Asdf's RaptorsDynasty: A dynasty no more

[John WB]

Thanks John, you're always there to reply to my dynasty when I get sad because I barely get any replies ... I appreciate that.

No problem. It's my pleasure man.

Key Matchup

C - T. Battie(5.5ppg, 6.3rpg) vs S. O'Neal(19.7ppg, 10.2rpg)

You're fucked in that key matchup.

[Fresh8]

.....Thanks man, it means a lot.

Thanks man! You got my respect for trying! Props for having an aim too!

[Philantropical]

Go Raps GO! Nice stuff. I like the idea of the "articles" and the box scores ur making. Keep it up, It's_Asdf!

Suggestion:

Trade away Araujo, Davis and Palacio for a great PG and an ok Center.

[cklitsie]

If I were you I would try to make some unrealistic trades, i.e. mediocre players for good ones. Maybe it's because I'm not a big Toronto fan, but you don't really have much to work with right now. JR Smith will be really good (=good trade) - but he isn't yet.
I don't really know if you're a fan of the Raptors in general or also of the players individually, but I would trade for a point guard and I'd trade some bench players of yours to get better backups, you could also sign some good free agents (tips: Lonny Baxter or Bryce Drew) when you make 2-for-1 trades.
That's my suggestion to make this dynasty a little more interesting, but maybe you like the team you've got now I don't know.

Your dynasty style is good anyway, it's just the team that I don't really like...

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Nice job on the team report card and january team summary.

The Heat should be a great matchup and I'm hoping for you to get the win, but Heat maybe too strong. Good luck

[Its_asdf]

Rose Puts Out the Heat (96-93 Raptors*)

Raptors Boxscore
Heat Boxscore

Out of all of the clutch fourth quarters that Jalen Rose has scored in, he probably made the biggest difference in this game. Rose scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a three pointer from the corner to give the Raptors the lead in the final seconds of the game. Rose also got some of the usual help from Chris Bosh, who contributed with another solid double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. Tony Battie also had a somewhat surprising night, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against Shaquille O'Neal. Ex-Heat player Rafer Alston shot poorly from the field, but contributed 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists against his former team. Toronto also surprisingly outrebounded the Heat by 10, including the offensive boards.

Shaquille was expected to dominate Battie and went 8 for 9 from the field, but only scored 16 points and had 7 rebounds. Second leading scorer Dwyane Wade was repeatedly hounded on offense by Alston, forcing him to 5 of 21 shooting. Wade's backcourt counterpart Damon Jones made up for Wade's offensive struggles and shot the lights out with 4 of 6 three pointers and had 24 points in all.

"We contained Shaq and Wade, and I think that was the most important factor of the game," Battie had said. "I tried to use my mid-range jumper to try and lure O'Neal out of the paint and make him run and tire him out a little, and Alston played great D on Wade. When Jalen had the ball for the final shot I knew he was going to take that shot and make it."

Both teams played their running and gunning offence in the first quarter, showcasing some feracious dunks from both second-year players Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Bosh and Wade each scored the first 6 points for each of their teams, and the back and fourth style led to both teams shooting over 50% from the field, but the Heat came up with the one point lead for Miami, 23-22.

The rapid and exciting pace continued in the second quarter, this time with Eddie Jones and sixth man Kedrick Brown going at each other and trading baskets. Brown scored all 8 of his points in the second quarter while Eddie Jones matched Brown's 8 points with 10 points of his own to give him 15 points by the half. Neither Jones or Brown scored at the second half. Toronto was the team that came on top though, as they outscored the Heat by two points on a Rafer Alston jumper at the buzzer and had a 49-48 halftime lead. Battie had 8 points and 9 rebounds by halftime already, while O'Neal only had 6 points and 2 rebounds.

All of a sudden the game slowed down and the game went from a very fast paced and exciting game into a more sluggish halfcourt pace. Both the Heat and the Raptors had their ups and downs this quarter, with both teams taking turns going on tiny scoring runs while the other team would go on a scoring drought. This made the field goal percentage take a nosedive for both teams, as tey both shot below 40% this quarter.

