The Raptors try to learn a playbook for the first time.Tell me if this sounds familiar: Raps get off to a good start and build an early lead, you get all excited and start thinking this could be the turning point of the season, by the end of the half they give most of it back and by the end of the third they’re staring at a deficit. The fourth is close but failed execution down the stretch costs us the game. We’ve already seen this against Boston, Orlando and New Jersey so it’s no surprise that we followed the same recipe for defeat on Sunday. The loss was enough to upset a strong stomach but at the same time its good to know that we were a defensive rebound or made basket from winning the game. After how bad things went down in Utah and Denver you have to try and look at this game as a positive even though it’s disappointing to see our superstar get outplayed, our starting PG get abused, our #1 pick lay an egg against his classmates and us fail to get a meaningful rebound.
Let’s talk about the final three plays. The Blazers have the ball down 2 and Parker’s defense on Roy forces him to take a tough shot and he misses, we can’t get the rebound. Then Steve Blake gets the ball on the right baseline and fires a jumper that is missed and we still can’t get the rebound. O’Neal should’ve gotten the first rebound but for whatever reason got his feet stuck to the floor. On their second shot he made the challenge which means Bosh should’ve gotten the board and he just got outhustled/outjumped because one of the three Blazers who attacked the board got the tap-out to Steve Blake. Their guards hit the glass and ours didn’t, all this combined for a -17 differential and us conceding 20 second chance points, most of which seem to come in the fourth. Blake then created space and nailed a step-back three in Calderon’s grill, there was a hint of an offensive foul but not really. We get the ball back down 1 and coming out of a timeout Bosh does a TJ impersonation, drives to his left and throws up a wild one much to the surprise of everyone in the arena. So what happened?
According to Triano, it was a good play which Portland broke up by impeding the progress of the player who was supposed to catch the ball. I’ve seen the play a dozen times and I don’t see it. Portland wasn’t denying the ball to anyone who wanted it, we could’ve even hit Parker in the corner or thrown the ball directly in the post to JO. The only person that was covered was Jason Kapono and he inbounded the ball, unless the play was as simplistic as a return pass to Kapono for a three, then yeah, Portland did its job. I think coming out of a timeout with a single-option play with the game on the line is rather lame, but hey, at least they got it inbounds. That sequence does not reflect well on Jay Triano but seeing how this is Game 2 for him, its hard to criticize given some of the good things we saw in this game. I think once the play failed early, Jose Calderon has to flash from the left corner and take charge instead of letting Bosh go one-on-one against a defender who has given him trouble all night.
The Raptors have to manufacture defensive intensity, it doesn’t come natural to them and we did a good job of doing that in the first quarter. Anthony Parker took Roy out of the game, Jose Calderon forced Steve Blake to stay in front of him and we were collapsing on their big men. For the first time all season I could honestly say that the Raptors were playing high-energy defense, naturally they got rewarded with a 16-point lead. Expecting the lead to stick is asking too much, we’re not used to playing high-level defense for 24, let alone 48 minutes a game and in the second quarter things started to normalize. Rudy Fernandez and Brandon Roy got the dribble-penetration that was being denied in the first quarter and Jose Calderon lost Steve Blake four times in the first half for a jumper from the exact same left-corner spot. Jermaine O’Neal was getting his scores against Pryzbilla and carrying the offensive load but it was Bosh being outplayed by LaMarcus Aldridge in the second and third quarter stretch that killed us.
Bosh and Aldridge are both face-up guys that rely on the 13-18 footer for their offense. I’d like to believe that Bosh is one better because of his quickness and if the jumper isn’t falling he’s got something to fall back on whereas Aldridge’s game isn’t there yet. You wouldn’t have known it. Aldridge was scoring through fadeaways, mid-range jumpers and on the break against Bosh who rarely tested Aldridge’s quickness and settled for the perimeter jumper and refused to adjust even when it didn’t drop. The sad part is that on the couple times he did drive, he got fouled once got a layup the other time. Hardly MVP play. It was much like the Utah game and his matchup against Millsap, his offense was neutralized too easily and he never made the defense make the tough decisions he himself had to make on the other end. This pattern of Bosh coming up short against good teams is becoming a cause for concern, maybe it has to do with the league-leading minutes Mitchell made him play, at least that’s what the experts had to say about it. My take is that if you’re fatigued and don’t have the energy/will-power/motivation to drive the ball, then you should be sitting on the bench until you’ve got your rest. Nobody wants to see our franchise player fade when Steve Blake’s checking him. Bosh needs to be more assertive. Period.
