Raptors @ Cavaliers Game Thread: Mo Pete is BACK!

[GoRapz]

FOR MY CANADIANS: 7:00PM ET, TheScore

http://www.nba.com/media/LeBron_300_061205.jpg


Cleveland hasn't shot the ball well all season, but in its last outing, the team hit a new low.

The Cavaliers look to bounce back from a disastrous offensive effort when they host the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

Cleveland (10-7) ranks near the bottom of the league with a .443 shooting percentage and 94.9 points scored per game. The Cavs nearly broke a team record by shooting 28.2 percent in Saturday's 81-63 loss at Houston.

They failed to reach 20 points in any quarter and eclipsed their previous season low for points by 24. Cleveland scored a franchise-low 59 points in 1997 against San Antonio.

Coach Mike Brown credited Houston, which came into the game with the league's top scoring defense, and a number of players said it was the best the Cavs had seen all season.

``For us to only score 63 points and shoot 25 percent from the field, you know that team's defense had a lot to do with it, and I give them a lot of credit,'' Brown said. ``We tried a lot of different things, and none of them seemed to work. It had to do with how good of a defensive team they are.''

Cleveland star LeBron James, who scored 21 points but made just 7-of-22 shots from the field, said the offense deserved its share of the blame.

``Most of the shots we missed were good looks or shots we usually make,'' said James, who is averaging 27.4 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting.

Cleveland was coming off a 106-95 win at Atlanta in which it reached 100 points for just the fifth time this season. The Cavs have failed to score 90 points in five of their 17 games.

Cleveland could have a chance to bounce back against the Raptors (7-10), who are allowing opponents to shoot 46.9 percent and score 101.0 points per game, ranking them near the bottom of the league. Toronto has given up at least 100 points in each of its last three games.

The Raptors, though, have won four of their last five, including Saturday's 103-100 victory at New York. T.J. Ford had 20 points and 10 assists and helped the Raptors hold off a late Knicks rally, while Chris Bosh, who leads the team with 21.1 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, had 26 points and 13 boards.

``I just understand that there's two people who are going to have the ball, either me or Chris,'' Ford said. ``One of us has to make a play. And I just wanted to continue to build the confidence in my teammates to know that down the stretch, if we need a play or we need a shot ... they're going to have just as much confidence as I have in myself that I'm going to make the right play.''

Toronto has won two of three on the road after losing its first seven away from home this season.

The Raptors beat the Cavaliers 95-87 on Nov. 22, ending a four-game losing streak in the series. Bosh had 25 points and 14 rebounds, while James had 30 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Toronto has lost three straight and five of its last seven visits to Cleveland.

[Qwyjibo]

Road game vs a solid team, can't say I think the Raptors will win but whatever, go Raptors!

[DoubleTech]

we need a tough road win like this going into chicago. our offense is struggling early tho... cleveland isn't doing much better...

also... why the HELL isn't the shot clock working in this game? the announcers are saying "15 seconds, 10 seconds," etc to make up for it. absolutely rediculous, this is the NBA.

[BigTicket]

Really wish I could watch this but still stuck at the uni(1.25 am here), so I guess I will have to settle for commentary + boxscore for now.

Can anyone tell me how Daniel Gibson looks ? He's getting a lot more PT lately, which might be a good sign, his stats aren't impressive though.

[BigTicket]

God the cavs suck lately, had my hopes up with the 10-4 start then Raptors go on a 13-0 run ....:banghead:

[craigthomasb]

mo petes mvp campain is back on track

[DoubleTech]

bargnani looking solid so far... needs to step it up on the boards tho.. raps are being out rebounded.

[GoRapz]

lmao @ swirsky with the throw back joke. "The arena is having electrical problems with the shotclock, i know today is throw back day but come on"

he just had a pretty nice Canadian joke also about hockey.

[BigTicket]

Looks like another poor game from the cavs, sub 40% shooting and 6 turnovers vs none ...

We need Hughes back badly, what the hell is taking so long with him anyway ?

