45-26 Denver: Wow, this is getting ugly. We’re camping out on the perimeter, not playing any defense and have not run a single cohesive offensive set. Jamario Moon just threw the worst cross-court pass I’ve ever seen. Denver’s just bombing away from three and we’re not contesting.
53-43: A little bit of a run. Mostly thanks to Bosh and JO getting some scores and Denver’s percentages dropping. Oh yeah, Billups is sitting for this stretch so that probably helps.
64-45 at the half: Chauncey’s back in, hits a couple threes. Kapono passes up an open look to pass to Graham and of the sort. No visible D on the part of the Raps. Offensive rebounds are an issue too and Nene is going anywhere he wants without even being bumped. JO’s a step behind and falling asleep on defense. Got robbed of a block on KMart though. Bosh with 16/10. Needs some help.
71-49: Yikes. 3pt play, Kmart over JO. This is garbage time, no? Carmelo’s lighting us up and we finally realize that Parker should be guarding him instead of Bargnani. Jose’s having a terrible game, Bargnani’s trying hard but all our offense is basically 1 on 1 moves. Jumper after jumper after jumper after jumper. This is painful.
82-53: Billups open three from the corner. Bosh another missed jumper. Somebody gouge my eyes out.
84-53: Nene with a Slam after nobody even bothered to play D. We look defeated, lost and confused. I think I saw a tear in JO’s eye.
90-57: Billups with a behind the back pass to Kmart for a jam as Bosh is left standing like a statue. Oh, just as I say that, Nene dunks on Bosh. Get Bosh out of there. We can’t even bump a cutter. Defense seems to be a sin for us. Fear not, Will Solomon is here.
92-59: Leo just said that the altitude played a factor.
95-61: There’s still 2:12 in the third quarter. They might get 100 in three quarters. Birdman with a dunk after cutting baseline, nobody covered him. Devln’s talking about some thanksgiving dinner Alex English once had. Would English make a good coach? He did coach in the NBDL so hes’s got to be a tough SOB, no? Good Joey with a dunk.
Why the fuck are Calderon and Bosh still in this game? Doesn’t Jose have a bad hammy?
100-68: Jose with a three. The Nuggets have reached 100 points at the end of the third quarter. I am embarrassed. We’re not even trying, we’re letting Denver walk all over us and don’t seem to be too upset about it. I always talk about defensive intensity and effort and this is why. We’ve shown nothing in this game, nothing to like and nothing to respect.
108-70: Bargnani, Moon, Solomon, Ukic and Bargnani is your garbage time lineup at the start of the fourth. Mitchell calls timeout after Billlups drains another three.
109-70: It’s a Who’s’ who of Toronto Raptors: Hassan Adams, Roko Ukic, Will Solomon, Joey Graham and Kris Humphries. Leo’s asking this bunch to drive ‘n kick and create shots. How about asking Jose to do that first? Why does George Karl look pissed? He does know the score, right?
126-83: The bench looks like they’re on death row. Bosh and O’Neal are in shock and Bargnani looks genuinely depressed.Renaldo Balkman just hit a jumper. Jose and AP are talking on the bench and looking lost. They just showed a shot of JO and it didn’t look good. Still about 3 minutes left in this one. Worst part is that the team has to stay in Denver for two more days before going to Utah. Should be fun times.
130-88: Solomon pulls up for a jumper on a 3 on 1 and….misses. Hassan Adams with airball. 45 seconds left.
Final 132-93: At least we kept the differential under 40. No effort, no desire, no intensity, no plan. I sound like a broken record but so does Mitchell and everybody else in every PG interview.
Stream: http://raptorsnation.net/raptors-nuggets/
password: jose8
24 Raps
You deluded morons who like to make excuses for the Craptors may want to note that the Pacers have beat BOTH Boston and the Lakers….
It can’t get any worse than this can it? I’m in shock at how terrible this game has been. Absolutely every one of these players should be embarrassed with their play tonight. All of them. This team has descended to the point where we’re pleading for consistent effort every night. Pathetic.
Raptors are not a viable NBA team … and Mitchell knew it before the start of the season when he remarked the team was not “athletic” but “basketball-wise”. Now if that’s not an admission of failure and defeat, I don’t know what is.
This team must be rebuilt, and it must start with trading Bosh for a couple of good athletic pieces and draft picks. I’m sick and tired and bored of watching Bosh lofting his long range jumpers or driving to the basket hoping somebody will foul him so he can flop on the floor. That’s predictable and stupid one-man bball, and I just find it boring boring boring. Trade Bosh and get it over with because he’s leaving anyway.
As for the rest of the team, just let them struggle into the basement for good draft picks … and 2-4 years from now we might have a decent, athletic bball team in Toronto.
There is plenty of good bball to watch outside of Toronto, and that’s good enough for me because I’m not a tribal honking fan who pretends he is a Raptor because he owns a CB4 jersey and wears LBJs bball shoes.
