Thursday, February 02, 2006

An Exciting Ride in the Big Red Taxi

I’m never one to shy away from bringing a musical reference into my writing, and I won’t do so now. Today, I’d like to welcome Joni Mitchell; A woman who dropped such timeless knowledge on us all, when she sang the words: “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.”

The Raptors had an 18 point lead on the Wizards with exactly 6:03 left in the 4th. I’m sitting up in the press-box thinking: “What the hell is Eddie Jordan doing? His guys are getting crushed, and he’s still got his starters doing battle.”

But then his Wizards starting firing off shots like Bullets. Caron Butler, who scored Washington’s first 8 points in the final frame, then picked up 4 more, as the Wizards went on a mini 6-0 run.

Jalen Rose replied with a big 3. (Right now, there’s 3:50 left, and the Raptors are up 106-91)

Then, just as I’m getting introduced to do my live hit on 680, both the anchor and sportscaster start proclaiming victory for the Raptors. You just can’t do that. And I led off my report by saying: “you can never count out these Wizards… especially when they’re playing the Raptors. Every game seems to go down to the wire…”

As these words leave my lips, Antawn Jamison fires off the first of 3 consecutive 3-pointers. I didn’t have the focus to talk, and write down the time of the last one, but I can tell you that the first 2 were just 25 seconds apart.

By this point, the Raptors’ lead is down to 6 (106-100), courtesy of a 15-3 run for Washington.

Chris Bosh then posts up Jamison on the other end, drives by baseline, and gets the two and the tweet… He coverts the free-throw to put the Raptors up by 9 (2:08 left).

On the other end, the Wizards go on an 8-0 run, capped off by a Gilbert Arenas 3. The Wizards have officially fired off a 23-6 run, to bring them to within 1, with 1:25 to go.

Mike James then replies with a pair of cold-blooded 3’s, sandwiched around an Arenas lay-in. 24.4 seconds later, the game’s over, and the Raptors preserve the win.

Raptors 117, Wizards 112

The Raptors win their 2nd straight, and Chris Bosh gets his first ever 30-point performance at home – in front of a franchise-low announced crowd of 13,640. Bosh finished with 33 points (15-of-19 shooting) and 13 rebounds. James had 29 points (11-of-16, and 5-of-7 from downtown), while Charlie Villanueva had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks on the day he was named to the Rookie squad for All-Star weekend in Houston.

After the game, it was up to me to cover the away-team… so per usual, we huddled up next to coach Eddie Jordan for some wise post-war thoughts…

I asked him what adjustments, if any, he made to help pull off that remarkable comeback attempt. After a somewhat standard response, I remarked how it seemed Arenas was the only one scoring in the first 3-quarters (he had 27, while Jamison was the next top-scorer with 10):

“Yeah, you know… I always like to give the other team credit. They played solid defense, even though I know you guys are writing, talking, about how bad their defense is, but you know… it’s no excuse for us.”

Then, of course, I had to ask what was going on during the huddles, when his team started to creep back…

“We’re sitting there saying ‘geez, you know, they’re getting a little tight.’ I think it wasn’t a matter of them missing a whole lot of shots, I thought we forced, we got a few good steals, got some blocks, they missed a few contested shots… and then we’re sitting down one, thinking we’re going to win this thing. You know, we got the momentum… we’re feeling good about ourselves, they’re thinking they won the game 4 minutes ago… and we’re thinking we’re gonna win this thing. But Mike James, man, stuck two big threes. That’s big… that’s big you-know-what for him.”


Gilbert Arenas, who ended up with 35 points, found the words:

“We were doing all the right things, but you know… James had big balls.”

Gilbert – who still stands as my favorite interview (I haven’t heard one cliché come out of his mouth yet) – also weighed in on the Raptors’ domination…

“They shot lights out. You know, between James and Chris Bosh, they only missed 10 shots. It’s hard to beat a team when they’re on a roll like that. You know, they had four days off, and they came out and hit shots… We fought for our lives, but they hit big shots at the end.”

=
At the Sam Mitchell pre-game scrum, all the talk was about Charlie making the rookie squad… He was asked if there was a sense of redemption, after Charlie got dogged so hard on draft-day:

“It’s not about ‘I told you so’ or ‘we knew better.’ We had confidence that Charlie was the right pick for us at 7, and he’s still got a long way to go, and a lot to learn, but he’s proving every day that he has a chance. If he continues to work, and keep the attitude that he has about work, then he has a chance to be a very good player in the NBA. And that’s all it’s about. We don’t have time to be worried about what people have to say, and what they think. We’ve gotta do what’s best for the Toronto Raptors.”