[GoRapz]

the announcer is getting kind of annoying with the shot clock counting... :confusedshrug:

[Glove_20]

Mo Pete?

I don't think he is playing...

[Phesto]

Is Mopete going to play?? I don't think he's been in yet...

[Qwyjibo]

Good effort by the Raptors in that half. They actually played solid defense and contained the Cavs.


- Lebron could tear apart the Raptors anytime he wants. I don't know why he only started being aggressive at the end of the half. He is passing up too many opportunities.

- TJ Ford sat for too long IMO. Calderon did have 4 assists but the offense just seems to get stagnant when he's in there. Ford had a great half. I love seeing him in there creating easy shots for everyone.

- Good half by Parker. He, like Garbajosa, needs to start stepping in on those 3's because it doesn't seem like he has the range but he's playing really well so far.

- Good half from Bosh as well. Doesn't seem like the eye infection is bothering him much. The Raptors really need him on the floor because their rebounding disappears completely when he's on the bench.

- Garbajosa playing solid D as usual as well.

- Bargnani needs to use his size as an advantage more. He did that in the last minute of the half but it has to happen more often on both ends. Right now he is a 7'1 SG and that's not good. Get him touches in the post, GET SOME REBOUNDS PLEASE!!

[kwajo]

As much as I love Bargs, and got really excited by his last minute post score and block, I was sad to see Rasho being taken out, especially after he had a nice tough foul on LeBron going to the basket. That's exactly what we need a real center for - to protect the paint, and yet Mitchell gave him the yank for, as Q put it, a 7'1 SG. :rolleyes:

[GoRapz]

Mo-Pete is dressed for the game, I don't know why Mitchell hasn't put him in yet. I'm pretty sure we could use Mo to guard Lebron.

[Mathius]

Just got home. Looked at the box score at NBA.com after missing the first half. Anyone know why Gibson got the start for the Cavs? Is Brown hurt?

He seems to be scoring well. 9 points in 7:30. Would be nice if he could push Snow back in the lineup.

Mathius

[DoubleTech]

so far so good... only up by 3 tho. parker is playing exactly how i envisioned him playing when we aquired him... looks like we're going to get a shot clock for the second half.

[BigTicket]

Gooden + Z so far have 0 points combined, and we're in the 2nd half ...

[craigthomasb]

thats raso baby! best raps centre for time

[Mathius]

Gooden + Z so far have 0 points combined, and we're in the 2nd half ...

Yeah, how about that sequence by Gooden. 1 trip down the floor doing nothing, then back to the defensive end, he gets beat in a zone defense and leaves Nesterovic open for a jumper. Comes down the other end and gets boxed out by Bosh. Next offensive trip down the floor he comes flying out of nowhere to try to tip in the ball because he once again got beat on the box out and was nowhere near the interior. Came closer to an 'over the back' call than actually touching the ball. Then next trip down the floor nothing.

Nice.

Well worth that big contract as usual.

Mathius

[Mathius]

When was the last time the Cavs ran a post play EVER? Not just, heaven forbid, for Z?

Mathius

[GoRapz]

free mo-pete off the bench!!!

[GoRapz]

someone tell me where tj ford is

[Mathius]

free mo-pete off the bench!!!

Parker is kicking our ass, why would you want to bring in Pete?

Mathius

[Qwyjibo]

Yea Parker is playing great and Fred Jones isn't sucking completely. No reason for Mo Pete to come into this game.


Bosh's rebounding is so huge for the Raptors. Without him on the floor it's almost painful watching them try to grab defensive boards.

[DoubleTech]

raps by 5 with just over 5 minutes to go... gotta keep Calderon in to keep us steady. fred jones looking much better this game aside from a few fast break gaffes.

raps really hitting the defensive boards hard... glad to see it.

[GoRapz]

Parker is kicking our ass, why would you want to bring in Pete?

Mathius

Pete doesn't have to come in for Parker..I was going to say come in for Jones, but he's showing the old jones

[Phesto]

Wow, what a collapse.

[Mathius]

That's three huge assists in a row by the guy everyone says is so overrated.

