# Fearful February - Discussion Thread



## Porn Player

Words fail me... 

Fri, Feb 1 vs LA Clippers 
Sun, Feb 3 vs Miami 
Wed, Feb 6 vs Boston 
Fri, Feb 8 @ Indiana 
Sun, Feb 10 vs New Orleans 
Tue, Feb 12 vs Denver 
Wed, Feb 13 @ New York 
Tue, Feb 19 @ Washington 
Wed, Feb 20 vs Memphis 
Fri, Feb 22 vs New York 
Mon, Feb 25 vs Washington 
Wed, Feb 27 @ Cleveland​


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## AllRim

RUDY PLAYING TONIGHT!!! I have the game set to tape so I won't be on here tonight. But here's the official Rudy Gay Welcome to Toronto Mix!! Enjoy, I did....


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## AllRim

This is a crazy month, hopefully Rudy activates BEAST mode


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## AllRim

Casey also announced JV will be playing tonight, off the bench. Go Raps Go!!

Gay apparently will be coming off the bench as well.


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## ozzzymandius

I won't spoil it for those who typically watch it late .... But overall it was a decent game. Good effort from our boys. We'll discuss tomorrow after you two have watched it.


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## AllRim

Ohhhhh man. DD and Gay looked deadly together out there. The Raptors may actually be fun to watch again. 

Best thing about Gay coming in? Less Alan Anderson!! 

Apparently JL3 is a sniper....

Where the fack did that defense come from? 

Amir for MVP!!

JV looked solid defensively, kinda rusty still.

Aaron Gray? OFFER HIM THE MAX lol. Seriously though he is more valuable than Bargnani.


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## AllRim

BC please take ANYTHING for Bargs, we are way better without him. And he will just take shots away from Amir/Gay/DD.


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## Porn Player

DeMar/Gay/Ross in high flying mode. What a terrific game. Anybody that had doubts about acquiring Gay should have went to bed will a mouth full of crow last night. JL3 finding his shot could be massive for this team.

The Clippers do look a little lost without CP3 running the show.

I'm super excited for the game against the Heat. JV being back getting minutes is the icing on the cake.


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## AllRim

Ya I can't wait to see the game against the Heat. Did you guys here the Rudy interview saying that DD is the best 2 guard he has ever played with.....When I heard him say that, I was the happiest I have ever been with the Raptors since the prime VC days. 

We went from having the most embarrassing SF rotation in the league to having Gay. There is hope. But I'm holding off on going full on crazy until I see more of Rudy and DD.



> Josh Lewenberg ‏@JLew1050
> 
> Rudy on DeMar DeRozan: "He's by far the best two-guard I've ever played with"...


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## Porn Player

Yeah I caught that, great chemistry is underrated as a massive factor in building a deep playoff team. 

I can't wait for next season.


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## scdn

I ate an appetizer plate of crow last night regarding Gay. It was a great game definitely, but in games where those shots aren't falling for Gay, I'm sure we'll cuss him out.


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## AllRim

lol, obviously. I'm a bi-polar Raptors fan, but I think Gay will have a longer leash until I start going crazy on him.


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## ozzzymandius

I wasn't crazy about the trade to say the least. I thought it a heavy price for him. But I also didn't know anything about him so was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since I don't know much beyond my home team and look to the board here for signs and direction. Anyways, great, great start for him. Fantastic asset!! I'm now convinced we've filled a desperate hole in a gametime finisher. Now we're suddenly stong and competitive at the 1, 2 & 3 with servicable and emerging talent at the 5 and decent enough options at the 4. Backups galore and trading pieces we could play with!! Overall .... It's a very exciting new chapter for us! Hey glad to see the hometown fans accept him at the acc like that. Makes us all proud and look good when a new talent is immediately supported like that.

Still don't like JL3 though. He's a damnable chucker that I'd love to see go. It's great when they go in, but that just encourages him to keep taking shots when he shouldn't. He was lights out in the preseason then went half cold chucking up shots way too early in the clock. Last night's performance though exceptional will give us three games of ugliness from him for sure :-( :-(


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## Porn Player

Wowza. Slight lack of defense to start this game from our boys.

Gay continuing to look nice.


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## Porn Player

D Wade is killing us.


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## Porn Player

Ozzy M, you here?


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## Porn Player

Lowry is killing us.


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## Porn Player

That's what I'm talking about. 

