Chris Bosh was rendered ineffective by Andrew BynumJermaine O’Neal didn’t play which resulted in Chris Bosh guarding Andrew Bynum and that right there changed the entire complexion of this game. You can go two ways on this take: Chris Bosh once again choked when playing a good team or guarding Bynum took away from Bosh’s offense. The answer doesn’t entirely fall into one of the two categories because Bynum did wear Bosh down and made him play a lot of defense but that should not stand as an excuse for a 4-13 night of which 9 were jumpers. With O’Neal’s big body not there the Raptors should’ve tried to exploit Bosh’s quickness advantage over Bynum and get him out of the game, especially after he picked up his first foul less than two minutes into the game. Bosh’s body is not designed to handle Bynum’s bulk and strength and in hindsight maybe it would’ve been better for the defensively improved Bargnani to take on Bynum and leave Bosh to deal with Gasol, a type of player he could handle more easily. At worst Bynum would’ve done to Bargnani what he did to Bosh and in the best case Bosh would’ve been available to score some points in an easier offensive matchup. The NBA’s a matchup game and we allowed our best player to be easily neutralized in this one.
The Lakers have two legitimate 7-footers in the lineup and they both play great help defense. Anytime Bosh tried to make a face-up move Gasol was waiting in the wings to challenge and/or a guard was looking to seal off the baseline before he even started to drive. Bosh did a decent enough job finding the doublers man through a skip or a cross-court pass setting up a lot of our offense but it wasn’t nearly enough to make up for our porous defense. He also had issues turning the ball over and wasn’t as effective negotiating the double-teams as he was against Atlanta. We needed a monster game from Bosh to have a shot in this one but ended up losing the big-man battle to Gasol and Bynum quite handily. Once our best player fails to win his matchup the rest of the team has to play flawlessly for us to even come close and flawless we were not.
Let’s look at some humbling and sobering statistics: Out-rebounded 54-36, fastbreak points 18-7, PINP 58-32 and second-chance points 30-10. Those numbers speak of complete domination in the paint and in transition. The only reason we were able to stay within a dozen for the better part of this game was because the Lakers turned the ball over 19 times and we made 11 threes, each one coming every time the Lakers threatened to pull away. The transition defense was the worst it has been all season, the Lakers were leaking out on every defensive rebound and we didn’t get back to force them into a half-court set. It was clear that playing transition defense was not part of the gameplan. We have trouble defending mediocre teams which play simple 2-3 sets so when you’re face-to-face with the triangle offense where there’s movement in all areas of the court our defensive foundation is rocked. We’re left scrambling and forced to help on everything because they have scoring options everywhere and worst of all the passers to get them the ball; we’re either closing out a shooter, trailing a cutter or fighting through a beautifully set screen. This is an offense predicated on movement where the assist or score can come from anyone. To slow this machine down you need to shorten the shot-clock by trapping, applying ball-pressure, maybe even a press so that once the Lakers get into their half-court set, they’re pressed for time and have less options to look for. We didn’t try to do anything to disrupt their flow and the Lakers executed their offense without impediment, our gameplan seemed to be to play simple man-defense which is not going to cut it against a complex offense like this. Take a look at their assist distribution: Kobe 7, Odom 6, Ariza 5, Fisher 4, Vujacic 4, all in all a total of 34 to the Raptors 23. Sam Mitchell talked about the horrible transition defense:
“It’s tough. Our guys know with those Gasol and Bynum in there, they can leak out. A couple of times, Kobe was at halfcourt before the shot went up. Those are things we have to get better at.”
I’m not sure that’s something we can improve because if we could, we would’ve done it by now. I find it hard to take anything from this game like some others are. Yes, we played a very good team and did some good things on offense but the defensive effort was so bad that it serves as a reminder that it’ll be hard for us to beat a good team unless we shoot better than 50% from the floor, something that doesn’t happen often enough for us. This team isn’t the offensive juggernaut that 05-06 team was and needs to up its defense to make up for the difference and so far we haven’t been able to do that. Granted, O’Neal’s absence is the variable that we think (hope?) can solve that problem but the willingness and desire to play defense is far from instilled on the team. Our transition defense has not improved an iota since the NJ series and regardless of how much talk surrounds around “getting back on D” and other nitty gritty but important details, the results on the floor never jive with the talk coming out of practice or the locker-room.
