- It’s taken almost three weeks and a dozen games, but Andrea Bargnani finally displayed some of the aggressiveness he teased fans with during his first 13 games of the 2011-12 season. Il Mago's 12 trips to the free-throw line matched a season high, as he dropped 26 points on just 14 shots.

- On the opposite end of the efficiency spectrum, DeMar DeRozan returned to the starting lineup after a two-game absence and shot a putrid 6-of-20 from the field. His 5-of-11 shooting from the free-throw line was Shaquille-esque. Bradley Beal would look nice in a Raptors uniform, wouldn’t he?

- The always steady Jose Calderon put up a double-double while registering 10 of the team’s 25 assists. Former Nugget Gary Forbes also registered a double-double in just over 18 minutes of work.

- As a team, Toronto connected on an impressive 12-of-22 from beyond the arc. They also outrebounded a Denver team that features glass cleaners like Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee.

- Win number 17 is in the books. And while it doesn't help the tanking cause, it's the type of homecourt victory that validates the system and culture that Dwane Casey is trying to implement here in the T Dot.

- When former dunk contest winner and NBA castoff Gerald Green drops 26 points in less than 25 minutes, you probably have the same chance of winning as a 16^th seed. And that’s exactly how this one played out for the Toronto Raptors, who dropped a 98-84 decision to the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. March Madness indeed.

- Former Raptor Kris Humphries posted a massive double-double with 16 points and 21 rebounds. The three steals and three blocked shots were icing on my fantasy basketball cake.

- Meanwhile, the guys masquerading as the Raptors’ franchise players – Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan – combined to shoot a miserable 9-for-28 from the field. The seven-foot Bargnani also grabbed a whopping two rebounds in almost 33 minutes of action. Inexcusable.

- Jerryd Bayless was one of the lone bright spots for the Raptors on the night, posting his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 dimes.

- What will tomorrow’s trade deadline bring for the Dinos? Well, there should be no sacred cows on this team. Anybody and everybody not named Jonas Valanciunas should be available for the right price.

- How does a team that played competitive basketball against the Lakers, Celtics and red-hot Knicks lose to a Charlotte Bobcats squad that entered tonight’s game riding a 16-game winless streak? That’s the question Toronto Raptors fans are left to ponder following a disheartening 98-91 loss to the league’s most hapless outfit.

- Not that a loss to the Bobcats should be a surprise in these parts. Charlotte swept all four games against the Raptors last season.

- On a night when the Raptors handed out DeMar DeRozan statues to those in attendance, DeRozan himself often played like a statue on the court. Although he dropped 24 points on an efficient 15 shots, he registered zero rebounds and zero assists while allowing Reggie Williams to almost match his scoring output.

- Toronto dropped to 1-5 on their current seven-game homestand. No word on which washed up hip hop crew they will recruit to entice fans to purchase tickets for the next home loss – but I hear Das EFX are anxiously awaiting the phone call.

- Undersized shooting guard Kemba Walker did little to make Bryan Colangelo regret the choice of Jonas Valanciunas, taking 15 shots to score 14 points.

- Bright spots for the Raptors? Well, besides the fact that this was another step toward securing additional chances in the draft lottery, Amir Johnson was aggressive on the glass to the tune of 15 rebounds. James Johnson also put up a nice line of 14-and-8 with a block and a couple of steals.

The Toronto Raptors hook up with the New York Knicks for a Valentine's Day tilt at the Air Canada Centre. With that in mind, I'd like to welcome you to the Linsanity — or linfengkuang — edition of the Lunchbox Links!

If you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, you've missed out on one of the biggest stories of the lockout-shortened NBA season. New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin went from the verge of being cut for a third time to overnight sensation thanks to an unprecedented scoring binge in the absence of ball-hogging teammates Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Adding to the mystique are the facts that he's Asian, a Harvard grad, went undrafted, and sleeps on his brother's couch.

Lin's story has been compared to Notre Dame's Rudy Ruettiger.

ESPN's John Hollinger asks why didn't we all see this coming? Some advanced stats guys claim to have done just that.