Uh oh, the inevitable panic time. Not that I’m saying it’s not warranted…
Maybe if we’re lucky, this game will wake this team, this coach, and this GM from it’s b-ball daze. Just a gross game all around. There is really no place to begin or end with critiquing the Raps tonight. Anthony Parker should have a strict quota of less than 6 shots, players should attempt something called jumping or moving the feet when playing defense, and, and, and, gasp, I need to breathe!
Still, it’s one game. Most teams get blown out of the water at least once or twice a season. The Raps have shown they can be great and they can be terrible. Did we really expect more than that? I’m disappointed cause my expectations were a little higher this year, but it turns out that they have made no improvements and we’ll be right around .500 and squeak into the playoffs. I wanted to give the team about a quarter of the season and we’re close enough that I think I’ve seen enough. Same old, same old.
Well, at least that lil cunt TJ is gone and we have an MVP and All Star PG on our team!! Finals baby, here we come! 2nd in the East.. Twin Towers! Should have traded Bosh and Jose, not TJ for some broken down parts like JO and that Aussie kid.
awwwww how cute,indy beat lakers and fluxeys lil boner for tj popped just in time to rub it on us…..its ok homo,once we get a real coach in you gonna get it up for jo.
Pacers are still 7-10 last time I checked…..
fire sam. i like the guy, but fire him tomorrow. he will be the rare rap coach or gm who ever gets another job
@andiamo
If you’re arguing that hiring a new coach is going to miraculously turn this team around then I think you’re going to be highly disappointed. It’s a step in the right direction, sure…but I think the reason why everyone should be angry right now (or at least why I am) is that this wasn’t SUPPOSED to happen this year. We had so much hype at the beginning of the season going 3-0 and now what do we have to show for it?
I was so optimistic about this team but now it just looks like its imploding…
You fire Sam because no top tier free agent will ever sign on with Smitch as coach. I mean if you want to make a run at a big name in 2010, you’ve got to have a good coach in place, because that’s definitely one of the things that will be looked at. And I can guarantee you that if you polled NBA players not many would say that Smitch could coach a team to a championship.
@eb
jose/bosh/jo/bargs/moon/parker/hump is more than enough talent to get us a whole hell of alot more than what we getting….were under achieving hardcore we have 0 confidence in our gameplan and defensive schemes.our offensive sets are so basic and useless that other teams are all a step ahead of us while the play is unfolding.we run around like chickens with our heads cut off looking like exasperated morons.weved tuned out the smitch who as a poster on another forum correctly states,
“Sam excels at making himself look like a victim. A perfect coach who is given just awful basketball players year after year and even though his gameplan is flawless, the useless players can’t follow it through.
So all he’s left to do is shake his head, complain about obvious mistakes to whichever assistant is beside him, look like he’s fighting off a headache, and never applaud his players or smile at them or show them any appreciation when they’ve done good things because of all the bad things they’ve forced him to watch.”
TIME FOR A COACHING CHANGE.
for the good of the RAptors team, i hope they keep losing more games, so that Sam will be fired & we trade Kapono. His +/- is horrible. Kapono must have at least 5 turnovers a game. 3 from travel and 2 from trying to drive to the basket. All lead to fast break points for the opposing team. Fire sam and get rid of Kapono is the first step.
Last time I checked Indiana is the only team to beat LA and BST… while the Raps got pimp slapped by both of them.
so whats your point dickface?we arent winning because we dont have tj or rasho?…get off tj’s dick u dummy…are you even a raptor fan?
You’re right about other teams being one step ahead of our offensive gameplans. Dahntay friggin’ Jones was diagnosing our plays as they were happening.
I have to tell you watching Sam Mitchell post game presser he just looked like he had reached the end of the line. I have long been a supporter of Sam. But is just seems that he can not fix what is wrong with this team. The things that made him a good coach in my view are no longer their. The hustle and fight and never give up has all but gone away. It is really sad if this is the end for Sam. The saddest thing is I can’t think of a way it will not be given what lies ahead
Raptors need an all around player on SG/SF position that can create something, period.
O’Neal @ 90 % is a great player, but will he ever even be @ 60 % ?
Parker – his time as a starter in the league is over(last 2 years was his peak).. he can still be a good back up tho.
Calderon – needs to D up, speed up and drive way more (last time we saw him running a fast break?)
Bargnani – frustrating player, he’s like a cow that gives a full bucket of milk…then kicks it and spills it all over.
Bosh – this years all star
On the bench you got at least 3 people that you should replace immediately (adams, solomon, jawai)
^^^^ Yup .. I noticed that Sam is no longer jumping around frenetically off the bench and seems resigned to the fact that he doesn’t have a viable team to coach .. because not only are they ‘not athletic’ .. they are ‘not basketball-wise’ either. It’s just a collection of players with a dimensionless game. They can’t put it together athletically or basketball-wise .. and that has been adequately demonstrated. They are inconsistent as hell, and the coach doesn’t know what to do any more .. so stop blaming the coach because he just sits on the bench .. he doesn’t run the floor.
