Paul Jones

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

So the Toronto Raptors just weren't up for it the other night against the Sacramento Kings. It wasn't a bad first half, but the second half, whoa! The Kings put on a serious third quarter spurt as they hung 43 points on Toronto and posted the largest single-quarter margin of victory against the Raptors this season.

My broadcast colleague Matt Devlin is a funny guy and when the sports discussions amongst the broadcast throng -- Jack Armstrong, Eric Smith and I -- get passionate, Devlin will point at the loudest dissenter or advocate with a laugh and say, "Hey man, you got tendencies!"

The worst tendency right now is one of, as Triano deemed it, "selfishness" -- where the old adage applies that a strength can turn into a weakness if you can't control it. Toronto has terrific offensive firepower but it's letting them down right now in a few ways.

First off, each guy on the floor knows he can score and sometimes takes it upon himself to try and do it for the entire team. That leads to quick shots without any offensive flow or balance allowing the other team to run out in transition.

Secondly, when they don't score, there is a letdown at the other end of the floor and teams are beating them badly on the defensive end. In seven of the last eight games, Toronto has allowed the opposition to shoot better than 45 per cent and above 50 per cent in six of the eight.

To steal a line from my man Devs, I think the Raptors got tendencies. And right now the tendencies are reverting back to the ones that were present at the start of the season putting head coach Jay Triano is in a bit of a quandary. It's that time of the season when the line-up should be solidified for the stretch run to try and make the playoffs, but you have to wonder if he is contemplating line-up changes.

"We haven't made any decisions right now," Triano said. "I don't think anybody played themselves into a spot or out of a spot (the other night in Sacramento)."

"Maybe too many guys played themselves out of spots, and not enough guys played themselves into spots," laughed Triano. "Now that would be a change if we played with three guys."

The other issue comes with two of his biggest stars, Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu. While Bosh has been consistent most of the season, he is recovering from a seven-game absence due to an ankle injury and has not yet hit his stride. That was one of the main issues in the loss to the Kings as Bosh did not look comfortable and settled for jump shots. This from a guy that is one of the NBA leaders in free throw attempts per game. Normally Bosh is good for eight or nine trips to the line per contest but since he has returned to the line-up, he has had a total of nine trips to the charity stripe in three games.

Turkoglu has been inconsistent all year and Raptors fans have to be hoping that he will be there in the playoffs, if Toronto makes it that is, because it's going to be a fight right down to the last night of the regular season.

So what does Triano do? He needs Bosh and Turkoglu to get going so can he afford to put either of them on the bench for long stretches of time? Not that I'm suggesting he bench them but there are times that when one of the two is not in the line-up, the ball moves better. Raptor fans have to hope that things will get better as Bosh rounds into form and unfortunately being the kind of team that has its mood dictated by what happens at the offensive end, unless they are going to work consistently on defence, they'll just have to wait for that to happen.

----------

In the event you missed it, there was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about why NBA players like Toronto. We have long been told by NBA players around the league how much they love Toronto and this is no doubt one of the reasons why.

Yep, it's probably been good for about 15 wins, laughed one Toronto player.

----------

It's March and the madness has begun. How about Syracuse losing to Georgetown on Thursday? Does that cost them a No. 1 seed once the tournament begins? Probably not but we shall see.

This year's NCAA tournament, that will have all the pairings announced on Sunday, marks the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history. In somewhat of a landmark contest, Villanova defeated Georgetown in the title game at Rupp Arena in 1985. Interestingly, the Final Four that year featured three teams from the Big East as well as the Memphis State Tigers. In the coming week or two, you will be able to read my take on the historic occasion complete with a look through the eyes of the Final Four MOP (Most Outstanding Player) and former Raptor, Ed Pinckney.

I've had a lot of questions about my broadcast colleague Leo Rautins' son, Andy, and what his future might hold as he leaves Syracuse after this season as a senior. Given the right situation, Andy Rautins can play in the NBA. He can shoot, handles it well enough, and is as competitive as they come. Interesting to hear the media-types south of the border call him the most important player in the Syracuse line-up.

Oh yeah, and my son's favourite song, "One Shining Moment" as he watches the video endlessly, is getting a makeover. Personally, I'm partial to any version of the sappy song and loved the original as well as the remakes by Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross. But this season, it'll be a new version as Grammy Award winner, Jennifer Hudson, will supply the background music for the video that has become a concluding element in each tournament since 1987.

And how about this story of a husband and wife team that may end up being in the respective tournaments at the same time.