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Bargnani if you keep shooting I will shoot you my man

That is right I am starting to think of insane measures to try and help this season’s Toronto Raptors. Jack runs into more twists and turns than the Cabot Trail but in the end he gets the job done, saves the world and in this case, he would lead the Raptors to the NBA title. Okay that was dramatic.

What got me thinking of Jack was how the Raptors losses seem to follow the same structure as an episode of 24. You turn it on with much anticipation, you are introduced to this weeks problem (the other team), there is back and forth negotiating of good and evil and you always knows just as the show is coming up to the end, the ceiling is going to fall in and in the Raptors case, the bad guys win for another week.

On their current six game losing streak I have tried to watch as much of every game as I can and from what I can tell, when a team keeps falling apart with roughly half the fourth quarter left it is a sign of no mental toughness and poor coaching. Since the Raptors are a young team with so many new faces, they get a muligan from me on the mental toughness part. They need to learn that together and overcome it as a group. The trouble is for the time being then it falls on the coach to do everything he can to stop it from happening. Last night was a perfect example. Jerry Sloane, the coach of the Jazz must of felt pretty confident that his team would come back and win because he knows he is the better coach. He probably just told his players not to worry because Toronto can’t finish a game. I never see Sam Mitchell calling time outs, shaking up the lineup, knowing how to break momentum in any way possible. When a home team is putting on a run, you have to slow everything down and try to outlast it. Get the home crowd out of the game So what does Toronto do? They just keep running and gunning and feeding the frnzy of the comeback. Long rebounds lead to easy buckets and Utah had their fair share of them.

Now back to Jack Bauer, he would think outside the box, try something new anf foil the bad guys. Just like Jerry Sloane would do if he coached Toronto. I always wonder how the Jackson’s and Sloane’s would do with the Raptors roster. They have systems and teach and make it almost automatic for players on what to do. They drill things in so ingrained that their team will get beat but never out coached. I want a coach like that, a coach that will teach and yell and gain the respect of the players because they win not because they are a cool guy and dress really nice.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Sam fan and want him to win and win in Toronto but his window for this must be coming to a close. He gives great interviews and speaks his mind and doesn’t cater to star players. The perfect coach for fans to fall in love with right! That is the problem, we look at Sam in his fine suits looking all dapper and it is almost like we have rose coloured glasses on with him. The bottom line is he has to win and currently he is failing with his job. How many chances would you and I get at work if we made the same mistake everyday, and we are not making the major bling.

Who knows what Toronto brass think and if they have anyone in mind but considering the giant overhaul the team has taken player wise, that won’t be changing. The only weak line right now that will be changing is the coach and if things don’t change soon Mr. Mitchell could be looking for work during the holiday season.

Maybe Toronto is more like 24 than we know and they need 24 games to turn it around but I have this feeling everywhere Sam Mitchell goes he is hearing the annoying sound of that 24 clock counting down for him to make something happen. Please save the world Sam because unlike the show there is no guarenteed happy ending.

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