# Raptors @ Celtics, Mar. 26th



## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

*Game #70, 26 March 2007
Toronto Raptors [38-31] @ Boston Celtics [20-49]
7:30 PM EST, Rogers SportsNet, Fan590.com
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA*

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<img border="2" height="35" width="522" src="http://images.tsn.ca/images/e/headers/nba-celtics-775x50.gif">

*
The Boston Celtics were up on the Charlotte Bobcats 54-39 at half-time on Wednesday, 
and by the four-minute mark of the third quarter had built a commanding 16-point lead. 
Then, curiously, Celtics starters began to leave the game. Paul Pierce was replaced by
Gerald Green; a little over a minute later Kendrick Perkins was replaced by Ryan Gomes; 
out came Delonte West and Al Jefferson, substituted with Allan Ray and Leon Powe. The 
Celtics lead began to erode. By the end of the third quarter the Bobcats had drawn to
within ten points, and at the six-minute mark of the final frame, when Doc Rivers 
finally reinserted some starters into the game, the Bobcats led 75-74. Paul Pierce 
didn't play in the fourth quarter. When the dust settled the Bobcats had won the game,
outscoring the Celtics 53-30 in the second half and finishing the game on a 17-10 run.
Following the game Doc Rivers was indirectly questioned about his substitutions and 
how they conspired to a loss--an important one between two lottery-bound teams. But
a professional team would never throw a game, would they? The same sad-sack Celtics 
had bested the San Antonio Spurs on the road the previous Sunday with Paul Pierce 
going-off for 30 points, one day after going down to the wire with the Dallas Mavs in
a 106-101 road loss. Then they rolled over for Charlotte when they got home? Really?
On Monday the Toronto Raptors, winners of two straight and six-of-eight, head into
the Garden looking for a victory and hoping for some help from Doc Rivers. The Raps
are on the verge of clinching the Atlantic Division; their magic number winds down
with each victory. Friends and teammates Chris Bosh and TJ Ford, both celebrating 
birthdays this past weekend, continue to establish themselves as the dominant one-
two combination in the Atlantic. Chris Bosh will be a game-time decision after an
ankle sprain versus the Nuggets on Friday, as will be Anthony Parker, suffering from 
an identical injury. The game tips at 7:30PM on Rogers SportsNet and Fan590.com.*​</td></tr>​


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## Junkyard Dog13 (Aug 9, 2003)

I think next year Grewen blows stuf f up and becomes a permenent starter at SG or SF maybe him and PP swap spots if neaded.


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## Knick Killer (Jul 16, 2006)

im pretty sure Pierce is not playing. *SHOULD * be an easy win.


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## Victor Page (Nov 1, 2006)

Just in case I fly down to Vegas and place a legal wager on tonight's game, does anyone have any definite information about the status of Pierce or Bosh?


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## RC06 (Jan 30, 2007)

According to Rotoworld, PP, Bosh and AP are all expected to suit up for tonight's game. If everything is clicking for us tonight, this should be an easy win, possibly even a blowout, but I won't get too far ahead of myself...

Ah, it's good to be Raptors fan!

*Let's Go Raptors!*


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## jibe (Nov 11, 2006)

looks like the celtics are fighting really hard for first pick in the draft lottery

i hope it's a blowout in favor of raps and we get to see luke jackson play against his former team an rest bosh too


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## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

^ Is Jackson expected to be activated tonight?

I'm also looking forward to seeing Garbo guard Pierce again.


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

i think so. sounds like he practised with the team yesterday. 

i doubt he sees time unless it is a blowout though.


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## RC06 (Jan 30, 2007)

speedythief said:


> ^ Is Jackson expected to be activated tonight?
> 
> I'm also looking forward to seeing Garbo guard Pierce again.


Yeah, he's in uniform tonight wearing #6...


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

nice lefty dunk by Bosh earlier


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## firstrounder (Oct 31, 2004)

this game is butt-ugly


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## narrator (Feb 11, 2006)

Tommy Heinsohn has officially gone insane. I feel I need to point that out.

Also, it would be nice if the Raptors stopped turning the ball over.


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## narrator (Feb 11, 2006)

There was just a graphic onscreen... "Joey Graham is the leader in games played for the Raptors this year." I did not know that! :biggrin:


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## firstrounder (Oct 31, 2004)

2 minutes left in the 3rd and we're down by 13?

This isnt funny!


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## streetballa (Dec 5, 2006)

Why are we down by so much? these are the Celtics!!!


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## Crossword (Jun 7, 2002)

WTF is going on???? The Raptors have played like absolute garbage all game long!


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## Crossword (Jun 7, 2002)

Just can NOT catch a break.


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## streetballa (Dec 5, 2006)

Sigh....


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

pathetic. i don't even think doc rivers can lose this one.