The Wages of Wins Journal questions whether Mike D'Antoni should get credit for Lin's success... even if he only started giving Lin minutes at the suggestion of Anthony.

How crazy were the last few days for Lin?

• Named Player of the Week
• Helped propel MSG shares to record high
• Boosted TV ratings
• Seriously increased his marketability
• Drew praise from Steve Nash and teammate Anthony
• Became Grantland's latest Person of Interest

And then we have this. I'm at a loss for words.

But not everyone is feeling the Linsanity. Unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. posted a swipe at the New York Knicks' point guard sensation on Twitter. And The Score's Dennis Velasco refuses to go all-Lin from a fantasy perspective.

Hardwood Paroxysm's round table offers some lingering thoughts on Lin and the Knicks.

More links (I promise to get to some actual Raptors news) after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

- What’s the cure for a three-game losing streak? If you’re the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s a road date against the Andrea Bargnani-less Toronto Raptors.

- In the first game of a seven-game home stand, the Raptors offered little resistance on the perimeter, as the Bucks shot 12-25 from beyond the arc on their way to a 105-99 victory.

- Former Raptor Carlos "Count Chocula" Delfino accounted for half of those triples on his way to a season-high 25 points. DeMar DeRozan might have dropped 25 points on his own – but when you can’t check your man on defence, the scoring doesn’t mean as much.

- The free-throw disparity also played a role in this one. The Bucks connected on 27-for-37 while the Raptors shot 16-for-17 from the charity stripe.

- Somehow, the lowest-scoring first quarter team in the NBA (19.5 points) managed to take a 29-28 lead after one. However, all the offensive promise of the opening frame dissipated over the remainder of this sloppy matchup.

- Toronto managed to battle back from a double-digit deficit to tie things up at 69 in the third quarter. It was close the rest of the way, but ultimately the Dinos just ran out of bullets.

- The point guard battle never materialized, as potential All-Star reserve Brandon Jennings struggled to score 11 points on 3-for-12 shooting and Jose Calderon went 4-for-12 from the field. The advantage clearly went to Calderon, however, as he dished out 15 assists to go with just one turnover.

- Another lopsided matchup occurred up front, with Drew Gooden putting up 20-and-14 compared to Amir Johnson’s paltry 7-and-6.

- And in a two-possession game with less than a minute to go, Calderon’s inability to box out Jennings and the Raptors’ failure to secure a key rebound on a Stephen Jackson free-throw miss sealed it.

Charles Barkley is embarrassed by the state of the NBA. And after watching the Raptors struggle to put up 64 points last night against the Boston Celtics, can you blame him?

Of course, the logical next step when you are putting an inferior product on the floor would be to raise the average ticket price for the first time in three years.

The first time I played ESPN's 2012 NBA Lottery Mock Draft, Chad Ford had the Raptors selecting Indiana's Cody Zeller. I promptly found a quiet corner in my office and wept.

Of course, Ford redeemed himself by imagining a world where the Dinos win the lottery and select Kentucky's Anthony Davis with the first overall pick. Davis, Andrea Bargnani and Jonas Valanciunas could form one of the best young front lines in basketball, according to Ford.

Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason used some colourful language to describe the earliest incarnation of the Raptors' uniform.

More links after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

- Missing two of their biggest offensive weapons in Andrea Bargnani and Leandro Barbosa, the Toronto Raptors somehow managed to cruise to a 21-point victory over the New Jersey Nets. As broadcaster Matt Devlin noted, the 21-point lead with just over five minutes to go was the Raptors' largest lead over an opponent this season. And they held on to make it the final margin of victory.

- The Raptors finished with their first winning record on a road trip of five games or more since 2001. Yes, we had to take it back to the glory days of Vince Carter and Antonio Davis to find a Raptors team that had a better showing on an extended road swing. The Raptors improved to 5-9 on the road (they won all of six games on the road last season).

- Dwane Casey decided to shake things up with a small-ball starting lineup of Jose Calderon, Jerryd Bayless, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson and Amir Johnson. And it paid dividends early as the Raptors finished the opening frame tied at 24.

