RAPTORS: BACK ON TOP IN THE TITANIC

Last night's 90-88 win over New Orleans-Oklahoma City was a role reversal for the Raptors from that last-second loss at home to Dallas a week and a half ago.

In that game back on Jan. 14, the Mavs were the normally superior team who came in flat and deserved to lose, but Dirk Nowitzki (38 points that day) wouldn't let it happen. The same went for guard Jason Terry, and lo and behold, Dallas won with what was a B-/C+ effort. That grade probably flatters most of the Raptors not named Chris Bosh (who scored 35) or Jose Calderon (14 points, eight dimes in 44 minutes) last night, but somehow they outscored the Hornets 26-9 down the stretch to steal the game.

Most important, going by those 16 free-throw attempts you can see that Bosh took it on himself and forced the issue. That's not ideal, but neither is drinking a Coke and smoking a cigarette when stress hits you at work. The Raptors needed that last night. (Of course, CB4 was only 10 of 16 on those freebies, but you can't have everything.)

(UPDATE, 2 p.m.: Scott Carefoot points out that not only did Bosh get to the line, he also buried a three in a late-game situation -- something he didn't do in his first couple years.)

The Raptors have had games (Philly and Sacramento in the past couple weeks) where they seemed slow to get into it and made the game harder than it needed to be. That's not cool. Last night was forgivable; poor shooting nights just happen as part of some unknowable guiding principle that ensures no team in the NBA ever shoots over 50 percent for a lengthy stretch, unless Steve Nash is at point guard.

Bottom line, they got the win, and regained first place in the Titanic Division since New Jersey lost 110-109 to Golden State thanks to Monta Ellis' 17-foot buzzer-beater. That's two games in a row that the Nets have blown double-digits leads in the fourth quarter and lost in the final seconds; you'd think there were counting on Vince Carter to carry them or something. Actually, Vin Weasel had a good night with 23 points and a career-high 13 dimes, but it wasn't enough, which hints at how much trouble Jersey's in.

As for the picture, that's Minerva, who's representing the Raptors on the 2007 Las Vegas All-Star Dance Team and easily has the most exotic name on the squad. Hope you didn't bet the over on Amandas, since there's only two and the line was 3 1/2.

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