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## streetballa (Dec 5, 2006)

I thought that they would at least come out in the second half with some energy.


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## RC06 (Jan 30, 2007)

Damn, turnovers are absolutely KILLING us right now.

73-63 Celts.

This isn't cool...


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## madman (Oct 20, 2003)

terrible game by everyone and now the Ford haters are gonna creep out of the woodwork


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## madman (Oct 20, 2003)

sounds like a bad injury from the radio feed


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## RC06 (Jan 30, 2007)

Damn, Garbajosa just went down HARD. Please, not him too.


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

i'm gonna throw up. garbo looks like he's done for the year.


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## madman (Oct 20, 2003)

basketball gods hate us


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## RC06 (Jan 30, 2007)

Damn, look at everyone's reaction (Jefferson's and the Raptors bench) after that injury. This can't be good...

****, they were giving the "Oh lord, that's nasty!" look...


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## Rhubarb (Mar 19, 2005)

Didn't look too good from the stream I'm getting. Hope Garbs is all right.


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## streetballa (Dec 5, 2006)

Ford with the 3, raps are hanging in there.


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## Knick Killer (Jul 16, 2006)

hate to say it but...Garbo is done for the year. His knee got ****ed


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## madman (Oct 20, 2003)

Garbo taken to hospital for furthur tests, not good news at all


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## streetballa (Dec 5, 2006)

Darrick martin misses the 3, so ye we pretty much lost.


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## Rhubarb (Mar 19, 2005)

TJ with 19 fourth-quarter points, but this game was still foul.


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## Knick Killer (Jul 16, 2006)

i only saw half of the 4th quarter..did Luke Jackson play at all and how did he do?


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## JS03 (Jan 5, 2005)

That Garbo injury looks serious. I think he's done for the year.
Hope I'm wrong.


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## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

Don't they have an x-ray machine at the Garden? If so, and he was still taken to the hospital, it could mean it is more than the trainers and staff can handle. Bad news.

Reminds me a lot of the Spurs game a few weeks back. Not only do we get crushed, we also have injured players. Can't even walk away from the loss.

You could tell by the way we came out in the first quarter that it wasn't going to happen tonight.


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## Ras (Jul 25, 2005)

Man...I just saw the Garbo replay, and that was pretty damn bad. He's done for the year for sure.


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

something about this game really made me feel sick. garbo's scream was haunting or something. 

why the f*** didn't mo play in the second half? i don't get mitchell in games like these. frankly garbo was playing like garbage and i would have preferred he not even be on the floor. 

wonder who takes over the starting position. 

unless we can really gut check and win both miami games and the washington game, i'd say 4th place without homecourt is where we'll stay.


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## Rapsfan33 (Mar 10, 2006)

I now have no doubt that the Raptors internal management (probably Bryan and Sam) have some sort of agreement to keep Mo-Pete's playing time down to a minimum. Are they trying to completely ruin any kind of big contract he might have gotten this off-season after last year? If I am Peterson, no way I stay in Toronto after this year.

What was their thought process after the Nuggets game? "****, Mo scored 23 points and had 6 three pointers. He has his game back. We better make sure he sees the least amount of floor time as possible even if Juan Dixon is out of the lineup."

Total bull****.


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

in post game interview, seems to me sam's "easing into the game" comments were directed at Mo.


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## anniebananerz (Jan 8, 2006)

Ugh. I didn't get a chance to see it, (and I don't think I want to,) but from what I've heard, Garbo is pretty much done for the season. 

And WTF is up with Mo's playing time? He had a good game against Denver and today he gets, what, 6-ish minutes? "


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## speedythief (Jul 16, 2003)

The highs and lows of this team are taking months off my life.


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## shookem (Nov 1, 2005)

It was a good game to listen to on the radio ... I didn't want to that twisted ankle.


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## Who-C (Nov 21, 2005)

That game was really boring. Something about that Arena, its just doesnt have a good feel to it. That one, New Jersey and Portland are so dim. Anyways but yea it was really bad to see Garbo go down. I couldnt watch the replay mostly cause i saw a similar thing happen right infront of me like that (the guys shin broke in half and was just hanging) Garbo is probably done for a few months. Hopefully Mo Pete and Juan can step up in his absence.


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## Ras (Jul 25, 2005)

shookem said:


> It was a good game to listen to on the radio ... I didn't want to that twisted ankle.


I think it may have even looked like a break if I saw it correctly. The bottom portion of his leg was crooked in comparison to the rest of his leg. At least I think it was.


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## SkywalkerAC (Sep 20, 2002)

****


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## crimedog (Jun 3, 2003)

Ras said:


> I think it may have even looked like a break if I saw it correctly. The bottom portion of his leg was crooked in comparison to the rest of his leg. At least I think it was.


you've got guts. no way i was going to look that closely at it. seeing al jefferson's face and the raptors bench was enough to let me know i didn't want to watch. 

i don't think this is even under consideration for this year...i just hope it's not something that limits him or causes him to miss time next year. 

i can't imagine how his wife is feeling right now, assuming she was watching on tv back in toronto.


