Raps Take Opener! 101-91 Raps

In a great game for our Dinos, the Raptors start the season 1-0. The Franchise Chris Bosh put up a big game and Andrea Bargnani showed that he's here to prove something this year, leading the Raps in scoring. The Raps' D was tenacious, posting 4 steals and 6 blocks (3 by newcomer Hedo Turkoglu in his debut!). If this is the way Raps games are going to be for the rest of the season, it's going to be a lot of fun.

NBA.com recap

Player of the Game:
Give it up for Il Mago. He led the game in scoring with 28 on 11-15 shooting (2-3 from 3, 4-4 from the line) in under 30 minutes on the court. He picked up some questionable fouls which limited his playing time and ability to rebound (he had a merely-okay 5, though, with CB4 on the glass, there weren't many boards to be had). He was running circles around the Cavs' big men and was scoring from anywhere. It's kind of interesting how both the Italian boys (Andrea and Marco Belinelli) are so similar in their ability and willingness to score from anywhere. Each one also had a thunderous dunk in the game.

Notables:
CB4 - 21 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists. Not a bad start for the face of the franchise. He answered Shaquille O'Neal's assertion that he is the "RuPaul of big men" strongly, and helped hold the Most Dominant Ever (?) to a decidedly mediocre game (12 points, 7 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0-3 FT, 4 fouls).
Jose Calderon - 5 points, 11 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers. Had a Jose-esque game. Didn't score a lot (he really doesn't need to with the firepower around him) and, oddly, after receiving the award for setting the NBA single-season free-throw shooting record, missed his first two free throws of the game, finishing 3-5 from the line. He and Jarrett Jack, importantly, stopped Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson from being effective playmakers - 28 points, but a 5:5 assist-turnover ratio and combined 8-24 shooting). Jose acknowledged in the offseason that his defence last year was bad, and hopefully he can continue to hold his own on that side of the ball.
Hidayet - 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks. Had a very solid debut at home, filling in the stat sheet nicely. He was very good defensively and scored a little bit when he needed to. It also seemed like he was in good control of the offense at the end of the game, helping us keep a sizeable lead until the end.

Full box score

Stat of the Game:
The Raptors simply dominated on the defensive end, giving up very few easy buckets and holding Cleveland to 34.9% (29-83) shooting. If they can concentrate and hold their own in their zone the whole year, this season will definitely be fun to watch.

Prehistoric Hoops Hiatus

Well, it's the holiday season, and our Clark Kent lives have caught up to us at PH. We'll be going on hiatus for the next few days, and hey, if the Raps can turn it around, maybe we'll stay gone! (Not really. We know how awesome we are and would not do that to you.)

We will leave you with this article about Shaquille O'Neal's free-throw shooting by ESPN stat-head John Hollinger. It's a great read and he (as always) brings up some interesting and unusual stats.

So, happy holidays from Prehistoric Hoops, and if you need something for the person who has everything... donate to charity. The charity being the Raptors. And the donation being wins. Please.

Very Funny Moment from Spurs-Suns

This has nothing to do with the Raptors (possibly the first such post on this blog) but I couldn't resist posting this video. Frequently this summer Shaquille O'Neal complained about the Suns using the Hack-A-Shaq strategy in their playoff series. Watch as Gregg Popovich calls for the Spurs to foul Shaq about five seconds into the game - professional basketball needs more moments like this! It's just a game, remember?