The Real Season Is Here...

April 17, 9:54 a.m. The 2007-08 regular season is in the books. The Raps finished at 41-41 after losing at Chicago Wednesday night. Now the REAL season is upon us. Raps-Magic on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. on TSN. Orlando went 52-30 on the season after a twenty point win over Washington. Dwight Howard played the first quarter and was done for the night. You know my thoughts on the series. If the Raps can punish their point guards behind the play of Ford and Calderon and limit Lewis and Turkoglu to good not "great" games, the Raps will get it done. Let's face it, Howard is going to get his points and boards. That's fine. The guy is a stud. But contain the rest and the Raps will be in good shape. The Bulls have some assets for sure. I love Andres Nocioni. Tough and plays with determination and grit. Dallas beat the Hornets by 13 as Jason Terry tossed in 30. The two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs. Credit Mike Dunleavy for having a terrific season despite a poor showing this year by the Pacers. He had 36 in Indy's win over NY. A few coaches in all probability will be out of work today: Isiah Thomas in NY and Jim Boylan in Chicago. I feel badly for Boylan but it's a business and he understands it. For Thomas it's a different story all together. The Knicks lost their 59th game of the season and Donnie Walsh needs to clean house. It was cruise control night for a number of teams in the league as Miami finished off a horrendous season beating the Hawks by 14. Boston on the other hand won its 66th game of the year going 35-6 at home after a 105-94 win over the Nets who have some major decisions to make in the off season. My man Leon Powe with a double-double of 27 and 11. Who will win the Spurs-Suns series? Hornets -Mavs or Rockets-Jazz? I love the NBA! Do you give the Wizards any hope against the Cavs? Glad Linton Johnson hooked up with Phx. Nice man. The Bucks according to the NY Daily News have targeted Scott Skiles as their new coach. Smart choice. Mark Jackson is leaving his post as analyst with the Nets TV package. Are we talking NY - as head coach? Next head coach to get a megabucks deal is Doc Rivers. Chad Johnson wants out? No...really? More e-mails from CCI readers... E-mailer Jason... Finally the Raps have caught a break by getting the Magic. I think we will take the Magic in 5 games. The Raps have got experience from playing the Nets last year and will now know what to expect when it comes to playoff basketball. I like the Magic and I believe there gonna be good for many years to come, but i think there alot like the Raps were last year....they win there division and get a top 3 spot but dont really have any playoff experience. Hopefully the ACC is rocking like last year...WOW was that place unreal for the playoffs...I think a RED out should come back too....I dont think the Magic have any Red uniforms up there sleeves like the Nets had...HAHA E-mailer Jim: The Raps cannot be favourites in this series the way they have finished out the season, but I still believe they can win if the following three things happen: 1. They make a serious commitment to team D and keep the Magic shooting sub 50% 2. We need Delfino, Kapono or Bargnani to step up. We gotta get something like 25 pts and 12 boards between them 3. Hard fouls on Howard, the guy is shooting 58% from the line - send him there - lots! Hey Chuck, The Raps might not have played their best ball this year due to some major injuries but I think they have a better shot advancing this year in the playoffs than last year. You said the key will be the bigs and the point guards, no doubt that will be a big part of it but I think the real big issue is going to be perimeter defense on Lewis and Turkoglu. Earlier this season I recall Turkoglu beating the Raps pretty much on his own. This has been a problem for the raps all season. Some examples would be Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Corey Maggette. If the Raps slowed down any of those guys (I say slow down because you can't really expect any team to shut down Kobe, or LBJ) they would have won those games. The wing guys for the Raps will decide this series on the defensive end, if they can contain Lewis and Turkoglu, the Raps will win. Thanks John MacDonald Fredericton NB P.S. You are the man chuck, never lose your passion. The only thing that concerns me about the Raps is their Lack of Toughness. Without Bosh, they are a soft team, it's like they are scared to rebound and