In the pre-game post I said that we needed to keep it close till the fourth quarter and rely on Bosh from there. Thanks to Parker’s hot shooting and we were down only 9 going into the fourth but it seemed like a lot more because of the way we were playing defense. We never looked like we could get a single stop that wasn’t because of an unforced turnover. There was no pressure on the Lakers offense at any point in this game and they were allowed to traverse through screens without bumps or bruises. Kobe was coasting in this game and only looked for his offense on a few occasions, notably when Joey Graham was put in the game. Graham’s impact on the game was far less than his two previous outings, he still played hard and tried to slash to the rim but in a game where you’re displaying so many flaws, one man’s performance hardly matters (unless you’re Bosh). Jamario Moon’s outing was far less aggravating than usual, he got schooled by Radmanovic in the first quarter but Moon countered by hitting some good in-rhythm shots and moving without the ball. Again, its the star players that need to step up first in these games, we shouldn’t be looking at Moon, Graham or Hump’s performances here.
Andrea Bargnani’s defense is impressive, he was taken to task by Gasol on a few occasions but overall he had a great defensive game. His shot’s not falling but he still managed to get 14 points and 11 rebounds, many of which didn’t fall into his lap. The four blocks were impressive and came off of man and help defense. He ran the break, didn’t settle for jumpers and drove the ball when he needed to. He took 11 jumpers of which only one could be deemed a bad shot. We will need more offense from him and shooting 5-14 will be unacceptable but given how poor he was last year and how much he’s improving in different areas on a game-by-game basis, I’m willing to cut him some slack. We’re 4-4 since he’s starting and 4-4 when he’s coming off the bench so the net effect of the move hasn’t paid off great dividends. I still prefer he starts because as crazy as it is saying this, we need his defense.
Jose Calderon needed to abuse the allegedly inferior Fisher on offense, Calderon is our second best player and we need him to play like our second best player, especially when the best player is being shut down. He needs to be less petulant and more concerned with enforcing himself through scoring. Statistically he had a nice little game, 12 points and 12 assists is nothing to be scoffed at but he’s supposed to do much more than that for us this year. The expectations for him are higher this season but so far he’s been very average. He did look to drive the ball more in this game and had success beating Fisher in the first quarter. Bosh was being smothered by Bynum and was being forced into uncomfortable fadeaways; Calderon should’ve seen this as a call for him to force Bynum away from Bosh and give CB4 some room to operate. It goes back to whether he can suck the defense and dish the rock and to be able to do that you need dribble-penetration. It’s a major component missing from our offense and we haven’t been able to replace that aspect of TJ Ford’s game through our starting or backup PGs.
Chris Bosh smiling on the bench at the end reminded me of Vince Carter, please don’t do that again. We needed the Lakers to be around 40-44% shooting to have a chance. They shot 51% to our 39%, our percentage dropped big time in the fourth quarter when garbage time came when even Hassan Adams got on the court. Note about Hassan, he’s the only NBA player I’ve seen who plays with a t-shirt underneath.
It’s hard to be too upset about the result because the Lakers are a great team and we aren’t even a good one yet. Maybe with O’Neal things would’ve been different. Maybe. What’s disconcerting is the defensive effort and lack of an idea of how to slow the Lakers down, I’m reluctant to blame Sam for the defensive problems because a lot of it is common sense. You have to get back on defense, it’s that simple, but at the same time you can’t just play simple predictable man-defense and expect to slow them down. For us to have a shot we needed to play with a defensive swagger which slowed the game down to Eastern Conference levels and then relied on our scorers to pull us through in the half-court. Zero on both counts and add 1 to the loss column. I’m not willing to let Chris Bosh off the hook so easily, it’s one thing to dominate the Atlantas and Charlottes, its an entirely different thing to perform against championship caliber teams and as much as it pains me to say this, he’s come up very short against Boston, Detroit and LA this season. Let’s keep the MVP talk on hold till we get that sorted out.
