New Jersey 129 Toronto 127 in OT - wow! What a tremendously entertaining ballgame. Too bad for Raptor fans that their memory will be that of a bitter loss to a team led by the Vince Carter, the Raptors' former franchise player. To make matters worse Jermaine O'Neal injured his surgically-repaired left knee and is now day-to-day for the foreseeable future. For public consumption, Carter will always say it's just another game and he has moved on but in truth, speaking to people close to Carter he will always have soft spot in his heart for Toronto. His post-game quote about having six wonderful years in Toronto is corroboration.
Carter was spectacular last night when it counted. After going scoreless in the fourth quarter for 11:16 he exploded for 12 points in the last 44 seconds to send the game into overtime with his last three coming with a half-second to go. Carter went one better by slamming home the last two points with a second-and-a-half to go in overtime to win the game for the Nets.
So what happened? First off, give New Jersey some credit for not giving up and making big plays. But the execution from both an individual and team standpoint on the Toronto side of the ledger was sorely lacking. Who to blame? There is plenty to go around but in then end it falls on the players. Not keeping offensive players in front of them on the dribble and blown defensive assignments erased a career-high-tying 42 points from Chris Bosh and a career-high 29 points from Andrew Bargnani.
Do you foul at the end of regulation if you are Toronto up by three points with 3.2 seconds to go? That's a philosophical decision and I would say foul as I have changed my own philosophy after watching Kobe Bryant tie up Game 2 of the 2004 Finals against Detroit but Sam Mitchell gave his team good advice. Carter just made a tough shot. He's a great player and I don't fault Mitchell in playing the percentages. Hey, Lawrence Frank chose the same fate in overtime leading by the same margin and Anthony Parker did exactly what Carter had done to Toronto. The final dagger was simply a blown assignment by Toronto's defence and the Nets took advantage. But there were more than a few defensive faux pas before that allowing New Jersey back in the game. That's on players and nobody else!
How about the Knicks pulling the trigger and making big a couple of deals? They gave up two players that had been playing well for them in Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford but its all about the future for New York. Management and fans alike are looking ahead to 2010 and the Knicks, if you go by published reports will have enough money to sign not one, but possibly two maximum salary players if they choose to do so. But that also means that some of the current roster that includes some solid players may be available. Stay tuned!
Under the category of "let's blame someone", the Oklahoma City Thunder fired head coach P.J. Carlesimo. Not really fair as it was mentioned last year when Sam Presti took over as GM in Seattle that it was akin to an expansion situation. So if you're an "expansion team" do you fire a coach after 95 games with a kid who should be starting his junior year in college as your cornerstone? It sounds like management was thinking about it this past summer, they probably should have save Carlesimo some grief and done it at that time. At least he could have found himself another gig.