Will Solomon started the fourth quarter and helped the Blazers build a 10 point lead and it all seemed lost at that point. Joey Graham, Jermaine O’Neal, Jose Calderon and Anthony Parker lead an aggressive 17-2 run which gave us a 5 point lead with 3:41 left. Portland was forced to double O’Neal in that stretch and it ended up getting Calderon and Parker clean looks for three. That’s when our defensive rebounding fell apart and we couldn’t even rebound FT misses. Portland gets 6 late offensive rebounds to make up for the low-percentage shooting and Jose Calderon has a key turnover that gives Portland an extra possession and in a game like this, you can point to any number of such small plays as the difference. Take your pick.
Bargnani was a non-factor in the game, Triano ran a couple early plays for him but he failed to score and picked up two early fouls. He lost Outlaw on a three, went one-on-one a bit too much and took a horrible three pointer in the fourth quarter which was preceded by an equally horrible three from Bosh. He finished an embarrassing 1-6 for 5 points while his classmates, Roy and Aldridge, finished with 15 and 20. Perhaps it would’ve been a good idea to test his defense against Aldridge since Bosh was having no luck slowing him down, at least it would’ve given Bargnani an opportunity to contribute something to the game. I don’t know what the deal with Andrea is, I don’t know what system needs to be in place for him to be a consistent weapon rather than a constant unknown. Maybe he needs to play in a system where there are constant cuts to the rim so he can use his drive to get three steps past his man, draw a defender and dump off. You know, play the point-forward. I don’t think his rebounding will ever be there (you can’t teach that) and the best we can hope for is to cajole him into doing the right things on offense. It’s too early to say what Triano’s system will do for Bargnani but just like Bosh he needs to be more assertive and that doesn’t mean taking bad threes. We tend to analyze his play too much, he simply needs to get better at finishing against smaller players in the post and finishing his drives with power. Simple stuff that you don’t have to think too hard about.
In the live blog I made the following statement in the first quarter: Calderon’s not being exploited by Steve Blake because…well…he’s Steve Blake. Egg on my face indeed. Jose Calderon is fast becoming the king of putting up meaningless stats. He’s turning out to be the type of point guard that negates every good he does on offense by doing twice as many bads on defense. Either he’s got to contain Steve Blake to under 10 points or if he can’t do that, then he needs to score 30 against him. He’s supposed to be the superior guard and getting outplayed on a nightly basis is not acceptable. His defense is generally woeful but its not even the lack of lateral quicks that bugging me, its how he’s unaware of where his man is and is late in seeing who he has to rotate to. It’s one thing when you’re late on a rotation, its another when you realize too late that you have to rotate. It’s the latter that we saw in this game and it speaks of a mental issue rather than a physical one. It’s been six games since he pulled his hamstring, I’m pretty sure it’s OK now.
In a one-point game against a good team there will be positives. Our first quarter defense was refreshing, we cranked it up again in third and fourth quarter stretches but just aren’t in the habit of playing that way. Jermaine O’Neal was phenomenal after a 1-6 start. He ended up with 24 pts, 8 rebs and 6 blocks, aside from not getting that one rebound he had a great game and was the engine behind our fourth quarter run. Joey Graham’s aggressive play including some very hard-fought post-up scores and a thunderous dunk on Pryzbila served as another nail in Jamario Moon’s coffin. Jason Kapono looked to get his shots off and finished with 10 FGA including a three which he made while being covered tightly. We held them to only 2 fast-break points and won the PINP battle 34-24, we forced them into perimeter jumpers and held them to 44% shooting while shooting close to 50%. Not a bad overall effort, if only we had done something about the -17 rebounding, if only we had gotten some support from Bargnani or if Bosh had played smart against Aldridge this could’ve been a W. Calderon’s seeing some positives too:
I saw a big difference today, I think we were a completely different team. We played with more passion, we played with pride, we tried to help each other on defence and offence. It’s true we lost, but we played against the second best team in the West. I think if we keep playing this way we’re going to win a lot of games.