Rudy Gay is the man.


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## Porn Player

Gay is killing it. Amir has been watching Pistol Pete, his passing has been fantastic.


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## Porn Player

Aaron Gray is dominant.


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## Porn Player

Rudy 'Mother****ing' Gay. 

What a first half performance, I've seen him do everything. Hitting the triples, driving by defenders, throwing it down. Pow.


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## Porn Player

OH SHIT. 


Rudy just blocked the life out of LeBron. What a play.


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## Porn Player

Gay's defense on LeBron in that 2nd quarter was sensational. I thought he was a piss poor defender? What a good surprise.


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## Porn Player

Sick to death of Alan Anderson playing 30+ minutes every night.


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## Porn Player

I hate Chris Bosh.


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## c_dog

terrible. it was a competitive game until the last 2 minutes. everything fell apart. no execution down the stretch and just sloppy plays. looked like they had no interest trying to win that game.

kyle lowry sucks. dude has tunnel vision. as bad as JL3 is, raptors actually did better with him.


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## ozzzymandius

Yeah sorry PP. I was totally captivated with the game and couldn't believe the meltdown was happening again!! Sooo many good plays wasted with sloppy ones :-( 
And then extended play from JL3 and we're paying for those three's from Friday night. He was chucking all over the place. Lowry wasn't doing so much better either. Did you hear how in the third qtr he only had one assist so far!! :-( 
They just looked so outmatched and didn't even seem to be trying.


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## AllRim

What I learned from watching the Heat game

1) DD+Gay is a fantastic wing combo. They were great
2) We NEED to upgrade our starting C and our backup pg.
3) Alan Anderson should not be taken off the bench, he is brutal
4) Aaron Gray is a good at grabbing boards, sucks at everything else.
5) the Heat are just to damn good defensively.
6) Bosh.....
7) Wade and LBJ need to lay off the juice. And the refs need to start giving them T's. After every damn shot (hit or miss) they turn to the ref and beg for a foul. 

I try not to watch the Heat as I can't stand them, but after watching LBJ and Wade cry all game was seriously driving me nuts. Even though they drew a fair number of questionable calls that put Amir and Lowry in foul trouble, which is why I think we lost this game


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## Porn Player

Is JV a little fatter? He looked sluggish to me. 

Co-sign on hating Alan Anderson, dude thinks he is Kobe. 

JL3 is a horrible back up.


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## scdn

If we could give Bargs Gray's rebounding ability and desire that would be great. Aarondrea Bargngrayni.


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## AllRim

Bargs would be fantastic if he could add a little Gray to his game. Also Casey really needs to stop sitting players for so long with 4 fouls in the second half. And he needs to start giving Ross more playing time. 

JV does look a little out of shape, he has looked very sluggish since his return.


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## -James-

We are really missing Ed's activity - Amir was dying out there. I'd imagine we could find an active big somewhere in the D-League that could bring energy and not be too terrible. I mean the Wolves found that Chris Johnson guy, I wouldn't mind like a Maceo Baston part 2


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## Porn Player

I do like those high energy guys, only problem being Casey seems to fall in love with those that outplay his expectations (See: Alan Anderson getting 35mpg). 

I'd rather make another move and solidify our front court via removing Bargnani.


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## Luke

I've only caught a couple highlights but since the trade went down I'm intrigued to watch the raps for the first time in forever.


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App


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## Porn Player

Nice to see...



> For a second consecutive year, Lithuania's Jonas Valanciunas has been voted as FIBA Europe's Young Men's Player of the Year.
> 
> Valanciunas eclipsed other nominations in the field which was voted on by selected journalists and fans, easily seeing off Croatia's Dario Saric and France's Leo Westermann.
> 
> Following on from his breakthrough 2011 when the then 19-year-old lead his country's U19 team to gold at the World Championships; got drafted fifth overall by the Toronto Raptors in the NBA draft; and made his senior debut for Lithuania; 2012 could be considered something of a quieter year for the center...


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## Porn Player

Bargnani is a game time decision tonight vs Celtics.


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## ozzzymandius

You know what that really means in this case ... "he'll play but we want to keep it a secret from the opposition, so they can't plan for him" ... wink, wink. 
That would work for a superstar but for Bargs the opposition won't even sweat it :'-(


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## AllRim

Let me be a dreamer here for a bit. Gay and DeMar both currently are comanding double teams on offense, can you imagine if Bargs comes back healthy and starts getting wide open looks from 3 and somehow learns hoe to grab at least 6-7 boards a night? A new look team could do wonders since he would be a third option on offense.

