Something Out of Nothing?

So by now, you could call it “the same old song,” a “broken record” or “salami and cheese gone bad.”

The Raptors and Celtics had a little bit of a shootout down at the OK A-C-C, but once again, it’s the home-team coming up with peanuts. Not even honey-roasted, either. Just plain peanuts. Unsalted at that.

124, 120

For the second time in as many games, Paul Pierce had an off night from the field (just 2/10), but got to the charity stripe at (good)will (18/24) to finish with 22. Wally Szczerbiak also notched 22, while Raef LaFrentz led a 53-point bench contribution with 20 (5/7 from downtown). Gerald Green had another huge dunk to cap off the game, but this time it actually meant something.

Morris Peterson had a game-high 32 points to go along with 8 boards and 6 assists (only one more than he had at the half), but mysteriously intentionally-fouled Ryan Gomes (17 points, 7 rebounds) with 39.8 seconds left (with the Raptors down only 3).

Mike James scored 20 of his 25 in the 2nd half, after looking like he didn’t want to play in the opening 24 minutes.

Matt Bonner had 16 points to go with a career-high 13 rebounds.

So if not for anything else, at least some of the young guys are progressing.

The Raptors re-signed Andre Barrett for the remainder of this, and next, season; leading to another mysterious DNPCD (Did Not Play, Coaches Decision) for Jose Calderon.

I actually bumped into Calderon before the game…

“Hey Zack, I sent you an e-mail…” He said.
“OK, Cool. Hey, how you doing? You feeling ok?” I asked just out of habit.
“Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good.”
“Alright man, do your thing.”

Apparently, his “thing” now means “sitting on the bench.”

Barrett still can’t shoot, but spread the ball around well, picking up 6 assists and no turnovers.

Joey Graham also had another solid showing, picking up 14 points (6/8 shooting), while fouling out after 28 and a half minutes.

I was covering the Celtics on this night, so after the game I went to talk to Mr. Doc Rivers.

“I don’t think you’re going to draw art from this game at all,” Doc said. “It’s not a beautiful game in any way.”
“Paul Pierce has a rough night from the field,” I say. “But we’ve seen it time and time again, the guy gets to the line at will…”
“Yeah, he’s the best. He’s one of the best in the league at getting to the foul line. You know, it’s funny… When you coach against him, like I did in Orlando, you think ‘gosh, this guy lives on the line.’ When you coach him, you don’t think he gets to the line enough. You think he gets fouled every time.”
“You guys did a great job shooting the ball, otherwise, though… 50% from the 3-point line-“
“Raef was huge, obviously. Raef came in and made some big shots for us… When our bench has 53 points… I’m not sure – Marquette math – it could be wrong… But when our bench scores 53 points, we’re going to win most games. And it was on a night when Paul was off from the field, but on from the free-throw line, so we’ll take it.”

A Raptors TV reporter snuck in a question before I got back into my final groove before departing into the locker room…

“Does it almost feel like you guys stole the win? I mean, you guys committed 20 turnovers, but with great shooting, come out on top…”
“Yeah, I mean we gave up 29 points off those turnovers, and I think it’s our third or fourth game in a row, we’re creeping back up in the turnover category, a lot of casual plays… in my opinion, calls that when we kept it simple, we were really good… when we tried to force the action, we’re not. We’re not at that level yet… and that’s something we have to learn.”

It was at that very point that I remembered how much easier it is to talk to the visiting (winning?) coach. I wasn’t paranoid about my phrasing… I just sort of put it out there, and it seems to work. I dominated that scrum. Felt good.

I had some things ready to go for Sam Mitchell (pre-game), but never got it out, because I was still living in my head. Apparently it’s still a work in progress.

So as the coach is wrapping up, I see more than half of the Celtics’ team is already dressed and heading to the team bus. I was literally seeing my story walk away from me, as Raef LaFrentz was the first one out.

I managed to stick a mic in Ryan Gomes’ face, but didn’t ask him anything (I don’t think – despite talking to him at a Raptors’ pre-draft workout). And only got one question into Pierce…

“Paul, you guys are sort of in the same boat as the Raptors… a young team, just trying to work hard. Your team’s down 7, with 4 minutes left. What’s going on in the huddles? What’s the mindstate?”
“We just tried to keep our composure, run our offense, and be more solid on defense. We got the stops that we needed, we rebounded the ball, and we made shots. We got to the line, we moved the ball, executed and got the stops we needed.”

So plenty of quotes, but not much in the ways of a story… The Raptors lost their 5th straight, and got mathematically eliminated from what was an after-thought, anyway… the playoffs.

As soon as the final buzzer went, I called Broadcast News, and filed a 27 second voicer (game recap), which almost instantly doubled my night’s pay. It took two takes, and all of about 57 seconds, including the dialing of the numbers, and waiting for someone to pick it up on the other end.

I saved it, and now have it forever. Something like that gets played by Canadian radio stations across the country. It makes me almost wish I put more time into it, but being rushed and all (I need to race to talk to the coach, and also wanted to say hello to my cousin sitting just a couple rows behind me), I did what I did.

I also e-mailed some clips to a company in Scottsdale, Arizona, which further added to my financial tally.

Not bad at all.

==
On Sunday, the Raptors and Hornets played in what was one of the best showcases of young rookies. Chris Paul (the “rookie of the year” to-be) notched his first triple-double with 24 points, 12 boards and 12 assists, out-doing Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham.

120, 113 (2OT)

The Raptors thus fall to 1-9 in overtime this season… one more overtime loss would tie the Clippers of ’00-’01, and the Baltimore Bullets of ’52-’53 (a team that went 0-20 on the road).

Charlie V had 25 points to go along with a career-high 18 rebounds, while Joey pitched in with a career-high 19 points.

Mike James fired up blank after blank, connecting on only 5 of his 25 shots.

On the other end, seldom-used-former-Raptor, Aaron Williams, dropped 13 points and 9 rebounds on his old “team.”

==
The Raps are in Indy tonight, Oklahoma City on Friday, and return home to take on the Bobcats on Sunday. I won’t be at that game – going the sportscasting instead – but hopefully something will come up.

Otherwise, I’ll have to start talking about the Jays.

In the meantime, a couple of links I thought were interesting enough to share:

Ever wonder why Vince Carter said he wanted to stop dunking? Check THIS:

And Disco Dirk Nowitzki’s making music (with Steve Nash)… and it’s not in the same vein as ABBA…HERE

Is it fake? I don’t know. It’s definitely not good. Your thoughts??