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## Who-C (Nov 21, 2005)

Yea it was definately a break 100%


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## anniebananerz (Jan 8, 2006)

Okay. I was stupid enough to let my curiosity get the better of me and I watched the vid of his injury over on nba.com. I now understand why Jose covered his leg with a towel.

It looks really bad. The bottom part of his left leg looked sort of curved/crooked inwards. :S And Jose's reaction just spoke volumes about the seriousness of it.


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## anniebananerz (Jan 8, 2006)

Wait...


From Yahoo!Sports and the Boston AP:

_The Raptors also lost Spanish rookie Jorge Garbajosa to a left ankle injury that put him in the hospital. 

Toronto trailed 75-66 with 4:31 left in the fourth when Garbajosa went up for a blocked shot on Jefferson. Garbajosa fell awkwardly on his left leg and screamed in pain. 

Garbajosa, who had five points and five rebounds, left on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital. Toronto spokesman Rover Yau said Garbajosa would stay in the hospital overnight for evaluation. 

Toronto should know the extent of the injury on Tuesday. One thing's for sure, it wasn't pretty. 

"I really thought he broke his leg," Jefferson said. "We bumped, my leg hit his leg, and I looked down and he was all twisted up. He was screaming, and I could feel his pain." _

It might not be a broken leg, but a broken ankle. :S


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## Benis007 (May 23, 2005)

it was horrible to watch, not sure what was worse, the replay or garbajosa screaming.

did not look pretty


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

just saw the garbojosa clip on nba.com... that was more sick than the Livingston injury to me. You can even see Al Jefferson's react to it, when he looked over he looked away right away because it was so nasty


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## jibe (Nov 11, 2006)

is this a playoff team that can even win one game against the bulls, heat, or wizards now ???


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## Ras (Jul 25, 2005)

Benis007 said:


> it was horrible to watch, not sure what was worse, the replay or garbajosa screaming.
> 
> did not look pretty


I'm very glad I didn't hear the scream.


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## lucky777s (Nov 13, 2003)

I thought Chuck mentioned that it was a dislocation of the ankle. That is the same injury Livingston did to his knee and that looked grotesque. You could see Garbo's foot just hanging to the side.

Either way he is done for the year and possibly longer. Don't hear much about ankle ligaments but its very possible he did major damage to that ankle and next year could be in doubt. Even his career.

Feel horrible for Garbo who was just about to experience nba playoff action for the first time in his life and get to shine on the big stage. He definitely would have stepped up in those big games.

Hump and Graham will have to be relied on heavily now. And MoP for the 3ball. Hopefully Bargnani can get his stroke back quickly when he returns. He was in such a nice groove.


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## Benis007 (May 23, 2005)

I am wondering why Sam didn't try and use more of Mo to get things going. he shouldn't ever play just 6 minutes in a loss.


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## Victor Page (Nov 1, 2006)

Let's not get too carried away with Garbo's injury. It was horrible (I didn't watch the replays) and since it's almost April we know he's done for the year. He's a tough dude and he was obviously in all kinds of pain.

However, a dislocation or a break heals cleanly - even if he tore ligaments, they can fix those via surgery and he can get back to 100% in 6-9 months. Garbo gets by on smarts and toughness - he doesn't need to regain an explosive first step or a 44" vertical. There's no way that this ends his career.


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## Turkish Delight (Mar 17, 2004)

Looking at the replay again, the injury looks pretty bad but I think Livingston's was far more serious. The dude is almost certainly going to miss next year. Knee injuries are always much more serious anyways, and tougher to completely heal. 
Hopefully we'll get news to the extent of Garbo's injury sooner rather than later.


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## Turkish Delight (Mar 17, 2004)

By the way, what was he thinking trying to block Al Jefferson like that? I love the effort, but you are just asking for something bad to happen with a play like that.


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## ballocks (May 15, 2003)

truly horrific injury to _watch_, who knows if he'll ever come back, but for the purposes of this team, who cares how horrific it was? i think everyone wishes garbajosa a successful recovery but... does it really matter that he busted his ankle on the court instead of, i don't know, suffering a season-ending accidental concussion at home while playing with his dog? the fact that this professional outfit has to focus on is that they have more games to play. injuries happen- horrific, accidental, whatever. you _say_ it; now _believe_ it.

imo, they have to get out of this bad habit of putting more value on players than is justified. i mean, we're hearing it now for the fifth time in the month- we can't win without parker; we can't win without calderon; we can't win without bargnani; we can't win without bosh; now, we can't win without garbajosa. if juan dixon had been acquired sooner, it might've been the same story last night, who knows.

