Bosh expressed his frustration at the lack of support displayed by his fellow Raptors after the incident, telling Toronto Star reporter Dave Feschuk (via FanHouse):

"Yeah, I'd like to see the team more passionate. I look at their bench and they're all up standing at half-court, and nobody from their team was down on the floor. I think we would react better to just be out there for one another and just stay together."

Clearly, Bosh feels that his team lacks toughness and he is sick and tired of no one doing anything about it:

"I'm tired of talking about toughness. We talk about it too much. We talk about everything too much. We've got to stop talking about it and just do it."

Antoine Wright appeared to be the only Raptors player other than Bosh to articulate his disappointment at how things went down, saying after the game that the Raptors "just got punked."

Sitting at 7-10, it probably isn't time yet to push the panic button in Toronto, but the Raptors did fall to 2-8 on the road, a statistic that backs up Bosh's assessment that his team lacks the requisite toughness needed to play well in opposing arenas.

But more than anything, I bet Bosh simply hopes that his teammates will allow him to take an extra long soak in the ice tub today. Ouch.

Bosh Gets Pounded, Wonders Why His Teammates Don't Care [Fanhouse]
Feschuk: Raptors bow down meekly to Celtics 116-103 [Toronto Star]
Paul Pierce Not a Big Fan of Chris Bosh's Junk [Last Angry Fan]

Ric Bucher says that Hedo did visit Portland, where a deal appeared all but certain, but ultimately decided that because Toronto was closer to his native Turkey, has a large Turkish population, and is a "cosmopolitan city"...

(pauses to sip mimosa, adjust monocle)

...it was the more attractive destination. Plus, he's already spent significant time in the city as co-host of The Basketball Jones.

Kind of strange how Hedo, a crucial cog in the Magic's run to the NBA Finals, ends up with the Raptors right after he gets replaced in Orlando by Vince Carter. And while some may blanche at the team giving $50 million plus to a thirty-year-old, even the faintest notion that he got pushed out the door for that über-talented marshmallow will be enough to endear him to Toronto fans forever.

Sources: Turkoglu headed to Toronto [ESPN]

Okay, I'm way behind now, but we're almost done with this live posting.

According to court papers filed in Maryland, Chris Bosh and his ex-girlfriend, Allison Mathis, were living together last year when they agreed to have a baby. She alleges that all was going well, until he returned from the Beijing Olympics in August—when she was already seven month pregnant—and he decided to end the relationship and kick her out of the home. She also claims that the stress of the situation, as well as his refusal to support her, led to complications with the pregnancy. (The baby was born via C-section in November and has only been in the same room with Bosh twice.)

Interestingly, the Toronto Star ties the lawsuit to Bosh's performance on the court, pointing out that his fortunes (and the Raptors') declined dramatically once he learned of it:

But Mathis filed suit on Nov. 26, 2008, and, not long after, Bosh and the Raptors fell into an abyss. Bosh, who averaged 26 points a game on 54 per cent shooting in November, averaged 21 points a game on 44 per cent shooting in December, and the team he leads, after putting together a win-loss record of 8-8 in October and November, went 4-12 for December, a stretch of abysmal play that saw coach Sam Mitchell fired and a hotly anticipated season began to disintegrate into its current tatters.

Ouch. Bosh denies the allegations in the suit and says he will "take care of my responsibilities," but this whole incident may also explain Bosh's curious choice for his favorite movie:

Raptor Bosh a deadbeat dad, lawsuit says [Toronto Star]
Hmmmmm..... You Got Served it is!!! [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
Chris Bosh's 25th Birthday Bash [My HogTown]

Calderon had been taunting him at the other end. And at least all of this shows that Garnett is fully invested emotionally in the Celtics season. That kind of fire don't grow on trees. Oh, the Celtics beat the Raptors, 94-87.

Now, final observation: How is there no whistle here? There was less taunting in the mooning-the-English scene from Braveheart.

Image: Comcast, via Reds Army.

Garnett + Calderon = Return Of Matty G [Reds Army]
Kevin Garnett And Jose Calderon Talking Trash [NESW Sports]

When last we saw them: Finished 41-41, second in the Atlantic Division and sixth overall in the East. Season ended in the first round as they played Lex Luthor to Orlando's Superman. Actually, they lost in five games, so they were more like the Terrible Toyman than Luthor.