Check the Roll Call for more analysis than usual. On to Denver.
42 Raps
Adams had been wearing a shoulder cover like TMAC a few games ago. Looks like a shirt if you see it from the side (I thought the same when I saw TMAC wear it). Adams might have a shirt over it now, but before it was the same as this:
http://images.tsn.ca/Story/Image.aspx?path=http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20081117/mcgrady280×430_83292.jpg&width=430&height=280
just putting this out there:
when are we going to stop saying “calderon is playing an inferior player?”
jameer nelson abuses him, mike bibby does…tj will, fisher did (and the guy is a three time nba champion). don’t know where i’m going with this, just putting it out there.
I for one am very curious to see how the Jose/TJ matchup goes next Wed. Have had that one circled on the calendar for some time.
Well Raps Fan, that’s why I said “allegedly inferior”. I don’t know what the situation with his hamstring is though. He started off the game very well and picked up a couple assists through Moon and Bargnani on the break but after that didn’t do much. Maybe my expectations are out of line but I’m expecting him to drop 24/12 in games like these, mostly through popping from out of the pick and draining that jumper. Its not happening for him this year.
Arse-great analysis as usual. While I agree with your take in the first paragraph re: Bosh covering Pao while Bargs covers Bynum, I disagree that Bosh was worn out having to cover Bynum. Yes Bynum abused Bosh down low, however, I don’t think this affected Bosh’s offence. I agreed with your second paragraph, that the Laker’s simply doubled Bosh and forced him to give up the ball, or turn it over, which he did on at least 5 possessions that I remember. Bosh looked terrible passing out of those double teams, something he has failed to improve upon since the NJ series.
While much has been said about KG’s ability to shut down CB4, I think it is unfair to give all the credit to KG. When we play an elite defensive team like Boston, Detroit or LA, it is clear that their game plan is to help on Bosh, clog his passing and driving lanes, and to generally frustrate him and take him out of the offence. This strategy is a concerted team effort, and our team MUST be prepared for this by recognizing the double coming, warning Bosh, and then helping him by CUTTING DOWN THE LANE when their man leaves them to help! They Raptors did not warn Bosh when the double came (just as much Bosh’s fault as the rest of the team) and then simply stood around instead of cutting.
I thought Sam Mitchell clearing out the bench with about 5 and a half minutes to go was low. I know we were down like 17 I think, but to give up that fast without even trying to make a game out of it is just a bad sign. If you’re coach is throwing the towel in, what can we expect of the players? It’d be one thing if we were on a back-to-back but we’re not.
Defense Defense Defense. You don’t play D you don’t win the game. What does Sam mean that “we have to get better at transition D”. I’ve been hearing that since 3 years now and we done nothing to fix this. Bargnani releases jumper and doesn’t follow the rebound or get back on D, just stares at the shot. Same for Moon, Jose..get back on D! After the first FBP Smitch needed to call timeout and stop the bleeding right there.
Last night, on back to back plays, Kobe leaked out and had two dunks in transition, AP nowhere near him and both times it wasn’t AP who even took the shot, AP wasn’t even involved in either offensive play that lead to the transition bucket. Terrible D!
Common sense is right, Arse. You can’t blame Smitch for the team’s poor transition D last night. There really isn’t any complicated coaching strategy you can implement to improve that part of your game. It just entails getting back on the other side of the floor and making sure you’re always between your man and the basket. When you see somebody streaking down to your end, that should be a hint to get your ass back. The way we ignored leakouts, you’d think the Lakers were going into stealth mode after every defensive rebound.
I also don’t blame Smitch for throwing in the towel at the 4:00 mark. We were down 15 with most of our starting lineup in, while LA had yet to insert Kobe. At that point, you have acknowledge they’ve gotten you beat and think about the rest of this grueling Western road trip.
There was a stark contrast between Bosh’s passing in the Atlanta game and in this one. You’ll remember that he racked up assists early when the Hawks sent strong double-teams at him, because he recognized what they were doing and was quick with his passes. That decisiveness was completely missing from last night’s game, and it reminded me of Bosh in the ‘06 playoffs. You simply can’t hold the ball for 4-5 seconds and expect anything but a reset when you kick it back out. Part of that can be blamed on our lack of off-the-ball movement (was that a one-time adjustment?). But that still doesn’t completely excuse Bosh.
