With the importance of last night's game with Milwaukee, it may as well have been a game in the middle of April for the Raptors. They entered the game trailing the Bucks in the standings by two games and with the ramifications of an edge in tiebreaker also part of the equation, you would expect maximum effort from the Raptors right?
Well not exactly. After a good first quarter in which they scored 30 points, they only managed to notch 29 points in the middle two frames before suffering a disappointing loss to the Bucks. Toronto deferred and settled for too many quick jumpers in the middle frames when Milwaukee, playing without their best player, Michael Redd, built its lead.
The one thing that Raptor head coach, Jay Triano, worried about materialized as his team was "out worked" by the Bucks. There was only sporadic energy demonstrated by Toronto and even when the urgency level hit high late in the game it was too late to flip the switch. There was good intensity from the Raptors but it was too little and far too late.
Bucks' forward Charlie Villnaueva loves to play against his old team. Earlier in the season on trip to Milwaukee, he informed me the date of his return to Toronto was circled on his calendar. He entered the game averaging over 20.5 points per game and 5.5 rebounds this season against Toronto and padded those numbers with a tidy 26 point 13 rebound effort in the 96-85 win.
Prior to the game it was amazing to see Villanueva making the rounds as he does in every city shaking hands and taking pictures with, mostly young children, who suffer from the same ailment that he does, alopecia areata. He is a great inspiration to many who suffer from this condition and takes his responsibilities seriously in this regard. As an educator "in the trenches" for many years, I can only imagine how difficult it is for some of the school age children that are inflicted as schools can be a tough place at times. I tip my hat to Charlie, who was given the NBA's Community Assist Award in the past for his efforts in this area.
But "Charlie V" has another side to him that came out late in the game when things got testy between the two squads. I guess that is the New York City kid in him as he stood up to Jermaine O'Neal as the two exchanged words. O'Neal, the six-time all-star, dismissed Villanueva in his comments after the game but unfortunately for O'Neal and the Raptors all Charlie had to do was point at the scoreboard because the bottom line was a Milwaukee victory.
Emotions ran high as in these eyes, a veteran officiating crew lost control of the game for a few minutes. They were not as consistent, which is all players and coaches want, with their calls which led to every player pointing to a previous call as justification for the call they did, or did not receive. On the Toronto side it was being done both with actions and words and it caused the Raptors to shift their focus from the opponent to the officials. The referees did not lose the game for Toronto, their lack discipline to get defensive stops and execute its offence when it counted is what eventually cost them a victory.
So with all the speculation about the 2010 free agent class and some of the big name stars potentially playing together, Dwayne Wade threw another log on the fire with his comments in Indianapolis.
As we move closer to the trading deadline rumours continue to dot the headlines and Amare Stoudemire's name seems to be one that is popping up in rumours as the Phoenix Suns are still looking for a consistent winning formula.
Denver head coach, George Karl, has done a good job all season and hey, maybe it's just the North Carolina thing happening, but Larry Brown thinks, at least right now, Karl needs to be considered when the coach of the year is eventually selected in April.
