scotts shots – boston game oct 6

- no matter what, the starting 5 of the Celtics are intimidating.

- celtics get more applause than the foreign laden Raptors

- is it just me or don’t the baskets look higher in Italy…

- to me, bargs looks thinner, not bigger.

- delfino could be the darkhorse.

- bargs has the hot hand…swish swish swish

- garnett to perkins under the basket is just typical of the MVP type player garnett is.

- bosh stuffs garnett onto his ass.

- refs calling a lot of travelling violations. No surprise that Violet Palmer is on the floor.

- Rondo is impressive. Good court vision, smooth stroke. He must be salivating thinking he gets to feed Garnett.

- raps 5/12 from 3 nearing the end of the half.

- garnett reverse stuffs….and screams.

- garnett outjumps Bosh and 2 other raptors below the basket and slams it home. Ahhh…some things never change in Raptorland.

- boston 43 – toronto 40 at the half

- raps shoot 38%, are 5/12 from the 3 and 5/9 at FT. Bargs has 3 fouls. Welcome to 2006…er 2007.

- garnett as a double double at the half.

- NBA tv commentators are trying to pay dues to the Raptors, but the love for the Celtics is overshadowing.

- bargs puts it on the floor against garnett. Nice move, draws a foul.

- bargs getting physical with garnett on the defensive end….but picks up his 4th.

- KG is definitely the star of the game, schooling almost every Raptor that they put on him.

- oh oh…pierce has his fadeaway going….

- would it surprise you if I told you the Raptors are getting beaten on the boards? thought not.

- Rasho with a nice block. I love Rasho. He’s my man.

- TJ feeling some hot fingers.

- Garbo has been nailed to the bench.

- garnett: 19 pts 16 boards at the end of 3.

- 70-68 Celtics at the end of 3.

- Tony Allen comes down on his hurt knee and limps a bit afterward, but is fine.

- Moon and Baston on the floor with 8mins left.

- Moon with a nice smooth outside shot. The commentators are all over Moon, love the guy.

- Baston looks as expected: a 10th or 11th man at best.

- Big Baby looks great on both ends of the floor….still Big, but moving well.

- juan dixon is working hard, trying to win it on his own.

- Raptors had a chance to win it, but Dixon’s shot is long.

- 2 more chances for naught.

- Boston wins 89-85.  Great exhibition game. Good crowd.  Looks like they enjoyed it.

Toronto Raptors – Photos – NBA – Yahoo! Sports

Toronto Raptors – Photos – NBA – Yahoo! Sports

SportingNews.com – NBA – Raptors preview: International house of hoops

SportingNews.com – NBA – Raptors preview: International house of hoops
After the season, Colangelo didn’t sit by idly. He made some critical moves that he hopes will keep this franchise’s momentum going.

Toronto surrendered two second-round draft choices to Detroit for Argentinean swingman Carlos Delfino, who got lost in the talent shuffle with the Pistons. A member of Argentina’s 2004 Olympic gold-medal team, Delfino is not a pure shooter, but he’s fearless going to the basket like his Olympic teammate, San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili. He will likely take advantage of the extended minutes offered north of the border.

And while Morris Peterson has left for New Orleans, Toronto upgraded its perimeter game by signing Miami free agent Jason Kapono, who is coming off a year in which he led the NBA in three-point percentage (.514).

“Kapono is considered one of the best shooters — or arguably is the best shooter — and will complement our driveand- kick game,” Colangelo says.

Last season, Toronto was fifth in field-goal percentage (.463) and ninth in three-point accuracy (.363), and now the Raptors appear to be improved in both areas.

Shooting For The Moon

HOOPSWORLD | NBA News, Rumors and Information – Shooting For The Moon
Regardless of how the next few weeks unfold Moon is relishing his time with a NBA team.

“It’s heaven for me right now,” Moon told HOOPSWORLD. “I feel like I could die and I’ve accomplished everything I’ve wanted to accomplish so far.”

Don’t get it twisted – that doesn’t mean the wiry forward is content with simply making it to Raptors training camp. It’s just that Moon has become enamoured with the city of Toronto and his new teammates in the brief time he’s been in here.

It didn’t take long for Moon to fall in love with a franchise willing to give him his first opportunity at making an NBA roster.

“I love the city. It’s clean, it’s safe, everybody’s like you and smiling. Everyone gets along so it’s great.”

Talking about people playing with their balls: Why aren’t NBA players loyal?

ShamSports.com – Talking about people playing with their balls: Why aren’t NBA players loyal?
The irony is that Jones’ contract would not have even been expiring, had he not declined the player option 16 months before he needed to make a decision.

So Fred’s loyal move towards the Blazers, giving up a year of multi million salary and a year of almost-certain employment just to be able to join them, has now left him perilously close to a situation in which he could be out of the league altogether, only 16 months after signing a three year deal.

Wouldn’t happen in the real world, let me tell you.

