Toronto Raptors News

With the Hornets already trailing by 13 points in the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls last week, Coach Monty Williams tried to keep his composure after watching center Chris Kaman turn over the ball.

The team, probably looking to shut down the Washington Generals in the post, has added Paul Sturgess, who at 7 feet 8 inches is the world's tallest professional basketball player.

Kobe Bryant never takes a night off. DeMar DeRozan learned that first-hand last summer, playing in a tiny gym in front of just a few hundred fans.

The Toronto Raptors will look to improve on their home record this evening when they play host to the Boston Celtics from the Air Canada Centre.

LeBron James took a hard foul and clearly was not happy. So the next time he saw the ball, he made sure no Toronto player could reach him.

New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin and Jared Jeffries react during the second half. Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win.

What's that you ask? The average production of player in the NBA for the 2011-12 season as of all games played by February 9th.

Chris Paul had 24 points, including the game-winning 17-footer with 3.2 seconds left, Blake Griffin added 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 78-77 on Friday.

The Clippers' Chris Paul drives to the basket against the 76ers' Thaddeus Young on Friday in Philadelphia.

Toronto Raptors Jose Calderon gets hit with the rock in the face after a scramble on the floor for a loose ball.

Tonight is another Friday, which usually means the NC-Double-Eh calm before the Saturday storm with the many, many games on tap.

New Orleans Hornets starting point guard Jarrett Jack will miss tonight's game against the Portland Trail Blazers because of a sore left knee he aggravated in Wednesday's loss to the Chicago Bulls.

But, a trip north of the border to face the Toronto Raptors could get them back on track.

Despite the best attempts of Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, Andrea Bargnani was not named to his first all-star game on Thursday evening.

Visiting Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to media based there, naturally taking time to praise Italia's representatives in the NBA.

"His timeframe is extended, whether it is two weeks or three weeks, whatever it is," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said after Thursday's practice.

WEB: The Star's Doug Smith hosts an in-game blog beginning at 7 p.m. at thestar.com/sports. The Boston point guard is fully back after being sidelined with a wrist injury and had 35 assists in three games heading into a Thursday night encounter with the Lakers.

A It takes a lot of sacrifice to be a NBA team with championship aspirations. Family, time, sweat and now after the dunk that shook the world , we can add human sacrifice to that list too.A Just like any bomb that has ever been dropped on the world, some fallout exists afterward.

Chauncey Billups will have to root his teammates on from the sidelines for the rest of the season.

With each passing game that the margin between wins and losses widens, the reality that the Hornets aren't under-performing sets in for me.