How many of you had flashbacks to that crazy Mo Pete steal and basket that sent a game in Washington into overtime way back in the day when Lowry and Siakam conspired to get that late turnover and have a shot to tie?

I sure did and it was a tad stressful but whaddya gonna do, we got through it somehow.

And there’s this to wrap it up before another game arrives later this evening.

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THREE POINTERS

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Staying the course

There’s no question the second unit didn’t play up to its usual standards, even if Dwane dismissed the absence of Fred VanVleet and C.J. Miles a bit after the game by saying “those other guys are in uniform, ready to play.”

And play them he did.

Facing another game tonight and wanted to stick with what’s worked so well, he ran out of a group of Lorenzo Brown, Delon Wright, Norm Powell, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl at the start of both the second and fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter run was disastrous with three straight turnovers to start the quarter and there were a couple of turnovers to start the second.

It wasn’t the entire reason for the ultimate result but if there was ever a night they needed VanVleet to settle that group down, it was last night.

Amazing how important that guy has become, isn’t it?

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One shining moment

Dwane was a bit concerned about good shots rather than great ones even early in the game but there was one snippet that was picture perfect execution.

It started with the ball going to Valanciunas in the low post, he threw a bit of a dangerous floater pass to Ibaka in front of the Raptors bench. It went Ibaka to Lowry at the top of the circle, over to DeRozan on the other side of the court, DeRozan drove into open space, kicked the ball to Anunoby, who made his second straight three-pointer of the game.

That’s everyone on the floor touching the ball, it went inside to outside and one side to the next and got an open look.

Was quite something to see.

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A tough day

Look, we all know that Kyle Lowry should have made those free throws late in the game because that’s what great players do. He’s also an 86.6 per cent shooter at the line – his best percentage since his rookie year when he only played 10 games – and missing them was a bit of a fluke.

He also had 17 points in the fourth quarter and basically single-handedly got ‘em back in the game in the final six minutes or so.

A guy from his hometown who he knew quite well had died the night before and, you know what? It was a crappy day for him so I’m giving him a pass.

Stuff happens, guys miss shots, it’s unfortunate that he did but it was just one of those days.

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More? Always.

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Today?

Of course this today!

This great song by "Sonny & Cher" was released in 1965 and made number 1 here in the UK charts and also number 1 on the U.S hot 100 billboard charts.

And who didn’t have a major crush on (a) Cher back before all the, um, work, and (b) Andie MacDowell.

(That gives away the reason for the tune, right)

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And while we’re on the topic of crushes, how the hell did I spend all that time in Atlanta and not realize until after the game that (a) Jami Gertz was there and (b) she’s married to the dude who owns them and (c) Jami Gertz was there!

My life is lost opportunity, I swear.

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Yeah, we need more mail and I’m gonna have a couple of hours today whenever we get back to get started on it so help me out, would you.

Go to askdoug@thestar.ca, ask what you want to ask and I’ll try to come up with some kind of answers for Sunday morning.

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That overgrown rat in rural Pennsylvania better do the right thing today (I’m typing this at Reagan airport before my flight and I have no clue what the resolution is)

I’m not sure I’ve got six more weeks of winter in me.

This one’s been hard enough.

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I have no rooting interest in the big football game on Sunday except to hope that somehow the NFL screws it up because that would fit my narrative for the league.

But there are a few reasons to check in on the action, here would be my top three:

The fellowship

A stool with Baseball Steve’s always a comfortable place (hi, JA Square One!) and one year The First Lady Of The Beat occupied a seat and a nice Raptors fan recognized us and bought us drinks.

The halftime

I don’t even know who’s doing it this year but Sting was the best, The Who was the worst and there’s always some kind of reaction to it that I find amusing.

The commercials

I know we don’t get ‘em like they do in the States but, still.

Gumby and I watched the end of one at some Hooters by the arena in Miami because it was the only place we could get in after the game. People paid more attention to the commercials, I swear, than they did the game. Oh, and I ripped into some Random Loudmouth because he ticked me off so that was fun.

Enjoy the game.

I’ve got the Eagles in some upset because I have more friends with Philly connections that I do Foxborough.

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