In a potential playoff preview, the Raptors play suggested we really don't have what it takes to be a contender just yet.

It goes to show that the difference between a 4th and 5th place team can be titanic. This game proved to Toronto fans that they should hope and pray against playing the Cavs in the playoffs. Cleveland fans would love it, the snide bastards.

Granted we only lost by seven, and both teams weren't at their best, but Lebron in the playoffs is much different than Lebron in the regular season. A beast awakens within his 6'8, 250-pound frame, one that plays with more fire, assists more, scores more and rebounds more. We don't need that, and we can't handle that.

Tonight he dunked on us, he drained shots from all over the court, and basically warned us that if we play him in the playoffs, he'll demolish us. Now I'm always up for a good challenge, I love a solid hard-fought basketball game, and the series would be great, the Raps would definitely take it to 6, maybe even 7 games. But there's no way Lebron is letting his team lose to a bunch of hollering, red Canadian basketball fans, especially in the first-round. That's hoping too much.

And it's not that I'm scared of him, I think the Raptors are one of the best the league in matching him up, it's just last year's exit was too harsh, I still taste the bitterness of that defeat. If VC does any more pull-ups on that net, I'm throwing a coke bottle at him (I'd throw the bottle cap but they don't give them to you at the ACC.)

The effort was solid tonight, but the Raps couldn't get the shots to go down. Bargs was held to 0, Calderon only had three assists, and Delfino continued his slump.

The Raps need to find some sort of answer to the poor shooting before Sunday, when Iverson and Co. come into town.

Here's to better days.

Next up: vs. Nuggets, Sunday.

Why can't the Leafs and the Raptors ever win on the same night?

Poppy peed on my new sofa!

The end of the line has come for the weak and meek, while contending players and fans count Stanley Cups rather than sheep to fall asleep, while that glimmer of hope at the end of the rink gets ever brighter for the Buds.

The Leafs continued to astonish fans, as tonight's game marked the beginning of the end of the regular season.

Young Matt Stajan was called upon to produce, (by me), and did just that. A goal, an assist and a whole lot of intensity to drive the Leafs easily past the Buffalo Sabres.

In the absence of Mats and Nik the boys have played a team-oriented style of hockey, one that the Leafs have been known for in the past, and one that they seem to be resurrecting starting now. Even if they don't make the playoffs, *knock on wood*, their end of the season run is an inspiring one, perhaps something to look at come off-season.

This run shows we can win without Mats, the team just needs something to play for, and perhaps someone to play for. These games should be a present for Mats and Nik, two guys who have played so hard, and have been rewarded so little. Especially Mats, who, despite his ridiculously loyal commitment to the team, was actually torn apart by some fans and sports broadcasters (p.s. unnamed sportsnet anchor, wtf?) for not leaving the city and "helping this team out." That's why everyone hates you sportsnet guy. Here's to hoping I don't work with you in the future, unless they give me a lot of money to do so, in which case I'll sell out.

Anyway, Toskala was real, and he was spectacular. The Leaf's defence, finally, looked great in their leotards, and the boys came out with a fire, they came out with a drive, and they came out very refreshing.

Tucker finally, after a while, scored off a rebound through the five-hole. It was all just like old times.

Let's hope they can keep it going through the final seven.

Next Game: vs. Ottawa tomorrow.

Who told you to put the balm on?

Bosh is back and all is well in Raptorland. The Raptors embarrassed the Heat, holding them to a franchise-low 54 points.

The Raps came out of the gate with a boost in confidence due to the return of Chris Bosh, a five game losing streak snapped with an emphatic stomp.

Every Raptor looked more comfortable on the floor, whether Bosh was on it or not. Having their franchise player healthy seemed to make each and every one of them a better player, a testament to Bosh's skill and leadership qualities.

Calderon seemed to end his slump, shooting 80% from the field with 10 points, 10 assists and four steals.

Bargnani, in the first quarter, came out blazing and ended shooting above 50% with 14 points.