Welcome to Canada: Jermaine O'Neal, Jermaine O'Neal's giant contract, Jermaine O'Neal's history of injuries, Hassan Adams, Nathan Jawai (is that the plural of "Jawa"?), Roko Ukic (sounds like an enemy of the mighty Thor), Willie Solomon

So long ya hosers: Carlos Delfino, Maceo Baston, Primoz Brezec, Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford

The Good: For starters, the Raptors could do much worse than having Chris Bosh as their franchise player: Dude averaged 22.3 PPG and 8.7 RPG last season, and he was Team USA's best big man in the Olympics. Over the summer, Bryan Colangelo transformed "me, me, ME first" point guard T.J. Ford (and some other garbage) into big man Jermaine O'Neal, who can provide scoring both inside and out (mostly out), rebounding (9+ per game from 2001 to 2007), and interior defense (just a shade under 2.0 blocks per game for his career). And trading Ford means that controls to the machine have been turned over to Jose Calderon, who really was the team's best PG last season: He averaged 11.2 PPG and 8.3 APG, was a dead-eye shooter (51.9 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from downtown), and led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (see Fun Facts). And his numbers were even better in the 48 games he started: 13.2 PPG, 8.8 APG and only 1.9 TOV. In 2007-08, Toronto was second in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage (39.2) thanks to the extreme heat generated by Jason Kapono (48.3 percent) and Anthony Parker (43.8). And it's not like those numbers were one-season aberrations: Kapono is the NBA all-time leader in career three-ball percentage at 46.4, and Parker ranks seventh at 42.5. Having not one but two quality big men in the post should mean many more open shots from the outside this season. And although the team disappointed by winning only 41 games last year, there's reason to believe there was some unmined gold under the frozen tundra: According to basketball-refernece.com, the Raptor's Pythagorean W-L record was 49-33. And bringing in a talented, defensive-minded center and settling the point guard issue should make them even better. The key word being "should."

The Bad: How to define the mixed feelings regarding O'Neal? Well, let me put it this way: David Stern is considering legally changing O'Neal's middle name to "If he stays healthy." Dude has missed 40 percent of his team's games over the last four seasons. It's like his body is aging at an accelerated rate, which is great for science fiction and bad for basketball. Especially when the player in question is also making $20 million a year.(As a Pacers fan, I nicknamed him Jermaine "The Drain" O'Neal last season). There's been a lot of talk about how much better Toronto's offense operates when Calderon is running the point (6.0 more points per 100 possessions). But that positive effect doesn't carry over to the defensive end: The mighty dinos give up 4.6 more points per 100 possessions when Calderon is on the floor. So, you know, Jose giveth and Jose taketh away. Chris Bosh has been playing summer ball for Team USA for the past three summers, so you have to wonder whether he's going to be a wee bit gassed going into the season. And for all the talk of Bosh and O'Neal being "complimentary big men," the reality is that both guys would rather feed themselves on a steady diet of 15-foot fadeaways than mix it up on the inside. Plus, O'Neal's a bad passer, a turnover machine (2.0 per game over his career) and needs to use about 23.5 seconds off the clock to set up his shot. Andrea Bargnani plays as if he's locked in mortal combat with Kwame Brown for the title of "Worst Number One Overall Draft Pick Ever." Speaking of the support staff, this is not a deep team. Kapono and Barnani are the best of what they have coming off the bench. After that, it's all Jay Humphries, Joey Graham and Roko Ukic. Which should make you mutter "uh oh..." if you're a Raptors fan.

Fun Facts: According to a Sports Illustrated scouting report: "Since turnovers became an official statistic in '77-78, only the Hornets' Muggsy Bogues (two times) had a better assists-to-turnover ratio than Jose Calderon's 5.38 to 1 last season (minimum 300 assists)." The dinos have been hit with 24 technical fouls over the last two seasons, which is the fewest of any NBA team. Toronto gave up 106.3 PPG during the 15 games Bosh missed last season...quite a difference from the 95.3 PPG they held opponents to when he was in the lineup. When the team was founded, many people wanted to name it after the 1946–47 Toronto Huskies, which was the last NBA squad to play in Canada. However, the team was concerned the logo would look too much like Minnesota's timberwolf, so a nationwide name-the-team contest was held. Over 2,000 entries were narrowed down to 10 possibilities: Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, and Terriers. Personally, I would have gone with the Beavers - great comedic potential - but the name Raptors was finally chosen due to the popularity of the film Jurassic Park.