I agree about the thoughts on Bosh. You can’t be a superstar if you disappear against the best teams. Lets see him step up.
” for one am very curious to see how the Jose/TJ matchup goes next Wed. Have had that one circled on the calendar for some time”
Just remember that the only stat that matters is the final score. Let TJ score 30 on 30 shot attempts. We have the better PG for this team.
Adam-there is a very good reason why Bosh ‘disappeared’ last night. On his first two possessions he was guarded one on one by Bynum. Both times he put the ball on the floor. The first resulted in him getting past Bynum (and then Gasol helped and caused a turnover). The second possession resulted in him again blowing past Bynum, attempting a ferocious dunk and getting fouled. The result? A concerted effort by the Laker’s interior defenders to deny Bosh passing/driving lanes and a lot of on the ball pressure for the rest of the game. Bosh cannot be blamed for this, as he had nowhere to go.
arse: is 24/12 reasonable against fisher/farmar/lakers? i’m not sure. but 15/10 seems to be about right. aside from bosh, there isn’t a raptor who has a clear advantage over any of their counterparts in the league. sure calderon can have his way with people, but they have their way right back. is the fact that he puts up better averages over the course of the season fact enough to say he’s superior? sorry to harp on this, just something that has been swirling around in my head for a while. i myself am guilty of this very thing, have no idea how to reconcile it though.
timeintact: i actually thought it a good move to clear the bench. no sense in bosh/calderon getting injured (or getting worse?) in a blowout. they were down 17, but it felt like 30 to me.
tinman: not sure jose is the better player for this team. the decision to keep him over tj was the right one given how bryco/smitch botched the relationship after the injury. they are both different players, and bring different things to the court. just depends on the type of system you want to employ:
jc – half court offense, find someone off the high-pnr, hit the open shats
tj – kamikaze run and gun, dribble penetration kick to open shooter, hit open shats
Raps Fan-Can you imagine TJ being asked to slow things down and feed Bosh and JO in the post this season?
Also, another point I have been meaning to address is that although Calderon has played poor defensively this season, TJ is no better. Maybe TJ was quicker laterally and could avoid being broken down as often as Jose, but TJ would regularly be posted up and this resulted in the Raps being forced to help.
Arse: Great analysis…
Jose is a warrior.. I want him to lead this team to the promise land. His exchange last night with Fish and his recent exchange with KG shows me he is coming into his own in this league. I think once he is 100% he’ll be more effective. Was great to see him turn the corner last night a few times.
I wonder where khandor is? No we don’t need JO post today… Would have been nice to have him last night, but that Lakers team is pretty damn good. Anyone else think they could win 81 games this year?
Jose is also a lot more efficient than TJ. He scored as many points as Bosh last night on 4 fewer shots, and he also grabbed the same number of rebounds — impressive coming from your 1. And in typical Jose fashion, he had only 1 turnover to go with the 12 dimes.
He’s a great PG, but if people are expecting 24-12 I don’t think that’s quite fair. Chris Paul is averaging a ridiculous 20-11 and he’s the best point guard on the planet. Jose is good, but not THAT good.
We should also mention that last night, the bench provided some much needed energy last night. Roko is able to beat his man and get to the rim. He just needs to realize that he should take that lay-up when he gets that deep. The guy is going to be pretty darn tough to guard when he develops a jumper. Remember that Jose was extremely turn over prone his first season, and he also had no jump shot.
Joey Graham has also provided some energy and defence the last few games and I would like to see this continue so that Moon will be forced to elevate his game for fear of losing his minutes. Nothing like a little healthy competition!
lesterbain: you are right, tj would get posted up, but against guys like devin harris, jameer nelson, or the quicker guys, he would be more effective. pick your poison i guess. i’d rather get posted up then dribble penetration personally.
