I’m not going to lie. I did turn off the TV when the Raptors were losing by 16 to the Golden State Warriors to start the 4th quarter. But then the impossible and improbable happened. The Raptors played defense and it actually worked. They played defense and prevented a team from scoring at will. They played such shutdown defense that they held Golden State to 2 points in the 4th quarter. And that swarming defense sent the game into overtime where the Raptors won 84 – 81, on a last second 3pointer by Morris Peterson.

That means Milt Palacio outscored G.S. 4 to 2.
That means Lonnie Baxter outscored G.S 4 to 2.
That means Jalen Rose with a broken hand, outscored G.S. 4 to 2.

Yes, the Raptors were aided by good luck, good fortune and some lucky bounces and yes it’s about time the Raptors were blessed with some good luck. But the luck didn’t last for long. Rose fractured bone in his shooting hand and might be lost for an indefinite period of time.

So what will the Raptors do now that Jalen Rose may be gone for a few weeks? Well….Lamond Murray who was stuck in Coach Kevin O’Neill’s doghouse for the past couple of months finally saw some daylight in last night’s game and played pretty well. Based on his performance and based out of necessity, I think Murray will help fill the offensive void. You might see a starting lineup of this:

PG Alvin
SG VC
SF Lamond Murray
PF Donyell
C The Scot

Bench

1st MoPete
2nd Moiso
3rd Palacio
4th Baxter


I would rather see MoPete starting at SG, but I can’t trust to LM to be just as or even more consistent than MoPete off the bench. So I think I would rather keep MoPete on the bench. I think Lamond can make a significant contribution. All he needs to do is look at what happened to Jerome Moiso. Moiso is playing well and most importantly playing hard so O’Neill has no choice but to play him. Hopefully Lamond can do the same.

Let’s go Raps!!!!!