I get the feeling this team’s starting from scratch and is trying to forget everything Sam Mitchell taught them and learn some basic fundamental principles that were forgotten over the last four years. It’s true, you can’t teach a lot of the things that are needed for a team and its players to be good, but in this case it’s about reminding them that there is a strategy to things and not everything is as simple as taking and making shots. I’ve already seen improved defense, letting players play through their mistakes (Joey Graham), exploiting mismatches (JO v Pryzbilla), an active Kapono and much better ball movement. Portland’s defense tonight was nothing special, whenever we moved the ball we managed to get good shots, it’s only when we became stagnant and looked at Bosh to go one-on-one did we get in trouble. We need to iron out these kinks, get Bosh on the same page as the rest of the team and go from there. By the end of December we should have a good idea of what this team is capable of and at that point Colangelo needs to do his job and make an appropriate move.
The live blog covered the game in detail. If you missed it, it should fill you in. Raptors lose to the Blazers in heart-breaking fashion, Cleveland is next which should be a test for Bosh, let’s see how he handles going up against real MVP candidates. Hopefully he doesn’t fizzle out. We’ve lost 4 straight and realistically it’ll be 5 before things start to get somewhat better.
Here’s a Blazer blog’s take on the game.
68 Raps
WOW! 2 o’clock in the morning? I miss Hump, his suits are looking nice but I think sweaty jersey is better. Isn’t it funny how high JO got off the ground when he was going to dunk, (committed an offensive foul instead)but he couldn’t get a rebound….
go watch bosh his defense if you question jose’s
it’s even WORSE
the passion / intensity was gone
we lost a blow out chance …
i not disappointed not getting the rebound at least we contested them / improvement
the last play was an obvious play ,we did with parker last going in the corner bounce and shooting the 3. it worked a few times
a smitch play hey he should have known it wouldn’t work in late situation
bosh had jose open for 3 in the corner and bosh should just knock down that jimmy , isn’t he the mvp contender ?
o yeah he sucked since that stupid statement
bosh got in his head , get him outta here before they realize he’s a choker , get value now!!!
magix:
were you drunk when you wrote that? It looks like you might have some good points in there, but try to use full sentences next time so I can understand what they are.
a better take on the game from a blazers perspective: http://www.blazersedge.com/
You have such a transparent a priori against Calderon it’s almost funny.
Every post you are looking for excuses to belittle him. Of course in 48 min he’s going to screw up several times so your biased opinion is always reinforced. Everywhere else I read that he kept the Raptors from drowning, but through innuendo you manage to pin this L on him too.
You said it yourself, Bosh has his head up his behind and should not have tried the TJ move, he had many options and he chose to be the closer when it was not doable. He is not Bryant yet. That was vanity what he did.
I can’t wait what AltRaps will blabber about now, you being the more balanced voice here.
well i should not edit my ramblings
let me use a full sentence to describe how i feel about bosh
he sucks a cock , he can’t score when it counts. if he’s sees a decent defender he pisses himself and start shooting jumpers , not decent 18 foot jumpers , he tries 3 point jumpers 4 seconds in the shot clock or my favorite the fade away from the baseline and the drive under the rim blocking himself has a nice touch 2 .
That fucking retard can’t stop a midget that is posting him up .
the pisspoor defender/ slash choker in late game situations calls himself an MVP candidate? start punching kg already, have your suspension and then come back as the old ,down to earth bosh . not the guy that says “i won gold and I’m the best ” . NO you we’re a ROLE player that added to USA with intensity , and lay-UPS . the intensity i haven’t seen since.
you won something great. now start leading the fucking team you play for as a professional.
i clearly hate a certain mister bosh for the moment.
