Open Thread and Contest: Game 33

Regular Season Game 33
Toronto Maple Leafs Raptors (14-19) at Wizards (19-13)
ACC (no, not Atlantic Coast Conference)
1:00 PM
CSN, TSNT, The Score

grrrrrr

Previous results: haven't play yet yo.

Light previewing: Being able to catch a lot of Raptor games up here, I'd like to give you some incites for those unfamiliar with this squad:

• Andrea Bargnani (remember him? #1 pick? yeah! him!) can play for real, Darko he is absolutely not
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• He'll launch a 3 when you think he shouldn't and make it
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• He'll occasionally drop some sick dimes
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• He doesn't close his mouth. Ever.
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• He's Italian, just thought I'd mention that
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Other things you might expect from the Dinosaurs:

• Jose Calderon will get at least one friggin easy layup because his defender don't think he get by
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• Anthony Parker is the closest player I've seen to emulate MJ's fadeaway form (not sayin' he's as good obviously.. just the form is similar)

And basically the Wizards shouldn't take this sub .500 team too lightly. They're not rollovers and have legit scoring power from Bosh (hasn't missed a beat just 2 games back) so he'll cause problems for the frontcourt players. The win against the Hawks Friday is certainly a good confidence boost after falling just short against PHX. But I think if the Wiz are able to contain the contributions of MoPete, Parker, Graham and Bargnani the win is theirs.

Because on the flip side, I think it's safe to say the Big 3 can impose their fury more than usual since the Raps have a hard time containing players ie their defense aren't that good (they're 2nd in the lig in allowing offensive rebounds)

The only other way the Wiz lose is party hangover?...nah...besides the brisk Toronto air will filter out any toxins (or so I've heard)

Lil' article from Raps beat writer Dougie Smith. Ah, he got a lot of the details wrong but he does mention that TJ is back in the lineup. No word yet on Eric Bana Jorge Garbajosa

Raps blogs: Ihraptors, RaptorsHQ, Raptors Den, RaptorBlog, HoopsAddict Raps section and just about every website with a .ca suffix

Wizards at Raptors: Update [2007-1-7 11:26:33 by TheHype]: T-Dot by 1 (!!!)
Over/Under on Big 3: 70.9 points.

As a reminder, only YOU can prevent forest fires... and also--this is an open game thread, so post away as you watch/listen.