Toronto Raptors News

Certain players always seem to play better in certain venues and the reasons are not always obvious, if they exist at all.

Dallas Mavericks swingman Josh Howard was in the starting lineup against the Toronto Raptors in his season debut Saturday night.

Raptors' power forward Chris Bosh. Photograph by: Tyler Anderson/National Post, National Post Chris Bosh talks about them with the reverence guys often reserve for women or cars.

It was a shot Jose Calderon badly needed to fall. With the Toronto Raptors having just given away a 17-point lead to Detroit on Wednesday, the ball found its way to Calderon, the team's struggling point guard.

Good-natured ribbing echoed through the Toronto Raptors' near-empty practice court Tuesday.

As I have said before, each week I will do a brief report on the Raptors' performance that week.

With 39 points in an overtime win over Dallas on Wednesday, Paul is averaging 30 points a game on 64.3 per cent shooting.

Amir Johnson is excited to see his former teammates tonight. The Pistons travel to Toronto tonight to face the Raptors, and will be reunited with former prodigy Amir Johnson.

Detroit Pistons guard Will Bynum, left, drives to the basket against former Piston and current Toronto Raptors forward Amir Johnson in Detroit's 110-99 loss .

"We have to learn from these games, especially being a young team," Turkoglu told the Raptors' official Web site.

According to the Maple Leafs and Raptors , some players and staff have received the H1N1 vaccine, but both teams deny jumping the line for shots.

Ryan Anderson had 20 and 10 rebounds, Dwight Howard scored 25 and the short-handed Orlando Magic defeated the previously unbeaten Phoenix Suns 122-100 on Wednesday night.

Still, a repeat caller never tired of hearing a four-word message delivered in the former Raptor's gruff mumble.

The Detroit Pistons are hanging in there without their top two scorers and will hit the road for consecutive games starting with Wednesday's matchup against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.

The Raptors got grizzled out last night in Memphis. Who actually seemed to be clicking, the crowd was going, I don't know, maybe the Grizzlies actually don't get kicked out of playoff contention in December this year.

For those who have watched Raptorsa TM head coach Jay Triano in the recent Raptors TV programming and in post game interviews it should have become clear that the teama TMs defensive game plan is to protect the paint first.A And for the most part, the Raptors are doing that.

Well the Toronto Raptors had themselves an interesting week. Why don't we give them a hand? I'm not above hackiness.A It's been an up-and-down season thus far.

On most teams when a player expected to average 12 to 18 minutes per game is lost due to injury, it isna TMt considered to be a big deal.A There is almost always another player who can play additional minutes for a few games without a noticeable drop off in the teama TMs success.

There was a mild moment of controversy during the Toronto Raptors' game Sunday afternoon against the Orlando Magic.

Forget their win against Cleveland, where the hot-shooting Raptors caught a sleeping Cavaliers team and still managed to nearly lose a twenty-one point lead.