Paul Jones

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

It's finally game day at the Raptors tip off Wednesday night against the Magic and it has a playoff feel in a sense only because the team has been in Orlando since Monday afternoon. You usually associate this much time in the visiting city with playoff matchups but in this case it was simply a matter of trying to get some warm weather and that didn't work out. When the wake up call came this morning the voice on the other end said the temperature was 33 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1 degree Celsius).

Toronto finds itself in another situation, and they have been infrequent for the Raptors early in the season, where they are sitting, resting and waiting, and the opponents come in for the second night of the back-to-back. Toronto took advantage of Detroit in the previous such situation but Orlando is a far superior team. Funny how the schedule maker is sure to hit all teams with a very difficult stretch, as the Magic are going through one right now.

Right now the home squad here in the Magic Kingdom is as cold as the weather as they have lost two in a row, to Chicago and Indiana and that, particularly last night's loss to Indiana has Raptor head coach Jay Triano wondering which Orlando squad will show up. He has said that Toronto will be getting a "wounded animal" tonight so will it be the animal that comes out fighting for its life or one the one that just rolls over and dies? I would bet it comes out fighting tonight as Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy is looking for answers.

Triano did offer up a few bits of strategy as he reflected on the losses from this season, Orlando leads the season series 3-0, and what Toronto did last season in its two victories over the eventual Eastern Conference Finalists. The coaching staff has formulated a plan, at least for the start of the game tonight and hopefully it takes away some of the potency of the NBA's number one team from behind the arc.

"We're going to try and make Dwight score a lot of points," said Triano. "We'll see if we can force him to be a selfish basketball player tonight. It might be at the expense of some of our guys getting pretty beat up inside."

"Last year when we beat this team, Dwight had 40 and 35, and we won those two games," commented Triano. "It's not to say that they won't find him in transition but we are going to try and limit the number of threes they get."

Andrea Bargnani will get the first crack at Superman, but Triano did say that Rasho Nesterovic and Chris Bosh will get there chance to guard Howard. There was also talk of using a smaller player on him, similar to what was employed last season when Joey Graham battled the big man down low so don't be surprised to see Antoine Wright, the closest thing size wise to Graham, guarding Howard, for stretches. It sounds like Toronto is going to use its available fouls on the big man tonight.

Here`s a stat for you. Dwight Howard has attempted more free throws (337) than field goals (303) this season and in the history of the NBA only six players have gone an entire season with this anomaly.

Jose Calderon said he felt fine after a full practice yesterday when he pushed himself as a dress rehearsal for tonight, so you can expect to see him active and getting some floor time. I spoke with Calderon about his return to the line up tonight.

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With Canadians still smarting over the loss to the USA last night in the World Junior Hockey Championships, it was a fun evening as the traveling broadcast members gathered to watch the game.

We headed out to a spot to catch the hockey game and for me, wanting to keep an eye on the Orange Bowl and the Orlando vs. Indiana match up, the sports bar we ended up at was the perfect spot. The Raptors coaching staff also happened to be there doing their scouting report and watching the game.

When the Indiana win was completed and Marc Iavaroni gathered up his thousands of sheets of paper, the attention shifted to the hockey game. Mind you, the people in the bar, including some of the coaches were oblivious to the IIHF Championship but after Canada scored first and a roar went up in the bar, the American patrons started to ask questions. Well, by the middle of the third period, all anybody in the joint cared about was the hockey game. It was funny to see the reaction of Alex English, who was also celebrating his birthday, and Iavaroni to goals by Uncle Sam`s boys. There were chants of USA, USA and high fives, with Jack Armstrong, Matt Devlin, assistant coach Eric Hughes, and media relations director Jim LaBumbard, although as a Canadian citizen LaBumbard was slightly torn over who to cheer for at times.

The roars subsided when Canada tied the game but in the end, many Americans left the establishment smiling over a game they didn't know was happening. As for the Canadians, some from the MLSE front offices and those of us on the media side that travel with the team, it was not good. TV Director Troy Clara will have to pay up his end of the bet he made with Matt Devlin by wearing some USA Hockey gear. If you know Troy, a good ol Northern Ontario boy, he is not a happy camper.