Videotastic extra: The secret of Chris Bosh's Olympic success? Training.

"It was a mistake, a bad mistake," he adds of the picture, which showed the Spanish national team pulling back the corners of their eyes. "We weren't meaning to do anything hurtful, I take that like a lesson. ... I wanted to tell the people what I am, I've never had that problem before in my life and it will never happen again." Calderon says he sent emails back to about 100 fans who wrote to him to say how hurt they were by the picture. "I wrote to the people who really cared about it, the people who emailed me and people who really thought I was saying something bad. It was a bad mistake, I wanted to tell them."

"I felt so bad about it, I needed to think about it for a long time," Calderon says. "I didn't want to answer every time they were saying something, I just waited for the best moment."

Of course this apology has nothing to do with pressure from the Spanish government, which wants the games in 2016.

Jose Calderon Says 'It Was A Mistake, A Bad Mistake' [MyHogtown]

On the surface, Raptors versus Magic is limited in flash, intrigue and sex appeal, as it pits two teams that were founded less than 20 years ago against each other. Neither of the teams are rich in history, neither has ever won a championship nor put a player in the Hall of Fame (Olajuwon doesn't count!). Both teams will inevitably be stomped in the next round by the Detroit Pistons. Save for Dwight Howard's dunk contest appearance, none of these teams made headlines for anything significant this year (not even for ill business like somebody shooting a gun into the sky). Oh, and both teams started off the season looking much better but then kind of fizzled out in March and April, even in the flaccid Eastern Conference,

And nonetheless, I could not be more thrilled. Jose Calderon! Hedo Turkoglu! Anthony Parker! International fireworks and the greatest interborder battle since the war over Canada's dirt-cheap prescription drugs. What gives me cause for so much zeal and fervor surrounding this series, you might ask? Well, allow me to break down this series with 100 "games within the games" (if you will) that you'll want to watch intently:

100. Sam Mitchell vs. Stan Van Gundy. A battle of coaches who can completely lose their shit at any moment. To me, Sam Mitchell will forever be the man because not only did he actually challenge one of his players (his star player, Vince Carter) to a fight; but because he kept his job after doing so and the player got shipped off elsewhere! Seriously, that is some modern day Leo Durocher/Billy Martin shit. One of the highly underrated moments of badassedness during the more-conservative-by-the-day David Stern era. Van Gundy, on the other hand, came into this season looking like he had a vendetta against the entire league for how dirty he was done in Miami. The guy even started throwing shots back in South Beach's direction. Also, I thought it was pretty cool that he called out Dwight Howard for defensive issues and his zero playoff wins. Basically, I'm just waiting for something to piss either Mitchell or SVG off tremendously.

99. Chris Bosh vs. Dwight Howard. This one is straight Redwoods versus Evergreens, and as fun as it will be to watch the sinewy Bosh weave in and out of God's Son's grasp, this series belongs to Howard. I'm ready to see D-Ho put up Shaq-in-his-prime type numbers and the YouTube search servers to be all jammed up with requests for "Rasho Nesterovic's grill."

98. Raptor vs. Stuff the Magic Dragon. Battle of the Marketing Departments Round 1. Both the Raptors' staff and the Magic's staff have curious views about the use of creativity in mascot naming. Raptor is on some "here it is fuck you" Shellac shit whereas "Stuff" incorporates punnery, Disney sponsorship, basketball references, and Peter, Paul, & Mary into an acid trip gone awry. Score 1 for Toronto's peoples.

97. The clash of horrendous color-centric playoff slogans in Battle of the Marketing Departments Round 2: Are you Red-y?" vs. "Blue and White Ignite." I didn't think it could be done, but the Magic's marketing department knotted this thing up at 1-1. We'll have to keep an eye on what type of faux Terrible Towel cloth these teams' fans get their hands on.

