RAPTORS 1, SPORTS GUY 0; OR, "NOW WE'RE NUMBER 14! NOW WE'RE NUMBER 14!

It's not every night the Toronto Raptors overcome a fourth-quarter deficit to win and make The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, feel like he took just a sip of coffee and it tasted like Liquid-Plumr.

The Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 106-102 last night, a scant 48 hours after Simmons had proclaimed them the weakest team in the weakest conference in pro sports history.* I read the article Wednesday and scoffed (but not so much that it occurred to write a whole post, since the principle here is that it's always better to develop your own take) at Simmons' statement about the Raptors.

He failed to even mention Andrea Bargnani, who's been improving with every game (the Raptors are now 4-3 since he started playing significant minutes), instead claiming that the Raptors are hard up for outside shooting (they are): "It's just too bad they couldn't have moved up last June to take Adam Morrison. Oh, wait, they had the No. 1 pick."

Don't worry, Scott Carefoot at RaptorBlog has already called BS on that.

Want some ketchup to go with that egg on your face, Sports Guy? The stats show only 11 points for Bargnani last night, but without him, the Raptors would have lost to Simmons' beloved Celtics. Same goes for Jorge Garbajosa. Chris Bosh had the headline-grabbing 25 points and 11 boards. T.J. Ford rated sidebar treatment for his 10 points and 13 dimes. However, Bargnani made two big shots when the Raps absolutely needed to answer a Celtics basket with one of their own.

The first was a three-pointer late in the third quarter right after the Celtics had pulled within two points. Later, after Boston had pulled ahead early in the fourth and opened an 88-84 lead on a trey by Gerald Green, Bargnani answered with a midrange shot on the ensuing trip up the court. A miss there, followed by another Celtics basket, could have been a four- or five-point swing and caused even the upper bowl diehards at the ACC to give up hope.

Soon after that basket the Raptors went on a 17-5 run, going up from six down to six points up. Garbajosa had six of his 16 points in that span, including a pair of free throws that put Toronto ahead for good with 3:36 left. Couldn't help but imagine, during all of that, what was going through Simmons' mind as he watched the No. 15 team in the Eastern Conference dismantle his beloved Celtics. It's more likely he was planning another opus on why Celtics coach Doc Rivers should be fired (granted, with the way Rivers let Bosh abuse Brian Scalabrine down the stretch, it's hard not to agree) instead of grudgingly bumping the Raptors all the way up to No. 14 in the Eastern Conference. Remember, the Sports Guy is never wrong. That's why he's the Sports Guy.

Granted, it's only Dec. 2 and the Raptors are only 6-10, but when you cheer for this team, you take what you can get. Believe it or not, the Raptors are only a half-game out of first place. At 6-10. Isn't that wild.

As for the Morrison vs. Bargnani argument, you should see stats 82games.com compiles. The sample sizes are way too small to be conclusive, and it is important to remember Morrison starts and Bargnani doesn't (yet), but the Raptors are playing slightly better when the Italian is on the court than when he's on the bench. Morrison's Charlotte Bobcats play much better when he is on the bench.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.