get in the paint. Next year they need a gritty player, a Dale Davis type player, The Brezzerker is not the answer for this team. I love Calderon, and I hope he plays more than TJ, I don't care about the so-called beef which everyone is bringing up, At this point I trust Jose more than TJ with the ball. T.J. plays sometimes like he is the star of the team and doesn't need to pass and hog up the ball, it really gets annoying. I really hope he doesn't play stupid in the playoffs, we should have beaten the Bobcats. Since my Pacers are out the playoffs (YOU CALLED IT lol) there's no other team in the East for me to cheer for other than the Raps. They need to iron out their trust issues with each other and handle business. Orlando, if they don't turn the ball over stupidly like they usually do, they are gonna be hard to beat regardless of who you put on Howard. Stan Van Gundy is gonna put the whip on his boys to get the job done, I've seen his practices lol. Trust me, they will respond and Raps need to be ready. I got a new nick name for Rasho, let me know if you approve "Frankenstein" LOL, every time I see him, it comes to mind Anyways enjoy the weather, Raps are in the playoffs, it's a beautiful thing Steve Hey Chuck, Thanks for an excellent daily read! Only wish you could get a post in on the weekend too, then I dont have to wait till monday for more CCI! Anyways here's my prediction for you on the Raps-Magic: I love the Raps, always have and always will no matter what adversity comes in our way. I hope we will win, I know as a die-hard fan we will win! But I'm also a realist, and to me playoffs are about momentum. This fall to the 6 seed and nearly having to play Detroit has made the year a struggle to say the least, and I just don't feel good about things with the downward momentum the Raps are taking. I say its a close series but in the end the Magic pull it out in 7, and then watch Bryan make a big splash in the off-season. Another question for you regarding our shared passion for the Cubbies: I'm born and bred in Toronto but absolutely bleed Cubbie blue. I'm going to Chicago in August and the Cubs are playing the Cardinals that weekend at Wrigley. Obviously I'd LOVE to get to a Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley but those series are sold out very early. I figured I'd ask you since you used to work in Chicago, where might be the best place to grab some tickets for that series? And I assume they will be marked up (most likely since it's the Cardinals in town) but is there any chance or any place that might possibly have them at face value? Thanks for the entertainment, Go Raps and Cubs! Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb, Toronto PS: With all the power you got please please get the Raps to keep Jack Armstrong as the analyst next year! Hey Chuck, First of all don't get me wrong as I am a Raptors fan since day one ... but Raps over the Magic in six ???? Are you kidding me ?! ... The Raps ... you know .. might have depth ... but their execution ... honestly ... is definitely not the greatest of all ... and some shots (actually a lot) are forced and their set plays seem to be easily broken up by just tighter D ... The only bright spot is Rasho who has been Chris Bosh the 2nd lately ... I'll take 5 Rasho's on the court at the same time any day ! Hey Chuck, Can you please post on CCI that D12 will dominate his matchup with Rasho (if they decide to go at him one on one) and when that happens, people can give D How his due. I believe the Raps will take it in 6, but it will be because of T.J. and Jose getting penetration forcing the Magic to leave open players NOT because they can contain the Beast of the East, D12! Thanks Chuck! Daniel Rhee Hey Chuck, Love the Raps, but don't know how you are picking them to beat Orlando. The matchup looks good for them on paper, but so have alot of other matchups in the last 2+ months. Since Feb. 1, the Raps have only won 2 games against playoff teams. That's 2-12. How do you expect them to just TURN IT ON all of a sudden? The depth you mention is not that great anymore. You don't know what your getting from night to night from Moon, Bargnani, Delfino, Kapono and even Parker for that matter. That is way too many question marks. IF some of those guys play well, then yes, the Raps will win, but too many nights this year, some or all of those guys have not played up to there potential. Talk to ya later, Marc Thoughts on the Raps/NBA? E-mail me at cswirsky@torontoraptors.com or call me at 416-815-6189