Expecting Jose to put up 20+ points on a night is not realistic at all. Jose is not a volume scorer. How many points he gets depends on what the other team gives him. What makes him a good point guard is how the overall offense improves when he’s on the floor. It’s especially obvious right now since our backups are so lame. Compare Solomon and Jose. Solomon is actually a decent shooter, but the offense just dies most of the time when he’s running it.
lester, I love Roko but the guy is possibly the worst shooter in the NBA when it comes to guards. Usually that alone should warrant a permanent spot on the bench but in this case the other guy isn’t much better, and if anything, far worse. The only reason Roko deserves time is because he tries to bring some defense into the game and tries to attack the rim. The guy’s BA is probably league high per 48 (if he qualifies) and he is far from being caught up with the NBA speed. There’s one thing to bring energy off the bench which is very appreciated, but the accompanying production is dismal to the point of being negligible.
I underestimated the drop-off going from Calderon to Roko in the summer and I’m starting to think if we shouldn’t release Will, sign/trade for a tweener and make Roko third string (still 10 min a game). It’ll reduce Calderon’s minutes and maybe take the pressure off of him. Can’t help but blame BC for not addressing a known problem (or addressing it poorly through Will).
We won’t be making any blockbuster trades because we don’t have the assets, its minors moves like these that could take us from being first round fodder to second round fodder.
Yes this is true, on defence it’s a wash between the two. So my question is, why are we constantly having this debate? Defensively they are both poor, just in different areas. Both require help on defence. Offensively it’s more beneficial for this team to have a point guard that excells in the half court, as we are a team built with a strong post presence. I just don’t know why Jose is constantly being called into question.
Let’s call into question Moon, who had his head up his ass for the first 5 minutes of the game. He fouled Kobe on a 3 pointer, and then leaked out before making sure the Raps had secured the Defensive Board. They hadn’t, so Kobe recognized that Moon’s head had disappeared and then hit up Vlady for an alley-oop!
Let’s question AP who let Kobe leak out for 2 uncontested dunks in the open floor, when AP wasn’t involved in either play offensively!
My # 22 was in response to Raps Fans #19.
In response to #21…I agree with what you are saying regarding Roko, Arse. But Calderon was no better in his Rookie year. I used to watch him come into games and actually call him, Turnover Guy, because that is all he did. Had NO IDEA when to drive, when to pass, or even if he should shoot. Don’t you remember this from 3 years ago?
Roko seems somewhat ahead of JC’s rookie season progression. He will get better.
By the way – the team that beat us last night will win the NBA championship this season. We can all go home now.
Do not think I have ever seen a deeper, more talented team. Throw in Kobe’s killer instinct. Very impressive.
I agree Tinman. Lakers win it all, which they probably would have done last season if Bynum was healthy.
But the question is, can Boston win the East again? Seems like a given, but I will definitely go out on a limb here and predict that Cleveland knocks off the Celtics in the playoffs this year. Last year either team could have won that 7th game. This year I think that LBJ is playing like a man possessed, and IMO he has a much better and cohesive supporting cast than last year.
‘Better supporing cast then last year, not better than the Celts!’
james posey. he made the bench a whole lot better last year. not sure they have enough ‘it’ guys coming off the bench that can do the things he did. they have some really, really good players, just don’t think they have that one guy they can turn to for a defensive stop or a big shot. who knows, he may be there, ready to emerge.
I think we can all agree that Cleveland and Boston will finish 1 and 2 and will meet in the EC Finals. So I’d like some predictions here. I don’t think any defence can stop LBJ this year.
lesterbain: i am pointing the finger at everyone on the team, not just calderon. even bosh sometimes….
I would like some answers from the Jose experts on here regarding his production. TJ’s minutes and starter status were supposed to allow him to elevate his game to superstar All-Star status.. what’s going on?
Seems to me people have now toned down the talk to: well, he’s still better then TJ.
JOSE
PPG 13.1
RPG 3.3
APG 9.6
SPG 0.7
BPG 0.1
FG% 0.445
FT% 1.000
3P% 0.380
MPG 36.9
TJ
PPG 14.6
RPG 4.8
APG 5.3
SPG 1.0
BPG 0.2
FG% 0.410
FT% 0.900
3P% 0.379
MPG 34.1
They guy is ranked second in the league in assists, behind CP, and almost averages 10 a game. His assist/turnover ratio is best among active point guards.
