There’s just something about Friday night in Toronto!

The Raptors electrified the 19,800 that filled The Hangar in a 113-120 win over the Heat Friday night so why don't I feel so good about this one… maybe only kinda good.

Chris Bosh (29Pts 12Rebs) picks up his league leading eleventh double double of the season and Andrea Bargnani (24Pts 10Rebs) added one of his own in the effort. Best game of his early season award goes to Hedo Turkoglu (19Pts 8Asts 5Rebs) as the bigs shined brightly against a Miami team that could do little to stop Toronto’s triple towers.

Jarrett Jack (17Pts 3Ast), who has been struggling recently, had a breakout game tonight teaming up with Jose Calderon (10Ast 5Pts) in the backcourt.  Amir Johnson (9Pts 4Rebs) had another great effort of the bench tonight and we even got a Pops sighting or two.

Although the Heat put forth a great second half charge, the Raptors were able to knock down big shots down the stretch and finish Miami off for the win. Dwayne Wade and Mario Chalmers who both dropped 30Pts in the losing effort, led the way for Miami and exposed the Raptors spotty defence time and time again.

In a postgame interview with Jack Armstrong, CB4 stated that if they made a few stops they could’ve won this game by 20 and it’s hard to argue his logic. After watching the Raps continue to struggle defensively, it begs the question, how long can the Raptors sustain simply outscoring their opponents before it catches up to them?

Raptors Nation will now rest their collective voices for Sunday’s throw down against “he who shall not be named” and the Orlando Magic. Tip is at 12:30 Sunday on the CBC.

Note to Allen Iverson, had you shown you could be a team player with Denver, Detroit or Charlotte, you’d be on an NBA team right now. It’s really just that simple. I think I’ve said it before, but perhaps it needs repeating, the Sixers should give AI a call and maybe we can finish this mess off with a nice ending.

Until LeBron James wins six championships or watches NBA games pre 1994, he needs to keep his big mouth shut. “King” James now proclaims no player should wear MJ’s ‘23’ and he will change his number to ‘6’ next season. What people forget is now everyone who bought a LeBron jersey will need to buy a new LeBron jersey. Guess where that money goes… you guessed it, LeBron’s pocket. This has nothing to do with respect and everything to do with James making a buck. Worked for Kobe, except he didn’t make a grand proclamation about it.

My opinion is that no one should have their number retired based on performance.  I have no problem raising a banner to honour a player, but retiring a number should be reserved for those extraordinary players who transcend their sport and enter the consciousness of society, not due to their on field performance but to tangible change their actions help usher in and our necessity to never forget their sacrifices.  (See #42 in baseball)