Jamario had an array of dunks, and ended with a career-high 14 rebounds.

Bosh, interestingly enough, played the worst tonight, shooting 2 for 10 with 8 points and 8 boards.

After the game Moon commented on how Bosh's return helped boost the team mentally, "He's our main guy, and having him back in helped us a lot, we felt better."

The best thing about tonight's game, besides the guy in the Heat jersey losing a 40-inch LCD TV, was that TJ Ford looked comfortable again. He didn't shoot excessively, he passed the ball and stayed calm (unlike last game). The only questionable shots he took were in the 4th when the Raps were already up by 40 points.

Their play in the last four minutes suggested a possible partnership with them and Pizza Pizza, to reduce the number of free slices given. I can just imagine the owner of Pizza Pizza cringing every time that 100 comes up.

The Heat shot about 25% from the field. Enough said.

All this is well and good, but the win did come against the worst team in the NBA, a team without Shawn Marion and Dwayne Wade, pretty much their only two good players.

Hopefully the Raptors come out with the same shooting touch and intensity against Cleveland this Friday, they'll need it against Lebron and co.

Next game: vs. Cavaliers, Friday.

Bosh, even though he didn't play well, contributed to this win in a big way. He got a well-deserved standing ovation during his introduction.

Let's Go Raptors.

If you're a Toronto sports fan, you should be done pounding your head against the wall about....now. I just finished too.

How the Raptors lost to the Kings tonight is a mystery greater than how they get that caramel into those caramilk bars. Seriously, if anyone knows how they do that tell me.

Anyway, the Kings plain suck this season and the Raptors, just a little while ago, were bringing Toronto sports fans much needed relief from the laughing stock of this season's NHL, the Leafs (we'll get to those guys later). So what happened?

Parker, lost his rhythm. He shot bad and got manhandled by Artest on the perimeter and inside. Shouldn't be too physical with Artest though, I heard the last time someone got in his face on the court he made them listen to his CD.

Calderon's play further escalated the already mile-high PG controversy in Toronto. He shot poorly but came through with 9 assists, while TJ shot equally bad and came in with 5 dimes. The thing is they both played some OK D tonight but were not taking control of the game at all.

One big problem was boards. Without Bosh we have no advantage on the boards, the Kings brought down a whopping 50 and we came up with about 36.

Bargs was stifled again, I'll admit I'm a little biased toward Il Mago but there are only few goods thing I have left to say about him. He came into the building in a solid suit, and left in an equally solid one. That's all I got man. He might as well have stayed in the goddamn suit all night.

Moon needs to give up that three shot. He's a slasher, we have him because he slashes, without Bosh he should be slashing every time he touches the ball but for some reason he keeps pulling up from downtown.

We know he can jump from behind the free throw line but now he needs to just posterize someone, I mean absolutely posterize, maybe even throw the ball of someone's head, catch it and just rip the rim off the backboard. That may help the Raps take control of the game. Otherwise he'll be next to Graham on the bench and Colangelo will have to pull another no name out of his ass.

The Kings gave up 22 turnovers and the Rap's didn't capitalize on that at all.

Kapono poured in 26 points, another solid performance. A better one would've been appreciated from Delfino, he struggled.

Maybe the Raps are doing what the Leafs should be and playing bad for a few so we can end 6th and play Orlando. At least one team knows how to deliberately (hopefully) suck in this town.

Next game: Deron Williams and the 44-24 Utah Jazz tomorrow. Raps are only half a game up on Washington who are 6th in the East.

Let's Go Raptors.

The fans in Leafs Nation are getting more and more things to cheer about lately. With a big win tonight against the Islanders, the Buds moved ever closer to that coveted 8th playoff spot.

The Islanders, before tonight, sat a few points behind the Leafs, and with a one goal deficit, playing without Sundin and Antropov, the Leafs rallied back in the 3rd and came out with a 3-1 victory.

The only thing that doesn't benefit us is that Philly won too, so really we we are right back where we were before this game even began. 6 points out.

