Best. Game. Ever.

Sick Beasts 106 - Listless Turkeys 69

I just checked Merriam-Webster Online and they've actually replaced their definition of "gratification" with a link to last night's Toronto Raptors-New Jersey Nets boxscore. Instead of the Raptors raving about how critical this game was to them, they walked into the swamp (after gathering their belongings from the team bus) and offered a clinic on how to play team basketball while avenging a painful playoff series loss.

Let's look at the stats before discussing the unquantifiables:

- Thirty-seven is the largest margin of victory on the road for the Raptors ever. The franchise record is 39 set at home against the Hawks in 2002.
- By limiting the Nets to 69 points the Raps set a team road-game record and were just one short of the franchise record of 68.
- The Raptors shot 59 per cent (13-22) from three.
- Vince Carter scored seven points and Jason Kidd had two points.
- This might be the only time all year that the Raps outrebound their opponents, and it was only by three, 37-34. But when you shoot 50.6 per cent from the field, there aren't many rebounds to be had.
- The Nets, curiously, outscored the Raps 26-22 in the paint.

There was a point in the fourth quarter, with the Nets down 30-odd points, where Vince Carter was caught smirking to himself. The man is a dick, and dicks have a forcefield, albeit self-contrived, to deflect potentially demoralizing situations. You might call it a side-effect of hyper confidence. This was the most satisfying moment in the entire game for me, because you know not one of the men on the Raptors' bench would do that. Although, they were all smiling when Bokie (S)Nachbar airballed a jumper with less than five minutes to go. And why not?

Last night was probably the only time that I won't be yelling at Juan Dixon for taking a forced shot, before yelling at Sam Mitchell for providing Dixon with the opportunity to take that forced shot. And, to his credit, Dixon looked very good, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes. Bargnani's improvement was also on display, following up a 20-point Wednesday with 21 points and six boards last night.

But the the guy who's got my pants stretching the most is Carlos Delfino, who's had two disgustingly solid games to start the season. His line last night was 10 points, six rebounds, four dimes and four steals, which isn't numerically dazzling, but is exactly what the team wanted him to do when they acquired him from Detroit for two second-round picks. He isn't forcing anything and looks to have some of the best basketball instincts on the team. He might be Colangelo's Raja Bell in Toronto.

Let's leave with a look at Chris Bosh's annual, early-season buzzer-beater from last night's game: