The Return Of Ray
By James Borbath AKA The Dino Blogger
Ray Allen Can Finally Smile
It can be confirmed that Ray Allen still is a member of the Boston Celtics. Last night Allen was big for his Celtics in taking a 3-2 series lead over Detroit. Rajon Rondo on the other hand was almost big in handing the game away to the Pistons. Rondo has been up and down in these playoffs and last night was a big low. In the final minutes of this game he made key errors on both ends of the floor. The young player that was impressive even if it was in a losing effort was Rodney Stucky. He was the complete opposite of Rondo and except for making a shot he was suppose to miss and vice versa he was fantastic. In what had to be the biggest game of this young man’s career he stepped up large. Going to a small school as he did the bright lights of the NBA Playoffs are not stopping him from being a key part of the Pistons success in these playoffs.
He may need to be as well, as late it this game Rip Hamilton was injured and is questionable for game 6. In a play late in the 4th quarter he injured his arm. A sprained right elbow is what is being reported and that is a big blow to the Pistons if he is not able to play or not be at 100%. He has been a key player as he was last night till he got injured late in the game.
Doug Collins could be stepping out of the broadcast booth and back behind the bench in Chicago. This is an interesting move if it is on the money. Collins does a great job in his role as an NBA Analyst. His coaching record has had it’s ups and downs. He has worked with some great players over the years like Michael Jordan, Scott Pippen and Grant Hill. Can he get out of the Bulls what could not be done by Scott Skiles. He will at least not have to deal with Kobe Bryant trade rumours and be it Beasley or Rose will have a great young player to work with. Something he is not a stranger too. My only question is will he be able to deal with Chuck Swirsky? Just joking of course.
Lakers Can Wrap Up The West
The Lakers will be looking to clinch a ticket to the NBA Finals. Shockingly the NBA has not reversed that call at the end of game 5 and agreed to replay the last 3 seconds. But seriously this issue has got WAY TOO MUCH attention. Lost in all of this was the fact the Lakers lead this game and at times dominated the Spurs. I do not think much will change in that regard as the Lakers can see a huge chance at getting an upper hand on the winner of the East before the tip of game 1 of the Finals.
I had someone in the comments yesterday mention Jorge Garbajosa. It seems the slow and steady approach is being taking with his rehab. The lawsuit that MLSE has filed against the Spanish Basketball Federation is looking like it will be settled out of court. Which if the Raptors plan on keeping Calderon is good news. However Garbajosa is another matter. It has been my thinking that it would be highly unlikely to seem him be a part of the Raptors future. I always felt that athletically he was just good enough to handle the NBA. After this long battle to get back I have no confidence he will be athletic enough to do the same things he did prior to his injury. I like Garbo and admire his no nonsense style of play but I do not feel that his body is going to be able to be at the same level. Colangelo has always been upbeat about it but you got to think he is concerned about this as well. A buy out of the last year of his contract could be a realistic and unfortunate end to Garbajosa and his time with the Raptors. I don’t know anything or have any inside info on this just saying based on what I see it could be a reality. Unfortunately he would have zero trade value being out for as long as he has been and people having no idea of how truly healthy and the type of player he can be going forward. He did get a bobblehead though not bad for a guy that played basically one season with the team.
Today In Jose And T.J News
Just to clear up some misconceptions about this whole Jose Calderon is untouchable stuff. Bryan Colangelo has never said this. All this was is a rehash of what Colangelo has been on the record as saying as far back as Feb /08. Which is that Colangelo will match any offer placed on Jose Calderon. This does not mean Calderon could not be part of a sign and trade deal. I don’t think that is likely to happen but Bryan Colangelo is not going to hang up the phone if someone calls and wants to talk about Jose. There is only one person I have heard Colangelo deem as untouchable on the Toronto Raptors and that is Chris Bosh not Jose Calderon. Meanwhile that talk continues about T.J Ford being traded continues, there is so much of it hard to know if any of it has any merit at all. I know not all will agree with me but I feel bad for the guy he must feel like Paris Hilton at this point. T.J is talked about more these days than any famous star you can think of in the tabloids and that ISN’T HOT for Ford or his Fans.