96. Awful hometown bands that could potentially sit courtside: Barenaked Ladies vs. O-Town. With all the crap tweeny music that Orlando has generated over the last decade, Toronto is winning this one in a landslide. Plus, when it comes to music in general, the T-Dot is at least responsible for Saukrates and South Rakkas crew.

95. T.J. Ford vs. Jameer Nelson. Dwarf toss.

Ok, I give up. I've pined over statistics, news columns, Wikipedia entries and blogs for the past three hours and, I admit it, this series has all the intrigue of a Little House on the Prairie marathon. The only insight I have left is that the lower tier of Orlando's bench sounds like a cast of characters from a high-powered Western:

James Augustine
Pat Garrity
Bo Outlaw
Marcin Gortat (the obligatory El Paso compadre)

I'm really hoping that a fight breaks out or Andrea Bargnani starts humping the floor or Scott Skiles comes back from the grave to suit up for the Magic. Hey, these series' can't all be Michelangelos. Sometimes the events of this crazy league simply don't fall into place properly, and we're stuck with a sculpture of a plastic heart. Lord knows I'll be watching every minute regardless.

This is more like it! The Boston and Detroit series are pretty much in the bag already, unless an angry God decides to suck Kevin Garnett and the Pistons' starting five into an alternate dimension full of giant, angry wombats. But this matchup could actually be competitive.

The season series: The Magic won it 2-1.

Good news for the Raptors: The first game between these two teams was close all the way. The dinos won the second game in a blowout. They got blown out in the third game, but Chris Bosh didn't play because of an injury. All of which means that, on paper, the two teams were pretty evenly matched ... but with a slight edge to Toronto.

Bad news for the Raptors: The Magic went on a mini-run at the end of the season, winning three in a row and taking five of their last seven. More important, their guards performed well (particularly Maurice Evans), and the reserves even got some meaningful PT in the season finale (J.J. Redick and Marcin Gortat both had career-highs in points). And a little confidence going into the postseason is always a good thing.

Reality check: Toronto is heading into the playoffs with all the breakneck momentum of a fat person who has grown so morbidly obese their body has actually become fused to the furniture. I'm going to let you think about that one for a minute. Disgusted? Good. Now let's move on.

The Raps finished the season by losing two of their last three games — including a huge setback to Detroit's bench while they were fighting for playoff position and the Pistons were just coasting along — and the one win was against the Washington Generals Miami Heat. Overall, Toronto has gone 9-17 over their last 26 games, which doesn't just seem bad. It is bad.

Magic player(s) to watch: Dwight Howard, for one. First of all: Dunk city, baby! Second, and more important: Defense. We know Superman is going to score and rebound, but he's also got to defend the paint and guard Chris Bosh on the perimeter. That won't be easy. Also, Orlando's guards — Jameer Nelson and Maurice Evans — probably need to start producing at some point. This is as good a time as any.

Raptors player(s) to keep an eye on: Chris Bosh proved in February that he can use and abuse Dwight Howard...under the right circumstances. And did you know that Rasho Nesterovic can opt out of his contract this summer? Well, he can. Which, in effect, makes this season a contract year for him. And, wouldn't you know it, he's been on fire lately! Never underestimate the heart of somebody who's playing for a contract. Also, T.J. Ford could ruin everything if he tries to go all "2005-06 Kobe" (without the talent) on the Magic.

Key(s) to the series: The guard play. Now that Nesterovic is on a roll and Jamario Moon has arrived, the opposing frontcourts should pretty much cancel each other out (with a slight edge going to Orlando). This means that T.J. Ford and his backup (who really should be starting) Jose Calderon need to get their boys easy shots while scoring efficiently themselves. Shouldn't be a problem for Jose — who has 66 assists and only 1 turnover in April! — but watching T.J. play is always an adventure. And not one of those fun jungle adventures where you find a golden skull and save the girl of your dreams from a giant gorilla while narrowly escaping a bunch of poison-dart-shooting natives.

