Land of the Leaf

Chris Bosh recorded his eighth straight double-double.  Shawn Marion was flying high and finished with 18 points, Quincy Douby poured in 9 points in under nine minutes of action, and the Raptors led the Hawks by as much as 9 points.  The ghost of Sam Mitchell took over as coach halfway through the second quarter and pulled Joey Graham, Patrick O’Bryant, and Jason Kapono off the bench to begin losing.

Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and the rest of the Hawks proved to be out of Toronto’s league in the second half and buried the Raptors late with solid defense and sharp shooting.  Final score: 118-110.  The Raptors have five games remaining this season, and three losses will give them their first 50-loss season since 2005.  Go Jays.

Shameless Plug
I love Scott Richmond, but mostly because he’s Canadian. That shouldn’t warrant him a spot in the Jays’ rotation. I did something about it. I went to the Bleacher Report and I spit some words out on why J.P. Ricciardi should make a move for Ben Sheets. Hold the cynicism and rising blood pressure for a minute, it’s the Bleacher Report, people have said much wilder things over there.

Leafs Prepared to Sign Christian Hanson
Joe Ross at NHL Rumours is on to something: the media scrutiny this poor Hanson kid is going to face for his entire career because his father was an actual Hanson brother from Slap Shot. Hanson projects as a strong two-way centre and he has posted 16 goals and 15 assists in 37 NCAA games at Notre Dame this season. Tyler Bozak could be heading to Toronto as well.

Alonzo Mourning Is A Piece Of Shit
From Doug Smith’s blog:

I didn’t hear the whole speech so maybe I missed it but I don’t think Alonzo Mourning thanked Rob Babcock and the Raptors for repatriating him to Miami, where they retired his number last night.
But how crazy is this?
Normal halftime breaks are 14 minutes; the Heat-Magic game was delayed 43 minutes at halftime for the Mourning ceremony.

Giving A Man Named Pops a Nickname?
Seriously, I thought Pops worked just fine. Nonetheless, he’s going to be the “British Bulldog”.

Should They Stay or Should They Go
Arsenalist runs down a list of so-so Raptors and gives some insight into who should be bought out, benched, and given playing time. I think I can agree with almost all of the suggestions, except Joey Graham… he can go stack shit for all I care. Quincy Douby “looks like Tupac”!