- DeRozan displayed an aggressiveness rarely seen from the third-year pro. He dropped an efficient 27 points on just 12 shots while getting to the line a career-high 16 times. If someone could figure out how to coax that type of effort out of DeRozan on a nightly basis, I'm sure the Raptors organization would pay you a lot of money.

- For the Nets, it was Deron Williams and little else. Williams took 20 shots to score 24 points and looked annoyed (to say the least) as he watched the minutes tick away during garbage time. Anthony Morrow was the only other Net in double figures.

- Thankfully, the Nets' scorching three-point shooting from the last time these two teams faced each other didn't carry over to this contest. The team that will soon call Brooklyn home was just 7-for-22 from outside.

Could the offensively challenged Toronto Raptors use some help? Check out this list of the NBA's best unsigned free agents and the top 10 NBA prospects currently playing in Israel.

In the interest of tanking and securing as high a draft pick as possible, Bryan Colangelo might want to take a look at knucklehead Ricky Davis.

No surprise here: The Raptors were among the worst teams in the NBA at the quarter pole, according to ESPN's 5-on-5 crew.

Yesterday's PER Diem from ESPN's John Hollinger dissected the Raptors' prolonged losing streak.

The Dinos dropped four spots to #28 in the latest edition of Mark Stein's NBA Basketball Power Rankings while remaining at #26 in Hollinger's Power Rankings.

Toronto could be the only team at season's end to have lost to the Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards. That's enough to drop them to 30th in the latest edition of SB Nation's NBA Power Rankings.

Jack Armstrong said it's must-win time for the Raptors.

Continue reading this post »

Basketball Prospectus introduced a new offensive rating called Four Pettinella Score (PET). And guess what? The Toronto Raptors' own Andrea Bargnani ranked among the top 10 so far this season.

Hardwood Paroxysm offered up a comparison of PER and Usage Rates for every team in the NBA.

Courtside Analyst looked at the 2011-12 NBA MVP Race using Marginal Win Score. While Bargnani was nowhere to be found on the list, Jose Calderon was actually ranked 19th.

Bargnani and Calderon were mentioned in Ryan Wolstat's NBA Fantasy Report.

The NBeh? blog examined the season at a glance through game 13 and offered a few reasons why the Dinos are on pace to post a 16-50 record.

Fans pay 30 cents per ticket to watch the Raptors play the Wizards in Washington.

Andrea Bargnani looking legit qualifies as one of the top 10 biggest surprises of the NBA season, according to Fox Sports.

The City blog has seen Bargnani surge into the top five of its PSAMS (Position- and Shot-Adjusted Marginal Scoring) on the strength of a great mid-range rating.

Hardwood Paroxysm draws a favourable comparison between Il Mago and former MVP Dirk Nowitzki. Based on their respective starts this year, the comparison no longer elicits fits of laughter.

How do the Toronto Raptors stack up in the latest power rankings? Find out after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

- As the Toronto Raptors learned last week against the New Jersey Nets, there are no guaranteed wins for this team. Facing a Washington Wizards squad that had tuned out its coach and scored above 90 just twice this season, the Raptors dropped a 93-78 decision to the team formerly known as the Bullets and failed once again to climb to the .500 mark.

- The Wizards got to the rim at will in the first half, scoring 38 of their 46 points in the paint. They scored 54 points in the paint overall.

- Twenty-two turnovers leading to 19 Wizards points also didn't help the cause.

- Andrea Bargnani continued to lead the way on offence with 22 points on an efficient 9-for-16 from the field, as he builds a case to play in his first All-Star game. But if this team is going to enjoy any type of sustained success, Il Mago needs to bring it on both ends of the floor every game and not allow opposing teams to form a layup line to the bucket.

- Of course, as soon as the Raptors switched to a zone defence in the 3^rd quarter and tried to pack it in, Chris Singleton hit a triple. It was that kind of night.