my point is that it's impossible for all of these players to be seen as critical pieces. impossible. the leadership on this team should probably understand that by now and not allow themselves to, for example, get swallowed outright by a milwaukee bucks team because "anthony parker is injured. he's the glue."

i mean, the proof came on friday vs denver. no parker, no bargnani, no problem. the team out there on that night would've abused any team in the league, imo. what's more, the perimeter defense was being called upon to stop arguably the most potent offensive outside attack in basketball... _without_ its primary glue-piece, anthony parker. and it did so. easily. i guess anthony parker isn't quite the linchpin he was being made out to be in order to justify our half-hearted efforts against new york, memphis, milwaukee, houston, etc. and that's fine. we should remember that...

because we can't do it again. i don't know why more attention isn't being pointed toward this issue, but i couldn't stand for us to do it again. garbajosa is a bona fide contributor to this team- he is not the "make or break" cornerstone we want to believe. the longer we choose to believe it, the longer we'll slide, simple as that. inevitably someone will realize that the team is not entirely decimated by that one injury, that the team can overcome the loss quite easily, in fact, but how long do we have to wait until that happens? where is the leadership? step up, *now*. are you pros or are you pros? step up- *now*.

the easy argument to raise at this juncture is that with garbajosa- with garbajosa- the team yet again failed to show up for work last night. anyone see a problem? how many can you have in one month (i'm not talking injuries, i'm talking bombs)? i'd suggest this is a mighty concern, concealed somewhat by an awfully easy schedule in the year of kevin durant & greg oden. i don't know who's to blame, they're probably all to blame, but my goodness, this is not the sign of a team that understands its goal very well- and that's _with_ garbajosa in the fold.

as it continues to search for excuses in order to justify future blowouts, it is my opinion that they simply cannot cite jorge garbajosa's absence in that effort. jorge's been around for the duration, the team has not been playing at a consistently professional level of late- at all- and he's been an equal force in the problem. we'll want to use him for an excuse because we can, but it would be foolish and highly revealing of this team's character for us to do so.

there are a handful of players who i feel comfortable with on a daily basis right now. the majority seem to have been picking their spots in a position where they don't _have_ that luxury. the habit of this team is becoming progressively more well-formed, imo, and i'm crying to not hear about how "jorge garbajosa is irreplaceable", for example. the team needs to smarten up (media too), while the leadership of the team needs to step up in order to make it happen. 

the upcoming _week_ is critical, not garbajosa, not parker, not bargnani, not bosh, not calderon- not anyone. 

peace


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## The Mad Viking (Jun 12, 2003)

ballocks said:


> truly horrific injury to _watch_, who knows if he'll ever come back, but for the purposes of this team, who cares how horrific it was? i think everyone wishes garbajosa a successful recovery but... does it really matter that he busted his ankle on the court instead of, i don't know, suffering a season-ending accidental concussion at home while playing with his dog? the fact that this professional outfit has to focus on is that they have more games to play. injuries happen- horrific, accidental, whatever. you _say_ it; now _believe_ it.
> 
> imo, they have to get out of this bad habit of putting more value on players than is justified. i mean, we're hearing it now for the fifth time in the month- we can't win without parker; we can't win without calderon; we can't win without bargnani; we can't win without bosh; now, we can't win without garbajosa. if juan dixon had been acquired sooner, it might've been the same story last night, who knows.
> 
> ...


I absolutely agree that too much emphasis is USUALLY to one player. (Even if I was guilty of it, in regards to Parker.) A lot depends on the depth behind the individual, how big the drop off is. (Most Yankees fans were worried when Wally Pipp got injured back in the 30s. His replacement was some guy named Lou Gehrig.) So you never know...

BTW, the Denver Nuggets mailed it in vs the Raptors, my son's high school team would have beaten them. Often the case after back to back games on the road. That said, the Raps did play very well and with great energy. They could have really humiliated Denver if they had tried to, but they really slowed it down halfway thru the 3rd quarter.

Without Garbo, they will lose a lot of smarts. But playing a few more minutes of Rasho won't hurt, and playing Kris Hump more should give them energy, athleticism and rebounding. Plus a chance to give a couple of 5 minute stints to Pape Sow or Slokar, in meaningful minutes with four regulars on the floor. 

As far as MoPete goes, I believe there is something bad he is doing, which he has been told about repeatedly. I don't know what it is, but when he screws that thing up, he gets nailed to the bench, and he knows why.

It's a shame, because they need him on the floor out there.


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## TRON (Feb 29, 2004)

wow, from someone whos fractured an ankle, I cringe when I heard of this. I hope Garbo keeps his spirt up, cause he's looking at a nice recovery time. He'll have to learn to walk run and jump again if it was infact a brake.

Luke Jackson better learn the plays awfully quick, we're gonna need him


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