i really don’t recognize the man
oh the inbound play
last year we had a good play where parker past a few screens and had an open look in the corner with an inbound bounce pass from delphino
that was a copy of that play . they tried to copy it
I am always going to be a Raptors fan becuae its the only team in the NBA representing a country with free medicare.. lol Other than that I feel like there is some kind of wrong chemistry some where.. Something is going on behind the scene’s .. I really think we should trade Parker and Kapono .. I think these two are just hanging around (like that Russian guy said on Rounders) Trade both of these idiots for Steve Nash
interesting comments.
hmm. i thought they made a coaching change? y’know, new philosophy, run more, better sets, tighter D, rebounding, all that stuff. it looked exactly like a smitch coached game, albeit one immediately following a coaching seminar where he learned a new play or two, ’cause that’s all i saw. the same lack of awareness on the perimeter, late rotations, an insatiable desire to ‘help,’ running around with no purpose, etc. stagnant offense (dump it in, wait by 3-pt line, don’t crash boards – check).
when i was younger, and playing more competitively, i had a buddy who was a great athlete & fairly naturally gifted offensively, but he was lazy offensively. we’d make fun of him about it, and he’d play tough, in-your-face D, active feet, decisive quickness, active hands…a real pain in the ass. for about 10 seconds. then he’d revert to his normal self. that’s what the 1st quarter reminded me off…the guards/wings started out nice & aggressive (w/o overplaying/over-helping) on the perimeter, they were active (with feet & hands), and generally made things difficult. i guess it was too much to expect that to last a whole game (or whole half).
parker did indeed play well against roy, but if it’s going to be pointed out how the game swung on JO’s missed rebound (and it did), then it also swung on roy’s FT-line jumper that tied it up. it’s all well & good to play good D, but if you’re not making your check work on D, then it’s only half the battle.
bargs – ick. game-to-game, you simply don’t know what you’re going to get out of him. i dispute the notion that he’s not been used ‘correctly,’ ’cause there’s no one on the team that’s been given as many different opportunities to show what he’s got. the experiment with him at the 3 can’t be considered a success, so why stick with it, especially when the matchup doesn’t favour it? he really showed his ‘quickness’ on a few of those drives, eh? didn’t look like a lumbering, unathletic, out-of-control 7-footer at all. but at least he played solid D & rebounded well. oh, wait…
i’m all for starting robo-joe there until he has his normal fade (remember – joey’s been doing this for years now…good, solid efforts followed by woeful inconsistency. of course, that pretty much sums up the whole team). but for this game, and previous games (for the most part), he’s been good.
bosh – is he becoming a black hole on offense? let’s see…superstar on a fading team…reluctance to take it to the hole…settling for jumpers, even when he has a mis-match…majority of teammates either aren’t NBA quality or not NBA starting quality. where have i heard this before?
what was up with having bargs take the last shot? oh, that was bosh? my bad.
nice D on that last play, jose. were you really that concerned that blake was going to beat you off the dribble (& that there’d be no help coming)? i guess, when you’re up two, it’s too much to ask to make sure that a guy who’d gone off from 3 not be allowed to shoot a 3. since, y’know, it would put them up 1. blake’s right-hand dominant, and had shown no ability to put it on the floor to his left…so, why not over-play his right, get up in his grill, and force him to create to his left?
khan – re. jose and his ‘ranking’ among PGs…isn’t it a bit of a moot point, at this stage of the season? i mean, overall, he’s been good (leaning closer to average), but it’s hard to rank him above certain PGs when he routinely gets outplayed. is jose ‘better’ than, say, steve blake? well, of course, that’s a no-brainer, right? except, of course, when blake is matched up with jose. then it’s not so clear-cut. did jose outplay blake? vice-versa? was it a draw?
loteq, I’m not biased against Calderon. He’s playing like shit right now and I’m sorry if you can’t see that. He needs to carry the scoring load more and tighten up his defense, he does that and this blog will be all about how great he is. Yertu made a great point about how to defend when you’re up 2, can’t have Blake pulling a Lebron on you.
That play by Blake reminded me soo much of whay Roy did to us last year, with Calderon on him. Maybe when Jay tries to do the offense-defense thing, he should switch out Jose too….
