Puffer's Posts - Raps Steamroll Wiz

This game was over with 4 miutes to go in the second half, when the Raps had a 26 point lead. Outside of the first 2 minutes of the game, when the starting five looked a little unorganized, they were able to score at will and quickly ran up a 10 point lead. Andrea in particular stood out with a plethora of sweet post moves. He scored on reverses, baseline cuts and spins. If he had the ball in his hands within eight feet of the basket, nobody wearing a Wizards unifom was going to stop him. I was expecting Sam to bring out Moon, Maceo and Luke before the second half was over.

We have seen flashes of this in almost every preseason game so far, but last night Bargs brought the whole package. The only thing that wasn't working was his mid-range jumper. He managed to grab 8 boards to go along with his 17 points, all in 22 minutes. He was extremely efficient as well, shooting 66% from the field and he was 4 for 4 from the line.

Chris Bosh looked like the old Chris Bosh. Sam only played him for 16.5 minutes, and he scored a tidy 8 points with 3 rebounds.

Delfino continued his outstanding play of late. He managed 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals in 19 minutes. Carlos is turnig into a fantasy players dream. I hope I pick him up in the 6th or 7th round on Sundays altraps.com fantasy league draft.

Kapono missed his first 3 or 4 shots, then hit about 3 in a row. He still doesn't look comfortable to start the game. He might be more effective coming off the bench. I don't know if he feels additional pressure because he got the big bucks to generate three's this year, but he is missing wide open shots. it's got nothing to do with other teams being able to focus on him defensively. I'm talking wide open as in a "Sunday walk in the park" wide open.

Looking back over the preseason, the only game against NBA opponents that the Raps haven't dominated is their game against Boston. In that game, most of the Raps starters only played a little over 20 minutes, as opposed to the Celtics starters averaging around 32. And the Raps lost by a point. Of course, the preseason means nothing, and every team, outside of Boston, has been missing key players. But Sam has been careful with his starters minutes. We have seen how the Raps expect their offence to work. Sharp, crisp passes, with the ball generally touching 3 or 4 sets of hands before being hoisted. Very little one-on-one play. And incredibly unselfish finishes, with teamates passing off to get a shot that is just a couple of percentage points better than the one they have.

I can't help but think that, once again, the Raps are being underestimated by the pundits. No one expected to see Bargs improve his post play like this. And few would have expected Delfino to be this silky smooth, fitting into the Raps offense. And TJ Ford has lifted his game another notch, eschewing his own shots and strong desire to go mano a mano against the other teams guard, in the interests of giving his teamates better scoring opportunities.

Go Raps Go.