Flux, I don’t know where you got the idea that “TJ’s minutes and starter status were supposed to allow him to elevate his game to superstar All-Star status”
Is this a reference to something?
Jose’s numbers are all up from last year, no doubt due to the fact that he has more playing time. All star? Depends on who you talk to. Steve Simmons, of ESPN, thinks that there are only a handful of pure point guards out there, and he contends that there are a number of shoot first/offensive minded guards who simply claim to be PG’s. (I’m referring to an article he wrote last year that states that the league should require that a PG category be added to the All star game).
Tinman, you are right about the “real” stat…and to that I say we will continue to be a .500 team this season. Personal choice of if you are happy with that.
Arse, great point about the PG backup. I still don’t get why some thought Roko would come in and post a near double double most nights. The flashes I see make me think he will get better with PT, but at what cost?
You have to wonder if BC isn’t secretly hoping that Nathan is deemed a risk and they get some compensation for him.
Time Intact:
Completely disagree about emptying the bench. The game was never in reach and wasn’t going to be with the Lakers starters in. Why risk injuries to an already thin team by putting out there to expend a lot of energy for no reason? I’d much rather see the bench get some time in, their development is just as if not more crucial to this team’s playoff fortunes than whether we make a half-assed comeback against a team that could crush us whenever Kobe decides he wants to.
And as for the idea that Bosh is a bad passer, let me ask you: who should he be passing to? Name me a Raptor who is crafty enough to use screens to get themselves free. Or who has the athleticism as well as the intelligence to make a quick cut to an open spot? Perhaps more to the point, name me another team that essentially has no plan B for when their superstar is being crowded, whether it’s mid-play or in terms of general gameplan. I’m not going to disagree that Bosh needs to work on his passing, because he clearly does. But you need targets to pass to, and Bosh’s teammates really aren’t presenting themselves (or creating space by moving without the ball, but that’s another story).
Flux – Jose hasn’t been 100 since the 4th or 5th game.
AltRaps – perhaps we are a 500 team. I personallly guessed the would win arond 45. Still see tham on that target, will not let the upcoming blip(tough schedule this month) change my guesstimate.
its an easy day to be a captain of a ship in an ocean with calm seas yet when troubled waters arrive regardless of the vessel its the captains job to right the ship and navigate through stormy seas.lots of you just say hey,”buy a better boat”….it dont matter what the sea vessel is or what shape its in if you dont have a captain who knows what he’s doing.
lester:
“With TJ gone, Jose will have a chance to build on the impressive numbers he put up last year and certainly look to elevate himself to All-Star status in the East.”
“With 35+ minutes a night to show the world his stuff, Calderon is going to shock casual fans and journalists alike when his 08-09 stats look something like 19-10.”
Truth is, many a writers have been saying that, I don’t know what you have been reading. Basically, all the talk last year was how much TJ was holding Jose back and how much better this team will be with Jose leading the way. 8-8 .. 3 wins in the last 10. But hey, all the apologists will blame the rest of team, the coach, everyone under the sun but their little darlings. Leaders lead and make people better, not use them as excuses as to why things go wrong.
And from that line RR provided, this is what I was saying a few days ago:
“While Bosh has raised the level of his own game to superstar status, he needs to understand that while his numbers look pretty, what makes players truly great is their ability to make those around them better.
It helps if your team mates are already good players but it goes further than that. The best leaders are the ones who are able to get their team mates to believe in themselves and to elevate their own game further than even they had imagined.”
Bosh is an idiot for opening his mouth about this MVP talk. Worry about the team, ya tool, not yourself.
Stince,
I agree completely with your point about the lack of open teammates for Bosh to pass to, and I hinted at it in the last couple sentences of that post. I don’t think its a coincidence that in the only game we made a concerted effort to run screens to create off-the-ball movement, Bosh racked up 7 assists. For every other game over the past three years, we’ve played as if the rest of the team just has to camp outside the 3 point line for us to create a quality shot opportunity. In reality, that’s just underestimating how quick most NBA players are (especially when they know our gameplan inside-out). Players can easily get back to their man on time if they’re sure that he won’t be moving anywhere when they double. Failing to create any sort of movement just plays into the opposition’s hands.
