Raps - Cavs

One of the great things about seeing the Raptors live is that you catch a lot of things you can't normally see. You can look at players' positions and movements without the ball, you can see how many deflections they get, their overall hustle, if they take charges, if they help on D, and numerous other things that is difficult to catch on tv, and impossible to know about just staring at the boxscore on yahoo! waiting for it to refresh. Unfortunately, this is sometimes how we must check on the Raptors. What this means is that I may say someone played a great game, but only because I don't know about their inept defense. Or, I may say someone played awfully, but am unaware of all the great things they did on D that don't show up on the box score, or even if they consistently made the pass that led to the pass that led to the basket [see: hockey assist on Fanhouse blog]. Two Raptors that I think this happens to a lot are Garbo and Parker. Consistently underrated by others, but never by their teammates and coaching staff. So, If I sing someones praises during a post, or lash out about a poor shooting percentage and fouling out, feel free to tell me the things they did that isn't visible through a boxscore.

With all that in mind, the Raptors played another preseason game today, and seem to be starting to put togther solid games against NBA teams. It always helps, of course, when CB4 is back in action. For today's domination game, the 'box score star of the game' goes to Carlos Delfino. After a lacklustre Euro trip, and being talked about unfavourably to the media by his coach, Delfino has been playing solid since the team returned to Toronto. He is playing exactly like the player we need on this roster: someone who can score if needed, but mostly a non-big man who can, and will, rebound. Playing pre-garbage time minutes, Delfino finished with 18 points, 3 assists, and 9 rebounds. He was also 5-5 from the FT line, and finished without a turnover. BSSG runner-up would have to be TJ Ford, who continues to put up incredible assist numbers, while displaying a low assist-to-TO ratio as well. While struggling from the field, Ford did have 13 assists and only 2 turnovers in 23 minutes, while also adding 3 steals. Other box-score highlights include both Kapono and Parker going 2-2 from behind the three point arc, and Bargnani grabbing 5 rebounds. For the team as a whole, not only did the Raptors out-rebound the Cavs 43-41, but they also won the turnover battle 8-20, and had 14 steals to the Cavs' 8. Oh, and they outscored the Cavs 61-33 in the second half. What remained unsettled, however, was who will be victorious in the fight for the 15th man. Graham, Moon, and Jackson all played less than 5 minutes, with no one surprisingly standing out in those minutes. There is only one preseason game left, with the paint balling, car stealing, hibachi grilling Gilbert Arenas coming to down, so unless Mitchell already knows who is leaving, they have just one more chance to show'em what they got.