Oh Michael Ray...what were you thinking...

Well, a few days after the Raptors sh_t the bed in a loss to the Celtics and in the process lost their glue guy, Jorge Garbajosa, to a devastating leg injury, they come up with a huge win last night at home beating Miami at home 96-83…the Raps were especially impressive because:

Chris Bosh only had 13 points and 17 rebounds…Bosh has now passed Kendra Davis as the all time leader in double doubles with 111…

Anthony Parker, who with Bargniani and Garbo out is the key as a scorer, had 20 points for Raptors

Toronto out-rebounded Miami 53-35…which is ridiculous…

The Raps shot 46 percent from the floor…

Afterwards, Shaq was not happy: ''Our problem is we're all shooting and we just keep shooting instead of mixing it up and going to the hole. I don't have to tell them, we should know. The Spurs know it, the Mavericks know it, so we should know it.''

Interesting press release from Starbury shoes: “Four-time NBA All-Star Ben Wallace is best known for a strong work ethic that has resulted in four Defensive Player of the Year awards, multiple NBA rebounding titles, and an NBA blocked shots title. With today's announcement that the Chicago Bulls center is the first athlete endorser of Starbury, he will put that legendary work ethic to use on and off the court by helping get kids and parents to join the Starbury Movement. Wallace - aka Big Ben - will wear Starbury basketball shoes on-court this season. Wallace's Big Ben signature Starbury sneaker is currently being designed and will debut next season during Wallace's games.”

Fantastic matchup of young wing players last night in the Bobcats 101-97 win over the Hawks…’Cats SF Gerald Wallace goes for 31 points on 12-of-16 from the floor, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals…while Hawks SF Josh Smith had 25 points, 15 boards and 6 blocks…

Everybody knows the Knicks are spending a lot of money for a very mediocre team, but check the numbers on how much they are spending on guys who don’t even play for them anymore: Jalen Rose - $14.6 million, Maurice Taylor - $7.5 million, Shandon Anderson - $7.2 million, Jerome Williams, - $7.0 million…that’s $36.3 million in total, which would be 50% or more of the total payroll spending of 26 of the NBA’s 30 teams…which is ridiculous…

Speaking of NBA Salary, the bigger you are, the better the gig…from USAToday.com the average NBA salary by position:

Point guard $3,672,966
Shooting guard $4,504,900
Small forward $3,767,771
Power forward $4,273,758
Center $4,666,934

Watched the McDonald’s All-America game last night, and it was a different game tan usual, as guys actually defended a little bit and it ended on a missed O.J. Mayo game-winning 3-point attempt in the final seconds…Michael Beasley, who’s off to play for Coach Hugging at Kansas State, scored 23 points for the West and was named the Most Valuable Player….Mayo was booed in pre-game intros, and the crowd chanted “O-ver-ra-ted (…clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)” for most of the time he was on the floor…Mayo pretended not to notice, but he missed six of his first seven attempts and finished with 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting….of course, he was often double-teamed…Oregon-born PF Kevin Love had 13 points and six rebounds for the West…Love, who is bound for UCLA, was my favourite player, a true post player with terrific hands and feet and a wonderful passer out of either the high or low post…

Oh my goodness…Former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson has come a long way from his lifetime suspension from the NBA in 1986 for drug use. Richarson has been coaching in the CBA and is currently got his team, the Albany Patroons, in the playoffs…however, the team has suspended Richardson for the rest of the year for these comments he made to reporters who had asked him about his contract: "I've got big-time lawyers," Richardson said, according to the Times Union. "I've got big-time Jew lawyers.” When told by the reporters that the comment could be offensive to people because it plays to the stereotype that Jews are crafty and shrewd, he responded with, "Are you kidding me? They are. They've got the best security system in the world. Have you ever been to an airport in Tel Aviv? They're real crafty. Listen, they are hated all over the world, so they've got to be crafty. They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great. I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people." Wow…ignorant? Yes…Prejudiced? Yes…Mean-spirited? Not sure…but considering how hard Richardson has worked to come back from the brink of disaster, very unfortunate…

Crazy rumour that just may be right: Pat Riley will step down after this season and be replaced by…Florida Gators coach Billy Donovan…wow…not saying it’s true, but if they win the NCAA title again, what else does he have to prove as a college coach? Not to mention his incoming recruiting class is not in the top 10…

In the category of weird…44 year old former Raptor (former everything if I remember correctly) Kevin Willis and his little dinosaur arms are going to work out for the Mavs today…

Word on the street (I hate that expression, but I really did talk to someone who knows on the sidewalk, which is close to the street…) is that Dirk’s Ankle injury is a lot worse than the Mavs are letting on…

In the category of very weird…Iowa has asked Tennessee permission to interview coach Bruce Pearl to fill the coaching vacancy created by the departure of Steve Alford to New Mexico. Why is this very weird? Think back to years ago when Pearl was working as an assistant at Iowa…Pearl was vilified for years in coaching circles for taping a telephone conversation with a potential recruit…on tape the kid alleged that (former) Illinois assistant Jimmy Collins offered him cash and cars to come to Illinois…at the time it was thought that Pearl had violated some sort of code amongst coaches and that he would never get a job as a coach because of it…strange now that he would even consider going back…

Interesting links:

Great article from Peter May of the Boston Globe on Garbo…pre-injury… http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2007/03/25/melting_pot_team_has_raptors_cooking/?page=full

Andy Katz of ESPN.com on the Oden-Hibbert Matchup… http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney07/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2815442&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press with a great article on Pistons strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander…

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/SPORTS03/703280326/1051

Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star thinks Garbo’s a tough guy…

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/197269