Miami pushed the tempo back up to speed thanks to consecutive Toronto turnovers leading to two pull-up three pointers by Damon Jones. Both teams began to revert back to the up-tempo style, but with the Raptors trailing by 7 with 2 and a half minutes to go, they needed to play some defence and get some stops. Kedrick Brown came up with a steal and fed Rafer Alston for an easy layup, then Bosh managed to find Jalen Rose for a three pointer to cut the lead back to 2 points. Shaq answered back by slamming down two thunderous dunks, but those were answered by Alston and Rose threes to tie the game up at 93. Eddie Jones missed a wide open three pointer and J.R. Smith rebounded the ball and called timeout. With 25 seconds left, the Raps threw the inbounds pass to Alston who dribbled away most of the clock but found Jalen Rose near the corner and the 6'8 Rose put it up with no hesitation over the smaller 6'3 Damon Jones. The ball touched nothing but the net and the Raptors had a three point lead with 2.8 seconds left. Shaq fired an airball three pointer as the clock expired and the Raptors walked away with a surprising win that left the home crowd in silence.

"They stuck to us all game long," said Heat coach Stan Van Gundy. "Everytime we tried to make a run they would answer back with a run of their own. I'm proud of the way our guys fought and I give the Raptors credit for playing some good defence on Shaq and Wade thoughout the game."

Picture of the game

Rose recognized the height advantage over Jones and put up the game winner.

Other Pictures
Shaq throwing one down over 4 purple jerseys!
Alston hit his only three pointer over three people
Dwayne Wade only had 11 points, but had plenty of highlight dunks this game.
Bosh was the recipient of many fastbreak dunks.

Player of the Game
C. Bosh
Min - 28
Pts - 16
Rebs - 13
Asts - 3
Stls - 1
Blks - 0
TOs - 1
PFs - 1
FG - 6/14
3ptFG - 0/0
FTs - 4/5

[Its_asdf]

Nice job on the team report card and january team summary.

The Heat should be a great matchup and I'm hoping for you to get the win, but Heat maybe too strong. Good luck

Thanks, its always good to hear compliments from someone with such a great dynasty.

If I were you I would try to make some unrealistic trades, i.e. mediocre players for good ones. Maybe it's because I'm not a big Toronto fan, but you don't really have much to work with right now. JR Smith will be really good (=good trade) - but he isn't yet.
I don't really know if you're a fan of the Raptors in general or also of the players individually, but I would trade for a point guard and I'd trade some bench players of yours to get better backups, you could also sign some good free agents (tips: Lonny Baxter or Bryce Drew) when you make 2-for-1 trades.
That's my suggestion to make this dynasty a little more interesting, but maybe you like the team you've got now I don't know.

Your dynasty style is good anyway, it's just the team that I don't really like...

I think your dynasty style is good too, but I don't like the Knicks either . As for the trades, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've got and I'm not afraid of making some unrealistic trades, because a lot of them happen all of the time. What I don't like to do, is make a million trades that benefit me all the time, it REALLY kills the realism after that.

Go Raps GO! Nice stuff. I like the idea of the "articles" and the box scores ur making. Keep it up, It's_Asdf!

Suggestion:

Trade away Araujo, Davis and Palacio for a great PG and an ok Center.

I'll try to trade Araujo, but Davis has 9 million coming off the season and I'm -10million right now, so I'm thinking about letting his contract expire. Palacio is already traded to Orlando for Stevenson and Battie man.

Thanks man! You got my respect for trying! Props for having an aim too!

You're too kind......

You're fucked in that key matchup.

heh, its a good thing that Shaq never got the ball a lot.......

Thanks for all of the comments guys, really good to see more people posting here....

[Philantropical]

Nice to see the Raps come on top! 9-6, Don't fuck that up!


Suggestion:

DO ANYTHING TO GET IGUODALA!

[John WB]

Raptors beating the Heat. Wow.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

This dynasty is definitely improving by the day. Great recaps, Asdf, I did'n even notic ethere were no game pictures until now.... Keep up the good work...

It's always good to try and make perennial underachievers grab a playoff spot... I know by experience

[Philantropical]

Exciting season already!

[Its_asdf]

Inside the Raptors: Update

J.R. Isn't Satisfied



Even though J.R. Smith was taken off the starting lineup quite a while ago, J.R. has recently voiced his displeasure about being demoted from the starting lineup. The lastest game that 19 year-old out of St. Benedicts highschool played was in the middle last month against the Charlotte Bobcats, where he scored 19 points, had 3 rebounds and 1 assist. The next game against Sarcramento J.R. was demoted and DeShawn Stevenson started 1 game and then Alvin Williams took over as the starting shooting guard.

