Will The Raptors be ready for the playoff

The Toronto Raptors who equaled the franchise record for most road victories (20) and with 8 games left in the 2013-14 season they are equal with the Chicago Bulls (42-32) for third in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors will diffidently need to play a 48 minute game and right now they are lucky to play shutdown D in just over half a game. The Raptors put up maybe their biggest fight of the season against the Miami Heat tonight in a 93-83 loss which was a lot closer than the final score indicated as the Heat got a lot of chances from the line to get back in the game as the Raps were up 10 half way through the second quarter and in the first half the Heat got 15 free throws while the Raps got 3 of them. In the second half the Heat and Raptors both had 7 free throws and the Raps down double digits they fought back to a 3 point game and that was without Kyle Lowry did not play the fourth quarter as LBJ came down after taken down a board and completely wiped out Lowry who was holding his knee. I believe that Lowry as he working for a big payday is a warrior and will continue to play through the pain just like Amir Johnson has been doing all season. Patrick Patterson came back and played for the first time in a long time and played 8 minutes and was great addition to the lineup. The Raptors were last in the playoffs in '08 and only four players are left in the NBA from the team and none are left on the Raps and DeRozan was about to receive his high school diploma. So the Raps are inexperienced but they will get some experience and if they are able to hold off the Bulls for third and the Brooklyn Nets (2 behind) for the Atlantic division. It will be up to guys like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to lead the offence for the Raptors while Terrence Ross will need to be the shutdown defender against their opponent. While the Raps will need guys off the bench give the team a push while the starters get a blow on the bench and hopefully Dwayne Casey will put together a great game plan just like he did with the Mavs and got a NBA title which is hard to do. Then it will be up to the players to get the job done. Hopefully there are still good times for the Raptors Tom Mehegan

Raptors fans get bad rap

Toronto Raptors in their 19TH season have had a few high points in the franchise's history like the '07 season that came of nowhere and the Atlantic division title or actually win a playoff series against the Knicks in '01 which was followed by a missed shot by Vince Carter that would of taken the Raps to face the Milwaukee Bucks in the eastern finals. They set records for 3-balls on March 13, 2005 with 21 made against the Sixers and Donyell Marshall made 12 which is still a league (tied with Kobe). The Raptors hold a record of hitting a 3-ball in 986 straight games and VC all over ESPN with his dunk performance and let's one of the greatest Raptor's victory in front of 43 thousand plus and given MJ and the Bulls a L at the Skydome in the '96-'97 season when the Bulls only lost 10 games all season. Then there are the lows like Kobe going off for 81 (January 22, 2006) and in the Stoudmaire years the Raptors missed all their free throws til late in a game and ended making only 1 in a regular season game. Let's not also forget a guy like B.J. Armstrong (Raps first expansion draft player) and Alonzo Mourning (traded to the Raps for VC and only wanted to go back to south beach), Antonio Davis and the Canadian school system, and getting nothing for Mighty mouse, T-Mac, and Chris Bosh. Also losing season after season while watching VC roll around on the time after time for parts of four seasons and always scraping the bottom of barrow for Jamario Moon, Carlos Rogers, and mister triple-double himself Ben Uzoh. Then there is a guy like Alvin Robertson who helps the Raptors win their first game in franchise history and days later is arrested at a hotel for beating up his girlfriend. So with that all said the Raptors fans have hung in there season after season putting the Raptors very high on per game attendants since the beginning so if they want to boo VC (they can), if the other team star player gets a star call and they are like we know (that is perfectly fine), if they want to boo the Raps or just sit there (they can just look at the hockey team). When the game is there for the taken they will get behind the team and get as loud as possible and will applaud and boo what and when they want. So if the announcers want to get on the fans for not booing when Darian Durant gets a star call or get ALL OVER the refs for a bad call they need to focus on the game because just like when the players bark at officials instead of playing the game the bottom line is your going to lose the game for yourself not the stripes. The Raptors hopefully enjoy the playoffs and the professionals focus on winning the game leave everything else alone Tom Mehegan

The Raptor\s Raptor is back

The Toronto Raptors will welcome back "the Raptor" (a.k.a.) on Sunday which brings his 5 month rehab full circle as he will finally be able to stand on that court that he blew an Achilles in a meaningless preseason game. So he shed his blood, sweat, and tears to get back to a point where he can get back to entertaining the Raptor fans, who show up every night and are told your not real fans, and will get a much better response than Andrei Bargnani who last season battled from injury and the fans just wanted him to stay away. It will be a great family day on Sunday when the Raps play the Atlanta Hawks and the Raptor who in bodies the Raptors toughness will be front and center even if he can not jump, fly, or anything really athletic right now it will be a great way to go down the stretch of the 2013-14. First they have to deal with the very angry OKC thunder who beat them in OKC at the end of 2013 Tom Mehegan