After a bouncing puck bamboozled the Leafs' netminder, they battled back, led by the infamously under-producing Wellwood. I said before that they only way the Leafs will even have a chance at that 8th spot is if Wellwood, Steen and Stajan step up. Steen and Wellwood have now done their jobs in two separate games. It's time for Stajan to do his, perhaps this friday vs. the Sabres.

The Leafs' D looked much better tonight than in recent games, they played a feisty and intense brand of defence, a nice refreshment from their usual sloppy and limp brand. The boys gave Toskala some good coverage and he himself was, besides the one video game-esque goal, stellar with 27 saves.

The Buds put up 25 pretty good shots, and were a little heartbroken as to the injury to Carlo Coliacovo in the 1st, a player who's been plagued with them for a while now. Hope he speeds to recovery.

I liked the intensity from the boys tonight, the fact that they believe they can make the playoffs is slowly turning a city full of bitter hockey fans into a city of believers. With 8 games left and 6 points to go, they are hoping for a little slide from the Flyers and the Sabres, perhaps just a few games in a row which would really make this run a probable one.

If the Leafs do indeed make the playoffs, they will either face, it seems, Montreal, New Jersey, Pittsburgh or Ottawa. Any team they face will be a little wary of starting the post-season against them because of the sheer amount of momentum and hype surrounding the team. Any team who rallies in the home stretch of the season to make the playoffs by a few, especially one of the most popular in the entire NHL, will be feared by any opponent. A Toronto vs. Montreal matchup would be a great one, seeding an ancient rivalry, older than the last time the Leafs won a cup (hard to believe eh?)

The Leafs would have a surface edge over the Canadiens, more goal scoring talent with a healthy Sundin and Antropov, but the Canadiens do have more depth to their team, while the goaltender match-up would mark Toronto as the victor. It would, no doubt, be one hell of a series.

Toronto's hope stays alive with another win.

Next: vs. the Sabres this friday, the Leafs look to redeem themselves after last weeks humiliating 6-2 defeat.

Only time I'll say this all season, the Raptors could take a leaf out out the Buds' book tonight regarding their teamwork and defence that won them this game.

Go Leafs Go.

Even if the Leafs go perfect on the rest of the season they would still need some luck to get into the playoffs. With nine remaining and sitting 6 out of a spot, they need the Flyers, Sabres, Caps and Panthers to lose a whole bunch. But what am I even saying? The Leafs win nine in a row? That's less probable than Wade Belak becoming a 50 goal scorer.

Now the Leafs have a pretty tough schedule for their last nine, playing Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal and Boston each twice. How these schedules always seem to have teams that are competing for spots play each other in the end always amazes me. But a favourable outcome to this end of season run is hard to predict since the Captain Mats and Antropov are both sitting for awhile. Unknown right now whether they will play on Tues. vs. the Islanders.

So what can they do against the Islanders this tuesday without mats and nik? defence. Everyone needs to play defence, the islanders are only a little worse than the leafs but they have their line in and would LOVE to kill our playoff dreams. Seems like they need to come out blazing, get in some shots, maybe an early goal.

The leafs need production from wellwood, steen and tlusty in this stretch, especially since they've been a little absent as of late. Steen showed a bit last game, wellwood still has some sucking up to fans to do. Tlusty needs to put his pants back on and put it in the back of the net instead of putting it in the back of...well you get the comparison.

Safe to say if we lose this one, more will say they should tank it. loosing 8 in a row ill give us a better shot at stamkos, and if not him, at least someone near the top.

I know they should tank it from, but I hope they just try and make it. Show some resilience and blind ambition to your fans guys.

Look for a post-game on tuesday after the game against the islanders.

proud of them? not yet. give it a few years.

admire them? a little.

never give up.

The Raps came out with St. Patties day fever, sporting some killer green threads. One Raptor in particular, TJ Ford, judging by the way he played, seemed like he got wasted before the game even began.

