DeMar DeRozan (photo. Nicky Woo)

Pretend for a second that the Raptors make the playoffs and have a chance of beating the Cavaliers in the first round. If Chris Bosh’s face heals up and the rest of the frontcourt can bottle whatever they had during last night’s must-win at Detroit, this team actually matches up pretty well with Cleveland in the same way Orlando’s front line gave LeBron’s squad problems last year … Andrea Bargnani (33 pts, 5 threes) was a sniper against the Pistons akin to Rashard Lewis on a good day; Hedo could recapture his actual game from the Orlando days; Sonny Weems could be utilized on the wing like Pietrus to harass LeBron; and not to even suggest Amir Johnson is anywhere near Dwight Howard, but last night Johnson (26 pts) at least played like somebody who gets paid to play basketball, which is a step up for him … DeMar DeRozan made the highlight reel again when he caught an alley-oop from Jarrett Jack (15 pts, 12 asts) and threw it down so hard he almost chipped his own tooth. DeRozan’s legs seem to be getting stronger as the season goes on. Forget breaking through the rookie wall; DeRozan jumped over it … The Blazers are a collective Jason Voorhees. Chop off the right arm, they find a way to kill you with the left. Run ‘em over with your car, they come through the floorboards and get you anyway. Portland was dealt another blow yesterday with the news that Brandon Roy (knee) might be out for the rest of the season, so they found another guy to step up and filling the scoring void. Marcus Camby dropped 30 points to go with 13 boards in Monday’s win over Oklahoma City, a rare occasion where he had more points than rebounds, and an even rarer occasion where he scored 30. The last time he did that, Edgar Padilla was his PG … With the Bucks dropping into 6th-place in the East and the Hawks hanging onto that 3-seed, it’s looking more and more like this will be a playoff matchup. And the last two times Joe Johnson and John Salmons squared off, they’ve gone shot-for-shot in crunch time. Last night Johnson scored 31 as ATL won in Milwaukee without Jamal Crawford, while Salmons scored 28. If they meet in the first round it’ll be ike Bird vs. ‘Nique, except nobody will be watching … The Bucks fell in the standings because the Heat keep rising, winning 11 of their last 12 games. Miami was up three on Philly with 34 seconds left after D-Wade’s breakaway dunk off a steal, but Andre Iguodala tied it up with a triple. Everybody was expecting D-Wade (30 pts) to take the last shot, and every Sixers’ eye was on him when he drove and found Udonis Haslem wide open on the baseline for the game-winner … Dime’s Pat Cassidy sent us this: “My mom + dad are at ‘Fan Appreciation Night’ in Philly. She sent me this text: Kapono is shooting 3’s all over the court. He has 22 pts-NO Assists. There have been FOUR dance teams, one worse than the other.” …

Tyreke Evans (photo. Nicky Woo)

Other stat lines from Monday: Vince Carter scored 21 to lead Orlando past Indiana; Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points in Dallas’ bass-taping of the Clippers; David Lee had 26 points in New York’s win over Washington; Terrence Williams put up 21 points and 13 rebounds, but the Nets lost to Charlotte; Keith Bogans dropped 17 points on 5 threes to lead eight Spurs in double-figures in their win over Minnesota; and Arron Afflalo posted 22 points and 13 boards as Denver beat Memphis … You’ve got to hand it to the Sacramento marketing staff: They found a reason to get people to still care about a 25-win team that’s like a thousand games out of the playoff race, and it worked. For the home finale, the big selling point was Tyreke Evans trying to become only the fourth rookie (joining LeBron, Jordan and Oscar) to average 20 points, 5 boards and 5 assists per game, as well as it being Kevin Martin’s first game back at ARCO since the trade. The crowd was in postseason form, while Sacto mayor Kevin Johnson and governor Arnold Schwarzenegger were in the building … Tyreke needed 24 points to ensure a 20 ppg average, and late in the first half he already had 22. With the crowd on its feet like it was a Game 7, an obviously exhausted ‘Reke couldn’t even find enough burst to get a shot off before the buzzer. In the second half, all he could manage was a couple free throws, which was enough to hit the milestone … Meanwhile, K-Mart went off like Terminator, dropping 39 points in Houston’s win. Martin was catching two-hand dunks in traffic, actually out-muscling guys for and-ones, and rented out a studio at the foul line (16-16 FT). Tyreke is the future, but K-Mart showed Sacramento what they’d been missing … We’re out like waiting for the playoffs …