And that’s why the players are loyal to themselves first and truly foremost. Fred turned down $3.5 million in an act of charity, yet now, if worst comes to the worst, he won’t even earn $100,000 in the D-League next season, should he get stuck there.

Poor bastard, in both senses of the word “poor”.

Celtics working on transition offense

Celtics working on transition offense – The Boston Globe
Garnett, a 10-time All-Star, has said Mitchell taught him how to be a professional after entering the NBA out of high school.

Not long after the Celtics acquired Garnett in a blockbuster trade in July, he called Mitchell to tell him how ecstatic he was to be going to Boston. Garnett reiterated those feelings to Mitchell in Italy.

“[Garnett] loves being in Boston, loves his teammates,” said Mitchell, the winner of this year’s Red Auerbach Trophy as Coach of the Year. “He said if he knew the NBA was like this, he would have wanted to be traded a long time ago . . .

“I just think everybody does things a little different and he just enjoys it. When you’ve been in one place your whole career, you forget how other people do things and he’s never seen how other organizations work. I think he’s very impressed with the way Boston treats their players and how they do things.”

Celtics embark on rebuilding phase

globesports.com: Celtics embark on rebuilding phase
The Raptors were in the Celtics’ shoes last season — less the three big stars — and after handing out the name tags in training camp, they started the season 7-14.

Staying largely the same has been welcomed. “It makes a big difference, we know we have a really good thing going here and we’re trying to improve and continue the whole thing,” Bosh said. “I think it’s very good. You have to have chemistry on offence and defence.

“Boston might come in and have great chemistry off the bat, but you can’t rush it. Sometimes it’s not going to be the best situations and people get frustrated with that and tend to ask, ‘What’s going on?’ It happened with us. If they don’t come out and start the season spectacularly, people are going to wonder why.”

The Andrea Bargnani lovefest was over before it started. It may be a homecoming, but it certainly hasn’t been a heartwarming one

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – The Andrea Bargnani lovefest was over before it started. It may be a homecoming, but it certainly hasn’t been a heartwarming one
Bargnani may be one of the best athletes out of Italy, but it is painfully obvious that he is not one of the most popular.

And that’s quite a surprise, as Bargnani’s handlers have sold the second-year Raptor as being a big star in his home country, and especially here in his hometown.

But there is a definite air of indifference surrounding Bargnani’s monumental return to The Eternal City. Most basketball fans here seem more excited about the presence of the big three from the Boston Celtics — Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett — than about Bargnani or the Raptors, and that’s why tonight’s pre-season game between the two NBA sides at Pala Lottomatica is sold out.

It seems that Bargnani is not Italian enough for Italians.

Trans-Atlantic rep battle

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Trans-Atlantic rep battle
“We’re always going to be under the radar, to a certain extent, because we’re in Toronto,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said yesterday. “I can’t remember the last time we played on a TNT game or an ABC game, so what’s new?”

Almost famous

Almost famous
“He didn’t speak all that much, even when he was young,” Bargnani’s mother, Luisella Balducci says, laughing. “And he was always very short in his writing for school.

“He is very focused. He doesn’t read the newspapers very much. He is focused on the game, and he likes playing it so very much, and the rest of it isn’t very important to him. “He just loves to play.”

Celtics’ `Big Three’ creating a buzz in the NBA

TheStar.com | Sports | Celtics’ `Big Three’ creating a buzz in the NBA
Will it be easier him to flourish with the Boston Celtics? Without a doubt, says one of his closest friends in basketball.

“Oh, yeah, without a doubt because he has no ego,” Sam Mitchell said yesterday of Garnett, who makes his debut for Boston alongside Paul Pierce and Ray Allen this afternoon against the Raptors.

“Kevin doesn’t have to take the last shot, he doesn’t have to, quote-unquote, `be the man.’ He’s been the man and he’s always going to be the man to a certain extent because of how good he is and who he is and that’s never going to change.

“But he doesn’t have to feed his ego like that. I know the only thing important to Kevin is trying to win basketball games and compete for a championship.”

Raptors now all friends

TheStar.com | Sports | Raptors now all friends
if there is one prevailing upgrade to this team, it’s the cohesion it should show on the court.

“I like our team. I like the way our makeup is,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said yesterday. “We may not have three all-stars we can throw out on the floor, but we’ve got nine, 10, 11 players and over the course of a game we think we can wear people down.”

And nine, 10, 11 players who should each know what the others are going to do.

Bargnani uneasy being home

TheStar.com | NBA | Bargnani uneasy being home
In a nation whose stereotypical citizen is a fast-talking, hand-talking extrovert, Bargnani, the stone-faced speaker of few-word sentences, is the national antithesis. As a player, perhaps that counts as a strength. And there is no reason to believe that Bargnani, who was tendered an expected extension of his rookie contract yesterday that will keep him in Toronto through the 2008-09 season, won’t continue his ascent. He’s expected to be the club’s full-time starting centre this season. He’s got the skills and the size to be an NBA stats factory.