‘Maybe when Jay tries to do the offense-defense thing, he should switch out Jose too….’
was thinking the same (esp. after the NJ game)…but, with who? i mean, if they want a PG out there, both swill & roko are ‘better’ defenders than jose, but both are also more likely to foul on a 3-pt attempt. was thinking that moon on roy & AP on blake (or vice versa?) might’ve worked, but i cringe at the thought of moon defending roy at a pivotal moment.
oh yeah, one thing i forgot. i have no idea what fernandez put up in terms of numbers, but that guy is just a baller. he moves so well without the ball, has the athleticism to put it on floor or go to the hole, and can hit his shots.
overall, this blazers team has the potential to be scary good. they’re deep at pretty much every position, and they’re getting just enough from their PGs (of course, when you have roy who can take over duties as creator/facilitator/finisher, it helps). very strong at the 2/3/4, with numerous guys off the bench who can step in & provide good-excellent play. it won’t/can’t last, they simply have too many good players at similar positions…eventually, some will leave via free agency, or be dealt for picks/prospects/expiring contracts, but for now, and the next couple years, what an exciting nucleus to watch develop.
last week, i was playing around with the trade machine, looking to deal bosh (and/or AP & JK), just to see if there was anything out there that made sense. portland was one of the few teams with the assets to make a deal, but now i’m wondering what benefit adding bosh would be? it wouldn’t make ‘em any better.
For the information of others …
“The play” in question which Triano rightfully does not wish to give away WAS NOT the final action which you saw once the ball was in Bosh’s hands.
“The play” which Triano is referring to was … the initial “In-Bounds Play” that the Raptors tried to run … i.e. where the first pass in the sequence was to be caught by Anthony Parker, circling around the double high elbow screens set by Bosh and O’Neal with Calderon in the opposite Corner and Kapono as the passer.
If you don’t know what to look for, in the first place, when an NBA coach is explaining what went right or wrong with a specific play there’s little hope of providing analysis of the sequence of events which is accurate.
As Triano said in his post-game interview … when the Raptors saw the way in which Outlaw was aligned to defend against Kapono, in the first place, they probably should have called time-out and gone to a different play entirely for their In-bounder.
PS. “Looking” and “Seeing” are two different things, when applied to an NBA game. : )
khan – excellent point(s). but, uh, they still had their ‘go-to’ guy with the ball, in an area of the floor he likes, one-on-one, with the game on the line. regardless of whether the intended play was broken, isn’t it imperative that bosh get off a better shot than that bargnani-esque disaster? when it’s not the x’s & o’s (i.e. a broken play), it has to be the jimmys & joes, no? our joes just happen to suck.
ok, maybe not ’suck.’ blow.
as in ‘it.’
blow. it.
Overall, the Raptors did play “well enough” to win this game.
Unfortunately, they lost … when Steve Blake hit a heavily contested 3PT-shot, off the bounce [with a push-off and a pull-back dribble], and the subsequent In-bounder they tried to run, didn’t go according to plan, i.e. the type of stuff that happens every day/night, in the NBA.
The problems here go deeper than that and are Bryan Colangelo’s to fix.
FACT IS … they’ve been hiding in plain sight, since he made the trade for Jermaine O’Neal.
yertu,
Who says Chris Bosh SHOULD BE the Raptors’ go-to guy on offense?
Chris Bosh’s strength … as a player and a person
It’s just inexcusable that Blake was left so wide open throughout the entire game. This pattern of leaving good shooters has been so prevelant this entire season (Ray Ray, Bibby, Blake). I’m not sure why the Raptors feel the need to double team from the perimeter. Our post-defenders are supposed to be able to check their men and force jumpers. I don’t know if the rotations are just late, but when Blake hit his first 3, he should have been checked after that. On the Blazers final possession, while Blake was dribbling, it was SO OBVIOUS that he was setting up Calderon to create space, I was amazed that Jose fell for it.
When you don’t know what to look for, in the first place, the answers which you find, take you no place fast.
Khan- good point on your 17. I thought JO should have gotten the ball in the post. He was feeling it, could have driven to the hoop if he was covered closely, and could have kicked out if he got pressured.
yertu, as soon as I posted that comment, I remembered what usually sits on the bench in crunch time.