- Want to know how bad it got for the Raptors? The corpse of Rashard Lewis – the same Lewis who refused to play the other night after arguing with Sam "Big Balls Dance" Cassell – led the Wizards in scoring with 15 points.

- The Raptors shot an anemic 40% from the field and 4-20 from beyond the arc. And those numbers actually improved significantly in garbage time!

- Rasual Butler continues to be one of the worst starters in the NBA. Why this guy plays let alone starts remains the biggest mystery of the season. Unfortunately, James Johnson and Gary Forbes aren’t doing much to warrant a change in the starting lineup.

- The Raptors finish up their only back-to-back-to-back set tomorrow night in Toronto against the Sacramento Kings… the same Kings who got blown out 112-85 in Philadelphia tonight.

- The Toronto Raptors grinded out a win in the Mecca of Basketball, defeating the Amar'e Stoudemire-less New York Knicks 90-85. The Raptors held the Knicks to 35.9 percent shooting overall and just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.

- The Raptors were on fire in the first half, shooting 58.3 percent to take a 17-point lead into the lockerroom. Andrea Bargnani was perfect from the field - but seemed to do a bit of a disappearing act after a 4-for-4 effort in the first quarter. And DeMar DeRozan showed flashes of aggressiveness while matching his season average of 16 in the first half.

- Contrast that with the Knicks who shot just 28.2 percent after two quarters. Take away the five 3-pointers and it could've been a lot uglier for the Knicks.

- Although Toney Douglas torched the nets in the third quarter to shave eight points off the lead, the Raptors finished strong.

- Carmelo Anthony dropped 13 points in the fourth quarter, as the Knicks closed to within one on two occasions. But the Raptors really made Melo work for his points this evening. He shot just 13-for-31 from the field to get his 35 points. Outside of the streaky Douglas, Melo carried the team offensively.

- Bargnani played the closer with under a minute to go, nailing a jumper and then getting fouled on consecutive possessions. He hit two free throws with 17.7 seconds left to put the Raptors up three, 88-85. Bargnani has now scored 20 or more in four consecutive games.

- The corpse of Rasual Butler also woke up to post a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds). He nailed three 3-pointers while giving James Johnson and Gary Forbes splinters.

- Overall, it was nice to see the young, rebuilding Raptors bend but not break on one of the biggest stages in pro basketball.

- The Toronto Raptors put on a clinic on how to blow a game tonight at the Amway Center in Orlando. Despite strong efforts in the first and third quarters, they basically stepped aside in the fourth and allowed the Magic to rally on the strength of a 16-0 run and 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range.

- Although he led the team with 28 points, it's hard to justify the 41 minutes allotted to Andrea Bargnani. He clearly burned out after two quarters and didn't have anything left for the final frame. Meanwhile, Ryan Anderson put up similar numbers to Bargs in just 30 minutes of playing time and was clearly operating with fresher legs to close this one out.

- Tip of the hat to Jose Calderon for surpassing 3,000 assists in a Raptors uniform. How do you watch a performance like tonight's and then argue that this team would be better served by Jerryd Bayless running the show?

- Dwight Howard appeared disinterested much of the game and still managed to put up 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. For all his added bulk, Amir Johnson is still no match for Superman (as you can tell by Amir's forgettable line).

- Is it possible for the Raptors to have gotten any less from the small forward position tonight? My god that was painful to watch.

- Something to watch going forward will be the continued regression of Ed Davis. It's probably too early to label it a sophomore slump - but Davis is clearly not thriving as part of the second unit.

Toronto Raptors vs Orlando Magic
January 1, 2012
TSN2 - 6:00 PM EST

Happy New Years Raptors' fans! Any resolutions? Maybe for Bargs to keep playing the way he did against Dallas?

A more consistent DeMar?

The top pick in this year's draft when all is said and done?

We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit I realize, as before we start talking about plans for 2012, the team has a game tonight in Orlando against the Magic, and then another tomorrow evening against the Knicks. I expect this match to be an even tougher test for the Dinos in many ways considering the problems they had against Brendan Haywood and Mr. Mahinmi.

Tonight...they get Dwight Howard.

GO RAPS!