Thank you David Stern, for the Charlotte Plopcats

Watching a second-place New Orleans Hornets’ home game, with 13,000 vacant seats, can make you question the NBA’s penchant for expansion. At other times, say, when your top three scorers are injured and you see a Charlotte Bobcats team bus pulling into the ACC, and guys like Primoz Brezec and Jeff “Journeyman” McInnis tumbling out of the windows, you feel like expansion is a great leveller, and means to spread the beautiful game of basketball.

With Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani and TJ Ford dressed for church, the rest of the Raptors issued the Housecats their sixth straight loss tonight, 98-79. So without the big three, how did the Raps improve to 10-8? Apart from the seeming submission of Charlotte head coach Sam Vincent (a man whose basketball summit was appearing on a 1990 Hoops error card which featured Michael Jordan in jersey number 12), and a complete disinterest from every player in orange, here’s how:

- The Raptors outrebounded the Housecats 46-35 (with 12 of those from Jamario Moon and seven from Jose Calderon).
- Toronto shot 61.5% from three and 50.7% from the field.
- Every Raptor that stepped on the court scored (including Darrick Martin) and six Raps scored in double-figures.
- “Good Joey” Graham showed up accumulating 13 points on five of six shooting.
- Toronto outscored Charlotte 46-34 in the paint.

But if the Hornets are like a cold beer, the Phoenix Suns - the Raptors next opponent – are like a quart of rat poison. If Bosh is the champion that we think he is, expect him to pull his tank top, short pants and plimsolls out of the closet for Wednesday’s home game against the Suns.