TJ, in his 13 minutes on the hardwood, saw it fit to jack up 9 shots, turnover the ball 4 times and pick up a pair of fouls. TJ, get it together. He's a point guard and, you'd think he'd have a pass-first attitude like most guys at his position, but ever since coming back from his injury, like I've said a million times, he's been ridiculously off his game. The only positive tonight from him was that he played with a lot of intensity, like he always does, but it was at a point where maybe he was getting too intense. It'll be interesting to see how he comes out Wednesday against Miami.

You'd think with such a terrible performance from TJ, Calderon would have a jump in this whole point guard controversy. Well, think again. Calderon, while looking better on the stat sheet (16 points, 7 dimes, 50% from the field), he played, like he has been for awhile now, some horrid defence. He and TJ let Deron Williams take complete control of the game in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Calderon is going through a slump now, as is TJ, but I'm looking for them to bring some warranted intensity and try to tone it down a bit on Wednesday.

Bargnani, you're breaking my heart. I defend you day in and day out and I'm getting no love in return. Again, a dreadfully poor showing, it's his job to pick up some major slack in Bosh's absence and he's failing miserably.

A good judgement of a player's performance on the court is the plus-minus ratings. When a point guard has a -21 rating in only 13 minutes, you know something's seriously wrong. Thanks for that TJ.

One of the big problems tonight, as it has been for awhile, for both the Leafs and the Raptors, was defence. The Raptors let the Jazz shoot a whopping 55% from the field while they shot 40%. That's a huge difference, brought on partly by a psychological problem this team had heading into this game. The Jazz had put up a Rockets-esque streak, at home that is, winning 18 in a row at EnergySolutions Arena (stupid name). Playing without Bosh, against a 44-24 team that had won that may in a row at home, after playing absolutely horridly in the last few games, it's understandable that the Raps were a bit down emotionally.

On the bright side, the Raps have slipped a little closer to that 6th spot, still only half a game above Washington. If Washington somehow puts together a mini win streak, we would fall into that 6th spot and perhaps head to Disneyworld for the playoffs.

It's getting a little tough to say that this whole streak is solely based on Bosh's absence. There have been games that we could have easily put away with a little more defensive intensity and desire. It's looking like, hopefully I'm wrong here, that the Raps will have a tough time winning even after Bosh comes back. His presence is a major boost but not enough to propel this team to start playing a whole different brand of ball. It's easy to put forth scenarios where Bosh comes back, scores near 40, and the Raps still lose.

Let's hope I'm wrong there.

Next game: Wednesday vs. Heat

Bosh recently called for the team to play with some fire.

Let's Go Raptors.

I guess when you're making a run for the post-season and playing one of your rivals, it's good to have your captain in the line-up. Given the fact that Sundin missed his first game of the season tonight had that Leafs looking much like the Bosh-less Raptors. In other words, they were awful.

The Sabres had quite a few AHLers playing tonight and just seem to take control of the game right out of the gate. Probably didn't help that we lost Nik Antropov in the first. That's like the Raptors playing without Bosh and Parker, the two leading scorers.

The defence was sloppy, and, overall, the Leafs relied too much on Toskala. Protecting the net and the goaltender used to be the number one priority of a defenceman, the Leafs' D seems to have forgotten that cardinal rule.

Maybe if someone wrote it on the back of Hecht or Pominville's jersey, they would've realized the need to hustle. Tip #1: If you're reading this, you're screwed. Tip#2: If you're name is McCabe, no one is surprised.

You can't really blame them for loosing tonight, but you can blame them for loosing this bad. Allowing only 20 shots seems to mark good defence, but not when almost all 20 were high-quality. The Leafs got off 32 but many were soft and Ryan Miller was stellar.

There was no contest on the night and the Leafs looked sluggish and without self-confidence from the first whistle, to the last.

It's hard to give the dejected Leafs any hope now of hitting that 8th spot, seems like we are destined to always miss it by a hair.

Next Game: Tues. vs. New York Islanders.