Back to reality, TRADE HIM ASAP


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## ozzzymandius

^^ That was funny!! For a sec there I was starting to feel that dream ;-)


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## ozzzymandius

Bargs is on the floor ..... Just like I called it .. :-/


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## ozzzymandius

Leo and Matt have talked about all of Bargs great "qualities" for the last five minutes straight!! I guess they were given the script and told to SELL, SELL, SELL!!!


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## seifer0406

I'm sure a few more future shattering trades will fix this.


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## AllRim

Another Awesome 4th Quarter!!!

Alan ****ing Anderson with 20+ minutes again?? **** you Casey


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## Mr_B

I just dont get casey love affair with anderson hes hot garbage his time should be going to Ross


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## seifer0406

now we're talking about trading Bargs for Boozer. This is starting to look like Isiah's Knicks. I haven't seen a team 15 games under .500 make moves like this since Isiah.


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## AllRim

ya. but if we can somehow include Fields and get back Teague and a pick I'd be in


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## c_dog

i think that would be a good trade to get rid of bargs. dude is worthless on this team. i'm no fan of boozer but at least this gets rid of bargs. if raps can somehow unload landry in the same trade, even better.


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## ozzzymandius

Boozer?? Great decent player where we're weak but isn't he in the twilight of his career?? At least Gay is in his prime. With the money he's going to cost us, his age etc.. Is this a deal we actually want?? Other than just to ditch Bargs? I'm not really feeling this one.


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## Porn Player

Rudy Gay. Boom. 

What a game! Valanciunas back to his best, even with Hansbrough being a total punk and trying to hurt him.


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## ozzzymandius

Nice surprise ending!! For a change I wasn't feeling that game and left early in the third quarter .... So I missed all the magic :-( !! 
For once they played better and I missed it :'-( Wahhhhhh.


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## Porn Player

ozzzymandius said:


> Nice surprise ending!! For a change I wasn't feeling that game and left early in the third quarter .... So I missed all the magic :-( !!
> For once they played better and I missed it :'-( Wahhhhhh.


You can't do that anymore with Rudy Gay on our team


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## Porn Player

I wish I could watch the game tonight. 

Valanciunas vs Davis is must watch basketball for me, but the tip off time is too late when I have work in the morning.


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## Porn Player

The Gay show again. 

Valanciunas with back to back double doubles.


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## Mr_B

Ugly game to watch but a W is a W


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## AllRim

Very hard to watch. STREAAAAAAAAKING


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## ozzzymandius

I'm going to the game tomorrow night vs. Denver!!
Let's see what's what first hand.... Hopefully the last Bargs sighting ???? Fingers crossed!!


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## ozzzymandius

YES!! That we DD withthe killer slam 
Ohhh and it was DD getting stripped mid court like a babe with a rattle ... Ouch!!
Oh well, sweet first quarter in the bag and the boys are riding high!!


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## ozzzymandius

Ohhhhh DD with another sick slam to start the second


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## ozzzymandius

Sooooo after a beauty of a #LetRossDunk moment in the second .... We're now in tied up in the third qtr. 
Uhhhhh-Ohhhhh !!!!


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## ozzzymandius

GAAAAYYYYY !!!


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## Porn Player

I'm incredibly jealous, I hope you had a great time and I look forward you you going in depth when you get a chance.


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## AllRim

man what a sloppy game. Imagine if we had Gay to start the season, we finally have a clutch finisher


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## JET41

I think Rudy Gay bring the excitement to the Raptors, that was missing since Vince Carter left.
Must feel really good for Raptors fans to finally have that. 

Do you think Raptors would be fighting ... or in the playoffs if Rudy Gay was here from the start of the season?


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## Basel

That DeRozan was sick. Surprised it wasn't talked about more. He Mozgov'd Mozgov.


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## JET41

That dunk was awesome, it definitely should've got talked about more. I think it's my favorite of the season thus far.


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## AllRim

That dunk gave me an erection. 

And Jet41, yes we would be a playoff team, if you look at all the games where we blew a lead in the 4th or missed a shot to win the game. Rudy wouldn't have gotten us wins in all those games but we would probably be a couple games above .500


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## Mr_B

Maybe its me but Gay game reminds me more of T-Mac than Vince


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## ozzzymandius

WOW!!! I'm stunned. Raptors with the crushing defense?? WOWWWW
I'm totally floored... Big surprise and definetly huge for us!!
Notable mentions... 
Lucas -- still dislike him greatly. Amazing when his shots fall but a desperate non stop chucker when they don't. 
Anderson -- Work ethic!! Back to the tough defense that actually fuels his offensive. Great game
Derozan -- great job driving to the basket and switching it up for great pull-up shots. Awesome performance tonight. 
Amir -- wicked defense !! All night long. 
Gay -- Ok. Bring me my crow. I said the guy had better be good to make up for the trade ... And he's delivering BIG TIME!! True stars find a way to contribute so when his shot was working it was all about defense and assists!! My hats officially off to that young man!
Bargs -- Jesus... He's still here?? His stock is falling, falling, falling. Horrible play on both ends tonight. 

Great game!! I'm still stunned.


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## Junkyard Dog13

vs the wizards they need to try to feed barg down low and get him try to work inside rather then just stand at the top of the 3 pt line. If we are to get rid of him he needs to work harder to get Lowry's attention or Kyle will onky look at Gay and DD. Bargs for his own PT needs to really pick it up.


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## Porn Player

JET41 said:


> I think Rudy Gay bring the excitement to the Raptors, that was missing since Vince Carter left.
> Must feel really good for Raptors fans to finally have that.
> 
> Do you think Raptors would be fighting ... or in the playoffs if Rudy Gay was here from the start of the season?


Yes. Our talent level really exploded by bringing in Gay. I think we would have been the 8th best team and played Miami close in the 1st round. 

I love Jose but we have Lowry so it was redundant owning both players.


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## Porn Player

Junkyard Dog13 said:


> vs the wizards they need to try to feed barg down low and get him try to work inside rather then just stand at the top of the 3 pt line. If we are to get rid of him he needs to work harder to get Lowry's attention or Kyle will onky look at Gay and DD. Bargs for his own PT needs to really pick it up.


You hear our own home fans booing him the other night after he clanked two long bombs in a row? That's cut throat man.


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## Porn Player

And POW


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## ozzzymandius

The fans were brutal the other night with Bargs. Open call for "We want Boozer" everytime he messed up in the third and forth qtrs before getting the final pull. 
I'd be ok with it but the penalties for falling into the luxury tax zone are pretty high. Not sure that's worth it.


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## Porn Player

Link to Full Article



> The Toronto Raptors were told last week that they can accept the Andrea Bargnani and John Lucas III trade for Carlos Boozer and Nate Robinson from the Chicago Bulls whenever they wanted it, according to league sources.
> 
> That deal could take the Bulls below the luxury-tax threshold.
> 
> The Bulls would like to avoid paying tax, especially if Derrick Rose is not able to play this season.


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## Porn Player

I'd do it. But then again, I'm not paying the money. 

Boozer is playing some great basketball this year. Nate as the sweetener isn't what I'm about though, I would much prefer Teague or the Charlotte pick, and I hope BC recognises they have more value.


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## Porn Player

Anyone watching T-Ross tonight?


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## Porn Player




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## ozzzymandius

I'm not :-( in Montreal this weekend .... But I've got it recording for when I get home though ;-) 
YeeeHawww !!


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## Porn Player

Do you know the result?


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## ozzzymandius

I haven't seen it yet but the NBA threads here say it was really really lame and bad. People didn't practice their dunks and they were given more and more attempts to do it and it looked real bad all around. Someone commented that Ross should have been given a bonus just for doing his first dunk in the first attempt. But I didn't go back far enough in the thread to see who won.

EDIT !!!! guess who won !!! Ohhhh Yeah  Wicked it was out boy ROSS!! Gotta find a good link and will post it soon.


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## ozzzymandius

If the boys win again tonight we're going to have to rename this thread!! 
Don't want to jinx things but we're 6 of 8 here!!


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## Porn Player

Big game tonight, reunited with Special Ed. 

A great test, I hope Gay explodes for 30.


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## Mr_B

I'm starting to feel bad for Barg I'm watching the Memphis game and Barg getting booed real hard every time he misses a shot lol


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## ozzzymandius

This game is really ugly!! 
Someone call someone who can make someone give a shite and attack the dang basket!!!


