toronto Raptor announcers supporting the team when they hit with suspect calls or non-calls?
Are all you guys bucking for ESPN or TNT jobs or are you Toronto Raptor announcers?
Getting very tired of the lack of support from Raptor TV and radio announcers – When the team plays well or is victimized by suspect refereeing – I expect you to be all over it, if you can’t do that, maybe you should be covering something else.
- Stephen Brotherstongreat game, to bad for the people who couldn’t watch thanks to TSN2.
- TomGfromBramptonI’m not going to apologize for having objectivity
- E. Smithgood effort, still difficult to swallow. i heard stephen comments and as much as he is a joker, it worries me, seeing bosh talk to him self sometimes, it looks like under his breath he is saying a few more months, a few more months, but we all do that, im sure you guys do that every broadcast, a few more games till you can get home from the road and to your families…..\we all punch clocks to earn our living.
this is getting worse, more rumours are an indicator of a downward spiral for our beloved raps.
too bad we have no trade peices. and playoffs are very distant.
- fggreat game calling by the way. sorry for all the negativity this year, but raps fans need therapy, and can only be positive for so long. and the patience has run out for rap fans, our negativity is part of our therapy after watching frustrating bball.
cant be mad at the fans.
- fgI’m a huge Raptor fan…but they’re unwatchable!!!
- normfromnovascotiaThat might have been one of the most important games of the season .
- Chas CalzThe improved play of O’Neal and Graham has to increase their trade value .. Keep in mind when O’Neal was trying to get out of Indiana , he talked about his desire to join the Lakers .. Maybe with Bynum hurt, it’s possible O’Neal made himself attractive to Lakers ? .
It might be a good idea to sit Bosh and Calderon out till All-Star break .. It will allow Raps to try different line-ups and with Bosh out, O’Neal gets bigger role and playing time to showcase himself to teams looking at him in trade ? .
Great game called last night Eric, I’m not sure what Stephen is talking about. You guys noted bad calls on both sides of the ball. You can’t got all “Christian Bale” during a broadcast. Its a tell-tale sign of the season when we are looking at positives of a loss. Another stat to note Kobe went 13/28 from the floor while not bad, the damage could have been worse if that number was better. Another back to back, i think the schedule maker is angry at Toronto!
- Lanny from WhitbyAnother tell tale sign – When the whole flippin arena screams “NO!” when J.Moon throws up a brick!! I think the game ops crew should get a graphic that notes “Jamario, DON’T SHOOT!!”
- Lanny from WhitbyWhy doesnt anyone give J.O his props? He is the only one on this team with ONIONS! Joey is growing some onions but not completely there yet! Jermaine O’neal hates to lose and you can see the disgust on his face unlike the rest of this weak team. He brings it on the court every game, his intensity on the Defensive end is exactly what this team needs but none of the raptors ever seem to be there to back him up …he had 9 blocks last night of which about 5 of them another Lakers picked up the block and put in a easy layup. If i was J.O i would stop blocking shots cause it seems no other raptor wants to back him up after he makes the initial block and the other team get a open layup. THe raps are a soft team from the coaches all the way down the bench. You cant win games in this league with a bunch of nice guys. J.O is too tough for this team, the raps have no heart or toughness which J.O is accustomed to being around. RAPTORS = ZERO TOUGHNESS!
- NeilMr. Brotherston, Couldn’t disagree with you more, although we all have right to our opinions .
- Chas CalzOne thing I like about Eric and Jonesy is the fact that they are not ” homers ” .
Although there was a time when “homers” were the rage -Johnny Most the Celtics legend comes to mind- fair, balanced calling of games especially on radio where listeners can’t see the action , is appreciated by many fans imo .
First. Toronto fans are the biggest homers in the world. The team wins 3 and everything is great, we’re going to the playoffs. The bandwagon jumpers are board. The team loses 5 of 7. Tank the season and rebuild. I think there should be some sort of basketball IQ test that these fans should pass before they call in on the fan590 or make posts on these blogs. Second. Effort and Energy? That’s what we’re suppose to applaud? That’s absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who has a job in this world in any area of work is expected to provided maximum effort or energy. Otherwise, that employee wouldn’t be working for his/her employer. But that’s not the case in pro sports. I’m not going to sit here and throw a party because the Toronto Raptors played with effort and energy. These guys get paid more money in one year that most people probably won’t make in their lifetime. And for what? To play a game. And most of the nights, they have no game. As it relates to the business of sports, contracts should have clauses that indicate “Player X” will make “X amount of dollars” only if he produces “X amount of points, assists, rebounds etc.” Mr Colangelo, please do something.