Miracles happen.

So it isn't too late, mathematically, and logically, for our Leafs to make the playoffs. I'll admit I was one of the ones who thought maybe giving it up and taking a shot at getting Stamkos was the best option for them. I still do. But making that run for the playoffs shows a perseverance that not many Torontonians knew this team had. Think about it. When the chips are down, they seem to have no fear going all in. Game 1 of the home and home versus the Flyers, we pulled our goalie in a tie just so we could get the 2 points and give the Flyers, the 8th seeded playoff team, 0. We got the 2, but the Flyers got 1, which was what we had hoped to avoid, but you have to admire Maurice's chops.

I for one have nothing against Maurice, I think he is an excellent coach that got thrown into this mess of a franchise and many fans in Toronto see that. This is one of few towns were the management of the hockey team gets almost as much press as the hockey team itself.

The Yankees signed Billy Crystal, yea, the comedian, to a one-day contract. He will participate in a team practice and play in a game against the Pirates this afternoon. Understood, Crystal is a die hard Yankee fan but aren't they digging a little deep for talent? On the bright side, this might be the funniest thing Crystal's done in a while. He batted once, struck out, it was pretty funny.

Phil Partington (Philthy on yardbarker) asked me the following questions:

Hey Sachin,

What's up with Bargnani's inconsistency? Granted, he's still very young and still a bit green to the NBA style, but what do you think? Does he fit there having to play some time at the five with Bosh there? I can't see why he wouldn't. Colangelo's set up a very offensive-friendly system in Toronto.

Jose Calderon's been a beast this season. Do you think it will prompt them to maybe move TJ Ford in the offseason?

Here is what i think:

honestly about bargs, i think since he is young, and he started off the preseason and season without his regular shooting touch, he's started to lose confidence early and now its just killing him. night's where he starts off well, he plays well because he has his confidence, if he misses those first few, there's no point really, just put him on the bench and whip a towel over his dejected head. I think he's fine where he's at with bosh in the lineup, granted only when he's producing like he should. i like that he's slashing more, but it seems like he's only doing it because he thinks he can't shoot anymore. he just needs to be more aggressive, there are times where he just sits there watching the hoop on defence and offense, he never works for the boards, maybe his and chris kaman's samples got mixed up at the lab and bargs is the one who actually has adhd, cause sometimes my man seems dazed.

calderon is a beast, he's been an undercover one for a while and without tj he seems to be the number 1, and with him they play a game that tj just can't adapt too. i don't know what painkillers they inject into tj before every game, but honestly whoever is in charge might be a good friend of chris anderson. tj comes on the floor and acts like its 5-on-1 ball, ex. against the lakers on march 12 he took 23 shots in about 27 minutes. i know he made 11, but what the hell. parker was producing, move the ball around, since when do the raps ever win when one guy tries to go MJ all of a sudden? granted he played well against the warriors, still too may shots, too inconsistent. and i wouldn't use the injury as an excuse, he's fine now. just get anderson out of his juice.

they need a better back-up to calderon, and i think maybe getting rid of tj is a good move, but hey, colangelo is the master, he knows what needs to be done. getting rid of graham and maybe some other under-producing paperweights would be a good move too, graham isn't a bad player, he just can't play raptors ball.

we also have a problem, that we just discovered, we suck without bosh. that's a huge one. honestly, i think we have a wicked chance against orlando in the playoffs so maybe bosh's injury is a blessing in disguise. probably not. but i would NEVER want to play bron bron and big ben in the playoffs. never.

what do you all think? post your comments down there.

this is another article i wrote about a double amputee who wanted to compete in the summer olympics but was denied by the IAAF. check it out

The second part of the top ten underrated NBA players feature. This one ranks them from one to five, including one honourable mention. Check it out.

An article I wrote about the top ten underrated players in the NBA. This link is to part 1, the players ranked from six to ten. Pay more attention to them.

An article I wrote about the dismal future of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Will off-season trades help? Only time will tell...