That “outside chance” that Chris Bosh plays tonight has turned into a definitive “not gonna happen.”
Bosh will miss his 5th straight game with the sprained right knee/bone bruise, but as we told you yesterday, Jose Calderon will be back in the fold, as well as Joey Graham – who will get the starting nod in Bosh’s place. Now, as expected, but confirmed this afternoon, Marion will start at the 3 (Marion went on to say that’s he’s only come off the bench once in his career, and that was 2 weeks ago after coming back from injury. He stressed that it was only for one game).
If you’re thinking like I was thinking: What will this mean for the bench and having to cover Lebron when those two sub off?
Well, as Coach Jay Triano said… both Marion and Graham (the two guys who were going to have to guard him anyway) can expect to have long nights. Otherwise, you’re looking at Kapono, and either a bevvy of guards, or a glut of bigs trying to hold the fort, as Anthony Parker will likely already be getting a fair share of Mo Williams.
Either way, though… we all know that Lebron’s gonna get his anyway.
Moving on from trying to stop an unstoppable force… Marion said he’s looking forward to making his debut in front of the home fans… saying “y’all have one of the best fan-bases in the league, and y’all have been like that since I’ve been in the league… so I think it’s just a matter of us going out there and competing, playing hard and having fun.”
The longer you listen to Marion, the more you’ll hear “have fun.”
Perhaps that’s what the Raptors need…
…but there’s no doubt that it won’t be nearly as much fun down the stretch, if the Raptors can’t get, and stay, healthy.
As always… Eric and Paul have the call for you, live at 7 o’clock on The FAN590.
-ZC
4 Responses to “Bosh out… Joey starts at the 4… Marion makes his debut”
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Great Blogs Zach…you make a good point about starting both Joey G and Marion…the Raps are going to have to give Lebron a lot of different looks tonight…I’d put Roko/Banks/Bargs/Parker/Marion/Joey/Jose/Voshkul on James b/4 I even think about having Kapono gaurd him!!
- Mr. TJose has been injured since the summer when he didnt play in the olympic gold medal game! He needs to stay out as long as it takes. he gets beat off the dribble way to often and has been a defensive liability all season and teams are exposing him off the bounce. We need to give Roko a shot at proving himself also this will give Banks a chance to get some playing time which he hasnt gotten in Miami or Phoenix.
- NeilI gave up on the season a few weeks ago but the allstar break and the arrival of Marion breathes life into the lost season. The Raptors need to get it going NOW. Its tough to ask for a victory over the Cavs without Bosh but they have to compete. They can’t get blown out. Five games left in Feb. Going 2/5 and the season is once again over.
- ALIt’s already started. Talk about how thin the Raps are in bigs, particularly with Hump still out. And I love Jake Vosk’s attitude but he can’t lay it in from outside of 3 inches.
I just don’t know who is going to lean on Garnett, Dwight Howard and the Tim Duncan’s. All centres aren’t a little softer under pressure like a Yao or Pau Gasol.
Let’s hope we can run ‘n gun cause we aren’t going to intimidate anyone. It’s sure not going to be half-court- boring anymore at least!
Go Raps, you’ve got a handful tonight.
- Gary