- PaulI love the Coach Armstrong but when he said they do not know what do do without Bosh that is a Joke
Chris is weak when he plays another all star. He is also useless in the play-off.
Joey Graham showed the fearless play we need. Up against the second (tee hee) best player in basketball both offensively and defensively and Joey played great. If Chris could raise his game in Play-offs and big match ups like against Garnett then he would be a true all star.
Kudo’s to Joey. Hopefully he has found himself and his fearless team play will inspire other.
The rebuild core
Andrea
Jose
Joey
Ukic
Get a beast for the 5 move Andrea to 4. Draft every good 2 and 3 in sigh. Buy a young one if you can.
- MilesCome on Chas ….Eric is known as “Mr. IF ” …LOL
- NeilJose must learn only God has perfection. Some of their most famous plays and shots should statistically never should have been taken.
- MilesI don’t know what there is to get excited about.
- fonziThe thing that’s consistent about the Raptors this year is their inconsistency.
I find it hard now to root for this team that sometimes playes hard and if it doesn’t feel like it doesn’t.
They are a complete 180 degree version, in terms of work ethic and character, to the Boston Celtics.
Love JO’s energy, has graham finally arrived
we will see
- jose haterNeil, I couldn’t agree more and have been a JO supporter since he’s been here.
He’s not the superstar centre we need ultimately but a monster shot blocker like we have NEVER HAD in TO. NEVER. And he’s just getting back to 100% now.
I’ve said several times that I don’t know if we could trade him for great wing help or whatever, but I do know we’d be crying AGAIN about no defensive presence, blocking ability on nasty tenacity on the entire team.
And Bosh will look outmatched against the other NBA big(ger) men again.
Overlooked last night was Pau Gasol 31 pts and 15 rebounds; those are Dwight Howard numbers.
- Garyi agree eric and paul are the ones in our media that are not HOMERS they call it straight up props to them
- rob leeEric,
Why does the media and fans continue to be surprised @ the Raptors and their losing ways this year and even the loss to the magic last year in the playoffs. For the life of me I can’t understand where these expectations this year or last years came from. If you look around the league many teams have the right ingrediants to win. A one two punch consisting of a swingman and a good postpresence or in some cases just a really good creative swingman or dominant centre.
Toronto For years now has been deficient at the two spot, a positiion that brought them success in the regular season and in the playoffs when Vince was in Toronto.
If BC is trying to beat the odds of not having a creative 2-3 spot player than maybe he needs to take another look at the players around the league that bring success to their teams and what position on the court they play. Micheal Jordan, Carmelo,Lebron,Wade,Kobe,Carter,Mcgrady,Durant
Ray Allen, the list goes on. If a team does not have one of these type players in their lineup, than we’ve seen what a dominant big man can do. Shaquille O Neal in Orlando Akeem Olajawan, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Raptors have neither of these type players yet media and fans are trying to put these guys up there like they can defy the odds.
Great teams have great Chemistry. A team that likes to take jump shots @ every position(Moon,Bargnani,Bosh,Solomon) and has a seven footer that can’t post and a 3 that doesn’t drive to the basket is quite a ways off from a 4th or 5th seed prediction.
As for Jermain O Neal, Jermaine is the type of player that would be important to a team that is simply just one post player away from the top and a team that posses the kind of talent to take the pressure off Jermaine.
- NeilJermaine being on the backside of his career and having gone through some much injuries is no longer the type of player many are expecting him to be especially for a team like Toronto.
Eric, what’s up with your accent? You say some words like ‘out’ and about’ in Canadian accent and Bosh, shot e.t.c like americans..”Baash”, “shaat”. You pronounce the O’s like americans and the rest is pretty much Canadian. It’s really a unique accent.
- BeburgJoey Graham should be MVP because he can take jump shots and carry the ball like a LeBron and all he has to improve on is when he gets a pass he needs to shoot it if he is wide open and not let someone guard him. Roko needs to dribble properly it takes alot of time and he needs to take some shots because I know he can make IT!
- Raps Fan