*  For every game I’ve covered so far at the Air Canada Centre, visiting coaches have either conducted the pregame media session outside the locker room or courtside so it came as a surprise to be shown into the back coaches room tonight for Mike Woodson’s pregame media availability. It made me feel better when the other writers I was with were surprised and the looks on the faces of Hawks players as we walked through the training room was priceless.

* Chris Bosh didn’t get to the arena tonight until 6:15 because he was stuck in the elevator at his condo for 50 minutes. “At first I was cool,” Bosh joked with the media after the game. “You know how it’s cracked open a bit? I could see out a bit but my superhuman strength wasn’t working today.”

* During Coach Woodson’s pregame media availability I asked if it was tough to see his teams strong start stall due to injuries and he told me, “No, it’s not frustrating. Injuries are a part of our sport, it’s just a case of how you survive it. We’ve been maintaining not having Josh (Smith). He’s only played three games for us and he’s a big part of what we do. Joe’s been nursing some nicks and bruises, but it’s a part of it, man. We’ve just got to continue to work and take it one game at a time and see what happens.”

* One of my favourite players to watch on the Hawks is second year point guard Acie Law IV. This year he’s fighting for minutes behind Mike Bibby and Flip Murry and when he’s on the court he’s responding in a big way  like he did earlier this week against Cleveland with career highs in points (20), assists (7) and rebounds (6) in just over 22 minutes of burn. I talked with Coach Woodson about Law’s progression since his rookie season and he told me, “He had a great camp and exhibition season, but then once we started (the regular season) it’s tough to play three point guards. That’s what I’ve been trying to do and you can’t give three point guards 30 minutes. So, my thing for all these guys is when you’re called on to play, you’ve got to respond and be ready to go. It might be Acie Law’s night one night and it might be Flip Murray’s the next. The bottom line is when you’re called up you’ve better be ready to play.”

* I was able to chat with Mike Bibby before the game about what aspect of taking part in training camp this year helped him the most and he told me, “I’m in shape. I didn’t get to practice last year and it’s tough playing at this level with no practice. Especially with a new group of guys. Playing out of shape and trying to catch your breath is tough.”

* Before the game Sam Mitchell was practically gushing about the play of Joe Johnson so far this season. When asked for his thoughts on the Hawks franchise player, Mitchell boasted, “People don’t talk about him much when you have guys like Kobe (Bryant), LeBron (James) and Dwyane Wade grabbing headlines, but there’s not a coach in the league that wouldn’t take Joe Johnson. He’s probably not as flashy as those three guys, but he’s just as effective.”

* Johnson still appears slowed by his foot and lacked his normal explosive first step tonight. There was one play early in the first quarter where he could have blown by a Raptor defender but instead the help defense was able to swing over and alter his shot – something that hasn’t happened in recent meetings between these two teams – before missing his shot. Johnson finished with 18 points and seven assists but it’s clear he’s battling through injuries that are limiting his effectiveness.

* Heading into the game Atlanta had four rotation players – Al Horford (64.6%), Acie Law IV (61.9%), Josh Smith (57.1%) and Zaza Pachulia (64.9%) – shooting less than 65% from the charity stripe. Even worse is that as a team the Hawks are only shooting 73.7% from the charity stripe which pales to the 83.8% that Toronto is shooting. Tonight Atlanta flipped things around by shooting 90% from the line (9-10) which helped them stay in the game.

* Atlanta started the game ice cold from the field shooting 7-for-21 from the field in the first quarter. The only Hawk shooting the ball well was Mike Bibby who was 3-4 from the field for seven points.

* Tonight it was interesting to be sitting next to the TSN crew of Leo Rautins and James Cybulski and seeing them film their segments.

* It drives me nuts whenever a team is called for an non-unsportsmanlike technical. Why can’t they just call it a sportsmanlike technical? It’s easier to say and it’s not a double-negative.

* Mental mistakes by Atlanta doomed the team tonight. During the first half alone they fouled Chris Bosh with one second left in the shot clock, allowed Andrea Bargnani to get and easy dunk because they failed to pick him up in transition and coughed up the ball eight times. Watching his Hawks play tonight would be enough to make Coach Woodson pull his hair out if he hadn’t shave it all off last season.

* Atlanta finished the game with 15 turnovers while dishing out 23 assists. At one point late in the first half Atlanta nearly has a many turnovers (8) and field goal attempts (11). Ouch! Contrast that with Toronto who had nine turnovers and 26 assists and you’ll see one of the big reasons Toronto pulled out the win.