Sam is defeated and the players know this too .. it’s only a matter of time and money now. What is BC waiting for .. another coach to try their luck with these Raptors???
how the fuck can bargs be frustrating you.he’s one of the only reasons this seasons been bearable to watch.his d has been above average,he’s hustlin,bangin and more often then not when hes gettin isolated his man passes out cuz hes scared of bargs d.hes blockin shots,has his stroke back,battles down low in the post every possession and never gets a look only to get scraps…..open your eyes dunny.
On a side note, Hassan Adams got more playing time than Jamario Moon. Savage!
Fire Sam, Fire Sam, Fire Sam……
If you take a quick look around the standings, we currently sit 8th. There are 7 teams worse than us who, if Raptor blogs are to be taken as a template, should be pushing to fire “insert_coaches_name_here”.
I understand that a game like this warrants some ranting, but lets try to keep our wits about us. Now, I do think Sam should go, but bear in mind that the schedule is significantly easier in the 2nd half.
The Raps will likely make the playoffs, but anything other than a first round exit will be a surprise. We all know this, we all expect this, so lets try to calm down on the ranting.
Three points to make.
1. The person responsible for the Raptors’ current situation is not Sam Mitchell, the team’s head coach … it is Bryan Colangelo, the team’s President/GM, who has made the decisions which have led this franchise dangerously close to “Treadmill Status” [right now], something that was relatively easy to see as a likely predicament for this group of players since this past summer, at least, for those who have not been drinking of the Kool-Aid from MLSE.
It’s not necessary to re-hash that long list again, is it?
[Let's hope not. : ) ]
The 2nd-3rd week of December is approaching quickly, and the FACT IS … the man has a history of changing head coaches during this first part of the regular season, if/when there’s a need for a scapegoat to be found to explain the sorry plight of a team which he has been responsible for constructing in the first place.
Will he do it again this year?
Hmmmmmmmmm …
For the sake of the Raptors’ long term goal, which should be trying to eventually bring a NBA Championship to the City of Toronto, let’s hope not.
2. That said …
There are some individuals in this world who are positive thinkers … despite what certain others might have to say about them and their ideas, which can sometimes be complex and difficult to understand, especially at first glance … and incapable of ever accepting a No-win Situation, for what it appears to be, on the surface. These individuals, IN FACT, are properly characterized as out-of-the-box-thinkers who have learned the lessons well of Sun Tzu, and knowing both themselves and their opponent, at all times, are able to “Make chicken out of chicken salad”, on a regular basis, because it’s who they happen to be and what they happen to do in this world. Different strokes for different folks.
Finding THE WAY OUT for this year’s team is akin to the classic “trap scenario” involved with the single room, two doors [one which leads to eventual escape and salvation; the other which leads to death and damnation], two gate-keepers, one who always tells the truth and the other who always tells a lie; and, the single question which you, as the solo game player, must be able to ask correctly, of either gate-keeper, in order to choose the one RIGHT door, without knowing in advance which keeper is the truth-teller and which is the falsemaster.
i.e. All the pieces to the puzzle have been laid out in front of you already; what you have to do is decipher them correctly. Once the answer to the riddle has been told to you, it makes perfect sense. It is not earth-shaking, in any sense. It is simple “common” sense; which really isn’t common at all, at least, not until everyone IN FACT has it “in common” with each other, which unfortunately not all do in this topsy turvy world. Still, if you think it through carefully, there is nothing preventing you, or anyone else for that matter, from arriving at THE correct answer for yourself. One of the keys? “See” and “listen” very carefully, as “Looking” and “Hearing” alone, won’t get you very far. The answer to the riddle is always to be found in the original source material. Sorta like THE pudding and THE eating. ; )
When a team’s roster of players looks like this:
Calderon, Parker, Bargnani, Bosh, O’Neal
Ukic, Kapono, Moon, Graham, Humphries
Solomon, Adams, Jawai
a coach who is incapable of negotiating his way through the labyrinth correctly SHOULD NOT be held accountable for failing to be an out-of-the-box-thinker, in the first place …
as the simple FACT IS … relatively speaking, few men/women are, including the President/GM responsible for the operation of the Toronto Raptors.
3. There are some NBA observers who actually do know what they’re talking about when it comes to understanding, both, the League, in general, and the Raptors, specifically. If you wish to disregard what they have to say, on a regular basis, that’s your decision to make. complex, out-of-the-box-thinking is not everyone’s preferred method of operation.
Stop all your silly blather about the Raptors … the coach has given up on this collection of scrubs and one dimensional players. It’s obvious Sam wants to get out of this mess and is holding out for BC to buy out his contract in full.
Everybody here are pretend-coaches, but few are providing specific solutions to the inadequacies of each player and the collective team.
No coach and that includes Sam, cannot train and develop these mature players, only the players can step up on their own to show their skills. So far nobody has shown the consistent high level of bball skills necessary to perform in the NBA. This team has topped out and their weaknesses are being exploited by the other teams, who’s players are stepping up for the opportunity presented by the Raptors.
Other teams are jelling, while the Raptors are disintegrating before our eyes. That’s the reality.
Sam Mitchell is not someone who “gives up”.