I think the players should have realized that they are not clutch, (They can only hit shots and LOSE)and try to maintain their leads so they wont be put in situations like the Portland and NJ game. I’m not too sure how exactly true this is, but we hardly win games in clutch. Last year, some (or most) of our wins were blowing people out, and we haven’t done that this year.
The Boston Celtics, as a group, do not check their individual men by themselves. What the Boston Celtics do is start with their individual men, then, rotate relentlessly until the end of that specific defensive possession.
Then, when the opponent eventually gets possession of the ball, once again … the Celtics repeat the process, relentlessly … which is how a good defensive team actually works in the NBA.
Individual 1-on-1 defense, in isolation, at each of the five positions on the floor, IS NOT how the game is played at this level of competition.
In general … Feschuk and Grange both do a fairly good job of analyzing the game, amongst the “local/national media” that usually covers the Raptors.
Matt Devlin before yesterday’s game,
“Besides Indiana, the Raptors have had the toughest schedule in the entire NBA”
Let’s wait till the end of January, see where they are at and then comment. Let’s not lose our heads now.
Arse,
I love your stuff. Far better than Doughboy Smith. But c’mon man…ease up on Numero Ocho a bit. I think you are forgetting TJ’s equally porous defense and spotty and streaky shooting. Bosh should shoulder most of the blame on this one and you do call him out, but it seems that Ocho is taking the fall. Blake took a tough pull-back three that was guarded well by Calderon with a hand in his face. Had he missed it, Raps win and we’re all happy. I understand your passion, I love your writing, but please try to be a little more balanced.
Keep up the great work.
‘Let’s not lose our heads now.’
where’s the fun in that?
khan – i’m not saying that bosh SHOULD be the go-to guy, just that he IS (de facto or otherwise). it is at precisely moments like the one that ended the game where the lack of a true ‘creator’ on offense comes into play. someone who:
a) has the physical size/athleticism AND SKILL to get to the hoop, ward off a double, not get pushed out of position, etc.,
b) has enough athleticism/quickness AND SKILL to not only beat his man off the dribble (w/o necessarily requiring a screen), but to finish at the hole, or at the very least, draw a foul,
c) has a shot that’s good enough to warrant the (close) attention of the D,
d) has the wherewithal to recognize not only when the double is about to come, but to recognize from where & take advantage of a rotating (i.e. out of position) defense.
e) upon said recognition, have the ability to make the right pass/fake/move to put himself in the best position to make the best decision possible in that situation.
not every team has a guy like that – most have a guy or two who can do some of those things – & even fewer have elite guys like that…but it’s very difficult for any team to be successul without a wing who demands that the D respect what they can do.
Yeah, let’s wait until 2010, let’s wait… let’s wait let’s wait let’s wait. Cheese and rice I am sick of that. Been waiting for 15 years.
When are people going to stop riding the excuse train? It must be fun to be eleventeen and have low expectations…
Everyone, please don’t comment until January. RIIIIGHT….
TJ is a better defender then Jose, he penetrates more often, he hits
clutch shots, he gets to the FT line more, he gets more rebounds,….but you know what? He def. hands out less Gatorade.
The PG is the QB of the team. Jose missed two shots, had a TO and let Bosh have the game in his hands. FAIL! Yes, he takes the fall and blame, if we are going to assign it to someone. Take your pick, Bosh, JO, Jose. The core players that BC is supposedly building around or are the foundation of this team – FAILED each in their own way, last night. But if it falls on someone.. it’s UNO, DOS, BRICK!
b-star – ‘Blake took a tough pull-back three that was guarded well by Calderon with a hand in his face.’
while jose did recover somewhat & got a hand in his face, the reality is that he was too far out of position to put up a substantial enough defense of the shot…which, IMO, is inexcusable when only up 2. what was blake going to do, drive into the key? fine, then you get up in his face, overplay his right hand, and force him to either put up a truly contested shot, try to create going to his left, or pass off. under no circumstances can you let him get off a good look at a 3. this wasn’t carter v. AP, where VC hit a fadeway 28-footer with AP actually in his face. jose simply misplayed the jab step by biting too hard (and yeah, there might have been a bit of a push too), but the genesis of the play started with jose not forcing his man out of his comfort zone. and what was the worst thing had blake gotten by jose? a pull-up jumper? a kick-out? perhaps taking the ball out of his hands would have simply freed up someone else…who knows. all i know is, blake had been on fire from deep all game, so to lose on another (relatively) open look is kinda tough to swallow.
