Basketbawful

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Back when Kobe scored 81 points and thereby ripped the still-beating heart out of the Raptors, I noted that several other players had also achieved season or career highs against them (Andre Iguodala, for instance, had a career high 26 points against the Raptors back in November). I further promised to start tracking every such occurrence for the rest of the season. Of course I'm totally lazy, so that didn't come anywhere close to actually happening. Let's face it, you just can't make yourself follow the Raptors. It's medically impossible.

That said, I couldn't help but notice last night that Shaq responded to the Raptor's aggressive defense by posting the second triple double of his career -- and his first in almost 13 years. And as if that wasn't enough of a kick in the crotch, Antione Walker came out of a coma (he was shooting only 30 percent and averaging eight points per game in April) to score 32 points on 13-for-26 shooting, to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. I know John Hollinger thinks that this year's Seattle team is the worst defensive unit ever but this Toronto team is nipping at their heels. And they certainly seem to surrender more amazing, game-changing performances than the Sonics.

Walker thanks God for sending the Raptors to end his slump.
It may be meaningful to mention that Lebron James scored his career high of 56 points against the Raptors on March 20, 2005. Sure, that was last season, technically speaking. But it was the same woeful Raptor team, almost to the man. Unless you count Jalen Rose, and, of course, you don't.

0 Comments: