C's/Raptors - 12/1/06

- The Toronto Raptors are 6-10. However, they have lost on the road to the Kings, Warriors, Lakers, Nuggets, Jazz and Mavericks. They also fell to the Spurs at home. Contrast that with the Celtics who have only played two western conference teams (Jazz and Blazers) and have not traveled west of Milwaukee. In fact outside of two losses to the Hawks, the Raptors have good reason to feel optimistic. They have survived a tough part of their schedule and are still contending in their albeit weak division.

While the Air Canada Centre did not appear to be full last night, it was loud.

Much like Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman I like Chris Bosh a lot. Although I wonder how far he can take a team as the franchise player. Does he have a higher ceiling than Kevin Garnett?

I’m hoping that Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak are healthy. But you have to admit that it would be fascinating to see the team play without them. Most likely ugly, but fascinating nevertheless.

The Raptors have a very interesting collection of players. Towards the end of the game they dominated the Celtics on one defensive possession. While I often laugh when coaches and broadcasters marvel about a team’s “length”, it definitely helped stifle a possible C’s comeback. Szczerbiak in particular struggled to get his shot off last night.

From the Raptors’ website: “The Raptors continued their winning ways at Air Canada Centre Friday as they handled the Boston Celtics 106-102. Chris Bosh led the way with 25 and 11.” I think a team needs to win by at least 15 if they are going to “handle” an opponent. Of course I’m just bitter.

I really need to sit down and look at each possession that Brian Scalabrine plays. I’m pretty sure he’s not as bad as he is made out to be. However, there are expectations when you give a guy 3 million dollars a year. Doc speaks highly of Scalabrine, "Scal was phenomenal. Scal was the only guy on our team that could guard Chris Bosh. That's a joke. Chris Bosh is a great player, so I'm not taking anything away from him. I'm just saying someone else on our team besides the smallest big on our team should be able to guard him. I didn't want to take him off the floor." Are Boston fans being unfair?

I’d love to know how many of these jerseys the Celtics are moving a day.