March 16, 2007
Predictable
Jay wrote this today:
Well, let’s first start by saying that apparently I provided some bogus information when I said that Jose and AP were going to play. As of yesterday, that was the info I had. Once I heard this morning that they weren’t going to play, I had a bad, bad feeling about tonight’s game.
When you give up 35 in the first quarter and fall behind by 17 against one of the best defenses in the league (as we outlined the other day), it’s going to be tough to come back, no matter how smooth of a scoring machine you have.
I actually managed to see the game, as a snowstorm in Montreal gave me the ability to use this excuse for leaving Brampton tomorrow instead of tonight: “Hey babe, the snow could be bad tonight around Montreal, maybe we should just play it safe and head out tomorrow morning.” Thought process: Let’s go tomorrow morning so I can watch the Raptors…God knows I’ve been driving in snow forever, not worried about that!
A funny point from tonight’s post-game interview with Sam was when he was asked about the Raptors being outrebounded again. After he was asked the question, he did a series of shoulder shrugs and then said that they talk about the same thing every night. End of answer. Probably one of the better ones he has given in a post-game. What else is there to say when Bosh is a manimal (remember that?) on the boards with 19 and the rest of the team has 14. He outrebounded the rest of the team. Now that just isn’t right.
I have defended Morris Peterson for a while and he is my favourite Raptor, so sometimes it is tough to stay complete unbiased, but my God, when you play over 16 minutes, turn the ball over twice and go 1-3 (and don’t stop anybody on D), then you’re making your own bed. This was a big game for him, this could have been a statement maker. Well, he made a statement alright. Brutal. He knew he was going to get minutes tonight, knew he was going to start and he came out dead flat. When you’re this far down the bench, you just can’t afford to have nights like this. You can’t be outscored by Slokar when that dude played less than 2 minutes.
While Bosh had good numbers, especially on the boards, he once again fell into that trap of shooting the jumper instead of taking it strong. When you have a defence like Houston’s, you can’t just settle for jumpers, because if you don’t make them, they are going to sit back and let you keep taking them, knowing that eventually you are going to be forced to try something else. By that point, they will be able to close the lane on you and if they have a lead, it’s game over. Chris has to start wanting to make a statement early. See if you can crown Yao. Dunk on Battier. Don’t pull a Vince and just sit outside taking jumpers until it’s too late.
Jack Armstrong touched on a great point after the game, how Yao knows where his game is and he doesn’t stray from it. He gets down in the post and no matter how hard you bang him, he just keeps floating back. It’s a great point. Yao knows he has that turnaround jumper if he needs it, but if he gets both feet in the paint on you, it’s all but over. You can’t stop him when he gets both feet in the paint down low. He’s 7′6 - 310 and has a soft touch. He can drop that little dump shot (and I call it that because it’s not really a hook, it’s like he’s just throwing laundry into a basket) on you all night and if he does, it will be a long night.
We’ve had that poll running for a bit now, asking who the Raptors can’t have out of the lineup and it is fairly close, but I think maybe AP is more important than we think. When he has been out, the Raps have looked sluggish on offense and sometimes even a bit lost. At this point, I don’t mind him missing a few games so that he’s healthy down the stretch and into the playoffs. But it will be key to get some guys to step up while he’s out.
Having to watch Rafer go off for 23 and 9 made me sick to my stomach. If he had pulled off a double-double, I would have been staring at the bottom of a bottle right now.
Alright, the Raptors need to finish off the Knicks on Sunday. I will be able to watch that one while in Montreal, but as for the Magic game and Nuggets, I’ll have to see if the local pub will put the Raptors on. Arrrrgh!
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March 17th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I said in the preview for Rap’s to win Rasho, Garbo, Andrea & Bosh would have to do a job on Yao,and they would have to make their 3’s on offense. Rasho did the job in his mins, but the others were inefective and useless with 3’s and jump shots. I am afraid MoPete is gone already. Rap’s were dominated @ PG,SG,C all night. Houston with Yao just a much better TEAM !!!
March 17th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Hi, they broadcasted the game in Italy as well so I could see it for once. I would like to make the case against having the team in the hands of TJ Ford. HE is for sure an aggressive driver but he has no inclination for team play. His first option is constantly to attack the bucket and then, failing to attack successfully he uses the (sometimes little) time left to reopen. That is not what you want your playmaker to do. I believe he could be more useful to the team if he was coming it to change the game’s rhythm, a la Vinny Johnson. What the team needs is somebody who is able to get the most out of the several talented players Toronto has. It seems to me that Calderon fulfills that role way better than TJ Ford. Utilizing TJ skills this way does no favor, nor to toronoto neither to TJ himself.
PS I guess a couple of plays for exploiting Bargnani’s attacking talent would not hurt either.
March 18th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
one word vs NYK….dismal.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Wow, a guy in Italy who wants a European to run the show ahead of an American. Couldn’t see that one coming. For all anti-TJ comments, please view any of the threads going on for the past while. TJ makes mistakes like ANY other player. Anybody care to talk about how Calderon gets blown by on D a lot? I love Jose too, he’ll stand up and take a big charge when he needs to, but just a point that everyone has areas of their game they should improve. I’ll just state that TJ averages 14 and 8 and the Raptors are in first place.
TTFD…yeah, there are a lot of words you could use to describe the NYK game today, but dismal is perfectly appropriate.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Jay,
I am no a pro-european blind man, I just made the point TJ is not a playmaker. he puts the ball on the ground and starts running fir the board, if he cannot make it than he reopens to whomever is available. While this is not bad by itself, it becomes a problem when thisis the only thing he does. This is not what you want from your play but on the other hand, if he is used as a point guard, he would be perfect for coming in from th bench and change the rythm of the attack. I am talking about using people for what they are best at.
btw you are the one who seem umbalanced and pro american fanatic. I did not start discussing options by looking at the passport and the raptors have currently Calderon on the bench, give them Steve Nash and I would say the same, just change “Jose Calderon” for “Steve Nash” in all my posts