Wiretap: Toronto Out of the Mix for Barnes

Well Raptor fans, it seemed a little too good to be true, and in fact it was. Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Lakers are now the front runner for a one year deal with Barnes. The Cavaliers, however, are still heavily pursuing Barnes.

5th Straight Loss, 4th Blowout in the Stretch: 114-94 Cavs

Good news: the Raptors are in the record books!
Bad news: they are in the record books because LeBron James became the leader in career steals for the Cavs and Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the leader in career rebounds for the Cavs.

The Raptors once again showed a lack of intensity and the defense has not yet shown up. The Raps have now fallen to 8-12, and look to snap their 5 game losing streak tomorrow against Indiana.

Player of the game:
Joey Graham - 17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist. Used garbage minutes at the end of the game effectively. The Raptors' leading scorer tonight.

Notables:
Roko Ukic - 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist. We may be biased because we love Roko, but 10 points, 0 turnovers, and overall +7 when he was on the floor makes for a pretty good night for Roko.
Jose Calderon - 14 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists. Tried to get a stagnant offense going tonight...
Chris Bosh - 9 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists. Bosh's numbers have become less and less amazing during this losing streak. Fatigue anyone?

Stat of the game:
The Cavs beat out the Raptors in every category possible:
- Rebounds: 45 - 33 Cavs
- Assists: 29 - 18 Cavs
- Turnovers: 11 - 19 Cavs
- Steals: 11 - 5 Cavs
- Points in the paint: 48 - 36 Cavs
- Fast break points: 17 - 10 Cavs

I am a believer that the Raptors have the skill to compete with the Cavs and other above .500 teams. However, it looks as if the Raps just don't have the intensity nor the effort to play in these games as of late. Very heartbreaking to any Raptor fan.

Raptors Go To Cleveland

7 o'clock: TSN,Channelsurfing.net, Fan 590
The Raptors are on a 4 game losing streak, and facing Cleveland will be a tough way to get back on the winning end of things. The Cavs are 17-3, and are on an 8 game win streak. The Cavs are also averaging 103 points per game, so the Raptors will have to do their best to try and play defense like a real team.

What to watch for:
- The Cavaliers are a perfect 11-0 at home.
- LeBron James (obviously). This season he's averaging 26.5 points per game, 7 rebounds per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. More astoundingly, he's been doing this in 35.4 per game, down an average of 3.7 minutes per game from last year. "Mr. Fourth Quarter" has been nothing of the sort this year, simply because the red-hot Cavs haven't needed him in the fourth, especially at home. The Cavs led by 26, 26, 40 and 21 points heading into the fourth quarter of the last four home games.
- The Raptors have now dropped to last place in the Atlantic division, hopefully this will give them some flair coming into this game.
- Last game, Jermaine O'Neal played his best game in a Raptor uniform, with 10-18 FG, 24 points, 8 Rebounds, 2 Assists, and 6 blocks. Hopefully he will respond in a big way against the Cavs.

First (Sort of) Win!

The Raptors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight 104-84. Despite some in-game weirdness with NBA.com, you can see the recap here. The recap is very Cleveland/LeBron heavy, so here are some Raptors highlights:

Player of the game:
Andrea Bargnani - 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 25 minutes. If Il Mago can keep that production up through the regular season (as well as keeping his fouls under control - he had three) he'll be a dangerous weapon off the bench, and can provide a very different look from Kapono, Moon, Bosh, or O'Neal.

Notables (minutes played):
Will Solomon (32) - 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Kris Humphries (21) - 14 points (on 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from the line), 5 rebounds
Chris Bosh (19) - 11 points, 7 rebounds
Full box score

Stat of the game:
The Raptors outrebounded Cleveland 41-32, and every Raptor except Ukic and Parker recorded at least two rebounds.

So we're (sort of) 1-0 and we're (sort of) in first place in the East.
Preseason or not, a win's a win! (Sort of.)

Preseason Game One - @ Cavaliers

The day you've (sort of) all been waiting for!
The Raptors' season (sort of) begins tonight!

Tonight is Raptors at Cavaliers, 7:00 PM tipoff. The game is not on the radio or TV (including Raptors NBA TV), but you can listen live here. NBA.com's game preview is very threadbare (as they have no stats for this season) but you can find that here.

Tonight's game should be more of a test of rotations and seeing how different guys play together. Don't expect LeBron, Bosh, or O'Neal to play any more than 25 minutes, although Bosh and O'Neal will likely play together while they're on.

What to watch (listen) for:
- LeBron James, obviously.
- Mo Williams in a Cavaliers jersey.
- O'Neal, Bosh and Calderon to familiarize themselves with each other on the court.
- Sam Mitchell to experiment with several different on-court rotations.
- Projected scrubs (Sampson, Solomon for the Raptors, Jackson, Hickson for the Cavs) to see extended minutes.