"I don't know why the coach would put me on the bench, but I don't like it too much," Smith had said to the media yesterday. "I played very well as a starter, and I think that I can make the difference out there earlier on if I was given more minutes."

Sam Mitchell has heard about Smith's recent complaints and is still uncertain about who will be the starting at the two-guard. Sam Mitchell has a better understanding of the situation than most people do, since Sam Mitchell was a teamate to Kevin Garnett when he was playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who was a highschool player looking to make a name for himself just like J.R. Smith, and Mitchell eventually gave up his starting spot to develop Garnett.

"There are a lot of guys deserving of that spot, guys like Alvin, Kedrick, DeShawn even J.R. I have nothing against J.R., but I think he has to learn a little bit more from the bench rather than starting right now. He just needs to play his game and concentrate a little more, but his time will definitely come, I promise."

J.R. also has DeShawn Stevenson on his side, who also came straight out of highschool. Though many critics labelled him as a player with only athletic ability, DeShawn has played quite well for the Raptors off the bench, giving the Raptors a lot of energy and hustle. Stevenson is also teaching J.R. Smith the ropes of the NBA and helping his transition from highschool to the big leauge. When asked about him, DeShawn could only think of positive things.

"I see stardom written all over him. If he and Chris Bosh grow a little older and gain more experience, they'll become a tough one-two punch in the league. I thought we should start him, but I'm not the coach, so I can't really do anything about it."

Raptors activate Sow, put Araujo on IR

Activated:IR:

The Raptors have placed second round pick Pape Sow into the active roster and moved rookie Rafael Araujo to the injured list. Araujo was selected 8th overall by Toronto, but the Brazilian centre has not lived up to expectations ever since, playing in only 8 games and averaging 2.6 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game. Although the Raptors' only true centre off the bench is Araujo, Donyell Marshall has played a pretty solid role as the back-up centre for Tony Battie, while Matt Bonner has also beat out Araujo in coach Mitchell's big man rotation.

Pape Sow has yet to play a game and has spent the whole season in the I.R. so far. Sow was drafted by the Miami Heat at the 47th pick of the 2004 draft, but his rights were traded to the Raptors for the rights to centre Albert Miralles. The 6-10 power foward averaged 17.3 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game for Cal-State Fullerton in his final year. Although Sow is a second round pick, Sow has a hard work ethic and a solid upside to his game. The Raptors staff, especially assistant coach Alex English, raves about the native of Sengal and General Manager Rob Babcock has called him "a poor man's Ben Wallace".

"He runs the floor very well and can block a lot of shots thanks to his althetiscm and his leaping ability. He's still a very raw player, but if we manage to use him properly, I can only see good things for this kid," said English.

[Philantropical]

Haha. Just like in real life Asdf, could you pm me ur e-mail? I need to tell u something.

[Its_asdf]

Nice to see the Raps come on top! 9-6, Don't fuck that up!


Suggestion:

DO ANYTHING TO GET IGUODALA!

It'll be hard, but I'll try my best.....

Raptors beating the Heat. Wow.

C'Mon, I ain't that bad aren't I?

This dynasty is definitely improving by the day. Great recaps, Asdf, I did'n even notic ethere were no game pictures until now.... Keep up the good work...

It's always good to try and make perennial underachievers grab a playoff spot... I know by experience

Thank you. Hopefully I can make this post-season a memorable one.

[Fresh8]

I'm not too kind man... dont say that!

And brilliant win over the Heat man! Hope Sow solves your problems lol @ Arujao!

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

lol @ Arujao!

I heard somewhere that "Araujo" is Portuguese for 'bust'... Is this true?

[Philantropical]

No it's not but he really si a bust cept when he made a three point shot against the 'Cats, he made that wicked pass to Alston for a layup in NJ and when he had 14 points against G State.

[The X]

I saw Pape Sow was activated and thought I should pop my head in

nice work, keep it up

[John WB]

Raptors beating the Heat. Wow.

C'Mon, I ain't that bad aren't I?

No, but the Raptors aren't exactly an upper tier team.

[Philantropical]

WHEN'S THE NEXT GAME!!!