* When Will Solomon entered the game at the 1:37 mark of the third quarter Toronto was down 65-63, but by the time Jose Calderon checked back into the game at the 7:22 mark of the fourth quarter Toronto had surged head 82-71. This was part of a 14-6 run Toronto went on to end the third quarter and 19-6 run while Calderon was on the bench.

* After the game I asked Sam Mitchell about Solomon’s big play tonight and he told me, “We just wanted to continue to push the ball and we felt that Will (Solomon) could get into the seams and score a couple of baskets. We were looking for some more people to give us some more offense and Joey (Graham) gave us some more offense, Jason (Kapono did as well), we know Will can score. It just puts pressure on the defense because they know they’re going to shoot the basketball.”

* Solomon was asked in the locker room about the spark he provided the team during the run and he burst into an ear-to-ear grin while telling the reporter, “I just wanted to come into the game and pick the guys up with my energy. When I came in guys were making shots and we were making plays and that was enough to keep us up by nine or 10 points. Like I said, I just want to bring some energy and be defensive minded and stop the opposing guards. If that’s something I need to do to get on the floor (then) it’s what I’m going to do.”

* Joey Graham had two rim-rocking dunks tonight and finished with 11 points while shooting an impressive 5-for-10 from the floor. The Air Canada Centre crowd erupted midway through the fourth quarter into a rowdy cheer for his performance over the past two games. While some fans in the lower bowl quickly lost interest, fans in the upper balcony continued chanting Graham’s last name. After the game Graham  talked about his growing confidence and when he was asked if he heard the crowd chanting his name he told the reporter, “I did and it sounded really good.”

* I asked Graham if the two dunks helped build his confidence he laughed and told me, “Anything helps. It gets the crowd into, the team gets confident and I definitely get confident.” When asked by another reporter about the facial he provided on the second dunk, Graham boasted, “I’m really good friends with him and we have the same agent. He’s going to be hearing about that for a while. When we were on the court he was asking if I was trying to dunk on his head and I told him, yeah.”

* After the game Bosh was asked if his feelings were hurt when the crowd changed Graham’s name and not his and the Raptors franchise player burst into a laugh so loud I’m sure people outside the locker room still heard. When Bosh regained his composure he told the media, “I love it, man. I think that’s awesome. I think people are realizing how hard people are working and when guys are just rolling. Especially with Joey, he’s on a roll right now and playing well. He’s doing a lot of the little things and we want him to keep it up.”

* Mitchell was also asked about his thoughts on the crowd chanting Graham’s name and after a brief chuckle he told the reporter, “You’ve got to understand that when guys are playing well fans have a short memory. Hometown fans, they want players to do well. Nobody pays good money to come to a game to boo and be disappointed, they want to cheer for the home team. This is the second game that Joey’s been using his athleticism and running. He’s playing with confidence and that’s a good thing. He’s been through hell and some tough stretches but he’s kept working. When you’re in professional sports it’s tough to go out and expose yourself in front of thousands or even millions of people on any given night. It takes a certain mentality to do that and it takes even a tougher mentality when you struggle. Trust me, when you’re playing good, you don’t hear anything. But when you’re playing bad, you hear every little thing. It was just nice (tonight) and we really appreciate the fans getting behind Joey.”

* Jamario Moon took some friendly ribbing after the game from teammates and team personnel for strutting out of the locker room in a slick suit.

* Walking into the Raptors locker room tonight it was clear Andrea Bargnani was frustrated with what transpired tonight. Due to early foul trouble – he picked up his fourth by the third quarter – he was unable to get into a groove and finished with seven points and four rebounds in just 23 minutes of burn. The dejected Bargnani had a black towel draped over his head and grumpily ripped the ice bags off his legs before rolling the bags across the room.

* One of the other big parts of the win for the Raptors was Jason Kapono’s big game after not shooting much the previous three games. During the Raptors previous three games he only attempted five shots in total and in one game failed to attempt a field goal. Tonight he shook free to go 6-for-10 from the field and was second on the team in scoring with 16 points in just under 22 minutes of burn. After the game Mitchell raved about Kapono’s play and told the media, “We tried to run some sets for him and we just kept telling him he’s got to shoot. We just keep reminding him that when his mans hands are down and he’s open, he’s got to shoot it. He came out tonight and he was aggressive (and) we needed that.”

* Thanks for reading my Game Notes for the game this evening! Make sure you check back on December 10th  for my Games Notes for the game between Toronto and Indiana.

Photo Credit: Chris Creamer’s Sports Logo

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