Utah/Indiana/Golden State

For those of you who care, which is no one, but I won week 2 in my fantasy league. 5 - 3 was the final score in catagories, I won FG%, FT%, Points, Boards and steals, lost on Assists, Blocks and 3's. So heading into this week I decided to pick up Pryzbilla and McDyess, while benching Jose Calderon and Andris Biedrins. Jose and Biedrins has 3 games while Pryzbilla and McDyess give me 4, and my game play is to win Percentages and Rebounds for sure, and battle for the other cats. Any how, as I speak, I got Tyson Chandler at half with 6 points (alright) 3 boards (boo) 2 blocks (nice) and one assist (whatever, don't need those).

NOW

Let's get to things that you DO care about. And that is the Top eastern team in the league, the Toronto Raptors! I know that you Celtics fans think you got something going, but the Celtics got lucky when they were in Toronto, and at this rate, they will be out of gas by Christmas with the minutes that Garnett/Pierce/Allen are putting up. But alright, I will be serious. Toronto is not the best Eastern team today. But the potential is there for later on. This week is going to be a big one as they have 3 home games against very good-decent opponents and we are going to really see if these line up changes the Raps are making is really working. Let's be honest, Philly is not a top level team and the Bulls are playing like complete shit. The Raps did look good in these games, but let's see where we are next Sunday night.

Wed vs Utah
Friday vs Indiana
Sunday vs Golden State

Now obviously Utah is going to be a true challenge. My feelings for this year were to see the Raptors having success against the top Eastern Conference teams (S.A./Suns/Mavs/Rockets/Jazz) as last year they only beat the Rockets in Houston and lost the other 9 games. Well this year things need to change, and I think that the Raps will be competitive against all these teams, but we need some W's against them as well. This Wednesday will be a nice first step towards proving this team is a legit team to all those nah-sayers. Big game. Boozer had a easy time against us last year, going 12 for 14 or something like that in one game, so let's see how the defense looks this time around.

Indiana got off to a hot start before cooling down. Indiana is all about running the ball, and here is the thing...they have has some success so far, but it's still Indiana. Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy and Tinsley are still on this team! Let's put it this way...Milwaukee killed us, so any shooting team (which Indiana is) can beat the Raps, but they shouldn't.

Golden State should not beat us ether. Last time I checked, the city we represent is Toronto, not Dallas, so again the Raps should win here. Now Stephen Jackson I do believe should be back for that game, so that will be a new wrinkle in it because he will obviously be rusty but motivated. He got team captain status and sounds like he wants to show he deserves it. Again, the Raps should take these guys because the Raps can play small ball, but Golden State obviously has the potential.

So of the 3 games, we should be aiming for a 2/3 split. I really would like to get that Utah game though, and if the Raps are successful on Wednesday, then they are on the way for a 3 game sweep. With 2/3 that would leave them at 6-4 which is not too shabby compared to other Eastern Conference teams. Right now at 4-3 the Raps are sitting at 5th overall in the East. So with a strong week, it will put the Raps back in the top tier of the East.