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Stadium Suplemento Desportivo
31 de Outubro a 6 de Novembro de 2008
25
“Let the games begin”
The Toronto Raptors
began their 2008-2009
season on Wednesday
night in Philadelphia against the
76ers, and tonight they host the
Golden State Warriors at the Air
Canada Centre.
There are a few new faces
for the Raptors this season
including Jermaine O’Neal.
O’Neal, who was traded to
Toronto for T.J. Ford, will be a
force under the basket; which
will alleviate the stress on
Chris Bosh. He will be a second
scoring option for the
Raptors who look to improve
this season. Teams will have to
rethink double teaming Bosh in
the post position because
O’Neal is always a threat to
score. Could O’Neal be the
missing link in the Raptor’s
line-up? We’ll have to wait
and see how the season
unfolds.
With the departure of T.J.
Ford, Jose Calderon will take
on full time point guard
responsibilities. This is exactly
what the Raptors needed as
Calderon outshined Ford last
season with his clutch play.
But will Calderon crack under
the pressure of being the number
one go to guy?
This season will surely be
exciting for Raptors’ fans that
are anxious for a winning team
in
Toronto.
The last two seasons were
great but this year, the Raptors
have to make a strong push in
the playoffs. I know it’s too
early to talk about the post season;
considering the regular
season has just begun; but, this
team is on the verge of greatness,
and basketball fans in the
city are ready to have a winning
season.
It’s not going to be easy
considering the Boston
Celtics are going to look to
repeat as champions. And
since they haven’t really made
any changes to their line-up,
they are going to be hard to
beat. The key for success here
in Toronto is staying healthy
and being competitive. Too
many times last year, the
Raptors fell short against teams
ANTÓNIO M. NÓBREGA
they should have beaten. This
can not happen again this season,
if they want to win a
championship. They must
come out of the gates strong
and dominate the weaker
teams. No more Mr. Nice
Raptors!
Agitar as águas para
encarar ciclo infernal
TRÊS JOGOS
DECISIVOS
FRENTE A NAVAL,
DÍNAMO DE KIEV
E SPORTING
Naval (Liga), Dínamo de Kiev
(Liga dos Campeões) e
Sporting (Taça de Portugal) são
os próximos adversários do FC Porto que
podem ter uma palavra a dizer naquilo que
será o resto da época azul e branca.
É um ciclo de elevado grau de dificuldade,
ainda mais tendo em conta que
todos esses jogos vão ser disputados fora
de casa.
Se na Liga, uma prova longa, ainda
há margem de manobra, o mesmo não se
pode dizer relativamente à Champions e
principalmente à Taça. Mas isso não retira
a grande importância que o jogo na
Figueira da Foz terá para o FC Porto,
uma vez que se torna urgente terminar
com o ciclo de derrotas consecutivas em
que a equipa se encontra.
RAPTORS WIN FIRST GAME
Bosh had a sublime night of 27
points and 11 rebounds and combined
with Jermaine O’Neal to
outplay Philadelphia’s highly touted front
court, as the Raptors opened the NBA’s regular
season with an impressive 95-84 victory at
the Wachovia Center on Wednesday night.
With O’Neal chipping in 17 points and
eight boards, the Raptor big men handled
Philly’s Elton Brand (14 points, 13
rebounds) and Sam Dalembert (9 points,
17 boards, five fouls) in the first meeting
of the reconstructed front courts.
And getting solid contributions from
the likes of Jason Kapono, 15 points
including a dagger of a three-pointer that
put Toronto up 11 with just under two minutes
left, the Raptors were fully deserving
of the victory.
Jose Calderon, despite battling fourthquarter
foul trouble, had 13 points and
seven assists but was able to get a break
because of a solid debut from Roko Ukic.
Ukic, the rookie who’s earned the
backup point guard role in part because
Will Solomon is injured, was pressed into
significant action in his first ever NBA
regular season game when Calderon
picked up two quick fourth-quarter fouls,
giving him five for the game with 7:50 left
and Toronto up by nine.
Ukic, who had looked good with a
couple of exceptions in his debut, held his
own long enough to let Calderon get some
rest before letting the veteran finish off the
game.
The Sixers were one of the big surprises
of last season, putting on a stirring finish
to grab the seventh playoff spot and
giving the Detroit Pistons all the trouble
they could handle in the first round.
That finish, and the addition of Brand,
has created all kinds of buzz about the
team, buzz that coach Mo Cheeks would
rather just go away.
“I talk about just being who we are,”
Cheeks said before the game. “I tried to
make it a point to them to not worry about
the expectations that people put on them
because last year there were no expectations
on them and we didn’t want to listen
to those. Certainly expectations are a little
bit higher and we don’t want to listen to
those, either.”
His counterpart, Toronto’s Sam
Mitchell, begins his fifth season with the
Raptors as he usually does – much more
concerned than excited. His team, with the
addition of O’Neal, has some expectations,
too, but he went into the game worried
about what could go bad rather than
what could surprise him.
“Like all coaches, you’re nervous,” he
said Tuesday morning. “You’re irritable
the day before the game, the day of the
game. You just are because you’re thinking
about 100 different things.
“You don’t come in here thinking
about all the things that can go right, you
walk in the gym thinking about all the
things that can go wrong. That’s just the
nature of coaching.”
The Raptors certainly gave him something
to worry about in the first quarter,
when they gave up an astonishing 22
rebounds (tying the most by a Raptor
opponent in one quarter ever) and trailed
by as many as eight.
But winning the battle of the boards
17-10 in the second quarter, and scoring
33 points, the Raptors came back to take a
51-45 lead at the half.
(in: Toronto Star)
Uma vitória frente à Naval será
igualmente importante em termos anímicos
para a equipa enfrentar as deslocações
a Kiev e a Alvalade.
Agora como há dois anos, Jesualdo
Ferreira terá, portanto, de agitar as
águas. A última vez que o FC Porto
perdeu dois jogos caseiros consecutivos,
recorde-se, foi na época 2006/2007.
Depois de umas prolongadas férias
de Natal, a equipa não resistiu aos
embates com o Atlético (Taça) e com o
E. Amadora (Liga), comprometendo
uma época que se perspectivava tranquila.
Nessa altura, a reabilitação foi
feita à base de trabalho árduo e diálogo e
o volte-face verificou-se, curiosamente,
num jogo com a Naval, esse disputado
no Estádio do Dragão – vitória por 4-0,
com golos de Lucho, Lisandro (2) e
Adriano.
Apesar dos recentes maus resultados
que podem afectar a equipa no ciclo
decisivo que se segue, a verdade é que
este FC Porto de Jesualdo tem-se dado
bem nos jogos fora de casa. Manter essa
tendência é fundamental.