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## ozzzymandius

Sooo that was ugly. BUT.... I gotta say I gave up in the second qtr. By the third I thought it was well over with until that Amir dunk. And all of a sudden I realized our team was fighting! Not just showing up or falling into the usual implosion we were unfortunately used to pre-Gay, but actually competing (seriously ugly) but still working!!

So while it may have been a performance to forget, one thing that did strike out was there was no implosion!! And instead of a downward spiral throughout the game we actually saw a full effort for the full 48. No absences, disappearances or cop-outs ... just serious intent and focus on work. That was refreshing!! If only we coulda had that focus at the start of the season. Soooo many games coulda been saved with only half the effort they played with tonight.


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## ozzzymandius

Decent win last night and we're finally beating the teams we're supposed to win against and competing against those we're not. So all in all I'm really liking what I'm seeing here. Telfair will be a good and needed addition so looking forward to seeing him on the court and hopefully as our second option. 

As for Bargs I actually think he'll find some of his game again. He's got a team that's not dependent on him anymore, he no longer has to worry about being traded, the coach is somewhat behind him but is also not going to give him carte blanche and of course he's got time on his side now. All it'll take is one typical half assed game against a lowly team to get him going. But then again I'm an optimist!! 

All in all ...I'm already excited for next year!! Decent


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## Porn Player

ozzzymandius said:


> As for Bargs I actually think he'll find some of his game again. He's got a team that's not dependent on him anymore, he no longer has to worry about being traded, the coach is somewhat behind him but is also not going to give him carte blanche and of course he's got time on his side now. All it'll take is one typical half assed game against a lowly team to get him going. But then again I'm an optimist!!


Biggest thing against him right now are the fans. They are really going for him at the moment and his 0 point game isn't going to change that. 

To be honest, I thought it was funny at the start, now it's pissing me off. He isn't being traded so we're stuck with him, if thats the case, get behind him and hopefully he can actually contribute.

I never caught the game last night (work party) but it looks like Gay really did his thing. Valanciunas has really been playing well since his return from injury.


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## Porn Player




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## AllRim

Lowry/DD/GAY/VAL is a pretty sexy future. And I agree with Ozzy and PP, hopefully the "fans" at the ACC realize Bargs is here for the season and get behind him instead of booooing him. 

I have a feeling that we might see a Lowry/DD/Gay/Bargs/JV starting lineup soon. 

I LOVE BEATING THE KNICKS!!!


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## AllRim

> @Klow7: I love our fans to death , but booing one of our players isn't cool and it should NOT be done!! Hopefully next game it won't happen!!


Lowry doesn't approve either


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## Porn Player

What a piece of shit game that was. Washington have less to play for, yet they clearly wanted it more. 

If the boys don't spring back from this, the season is done.


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## AllRim

That game hurt right in the man hood. But, I am still hopefull we can make that push. What are we 4.5 back with more than 20 games remaining. It was an off night, and the Wiz have been on a roll as well don't forget. But yea it's one of those games that we should have had and it sucks they played like shit. But there are some positives looking forward!!


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## Porn Player

Playoffs are no chance. I will have the March thread up today or tomorrow, the in-laws are visiting so will need to find some time.


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## ozzzymandius

Haaaa I'd trade your in-laws for business travel that leaves a man stranded in a foreign city where he can't watch his team play for days and days on end :'-(
Finally saw last nights game. What the heck is going on with Lowry?? I'm not seeing the aggressor or the play maker in him at all right now. 
Ross has disappeared, Anderson's gone stone cold, Bargs is just Bargs, Fields has dwindled to non competitive status. On the whole our role players and bench is slumping horribly. Key players are DD and JV who are playing and learning wonderfully. They still have the odd up and downs but for the most part I'm thrilled with them both. So it seems like at the least we do have some semblance of a future ahead. 
I'll be checking tonight's game for sure!! YeeeeHawww !!


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## ozzzymandius

Well there goes that.... 


Sooooo back to reality. Finish the year strong, develop our youth, focus on our defensive learning and next year will rock!!  :- )


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## Porn Player

Does anyone know why Ross is getting zero burn?

Alan Anderson truly sees Kobe Bryant when he looks in the mirror.


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## ozzzymandius

I can only speculate but with Casey it's usually too many defensive misses. Lord knows he'd never pull anyone (A.A) for missing on offense. But we should start seeing a lot more of him as we concede the season and start working the kids more.


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