Since I wasn’t paying the most attention to off-the-ball movement, I can’t say one way or another what was happening, but Bosh has to take a great deal of the blame for not passing. The double comes and he usually just stands there with the ball for a couple seconds, then tries to dribble backwards another second and then typically loses the ball or just passes back to the point. During the Laker game, Bosh must have had at least 3 turnovers that occured simply because he couldn’t handle the double. I noticed that some guys were open when the double came and yet Bosh seems to panic and hang on to the ball like it’s a life perserver. Either that or his thought process is really, very slow.
I’m a huge Calderon fan, but I can admit that he isn’t playing as good as I thought he would now that he’s the starter. But he’s still playing pretty good offensively, although he could drive more and create easier shots for some players. I think if Calderon is able to shoot a bit better of a percentage (perhaps meaning more layups) and create a few more easy assists for himself, then I think he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. So he’s almost there. Not sure much blame needs to be put on Calderon’s shoulders…
Three things piss me off about the Raptors:
1. Why does Jamario take threes when Kapono is on the floor? When will the coaches force this guy to attack the net once for all. Either attack or you don’t play.
2. Why we did not sign Delfino? He was a great player, can play PG and SG and is a tough player and aggressice. Exactly what we need now.
3. When Bosh takes his many jumpers, why isn’t no one under the basket. Play after play, he shoots and the other 4 are retreating to the other end. Dammit somone just go and stand under the dam basket and wait and see is the ball will bounce of the rim.
At the 10:00 mark of the 4th quarter the score was … LAL 90, Tor 84.
LAKERS: 1/Farmar, 2/Vujacic, 3/Ariza, 4/Odom, 5/Bynum
vs
RAPTORS: 1/Ukic [vs Farmer], 2/Kapono [vs Vujacic], 3/Moon [vs Ariza], 4/Graham [vs Odom], 5/Bosh [vs Bynum]
If you take a look around the net today, you should be able to find an accurate explanation for the Raptors’ loss to the Lakers.
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In addition, you should also then be able to find out who it was that first forecast the following 3 items in conjunction with one another, immediately prior to the 2008 NBA Finals:
1. The Celtics, not Lakers, would win their title match-up last season.
2. The Lakers, if healthy and intact this season, will then win 70+ games in the 2008-2009 Regular Season, and
3. Then, capture the 2009 NBA Championship.
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Solid comments in this section, so far, by Simon, malefax, and AltRaps.
Apologies, in advance, for the spam … this ^^^^ was a comment to apease the likes of Tinman. : )
Khandor, not spam IMO…we link regularly to your blog. Your opinion is something those who love this team should search out. We may not always agree, but that is part and parcel.
Jord, nice comment about Bosh. Difficult to pass out of a double team akin to 2 oak trees, but I agree that he tends to panic if an easy out doesn’t present itself. May also call into question his faith in his teammates.
Also, as it relates to Jose, I think he often looks to run a too-perfect process. If he doesn’t see something he likes, his first reaction is to feed Bosh, making it easy to defend. He has to learn to give someone else the first touch and make the defense work.
At the 10:00 mark of the 4th quarter the score was … LAL 90, Tor 84.
LAKERS: 1/Farmar, 2/Vujacic, 3/Ariza, 4/Odom, 5/Bynum
vs
RAPTORS: 1/Ukic [vs Farmer], 2/Kapono [vs Vujacic], 3/Moon [vs Ariza], 4/Graham [vs Odom], 5/Bosh [vs Bynum]
If you take a look around the net today, you should be able to find an accurate explanation for the Raptors’ loss to the Lakers.
THAT WAS A GREAT POINT!!!!!!! I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WAS GOING TO MAKE THAT POINT. I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO YELLING AT THE TV LIKE A CRAZY GUY WITH THAT LINE UP OUT ON THE FLOOR AT THAT TIME.