Fuck Brooklyn!

Being a Raptors fan is such a poor value proposition. Nineteen years as a franchise and they still haven't won a best-of-seven series yet they have managed to lose two game sevens at the buzzer.

And it's going to get even more expensive to be a fan of this depressing team thanks to their success this year. It's great that Toronto supports the Raptors the way they do but usually if your team is perenially inept you at least get the salve of cheap tickets. Not in the GTA where there is a huge population with lots of bills to spend on a sharply limited commodity.

Some bullet points from today's heartbreaker:

• Jason Kidd finally realized what the Raptors knew two years ago: Alan Anderson is not an NBA starter. He belongs in the Anthony Parker/Jamario Moon dustbin for Raptors swingmen whose glaring flaws disqualified them from being NBA regulars out of college but hung around professional basketball until Toronto took a flyer on them.
• Kidd gave more time to Marcus Thornton and he paid off, hitting 4 of his 6 three-point attempts. The rookie must have found a cure for the playof jitters that plagued him earlier in the series.
• Terrence Ross, on the other hand, was as shaky as ever. He finished a few times at the hoop but it never unlocked his outside shooting. Whenever he put a three up your instinct was to see if we had anybody with a good chance at the offensive rebound you knew was coming. He could have easily been the difference in the game and in the series. I'm sure he knows it. Now we'll see if he has the kind of personality where that drives him to work hard on his game over the summer.

Remember regular-season Terrence Ross? That guy was great.

• You are not going to win a game 7 in which Patrick Patterson is your best player. Although we should note that the game would have been over in the first quarter if Amir Johnson hadn't used all his power-ups.
• The only thing with less energy than John Salmons's play is his facial expression. He looked completely apathetic whenever he was onscreen like he had no interest in the NBA playoffs, let alone any desire to play in them. I'm sure there are plenty of NBA players who prefer to head home on vacation once the regular season is over rather than prepare for grueling playoff games even if it means they miss out on their playoff pay. I'm guessing John Salmons is one such player.
• Referees still matter too much in the NBA and if one more 50/50 block/charge call had gone the Raptors way then this post would have a very different tone.
• Fuck Brooklyn! It's not like the Raptors were going to win against Miami in the next round anyway (let alone win the championship) but it would have been so delicious to close the casket on Kevin Garnett's career and send so much salary packing. Letting that slimy team squeak through is a huge missed opportunity from a karma standpoint.