re: the Raptors’ Defense and Rebounding on the Blazers’ final two possessions
2nd Last Possession
* Parker did a solid job on Roy
* Bosh did a solid job coming to help, providing a shot-blocking presence [he may have actually blocked the shot] in arears of AP [which was a necessary rotation given the move which Roy attempted to make]
* O’Neal did a solid job “Middling” Aldridge and Oden, i.e. the two players he was responsible for defending in that specific situation
* Unfortunately the ball was tipped and ended up deflecting to Oden
* O’Neal recovered well and challenged the shot by Oden, forcing a miss
* Because of their initial defense on the drive by Roy, neither Parker nor Bosh were able to establish solid inside position, vs Roy & Aldridge, respectively, and the ball was tipped out to Fernadez on the perimeter [Graham was in the key attempting to rebound as well]
Last Possession
* The error Calderon made was not forcing Blake to penetrate inside the arc for the pull-up J … but given the time & score and the way he contested that Final shot, the inidividual D he played was acceptable.
Steve Blake hit a tough shot to give the Blazers the lead; but, the Raptors still had more than enough time left to win the game.
————
Unfortunately, they ran a poor in-bounds play and lost the game instead.
Time to move on … because they are going to have their hands full in Cleveland. : (
yertu,
———-
re: khan – i’m not saying that bosh SHOULD be the go-to guy, just that he IS (de facto or otherwise). it is at precisely moments like the one that ended the game where the lack of a true ‘creator’ on offense comes into play. someone who:
a) has the physical size/athleticism AND SKILL to get to the hoop, ward off a double, not get pushed out of position, etc.,
b) has enough athleticism/quickness AND SKILL to not only beat his man off the dribble (w/o necessarily requiring a screen), but to finish at the hole, or at the very least, draw a foul,
c) has a shot that’s good enough to warrant the (close) attention of the D,
d) has the wherewithal to recognize not only when the double is about to come, but to recognize from where & take advantage of a rotating (i.e. out of position) defense.
e) upon said recognition, have the ability to make the right pass/fake/move to put himself in the best position to make the best decision possible in that situation.
not every team has a guy like that – most have a guy or two who can do some of those things – & even fewer have elite guys like that…but it’s very difficult for any team to be successul without a wing who demands that the D respect what they can do.
———-
… which is part of the reason Bryan Colangelo might never ever recover from failing to get either Brandon Roy or Rudy Gay out of the 2006 NBA Draft for this Raptors team.
Flux,
re: TJ is a better defender then Jose, he penetrates more often, he hits clutch shots, he gets to the FT line more, he gets more rebounds,….but you know what? He def. hands out less Gatorade.
IMO, you need to stop going to that specific well … as, Ford is not a better PG than Calderon. : )
Speaking of January.. how is that schedule easier? Same amount of games (16) same amount of back to backs (3) with less time between game then this month! There are 2-4 games on there that are maybe winnable. What? This team is going to get better by the end of the month? I don’t think so. Unlike some people think, Triano is not a miracle worker, nothing will change. The players are who they are.
Enlighten me… whisper sweet nothings on my screen about how this team is a contender in hiding, that about to go on an epic run.
Khandor, IYO a better PG, right? : )
If I was Jay Triano, this is what I would have run for the last play.