[Its_asdf]

Toronto Raptors (9-6) vs L.A. Lakers(8-5) Preview

Toronto is hoping to close out their five game road trip that started last month on a good note against a very different looking Los Angeles Lakers team from last year. Toronto won the previous matchup against the Miami Heat with the help of a buzzer beating three pointer from Jalen Rose in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Toronto has gone 3-1 in the 4 consecutive road games that they have played so far.

As we said earlier, the Los Angeles Lakers are a very different looking team from last year. Last season the Lakers had Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, all of whom are All-Star caliber players. However, the Lakers were booted out of the finals by the Detriot Pistons and the Lakers organization has been dismantled their roster during the offseason. Karl Malone retired, while Gary Payton was traded to Boston for Jumaine Jones, Chris Mihm and Chucky Atkins. One of the most dominant centres in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal, was also dealt to Miami for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and Caron Butler. Bryant is the only player that remains, and is doing his best to lead the team with 23.8 points per game while Lamar Odom has filled in surperbly in the power foward position, averaging 19.4 points and 9.5 rebounds. Surprisingly, the Lakers haven't fallen apart and are third in the Western Conference and 1st in the Pacific division.

"They are definitely dangerous, especially if they get Kobe or Lamar going," said Alvin Williams, who has the task of containing Bryant. "Kobe is easily one of the top 5 guards in the league, if we let our guard down on defence, he'll burn us."

Notes to Know
-The Laker trio of Bryant, Odom and Butler are all in the top 10 of the league leaders in a certain category. Bryant is ranked 6th in points per game, Odom is ranked 9th in defensive rebounds per game (7.2) and Caron Butler is ranked 7th in steals with 2.15 per game.
-the Lakers are ranked second last in turnovers, the only team that has commmited less turnovers are..... The Raptors.
-Only 5 players remain (including Bryant) from the original 2003-2004 season roster, but 4 of the players are not even recieving substantial amounts of playing time (Medvedenko, Cook, Walton and George).
-Coincidentally, the Raptors played the Heat last game against Shaquille O'Neal, who has a strong dislike to Kobe and is probably one of the reasons why he wanted to be traded.

Starting 5

C - T. Battie(5.9ppg, 6.5rpg) vs C. Mihm(7.2ppg, 7.8rpg)

PF - C. Bosh(17.9ppg, 8.5rpg) vs L. Odom(19.4ppg, 9.5rpg)

SF - J. Rose(17.5ppg, 4.4apg) vs C. Butler(13.5ppg, 5.6rpg)

SG - A. Williams(4.1ppg, 1.7apg) vs K. Bryant(23.8ppg, 5.9rpg)

PG - R. Alston(9.7ppg, 5.9apg) vs C. Atkins(13.1ppg, 5.3apg)

Key Matchup

SG - A. Williams(4.1ppg, 1.7apg) vs K. Bryant(23.8ppg, 5.9rpg)

Kobe can hurt the Raptors in more ways than scoring. Kobe's incredible quickness and superior athletiscm allows him to penetrate the defence quickly and effortlessly, while he can also pass very well and rebounds quite effectly for someone his size. Kobe is also a very clutch player and an extremely good defender, and has shown that he can knock down the big shot if his teams needs it. Alvin Williams is one of the Raptors' better defenders, but Alvin is still recovering from surgery and probably would not have the speed and quickness to match Kobe even if he had his young legs back.

[Its_asdf]

I'm not too kind man... dont say that!

And brilliant win over the Heat man! Hope Sow solves your problems lol @ Arujao!

No man, compliments coming from someone who writes as good as you is more than flattering.

I heard somewhere that "Araujo" is Portuguese for 'bust'... Is this true?

True or not, he's still does nothing on my team and I'm looking to trade him before the trade deadline (which is about 2 weeks away).

I saw Pape Sow was activated and thought I should pop my head in

nice work, keep it up

I just knew that it would catch your attention X! I activated Sow mainly just to see how you would react

No, but the Raptors aren't exactly an upper tier team.

You'll think otherwise after I'm done with this team...

WHEN'S THE NEXT GAME!!!

When I have time to play it.

[Jayborne23]

Start JR Smith, OR ELSE!

