Observations from OT Sunday

I missed the March Maddness Selection show, there I admit it, but I have a completely valid reason. I was busy handing yet another Madden defeat to my buddy Dave. He claims that the win is in fact a non win because of a very suspect QB sneak (I admit it, I thought I was calling a completely different play because HIS CONTROLLER'S R1 button got stuck, so I guess I can say we are even), but like the plucky Pats of 2003, I somehow escaped with a win. Why is this story even remotely relevant? Because the Raps should be extremely thankful they were able to escape from the Sonics, and get a much needed, and not exactly deserved victory. Was I happy? Of course, I was hoarse from cheering at the playoff like atmosphere at the ACC (in the 4th quarter anyway), but there were issues people! Here are my observations:

1) Garbo played like crap yesterday. He didn't show the normal hustle that he does on the defensive end, and that definitely hurt the Raptors on the glass. He was getting owned by Rashard Lewis for a bit. Looks like he is hitting a wall again, or it could just be a bad game, it'll be interesting to see what he does in Milwaukee tonight.

2) I have no idea WHY JUAN DIXON IS PLAYING HUGE MINUTES. It is completely frustrating to me watching him get dominated defensively, and offering no help on the boards whatsoever. Of course, I will give him some credit, he does have a knack for getting some very clutch strips, but overall its too easy for bigger 2 guards (like Jesus Shuttlesworth) to get good looks off him. I don't know why he is taking so many minute from Mo Pete. Very baffling.

3) Brags is huge, he is developing into THE go to guy from long range for the Raptors. The end of the 4th quarter sequence was unreal yesterday, Ford drives for the tie, Seattle is packed tight, he puts up a soft shot off the glass hoping for a make or a Bosh rebound, Bosh tips it up, Ford races under the hoop to the other side to get the loose ball, then swings it to Bragnani behind the arc, and the Andrea drills the 3 AND 1, for the 2 pt lead. It was like watching the future right now, they are going to be good. Awesome.

4) The Raps got utterly destroyed on the glass yesterday, and I think there were several reasons for it. The Raptors had no answer for Chris Wilcox at all. Bosh was guarding Nick Collison. Wilcox and Petro were playing the 5 for the Sonics, and Rasho and Hump were getting dominated. Mitchell basically gave up trying to find consistent rebounding and put the hottest offensive team he could without sacrificing too much on the defensive end, so the Raptors glass work got worse until OT, when they Andrea and Bosh hit the glass really hard because TJ was on fire on offense. Rebounding is going to be a huge issue for them, if they have to play someone with a big/rugged center. We can only hope for so much from Rasho.

5) Parker looked really good coming off an injury. His stroke from 3 is a little rusty, but everything else looked good. He was awesome on offense yesterday, and he really took Rashard Lewis out of the game in the 4th quarter. He is such a key to Raps perimeter defense, I never thought he was so vital. I think they have a pretty good shot against Milwaukee tonight because Parker should be able to slow down Redd, and contribute enough offensively to let the Raptor bench blow through the likes of Earl Boykins and friends.