Paul Jones

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

Andrea Bargnani scored a career-high 34 points for the Raptors on Tuesday.

Maybe Raptor fans were asking too much when they predicted there would be a nine-game winning streak going into the All-Star break but in the words of Maxwell Smart, "would you settle for 8-1, or 7-2?" It will have to 8-1 at best after last night's 130-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

You knew that Indiana was going to be tough and as head coach Jay Triano said yesterday at morning practice, it's about stopping their runs and trying to match up with their awkward line-ups and last night, Toronto just couldn't do it. Both teams came flying out of the gate and the Raptors offense was fine, heck they scored 115 points including another monster game from Bosh with 35 points and 15 rebounds, Andrea Bargnani with a career-high 34 points, and Marco Belinelli who started for Hedo Turkoglu with a season-high 21.

It was the defense that let Toronto down more than anything else as the Pacers shot 52.4 percent from the floor. Much of the credit for Indiana establishing itself last night goes to point guard Earl Watson who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists. Watson pushed the ball on offense to institute Indiana's pace of play for the night and did a good job defensively against Toronto's ball handlers.

While some Raptor fans will point to a lack of production from Toronto's bench, Triano made a good point when he talked about the bench being shortened because some of those players were thrust into starting roles. Antoine Wright who has played well lately had a tough night and he was laughing and mumbling something about new shoes and getting rid of them after shooting 0-for-8 from the floor. The news became even worse for the Raptor bench when Jose Calderon sprained his right ankle after stepping on Jarrett Jack's foot hustling back in transition to try and curtail an Indiana fast break in the second half. Although Calderon was optimistic saying that it didn't feel that bad last night, we'll see how it is going forward as he was limping as he left the locker room.

Hedo Turkoglu was fitted for his protective mask Tuesday and I am told it is not a Richard Hamilton-type that is comes down over the nose but rather a shorter type unit that as one team person said, "would make him look like Robin". Regardless of what it looks like, Turkoglu is not happy about having to wear it. He said yesterday that he has worn one before and it hurts and that he will most likely try to work out with it today and will probably look toward Sunday as his first game wearing the new protective gear.

So that raises some questions with injuries mounting, particularly the Calderon injury, and the biggest query is how does this impact Bryan Colangelo's decision-making as the trade deadline is quickly approaching on Feb. 18? Personally I think he knows what he has, as evidenced by some good play over the past 27 games. Remember since Dec. 18, Toronto has the NBA's second-best record at 15-6 behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers. At the point spot, when Calderon was hurt earlier in the season, Marcus Banks was solid and did not try to do anything beyond his capabilities while doing a good job defensively.

Toronto will hopefully get a shot in the arm in early March when Reggie Evans rounds into form, you have to give him some time to get into "game shape", if he does indeed play his first game on Feb. 17 against Memphis. Colangelo does have to listen and I'm sure there will be calls made and fielded between now and the deadline but unless it really makes them better without huge changes, you can look at the current squad and lean on them for some internal improvement once all players are healthy.

Hey, I've said all along that the team is currently sitting in 5th place in the Eastern standings and one of the guys they expected big things from, Turkoglu, has not really played well on a consistent basis. It's kind of funny to say that one of your top player's performance is a wild card heading toward the playoffs but that's where it stands right now for the Raptors. If Turkoglu becomes more consistent and all other players maintain status quo this team may not be one you want to face in the opening round.

Toronto needs to get back on track tonight against New Jersey. The Nets are on pace to finish with the worst record in NBA history as they are currently projected landing at 7-75. The team that owns the mark of "worst ever", the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, stood at the same point as these Nets with a 4-43 record after 47 games. To make matters worse for New Jersey, veteran assistant coach Del Harris resigned yesterday and will be replaced by John Loyer.

Just a word of caution to the Boston Celtics who "feel comfortable and relieved" to hear that it is only a sprain to the middle part of Paul Pierce's left foot and he is listed as "day to day". Toronto Raptor fans have been waiting for Reggie Evans' mid-foot injury to heal since the preseason.