Chris Bosh Talked To Mike Ulmer On Raps.Com
Not much to this interview a lot of background stuff on Chris Bosh. If you are expecting something hard hitting you will be disappointed. But if you are just a Bosh fan you might want to give it a read:
Tags: Bryan Colangelo, Celtics, Chris Bosh, Doug Collins, Jorge Garbajosa, Jose Calderon, Lakers, NBA PLAYOFFS, Pistons, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stucky, Spurs, T.J Ford
This entry was posted on May 29, 2008 at 6:36 pm and is filed under NBA, Raptors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 29, 2008 at 11:19 pm |
Wow, you are stupid if you think Rondo almost handed the game away to the Pistons. 1 turnover the whole game retard. 13 assists retard. 4 steals retard. He was the guy that got Ray Allen going retard. Are you seeing a pattern here? Maybe you should get tested. You know, for mental retardation. Its funny how everyone raves about Stuckey when he comes off the bench behind Billups, but Rondo does some pretty damn good things himself, as a starter who handles the ball a hell of a lot more than Stuckey and is under twice as much pressure, and idiots like you and Van Gundy and Marc Jackson just lambast him with dumbass comments.
May 29, 2008 at 11:22 pm |
Oh and Stuckey was 3-9. Not much better than Rondo. And I don’t see all those assists and steals and rebounds either. And Rondo did not have critical mistakes on both ends of the floor. Yes, he nearly threw the ball away twice, but he didn’t. So no mistakes offensively. As for defense, he stayed on his feet when Billups tried to muscle into him and he forced Chauncey to take off balance lay up attempts at the end of the game. Then he SMARTLY fouled Stuckey so he couldn’t shoot a three. Even Van Gundy and Jackson thought that was smart. So YOU ARE WRONG.
May 30, 2008 at 10:49 am |
Stucky made plays down the stretch of this game and Rondo did not. If you lose a game in the Final minutes and have a great stat line is that good enough for you? Rondo had some costly fouls as well. Why you need to get into personal attacks is another issue altogether. If I am as “DUMB’” as you put it, as a pretty good former NBA Player and a respected coach that some wanted to replace Sam Mitchell here in Toronto. I can live with that. Understand that I didn’t have to post your comments at all and in the future if it is just a personal attack I won’t bother. But the basketball points or arguement are fine with me.
May 30, 2008 at 11:51 am |
The one costly foul that you might be talking about is that three pointer on Billups. And lets face it, Billups is as good as anyone at drawing a cheap foul like that. Rondo played great defense on Billups the rest of the game, though, making sure he got nothing easy even though Billups is much larger than Rondo. Those two rainbow passes were scary, yes, but he didn’t throw the ball away and thats what matters. And as for the fouls on Stuckey: Even Van Gundy and Jackson admitted that it was smart to foul him with the way both teams were shooting the three. Stuckey made a wide open three pointer; good for him, he’s gonna be a great player and that was a great cold blooded shot. But Rondo did not almost throw the game away. There seems to be a lot of Rondo haters around. Everybody is jumping on Rodney Stuckey, and hating on Rondo, but Rajon has twice as much pressure and responsibility as Stuckey. For Detroit, Stuckey playing well compliments their offense. For Boston, Rondo playing well is a necessity. I think people have been a little too hard on this guy, whose only 22 freakin years old.
May 30, 2008 at 1:49 pm |
Ask Andrea Bargnani about what you age matters as far as catching rage of Fans. It is after all pro basketball and part of that is getting both praise and ripped to shreads. Both Stucky and Rondo are players that should and can have long futures in this league. In Past of this blog I have given praise to both players in this blog. Stuckey was able to fill in for Billups to close out Orlando and did a good job there as well. Thanks for your opinions and thanks for keeping it just to basketball.
May 30, 2008 at 2:56 pm |
Alright my bad for the insults. Its just that Rondo gets so much BS from a lot of analysts that I find some blog who insults him a bit and I fume there. Up until Game 5, Van Gundy and Jackson would absolutely break down everything Rondo did wrong while not giving him credit for anything done well. Hell, Rondo once made a great up and under move for a basket, but Van Gundy just called it “accidental offense” while pointing out that Rondo turned down a (slightly) open shot. It just gets me kind of ticked some times. Once again, sorry for the insults.
May 30, 2008 at 7:19 pm |
It’s cool I just wanted to point out this Blog has a history of support of Rondo. I like the kid and said before this season every started that Celtics would be fine with Rondo as a starter. I had mentioned that in the Blog before. I understand folks get heated I just like to keep it about basketball and not about insults. I respect the fact you responded to my request.