March 7, 2007
Measuring sticks
Jay wrote this today:
Games like tonight’s against the Grizz are what a coach of mine used to call “measuring sticks.” These were the games where you could measure what you were really made of, whether you were a team that could bounce back after terrible performances to beat a team you should or whether you were a team that would hang your head and play down to the teams you should beat. I guess we know which team the Raptors are. That being said, let’s start with yesterday’s “game”.
There’s no excuse for allowing a team to score over 70 points in a half. None. I don’t care how hot a team is, whether a guy is shouting “hibachi” or what, you have to make adjustments and find a way to disrupt your opposition. There’s no secret to what happened last night. It wasn’t so much that the Wizards were on fire as it was that (once again) the Raptors couldn’t rebound. Bosh had one rebound. One. And this is a team that sent PJ back down.
The Raptors need to start thinking of rebounding in a different fashion. They need to start thinking of rebounding in terms of possession. What’s that they say about possession and the law? That possession is 90% of it? Well, it works the same way for basketball. The Raptors need to start realizing that every rebound they give up is an additional possession for the opposition. It’s like being back in college and any time there is a jumpball, don’t even bother looking at the arrow, because it’s not going to go your way. The possession arrow always points for the opposition. Maybe if they think about it this way, they’ll be more willing to get a little dirty inside. I can’t believe I saw Rasho get pushed out of the way last night and then complain to the ref that somebody went over his back. Come on Rasho. Really?
When your team shoots over 60%, that should a winning recipe. You shouldn’t lose too many games when you’re over that threshold. But if you are not able to rebound the ball, you are going to lose those games and that is going to get depressing.
So on to tonight’s game against the Grizz. As I mentioned, this was a measuring stick game. I have to admit, I missed a good chunk of this game, so I’m really not in a position to say a whole lot about it, but let’s take a guess on one thing that improved over last night…could it be REBOUNDING? Okay, they were still outrebounded, but at least it was close. They also weren’t chucking threes left, right and centre, so that helps too.
Anyway, I wish I could comment more on tonight’s game, but I really can’t since I missed most of it. At lesat they came out with a win.
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March 8th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Barely, man they made it tight at the end, 18-0 run?!?! I’m interested in seeing how they play this weekend against Seatle, should be a good indicator whether they have shaped up and recovered from this funk they’re in.
March 9th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Should be interesting against the Sonics. The Sonics are last in the Northeast and Ray Allen has had more than a few off shooting nights, but I still think they’re a decent team. Injuries and a lot of close losses has done them in this year, but overall, their offense has just gone dry.
If the Raptors can get the Sonics in a hole early, they should be able to shut the door on them. Well, the Raptors being able to shut the door on ANYBODY is tough, but let’s see how it goes.