It was good win for Toronto in Sacramento as the team finally broke a hideous streak of 10 consecutive losses at Arco Arena. The last time the Raptors won in Sacramento "Mighty Mouse" Damon Stoudamire wore the big purple dinosaur on his chest.
Speaking of those old times, it was good to see Shareef Abdur-Rahim before the game. The one time Vancouver Grizzlies mainstay is now an assistant with the Kings having retired this season due to his aching knees. 'Reef was on the court working players out in the pregame and he is still in contact with some of his old Vancouver teammates. He also had kind words to say about Jay Triano who was in Vancouver when Abdur-Rahim was honing his craft with the Grizzlies.
Triano, had to, as he put it, dig deep into the playbook last night to find ways to get Jermaine O'Neal the ball. J.O. had a season-high 36 points on Boxing Day and Triano was drawing up plays to find a way to keep the ball going to the big man. The scouting in Sacramento is so good that Triano felt he couldn't keep running the same plays as the Kings would have adjusted. Triano delivered a dandy out of a 20 second timeout with about 1:12 to go in the game. The resulting O'Neal one-on-one match up in the lane where he scored on a seven-foot jumper was perfectly executed. There was also a two man game with Bosh and O'Neal where the big men were basically allowed to play two-on-two surrounded by shooters.
Jamario Moon's wife, Tamara, is due with the couple's first child any day now and Dad plans to be there. When I asked him if there was any news, he said not yet but flashed two cell phones saying, "I got both my phones on me all the time."
But back to the Vancouver theme. Isn't it funny how things work out? Remember Steve Francis' face when he was drafted second overall by the Grizzlies and subsequently refused to report forcing a trade? Well, well, look at who has become the newest member Memphis Grizzlies. Somewhere people in Vancouver are chuckling as it looks like Francis may end his career with the franchise he refused to play for when drafted.
The Raptors game in Portland marks seventh set of back-to-back games this season. After the win in Sacramento the Raptors are 3-4 on the first night and sit at 3-3 on the second night. The team arrived at its hotel in Portland about 4:25 a.m. ET and will not practice -- but do have a morning meeting scheduled before taking on the Trailblazers. Portland is coming off a loss at home on Christmas Day and Brandon Roy thinks the team needs some sort of shot in the arm.
The Miami Heat defeated the Chicago Bulls 90-77 and it seems the Bulls were upset at a late game timeout called by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. The Bulls felt the decision was aimed to show up the team.
I'm all for sportsmanship but I hate when guys complain about being shown up or having the score run up on them. There is a part of me that feels that this isn't the YMCA. This is professional sports and that's what the older players use to say (NBA stands for No Boys Allowed) and if you don't want to deal with that result then deal with it during the game and don't get beat that badly. If it happens well, then remember it, and one day, you can give it back, your team may have to wait but the way the sports works, you will get your chance as what goes around comes around.
Still in Miami, it's nice to see NBA players getting good publicity. Truth is, there are plenty of "giving" players in the league. Dwayne Wade presented Dawn Smith with the ultimate Christmas gift -- a house -- after an unfortunate tragedy. One of Wade's former and maybe future teammates if he decides to return to the Heat, Alonzo Mourning is a champion for those less fortunate as his foundation is doing amazing things for all sorts of people. Yes Raptor fans, I can hear you wining now about how he didn't want to come to Toronto and blah, blah, blah but get over it. It may not have been right, but what Mourning did was no different than Eric Lindross not going to Quebec City or John Elway saying he wasn't going to Baltimore. Mourning wasn't the first and he won't be the last.
Finally, some NBA players collect cars, but former NBA player and Canadian Todd MacCulloch has found pinball machines to be thing. Since retiring because of problems with his feet, Canada's version of "T-Mac" is trying to climb the ladder in the world pinball rankings. MacCulloch owns a bunch of pinball machines in his Washington home near Seattle.
