The AP reports: Raptors forward Jermaine O’Neal scooped up the game ball as the final buzzer sounded, not to remember a victory over Indiana, his former team, but to give new coach Jay Triano a memento from his first win. Jason Kapono scored a season-high 25 points, Chris Bosh added 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Raptors snapped a five-game losing streak with a 101-88 victory over the Pacers on Wednesday night… Jamario Moon also had a season high with 17 points for Toronto, including a putback dunk on O’Neal’s miss in the third quarter. Joey Graham had 12 points, and Jose Calderon added 11 points and 14 assists… Danny Granger led Indiana with 22 points, Murphy had 20 points and 20 rebounds, and Marquis Daniels finished with 21 points. The Pacers have lost four straight and nine of 11.
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Dec 9: Cavs 114, Raptors 94
The AP reports: LeBron James scored 31 points and became Cleveland’s career steals leader and Zydrunas Ilgauskas moved atop the Cavaliers’ rebounding chart as Cleveland improved to 12-0 at home with its latest rout. In winning their ninth straight by at least 12 points, the Cavaliers, now 17-1 since Nov. 3, are the first team in league history to win nine consecutive games in a single season so handily. Cleveland came in tied with Portland (1990-91), Chicago (1996-97), Detroit (2003-04) and Houston (2007-08)… Joey Graham scored 17 points, Jose Calderon 14 and Chris Bosh tied a season low with nine—16 below his average—for the Raptors, who have lost five in a row and three straight since coach Sam Mitchell was fired last week.
Dec 7: Blazers 98, Raptors 97
The AP reports: Steve Blake drained a go-ahead 3-pointer with 8 seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers spoiled Toronto coach Jay Triano’s home debut with a 98-97 victory over the Raptors. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and Blake added 19 for Portland, which has won six of seven. Rudy Fernandez scored 16 points, Brandon Roy had 15 and Greg Oden had 10 points and 10 rebounds… Jermaine O’Neal scored a season-high 24 and blocked six shots and Bosh added 19 points, but it wasn’t enough to give Triano his first win as the Raptors lost their fourth straight game… Jose Calderon had 15 points and 13 assists, and reserves Joey Graham and Jason Kapono had 10 points each.
Statement from Sam Mitchell
The Toronto Raptors recently fired head coach Sam Mitchell, replacing him with assistant Jay Triano on an interim basis. Bryan Colangelo told InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner and other reporters on a conference call that it’s quite likely Triano will finish out the season coaching the team.
Today, Mitchell released the following statement:
“Being the head coach of the Toronto Raptors has been a true pleasure and an honour for me. I owe a debt of gratitude to many for the opportunity – the MLSE Board of Directors, particularly Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie, as well as Bryan Colangelo and Rob Babcock. MLSE is a first-class organization, and I hope I have positioned the franchise to move in the right direction.
I will miss Toronto. I have grown to love the city and believe Raptors fans are among the best in all of professional sports. Together we brought to the organization its first divisional championship and I will always cherish that.
I feel that I have grown as a coach and a person over the course of my time with the Raptors. I value the relationships that I have developed with the coaching staff, players, support staff and media. I assure you that Jay Triano and the coaching staff will continue to do all they can for the franchise to reach its potential and goals.
I wish the organization all the best the remainder of this season and in the future.”
New Raptors coach debut tonight
The Globe and Mail (Michael Grange) report: One of the most accomplished players in Canadian basketball history, Jay Triano, 50, will make his debut as the Toronto Raptors’ bench boss tonight in Salt Lake against the Utah Jazz, becoming the first Canadian-born head coach in the NBA. Those in the NBA and elsewhere in the basketball community are optimistic about his chance to succeed. “I think he’ll be fantastic,” NBA star and fellow Canadian Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns said. “He absolutely loves the game of basketball. He’s passionate, a workaholic, and the kind of coach guys love to be around. He’s got all the ingredients to be an NBA coach.” “He’s got extreme confidence, extreme knowledge of the game,” said Tony Ronzone, the Detroit Pistons’ director of basketball operations. “He can adjust to different styles of play. I’d think he’s going to be terrific.”
Raptors fire Sam Mitchell
Toronto Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo announced Wednesday that Sam Mitchell has been relieved of his duties as the team’s head coach. Assistant coach Jay Triano will assume the position of interim head coach. The remainder of the coaching staff will continue in the organization.
InsideHoops.com readers are discussing the news here. Join in.
“This is a difficult but necessary step the franchise must take,” said Colangelo. “We appreciate all that Sam has done for the organization, applaud him for his successes and wish him nothing but the best with his future in basketball.”
Mitchell was named the sixth head coach in Raptors history June 29, 2004. He posted a 156-189 (.452) record in his four-plus seasons at the helm of the Raptors. He garnered the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season. He also captured The Sporting News 2007 NBA Coach of the Year honours in a vote among his head coaching peers. In January 2007, Mitchell became only the second coach in Raptors history to earn Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honours.
Jay Triano is in his seventh season as a member of the Raptors’ coaching staff. He became the first Canadian born and Canadian trained coach in the NBA when he served as an assistant coach to Lenny Wilkens during the 2002-03 season.
A native of Niagara Falls, Triano was the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team from 1998-2004 posting a 52-42 (.553) record. He led Canada to a semifinal berth in the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico and to a 5-2 record, second best to the United States, in the 2000 Olympics. He has also served as an assistant coach of the USAB Select Team (2007 and 2008), the head coach of the NIKE Skills Academy in Vancouver (2006) and Toronto (2007), and for the past six years as a coach at the prestigious EURO CAMP in Treviso, Italy.
Triano served as interim head coach for one game last season when Mitchell was away for a personal family matter. The Raptors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-82, on February 10 at Air Canada Centre.
Triano’s first game as interim head coach will be Friday when the Raptors visit the Utah Jazz. Game time is 10:30 ET. The game will be broadcast live TSN and The FAN 590.
Dec 2: Nuggets 132, Raptors 93
The AP reports: Chauncey Billups had 24 points and 14 assists in Denver’s 132-93 rout of the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night in a game that was out of reach by halftime… Jermaine O’Neal returned from a sprained left ankle that had cost him three games and he scored 12 points to go with Chris Bosh’s 24, but they couldn’t keep the Raptors from being routed.
InsideHoops.com Notes: Carmelo Anthony shot 9-of-19 for 23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Nene shot 8-of-9 for 19 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Nov 30: Lakers 112, Raptors 99
The AP reports: Pau Gasol had 24 points and nine rebounds, Kobe Bryant had 23 points and a season-high seven assists, and the Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 112-99 on Sunday night for their seventh straight victory… Bynum scored seven of his 18 points during the pivotal rally, including an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Sasha Vujacic, and another alley-oop play in which he guided in Jordan Farmar’s lob above the rim. Bynum shot 8-for-13 and grabbed 10 rebounds despite a bone spur in his right foot, which he’s had since landing on Vince Carter’s foot during last Tuesday’s game against New Jersey… Anthony Parker led Toronto with 19 points and five teammates also scored in double figures. Jermaine O’Neal missed his third straight because of a sprained left ankle. The Lakers held leading scorer Chris Bosh to 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting.
Traveling in luxury
As the editor of InsideHoops.com, I make more money in a month than Shaquille O’Neal makes in a year. I write this while flying on my private jet to visit one of my 29 mansions. Still, even compared to me, NBA players live a life of luxury. It’s also possible I’m hallucinating. Anyway, the Toronto Star (Dave Feschuk) reports:
In L.A. last night, for instance, the Raptors stayed at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, an ultra-luxe crash pad to pop-culture deities from John Lennon to Julia Roberts. The place is opulent enough that Jim Labumbard, Toronto’s veteran media relations guru who’s forgotten more nights in five-star hotels than most of the rest of us will ever experience, recalls bunking in a Wilshire suite lavish enough to have a bathroom on either end of its acreage. “Two bathrooms?” said Chris Bosh, the Raptors all-star, shrugging as though he’d know exactly what to do with such extravagance. “Have two baths, man.” If NBA players have grown blasé about their luxury lifestyle, consider that it’s been more than 20 years since the Detroit Pistons led the move to now-universal private-charter air travel. And even Sam Mitchell, the 43-year-old former player, can scarcely recall the days when a veteran had to pay a premium to secure his own room on the road. In this every-man’s-an-island league, a spacious room of one’s own is now an inalienable right written into the collective bargaining agreement.
Being an NBA player is cool.
Nov 28: Raptors 93, Hawks 88
The AP reports: Chris Bosh had 30 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Kapono scored a season-high 16 points and the Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks 93-88. Joey Graham added 11 points and Jamario Moon had 10 for Toronto, with guard Jose Calderon picking up 11 assists. Mike Bibby scored 24 points for Atlanta, Joe Johnson had 18 and reserve Maurice Evans added 17. Al Horford and Marvin Williams each had 10 points for the Hawks, who got 17 rebounds from Zaza Pachulia.