Prediction: I'm thinking Orlando wins this one 4-1. The Raptors are good at home (25-16), but the Magic are even better than that on the road (27-14). However, if the irrational enthusiasm of the Toronto fanbase has any effect whatsoever, this series could go the full seven. But I doubt it.

• Let The Roughriders Play The Patriots! The Raptors shooting percentages hit you like a fart that was trapped in a Soundgarden CD jewel case to the face: 58 percent from the floor; 71 percent from three-point land; 100 percent from the foul line. Add it all up and the Raps shot well over 225 percent to beat the Celtics 114-112 in Bahstan. Jose Calderon converted a go-ahead, three-point play with 10.5 seconds left and finished with 24 points and 13 pesetas. Chris Bosh added 23 points and Andrea Bargnani finally did good with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

• You Can Call Him Al. Al Jefferson walks down the court. He says why are the Suns soft in the middle now? Why are the Suns soft in the middle? Playing in Minnesota is so hard. I need an All-Star opportunity. I want a shot at redemption. Don't want to end up a Kwame, in a cartoon city. Bricklaying, bricklaying. Lakers in the moonlight. Far away my well-lit locker. Mr. McHale, McHale. Get these Wolves away from me. You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore. (Um, Jefferson scored a career-high 39 as the Wolves beat the Suns — again! — 117-107.)

• Pasty Power. I've been saying this for, oh, I don't know, at least a few minutes now, but Luol Deng and Ben Gordon have been holding the white man down forever! It's true! Kirk Hinrich scored a career-high 38 points as the Bulls did this funny little thing called "winning a professional basketball game" by beating the Pacers 108-95, minus the services of Deng (tendinitis) and Ben (wrist). Rookie Joakim Noah — who, for all intensive purposes, is also white — added 14 points and a season-high 15 rebounds for Chicago.

• Ladies And Gentlemen, Your Western Conference Leader Is ... What!? The Hornets!? Get out! [/shoves Jerry Seinfeld.] Reserve Jannero Pargo scored a season-high 24 points in 24 minutes as New Orleans extended its '07/08-best winning streak to six games with a 96-81 win over the Blazers. David West scored 22 for the Hornets (29-12), who have won 14 of 16 and now lead the West thanks to Suns' long lost pal.

(Getty Images Photo)

We are sad to report to Action Movie Star Bruce Willis that just because the television station interviewing you is Canadian doesn't mean you can't start throwing out your handy R-rated movie catchphrases, no matter how blasted you are.

It is pleasing, however, to see that Bruce can make a new friend, and harangue him on national television. Well, Canadian television, anyway.

So here's your Toronto vs. New Jersey thread, where you can make fun of New Jersey, Canada, or take out your Canadian Vince Carter frustrations. Assuming Carter even shows up for the game... 12:30 on a Saturday is a little strange for an NBA tip-off, and it might overlap a little bit with Vince's online graduation ceremony from the University of Phoenix.

Free Darko Playoff Pants Party: Raptors Vs. Nets [Deadspin]

The Raptors-Nets series tips off tomorrow, and everyone's talking about the supposed "revenge" factor involving Vince Carter and his former team. We find this amusing that this is the big angle from the series, considering this has to be the first time media folk have cared about Raptors fans.

But we do! We asked Neate Sager of the Out Of Left Field blog — and happy Canadian! — to explain to us exactly why Vince is hated so much, why they can't wait to play him in the playoffs and, generally, just rant, because ranting without inhibition is another of the great, unique aspects of this whole business. One thing is clear, though: Carter hasn't changed a bit.

So, after the jump, take it away, Neate, you crazy Canadian you.

(UPDATE: By the way, as you'd suspect, J.E. Skeets has something to say about this as well.)

———————————————

What chaps our collective Canadian ass about Vin Weasel first and foremost is the whole myth we needed him to teach us about the NBA.

To this day, you hear stuff along the lines of how Vince Carter "literally kept a franchise viable when it wasn't that clear basketball would catch on in Canada," as one Jersey columnist, Dave D'Alessandro, from the Newark Star-Ledger put it the other day.

