Raptors Sinks against the Visiting Nets

The visiting New Jersey Nets downed the Raptors on their home floor 94-87 and snapped their 3-game losing streak.

Vince Carter and Devin Harris each scored 20 but it was reserve Ryan Anderson who led the Nets with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Carter also grabbed 10 boards and dished five assists.

Chris Bosh and Jason Kapono finished with 17 points apiece to lead the Raptors. Jose Calderon chipped in 15 points while Jermaine O’Neal added 14 markers.

It looks like that the Raptors need more than a change of head coach to take them out of their slump. They’ve just won 3 games out of their last 10 games.

The New Jersey Nets are barely above the .500 mark with a 12-11 record while the Toronto Raptors are in the bottom of the Atlantic Division with 10-14 standing.

-fouledout

The Turk Wins the Most Improved Player Award

Hedo Turkoglu’s great improvements across the stat lines have paid off after winning the Most Improved Player Award this season. Turkoglu averaged 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists this season and was one of the key players responsible for the recent success of the Orlando Magic.

Turkoglu’s stat lines this season marked career highs in each category. Last season, he averaged 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The eight-year veteran is a major factor in Magic’s recent success. This season, he developed a clutch game that led to a couple of game winning baskets during the regular season. The 6-10 forward missed the All-Star game in February and many fans believed that he was snubbed out of the Eastern team.

Turkoglu was named back-to-back Eastern Conference player of the week in late January and early February and earned the player of the month award in April.

“I guess this year was the time for me to step it up and come this far, so I am just blessed that I was healthy this year and all the things went well for me, having a good coach, my teammates, everybody. If you look at it, it is not just my improvement, it is the Magic’s improvement too, comparing to last year.” Hedo Turkoglu said after receiving the award.

Hedo Turkoglu got 380 points in the voting and edged Rudy Gay and LaMarcus Aldridge who earned 167 and 128 points respectively.

Other notes:

The Orlando Magic are headed to the second round of the playoffs after they defeated the Toronto Raptors 102-92. Dwight Howard had a monster game and posted his third 20-20 game of the series. Hedo Turkoglu missed a triple-double after posting 12 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists.

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The Moon Landing

I know this post comes very late and I apologize for that. It’s my finals week in school and i have tons of paper work to do that i hardly have time to write here in my site.

When i read about WithMalice’s Unsung Player Day, one player popped in my head immediately. Jamario Moon. Some of you may or may not agree with me, but since day one, i’ve always thought that Jamario Moon deserves some attention. As a rookie, Moon plays almost 30 minutes per game and averages 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. With that kind of stats, one might say that Moon is hardly an unsung player. I chose to write about Jamario Moon for this entry primarily because of his hard work and dedication.

You gotta admire Jamario Moon’s hard work and persistence to the game of basketball. He was practically a journey man in the world of basketball hopping from team to team in the NBDL, CBA, ABA and USBL. He even played for the Harlem Globetrotters in 2004 and had a brief stint in Mexico in 2006 before he played for the Toronto Raptors this season. Moon is now enjoying his first season in the NBA after a long journey. All his experiences with his previous teams probably taught him a lot of valuable stuff in the game of basketball and it’s inspiring to see that his years of hard work is finally paying off.

Jamario Moon may not shoot the ball like Kobe Bryant does or penetrate the lane like LeBron James does but he has the heart of a true winner, a champion. He is not a dominant player in the NBA and he might spend the rest of his career as a role player, but he is a true living example that hard work pays off. For Jamario Moon’s heart, passion and dedication, I choose him as my Unsung Player.

-fouledout