Mathius

[Qwyjibo]

Jesus Christ... that's like the 4th time Bargnani just left someone under the rim for an easy bucket.


Lebron seemingly decides to coast throughout the 3rd and most of the 4th quarter because he knows he can get a win in the last minutes. He is tearing up the Raptors.


Bosh really needs to get some baskets too. He's been invisible in the 2nd half.

[Mathius]

Pete doesn't have to come in for Parker..I was going to say come in for Jones, but he's showing the old jones

Who started this "undersized small forward" trend? 10 years ago these 6'5" 6'6" forwards would have gotten their asses kicked.

Mathius

[GoRapz]

wow, huge melt down by the raptors, they lost

[Mathius]

Lebron's in a zone. He isn't forcing anything. Great decision making.

Mathius

[Mathius]

Raptors got a huge break on that out of bounds. Personally I thought that would have been tripping on Varejo before a Raptors possession.

Two big time threes as well.

Mathius

[DoubleTech]

phuuk.... cleveland is nailing a bunch of 3's tonight... down by 4 with 17 seconds left... this game is done.

[GoRapz]

i'm very dissapointed in this loss. I thought we were able to close out close games now, i guess not.

[Mathius]

Pressure free throws for the rookie. 75% ft shooter in college last year.

Mathius

[Qwyjibo]

Well with 4 minutes left in the game the Raptors decided they don't really want to win this game. Lebron turned it on and the Raptors just sat back and watched with no response.


Nothing but stupid jump shots. Bosh, Ford, Bargnani, Parker... all long jumpers. Why??


What a waste of 3 and a half good quarters from the Raptors. How do you go away from what was working well for so long in the last few minutes of a close game?!?! Lebron is amazing and was going to torch them no matter what but the Raptors didn't seem to care about answering and chucked up long jumper after long jumper. Such an aggravating game because they played so damn well until the very end.

[Phesto]

Yo, you gotta knock that sh!t off. Stop signing all your posts. This isnt an email correspondence.

[B-Low]

AAAAAAAND you can book this one to the Cavaliers!!

[Mathius]

Yo, you gotta knock that sh!t off. Stop signing all your posts. This isnt an email correspondence.

Grow up.

Mathius

[DoubleTech]

7-11... could have EASILY had this game... hurts more than a blowout, it really does. raps played alright D this game, cleveland was just hot from the outside when they needed to be.

i really wished they played gooden more, we really needed him in their in the fourth quarter. :(

[Phesto]

Grow up.


Me grow up? You're the one doing something that's obviously annoying, and I don't think it's just me that's annoyed by it.

[Mathius]

Me grow up? You're the one doing something that's obviously annoying, and I don't think it's just me that's annoyed by it.

Yes, you. Grow up. You find it annoying? I put a name at the end of a post and that's supposed to be a big deal? If everyone did it you wouldn't say crap but because I'm the only one who does, you guys make it a big deal.

Grow up. It's not changing. I've said it before and I'll say it again. People sign their posts on almost every board on the internet. You are the minority here. Get over it. Deal with it. Grow up. It isn't a big deal. Quit whining about it. It isn't going to change.

And if you have a problem with someone personally, don't jump in the middle of a thread and interrupt what everyone else is talking about to challenge one person. That's what PM's are for.

But don't bother PM'ing me either. It isn't going to change. Live with it.

Mathius

[HaNdLe ThE RoCk]

wow, huge melt down by the raptors, they lost

what's new? :confusedshrug:

[DoubleTech]

what's new? :confusedshrug:

knick fans having balls after we handled them on their home court, thats whats new.

[GoRapz]

what's new? :confusedshrug:
they didnt break down during the knicks.

[Qwyjibo]

Ah cmon guys. Having the guy on ignore doesn't work if everyone quotes his posts. :D

People should realize that Handle the Rock is basically the joke of ISH. Read his post, laugh a little and move on because there isn't anything of value there.

[HaNdLe ThE RoCk]

both have 7 wins..

not even going to argue..

were the raptors suppose to make the playoffs this year or somethin?

[Nilocon165]

Let's go cavs