Well, believe it or not, even hick Canucks who grew up outside of villages of 1,100 people were able to watch those Lakers-Celtics games on CBS in 1980s and those games weren't always aired against a Stanley Cup playoff game or reruns of Bizarre. We knew about the NBA before the Raptors, let alone before Vin Weasel's arrival in 1999. Regardless, we've always had to deal with condescension ever since the '95 NBA Draft in Toronto when some morons from the league in their Manhattan wisdom set up a booth where league staffers explained traveling and double-dribbing. People scoffed, politely; it was Canada, after all.

Vin Weasel, who rode a wave of false hope and blind hype, is the straw man for all that. So since Wednesday night, when his New Jersey Nets locked up a first-round series vs. the rebuilt Raptors, it's been Christmas in April. It's hard to drift off to sleep while imagining how bad 19,800 people are going to give it to Wince once Game 1 tips off tomorrow afternoon.

The Nets aren't even going to stay in Toronto between the first two games. Seriously, when have you ever heard of a team basing it travel plans around how much one player is detested in the opposing city?

What's also grating is that Carter, even when he's having some killer games that make the Nets a very dangerous 41-win team, can still be the same ball-less wonder he's always been. This week has been Toronto circa 2004, with Vin Weasel saying something without saying something. Predictably - pathetically — you keep reading these quotes from teammates - Jason Kidd, Mikki Moore, Antoine Wright — about how bad Carter wanted this series, but when asked about it, he spits up a bunch of pabulum such as, "Now it's the second season. It should be fun."

That's classic Carter - telling his teammates what to say while acting like it's all good. That speaks to why he'll forever be the greedhead whose ego pulled down a whole franchise, for a time, anyway. Sure, it was understandable that a NBA star would have wanted out of the situation the Raptors were in around 2004 B.C. (Before Colangelo), but Wince could never just nut up and say it.

Naturally, only Carter could be so clueless and P.R.-challenged that he let his pout-a-thon occur at same time that every sports fan in the city was already PO'd about the NHL lockout. There was nothing else going on except Raptors basketball in the fall of 2004, so it became a major flashpoint.

Well, in Year 1 of the Great Raptor Redesign, Bryan Colangelo's bunch has homecourt advantage for the first time in franchise history with a team led by an inside scorer (Chris Bosh) and a point guard (T.J. Ford) in their first year together, who are 22 and 23, respectively. Throw in a supporting cast which represents more athletic backgrounds than some NHL teams — José Calderón, Rasho Nesterovic, Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker, formerly of Maccabi Tel Aviv — and lovably batshit coach Sam Mitchell, and the Raptors are an easy team to love.

The short synopsis for the series is there's probably no way it won't go the full seven games. Bosh's all-around game in the low post, Parker's emergence as the second scorer and Calderón pushing the ball when both teams have their second units on the floor are going to be enough to put the Raptors over the top.

So yeah, Carter vs. Canada is too good to miss. After what he did to the franchise and the way he dissed the city, this has become the biggest post-season series involving a Toronto team since the Doug Gilmour/Wendel Clark Leafs battled Wayne Gretzky's L.A. Kings in the '93 Stanley Cup semifinal series. All those Battles of Ontario against the Ottawa Senators combined don't matter as much as the prospect to see Vince Carter slink off the floor after the Raptors win the series.

If that happens, it's easy to picture Vin Weasel letting a smirk slip through as he wonders what franchise he's going to wreck next if he becomes a free agent this summer. As my co-blogger Neil Acharya once put it, screw him and the crutches he pretended to walk in on.

Because we feel that no one understands the NBA more like the way we wish we understood the NBA than the gang at Free Darko, we've asked them to write up previews of every playoff series throughout the postseason. It will help us understand what's at stake in each series, what matters, what it means for the individuals involved, their fanbases and their history. And there will also be funny, bizarre, non-linear photographs.

After the jump, our first playoff preview, the series between the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors. We suspect you might have heard about this one; it's the battle of the team Vince Carter pissed off against the one he's preparing to. If you want to hop in with your predictions in the comments, please do. Because we type about sports, and people expect it, our prediction is Raptors in 6.

And now, Nathaniel Friedman, from Free Darko, after the jump. Enjoy.