[Philantropical]

Yeah, start J.R. and bench Alvin

[Its_asdf]

Lakers Roll-over to the Raptors (97-69 Raptors*)

Raptors Boxscore
Lakers Boxscore

The Lakers' chances of winning quickly slipped away in the third quarter, and the young Toronto team maintained their composure and held off the Lakers to finish 4-1 in their 5 game road trip. The Lakers suddenly struggled in the final two quarters and only scored 13 points in the third quarter and 16 points in the fourth quarter, combining for just 29 points in the second half while the Raptors scored more points in the third quarter than they did the entire half. Chris Bosh had another stellar outing with 22 points and 9 rebounds, while Jalen Rose surprisingly finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds when he only had 3 points by halftime. The Raptors also got a really strong effort from rookie Pape Sow, who had 7 points and 7 rebounds in just 13 minutes of play.

The Lakers looked pretty reasonable after the first two quarters, but managed to dig themselves a gigantic whole in the third quarter. Leading scorer Kobe Bryant could not handle the Raptors' defence as Bryant was held to 13 points on 5 for 19 shooting and also went 1 for 6 from three point land. Kedrick Brown, DeShawn Stevenson, Alvin Williams and J.R. Smith each took turns guarding Kobe, and each defender did a fantastic job. All starters shot below 40% except for Lamar Odom, who had a modest double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers shot an abysmal 28% from the field and an even more dreadful 2 for 19 from three point territory.

"Our execution became terribly sloppy after the second half," said Bryant. "I don't know why, but we played like we were up 50 points or something, and we had no intensity or desire to take the game back."

Both teams started out shooting less than 30% from the field in the first 5 minutes of the first quarter, but both teams picked up the slack and Los Angeles managed to have a 2 point 22-20 lead after the first. Rafer Alston and Caron Butler both had 7 points to lead their own teams. The Lakers shooting was at a mediocre 42%, but Toronto was still out of sync and only shot 36% and only made 1 of 6 three pointers.

Pape Sow made his first appearance of the game at the beginning of the second quarter, and he immediately made an impact as he nailed a hookshot at one end and quickly hustled back to to draw a charging call on Chucky Atkins. After a while both teams were tied and exchanging baskets for a few minutes, but Sow split a pair of freethrows and Jalen Rose went up for an easy dunk to give the Raptors a 37-34 lead; their first of the game. The quarter ended with Toronto keeping that three point advantage and finishing the first half with the lead, 43-40. The Raptors were definitely more aggressive and attacked the basket at every opportunity, shooting 52% from the field and did not attempt even a single three pointer this quarter. This was the complete opposite of the Lakers, who shot 1 for 7 from three and 25% from the field.

The Raptors outscored the Lakers 30-13 this quarter, and capitalized on a lazy Laker defence and offence, with the Lakers also shooting an unbelievably bad 18% from the field. The Raptors went 8 consecutive posessions without a field goal, but instead made 8 consecutive freethrows (6 from DeShawn Stevenson), and easily caused the Lakers to go over the team foul limit. The Raptors had the first double-digit lead of the game after a 9-0 run put the Raps up 58-46, and things got even worse for Los Angeles when Lamar Odom collided into Chris Bosh on a layup and injured his leg. This spurred a dunk fest by the Raptors, including three consecutive spectacular fast break dunks by DeShawn Stevenson and Kedrick Brown. The Lakers missed their final 5 shots and a jumper by Pape Sow gave the Raptors a 73-53 lead after the third quarter.

Lamar Odom tried to return to the game, but could not do much of anything and scored only 2 points. The game was definitely over after Rose hit 3 shots in a row to give the Raptors an 87-63 lead with 2 minutes to go. The final seconds of the game were closed out by even more dunking from the Raptors, as Chris Bosh went for back to back dunks and a left handed throwdown by Rose sealed the game. Rose scored 13 points in the quarter and Bosh also helped out with 8. The only other Raptor to score this quarter was Kedrick Brown.

Picture of the Game

Bosh was one rebound shy of back to back double-doubles.

Other Pictures
Sow surprised a lot of people with his athletiscm
DeShawn Stevenson got right in Kobe's grill for the whole game
Rafer Alston hookin up his teamates
Odom got injured in the third quarter after ramming into Bosh

Player of the Game
C. Bosh
Min - 29
Pts - 22
Rebs - 9
Asts - 3
Stls - 0
Blks - 2
TOs - 1
PFs - 2
FG - 11/20
3ptFG - 0/0
FTs - 0/0