==
As we continue our tour back through time… it’s now Sunday. You’re at the ACC. I’m not, though. I’m at the radio station doing the updates… Missing what turned out to be a fantastic game.

Raptors 124, Kings 123 (OT)

The Raptors were up by 11, with 6:21 to go, when Ron “The Talk of the Town” Artest went off, and Mike Bibby single-handedly brought Sac-town back. Bibby finished with 42 points, while Artest scored 12 of his 24 points in the 4th to force overtime.

Chris Bosh got tech’d up, and fouled out, 2:15 into the extra frame, and apparently that fired up the Raps… and once again, Mike James. “Big Game” James (not Mr. Worthy) scored 7 of his 22 points in overtime, and the last play was designed for him to penetrate and get to the hoop. Simple.

Raptors stuck 1, with 11.2 seconds left… James winds down the clock a touch, drives to the hoop, then finds Jalen Rose (3-of-13 from the field at that point) open in the corner. Jalen pumps Fransisco Garcia, takes a couple steps in from the 3-point line, and drills the dagger over Kenny Thomas as time expires.

The Raptors’ 4-game losing streak is no more. Rose finished with 13 points, the day before he turned 33. Bosh had 21 points and 9 boards, while Morris Peterson scored a team-high 23 and pitched in with 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

An all-around solid effort from the Raptors… and another great Sunday game.

==
From Joni Mitchell, we go to Little Brother… As I type these final words, the entire Justice League could be speaking to the Raptors when they drop the phrase:

“Relax yourself… be easy, cuz… we like the way you do it.”


Over and over, LB repeat the phrase, and every time I put it in that context, I re-realize just how much I appreciate doing what I’m doing.

==
Friday night at the ACC, it’s the New York Knickerbockers. Come out and show some love. Those attendance numbers need to rise, people.

Thanks for checking in. I love you all.

5 comments:

Nat said...

hey zack.. nice rundown as usual and i love that joni mitchell song!
i actually heard your fan sports update a couple games ago online i was listening to the rap and then i was woah i know that name it was pretty random considering i was listenin to a raps game at 5 am here in dubai.. you have a good flow i must say i musta heard u before but this is the first time i noticed it was actually you. i am back in toronto on sunday cant wait just one more night of listening to the games thru audio league pass... speak to y'all soon

Anonymous said...

A few things I saw in both those games.

I think Zack and I talked about this in Novemeber. Dirk had just dropped 2 triples late to beat the Raps and I couldn't understand why they kept switching on the pick and rolls. Dirk kept shooting over Calderon easily. Same thing happened several times on Sunday. Substitute Bibby for Dirk. Why do they do this?

Z, you're lucky to have the job that you have. You get paid to watch ball, how sweet is that! Even better, you get to go to every game. Best of all, you don't have to listen to Swirsky. Against the Kings he had two classic lines.

1. Jalen throws an oop to Charlie from half court. Charlie with a good catch and finish. Swirsky - "OH MY GOODNESS, JALEN ROSE WITH A 75 FOOT ALLEY OOP PASS!!!!!!!"

75 feet?? my ass

2. Bosh beats S.A.R. easily to the lane from the top of the key. The Kings part like the Red Sea. He dunks gently and easily. Swirsky -"OH MY GOODNESS" CB4 JUST POSTERIZED 1, 2, 3 Kings!!!!"

Posterized? 3 Kings? my ass.

Dude needs to cut back on the bullshit and call the game the way it is. Nothing more annoying than a guy trying to do a sales job when one isn't needed.

Rant done. MJ out.

Anonymous said...

You love only me!! ;)

And that's my favourite LB song, BTW. Good lookin' out.

Zack Cooper said...

Nat... welcome home... soon. Look forward to more chats.

MJ... I wish I knew the answer to why the Raptors don't fight through screens. We should bring them to the J, and see how long they last. Nice Chuck-isms, by the way.

Soli... you know I love you. Especially when you spread the blog-love. I'll tell Charlie you say "what up."

Nat said...

farewell jalen rose... i dunno what to expect for tonights game with all this trade craziness going down... its going to be ironic seeing AD back in a raps uni.. your thoughts zack?