Toronto Raptors

By David Friedman(noreply@blogger.com) 6) Toronto Raptors: Reasons for hope: Chris Bosh is one of the top power forwards in the NBA. If newly acquired Jermaine O'Neal can stay healthy, Toronto will have a very good frontcourt, although in the past O'Neal has not liked playing center. Jose Calderon emerged as a top flight point guard, which enabled Toronto to trade T.J. Ford for O'Neal. Reasons to mope: This team lacks toughness and that weakness shows up on the boards and on defense. Teams that lack toughness do not advance very far in the NBA playoffs. Bottom line: The Raptors just are not quite as good as the Eastern Conference's elite teams.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) 7) Chris Paul emerged as the best point guard in the NBA, David West is probably still underrated even though he made the All-Star team and New Orleans looks like a legit Western Conference contender. The playoff experience that the Hornets gained this year should serve them well in the future. The Hornets' defense is underrated and that defense--combined with the brilliance of the Paul-West duo--could very well carry them to the Western Conference Finals in 2009. 9) I've been saying for a couple years that the Raptors are the Phoenix Suns East: that means that they can win a lot of regular season games and be a tough playoff matchup but unless they become more stout defensively and on the glass they will not beat Boston, Cleveland, Detroit o...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Eastern Conference First Round 1 Boston (66-16) vs. #8 Atlanta (37-45) Season series: Boston, 3-0 2 Detroit (59-23) vs. #7 Philadelphia (40-42) Detroit will win because...the Pistons will not let the Sixers do those things four times in seven games. 3 Orlando (52-30) vs. #6 Toronto (41-41) Toronto will win if...the Raptors show toughness on the glass and at the defensive end of the court. 1 L.A Lakers (57-25) vs. #8 Denver (50-32) 2 New Orleans (56-26) vs. #7 Dallas Mavericks (51-31) New Orleans will win if...Chris Paul, David West and company perform at the same level that they did during most of the regular season. 3 San Antonio (56-26) vs. #6 Phoenix (55-27) 4 Utah (54-28) vs. #5 Houston (55-27) Season series: Utah, 2-1   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Hall of Famer Bobby Wanzer appeared on NBA TV on Wednesday prior to the Warriors-Raptors game and he spoke with Pete Vecsey and Rick Kamla (fortunately, Vecsey asked most of the questions, while Kamla thankfully refrained from going off on a tangent about Minnesota or Kevin Garnett). Wanzer was one of the great guards in the early years of the NBA and he paired with Bob Davies to form a tremendous backcourt for the Rochester Royals, who beat George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers in the 1951 Western Division Finals en route to winning that season's NBA title; Mikan's Lakers won the championship the two previous years and the three years after that. Wanzer played in five straight All-Star Games and made the All-NBA Team three straight times. His...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Toronto trailed 30-19 after a sluggish first quarter but rallied to post a 102-98 win at Indiana. Chris Bosh had 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots, while Carlos Delfino added 23 points, largely the result of his 6-7 shooting from three point range. Anthony Parker only scored eight points but he contributed a career-high 11 rebounds, while T.J. Ford produced 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds in a reserve role. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Marquis Daniels also had 20 points. Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy scored 17 points apiece; Murphy also tied his career-high with seven assists.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Bottom Line: Vince Carter finished with a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds but he had a second consecutive poor shooting game (8-24). Jason Kidd matched Carter's rebound total but also did not shoot well (5-14). Look for the Nets to come out blazing when the series shifts to New Jersey....

By David Friedman If these series go as I have predicted, we will see second round matchups of Detroit-Chicago, Cleveland-New Jersey, Dallas-Houston and San Antonio-Phoenix. Each of those series could go six or seven games. I think that the conference finalists will be Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and San Antonio. Those two matchups also look like they could last for six or seven games. The seeding fell into place perfectly for the Cavaliers: they will have home court advantage against anyone in the East but Detroit and will face weaker opposition while Chicago has to battle past both Miami and Detroit, which will take a toll. I think that LeBron James will lead Cleveland past Chicago and into the Finals. The Dallas-San Antonio showdown is something that bask...   [read the full post]