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Get your weight up — it's time for the Vince Carter Bowl! The Toronto Raptors may have rinsed away the doofy purple and acquired a new friendly All-Star in the form of spry big man Chris Bosh. But still, no player is as closely associated with that franchise as the all-time king of the dunk contest. I talk to a few real live Raptors fans—they mostly call Canada home and keep basketball blogs. All season long, they've raved about the streamlined, zig-zagging fast break Raptors. And yet here the freshly-Reddened Swarm is, staring the trauma of the past straight in the eyes and unable to escape its hold. If the Raptors are ever going to get truly reborn, they have to tear through Vince Carter as part of the healing process. That's the iron fist of psychoanalysis, and that's why this series had to happen.

The thing is, I doubt Vince himself is that amped about any of this. Not because he's ice-like, or, as his enemies would have you believe, low on motivation. Carter just doesn't seem to pay much attention to the code of professional sports. So he flew to his college graduation the day of a game seven; it only took a few hours, and the Gulfstream experience is not about handing out thrombitis. Jordan wanting to start in his last ever All-Star Game? What mattered is that Carter gave up his spot, even if it was only a few minutes before tip. As player and as a personality, he floats over it all, like a glassy-eyed bird of prey clutching a missile. He's the NBA's Beyonce: a rapturously proficient ghost who needs help approximating urgency or humanity. Thankfully, this incarnation of Vince Carter has his gutsy, team-oriented Kelly in J-Kidd, and his very own Michelle in Richard Jefferson. If you're keeping track, that makes Marcus Williams the Solange-esque sideshow.

The Raptors are about as overhyped as an unheralded team can be, the proverbial "most known unknowns." Many children in the cornfield have told me that they're Bryan Colangelo's Oedipal answer to the Suns, that Andrea Bargnani was a perfectly respectable first overall pick, and that Sam Mitchell has gone from body-slamming Rafer Alston to deserving Coach of the Year. And yet somehow, we don't hear enough that Chris Bosh has emerged as one of the Association's best players. I get that if these are the Suns redux, then Bosh is Amare. . . which would make T.J. Ford into Nash? While the once back-broken waterbug is having a career year, he doesn't provide for Bosh the way Stoudemire depends on Nash. This whole team follows from the Class of 2003's forgotten citizen, just as Phoenix originates in Nash's velvety hands. Bosh is the MVP-ish hub around which Ford, Anthony Parker and Juan Dixon harmoniously squiggle.

The Nets are never as bad as you think, but rarely as good as imagination suggests they could be. Absent vowel-less wonder Nenad Krstic, their frontcourt is a place of shame, sorrow, Mikki Moore and Josh Boone. Yet still, in the uneasy East you'd think three stars would be enough to stir the toilet a little. For this reason alone, we can hold out hope that roughly one-quarter of the Nets' showing will be sturdy playoff heroics. And while the Raptors may be spazzy child-lizards looking to prove they can grapple with the postseason, Bosh deserves more than mere legitimacy. This kid stands a few narrative shards away from superstardom and finally now has the chance to shed his cloak of thankless obscurity. While the first round in the East is hardly prime real estate, I firmly believe that Bosh can send some ripples through the general public.

This isn't a question of what, but when and how. To paraphrase Carl Lewis, the Raptors need to realize that they're the ones who come out of this series alive. At the same time, the veteran playoff g-spot is a stubborn apparatus. Who knows how long it will continue to push the Nets' notables, well past when they should've creaked out of the track meet? I won't be surprised if this goes six games, with only two of them close. Then again, I also wouldn't bat an eyelash if it's a sweep where every game goes into overtime. The Nets will take their stand, and it will fail. What remains to be seen is how efficiently they will do so.

That said, it does seem like this Morris Peterson headband, "a piece of The Toronto Raptors' History!" is a bit overpriced at 100 bucks. The selling fan grabbed it after MoPete threw it into the crowd, and to prove he was there, the fan displays not only his ticket stub but also "The Bingo Game played that night." Screw the headband: How much for the bingo card?

Morris Peterson Game Worn Headband [eBay]

Proving once again that it's funny when a child gets hurt, we present the end of the Raptors game yesterday, when a small child reaches out to touch the hand of Chris Bosh ... and pays the price.

Make sure you watch the left side of the screen. And listen for the yell. Wee!