Nov 22, 2008

Most hated in Toronto? Is it close?

It's hard for Vince Carter to make many new enemies up in Toronto, but maybe there's a few 10-year-olds he made cry Friday night who were too young to despise him when he left in 2004.
Always fun when Vince goes back to Canada.
In New Jersey's dramatic 129-127 victory over the Raptors, Carter sent the game to overtime with a dramatic 3-pointer stuck right in Anthony Parker's grill, then snapped a tie with 2.1 seconds remaining by finishing an alley-oop off a perfect inbounds pass from Bobby Simmons.
If you didn't hate him then, you hate him now.
Second-year center Sean Williams is another player to add to the list of Nets to boo whenever they touch the ball next time they're in town on Dec. 15. His dirty play may have cost the Raptors the services of Jermaine O'Neal for a little while, as the Raptors newest acquisitions had to leave for the locker room early in the fourth quarter after having his jersey tugged by Williams while up in the air, causing him to land awkwardly and suffer a left knee strain.
There are a few courtesies players typically extend one another in the spirit of sportsmanship, and included among those is never yanking a jersey when someone's up in the air. It's in the same family as under-cutting or throwing elbows at people's heads. It's just not done.
Williams crossed the line, and now the Raptors will have to suffer the consequences. Hopefully for O'Neal, the injury isn't serious, but it definitely disrupts the positive momentum he had generated with five consecutive double-doubles.
As for Carter, what can you say? He embraced the moment. Everyone in the building knew he was getting the ball at the end of regulation and overtime and he still got loose. On the alley-oop, he lost Jose Calderon with a nice stutter-step and easily put away Simmons' brilliant feed, reversing it for style points.
Only seen one game-winning alley-oop worthy of comparison to Carter's Friday night heroics, and that came courtesy of another Slam Dunk champ, Orlando's Dwight Howard, who flushed a beautiful inbounds pass from Hedo Turkoglu right over Tim Duncan to beat the Spurs at the buzzer two seasons ago.
Here's the footage: Which one's more impressive? Carter's or Howard's? Try and be objective, Toronto.

Friday's +/- report: New Jersey's Williams (-16) didn't look like he made much of a contribution on the court, but in pulling O'Neal (-3, 7 points, 7 rebounds) down, he opened the window for a comeback. Rookie Brook Lopez (+18, 14 points, 6 rebounds), who has taken over as the starting center, enjoyed a very good night. Jose Calderon (+4, 26 points, 15 assists) handled it well for someone who's not at 100 percent... Jameer Nelson (+8, 22 points, nine assists) helped Orlando get a solid road win with great play down the stretch, which included finding Rashard Lewis (+4, 23 points, 9-for-12) for the game-clinching jumper. That duo helped picked up Hedo Turkoglu (-1), who shot 1-for-13... The Clippers went cross-country and led Philadelphia late, but got screwed by Elton Brand (+9, 17 points, eight boards) again. Baron Davis (+8, 18 points, six assists, four steals) missed a potential game-winner... Kevin Garnett (+23, 17 points, four rebounds) didn't have to do too much in his return, other than lead a defense that held Minnesota to 31 percent shooting... No Carlos Boozer, no Deron Williams, big problem. Utah got smoked in San Antonio, blitzed by Roger Mason (+25, 29 points, 7-for-10 from 3-point range)... Derrick Rose (+1, 25 points) shot 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter to guide Chicago to a road win at Golden State, but left with an apparent right hip injury in the final minute... Anthony Randolph (-1) was impressive, blocking four shots and finishing with 10 points and nine boards in 13 minutes, but missed a key layup late that would've extended the game.

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