line-up:
pg: calderon
sg: parker
sf: kapono
pf: graham
c: o’neal
I am also assuming that the blazers would have this line-up
pg: blake
sg: roy
sf: fernadez
pf: altridge
c: oden
I would initally position the players as such: o’neal on the strong-side elbow, kapono on the weak-side corner, parker on the strong-side corner and graham on the far side of the top of the three point line. Calderon would inbound it to O’neal, and run to the top of the three point-line, closer to o’neal and about 4 feet away from Graham. O’neal would post up oden, while always keeping his eyes up. Kapono is going to run off a double screen around the three point line about as soon as O’neal gets the ball. He will run off graham’s screen and then calderon’s screen. Whats crucial is for calderon to set a solid screen so that the trailing man would seperate or Blake (smaller that Kapono) would have to switch. As soon as each screen has finished his screen, he cuts towards the basket. Kapono finishes at the elbow of the three-point line hopefully with seperation. There are now a myriad of options for o’neal all at different times. He could finish his post-up move (which he was having success with yesterday), he could pass it to parker for a corner three if the blazers double hard. He also has the option of finding two cutters both coming at different times. Finally, he has kapono open or with a smaller defender at the top of the elbow / three point line. I am positive this play would have had success.
I am also sure this play would have been effective than Bosh pretending he was solomon
And you know what Khandor.. hypothetically!! speaking: if TJ wins 6 rings, Finals MVP and ends up in the HOF while Jose never exits the 1st round, you will still contend Jose is a better PG. C’mon, we both know, we will never see the same on this, regardless of anything. : )
Forget about Calderon and his defense on Blake, he did as well as he could with Bake’s push off, without fouling him.
The reason the game was lost was before Blake’s shot with the complete domination by Portland on the offensive boards.
Starting from Odens missed FT @ 1:31 Raptors gave up FIVE (5) FIVE offensive rebounds, with Bosh and O’Neal both there. Bosh had (1) ONE rebound in the 4th qtr the same as Calderon, that from the supposed MVP.
Triano needs to remember REBOUNDING 101, and TEACH it, as the fact that the Raptors were within 1 last play to win is a minor miracle after giving up 18 to 4 offensive boards.
Thanks Johnn19.
This is what I mean. Calderon is not a good defender, we know that. And the author of this blog entry is always looking for a reason to pin the loss on Calderon. He did a pretty good job if you look at recent games. Other players really had a subpar performance. This shot would not have been the issue if they had rebounded better.
Johnn19, check Roll Call.. discussed already.
Not to mention, the title of this post and the second paragraph. Bud God forbid someone is critical of everyone’s little darling Jose, who beside pulling a Mike Vick, couldn’t do wrong in 95.6% of the peoples eyes. His stats lie.. does it matter how good his is on offense when he sucks on D? Man, Arse covered this in a balanced way IMO. It’s funny how people choose to take out and read only what they want. How dare he say something critical of him, eh? The QB, the leader of the team, really he deserves less criticism then anyone because the puts up some fugazzi stats.
john – absolutely, o’neal & bosh were in there & unable to secure a rebound, and it definitely influenced the outcome of the game. of course, have a look at who, on the blazers, was crashing the boards – it was a team effort. the raps wings have a tendency to think of rebounding as something outside their responsibility.
in any loss, there’s plenty of blame to go around. and you’re right re. jose’s D on blake – it was as good as he could do. and that pretty much sums it up.
i guess the way i look at it is, when you’re defending 1-on-1, you can either wait for your check to make a move & react, or you can try to force your check into a move they may not be comfortable with. if i’m trying to defend/contain a perimeter player, my first objective is to take away from him that with which he’s comfortable. it’s easy to say sitting here, and i’m not trying to bag on jose, it’s not through lack of effort that he came up short. sometimes, effort just ain’t enough.
flux – in your eyes, what stats of individual raptors aren’t fugazzi?
FLUX, I’m not saying Calderon is perfect, but he is what he is, our PG and the most indespensible player on the team, who played a good, but not perfect game.
What he is not however, is the reason the game was lost.
THE REASON THE GAME WAS LOST WAS THE COMPLETE DOMINATION OF PORTLAND ON THE OFFENSIVE BOARDS & THE DISAPEARANCE OF OUR LEADER, CB4 WHO WANTS TO PLAY AS AN MVP, AS A REBOUNDER WITH 5 TOTAL & 1 IN THE 4TH QTR. WHEN THE GAME WAS DECIDED.
yertu, does it matter if you have 65 pts 34 assists when you miss two shots and cough up the ball down the stretch? Does it matter you have 34 rebounds when you give us 5 offensive or don’t get the one you need to seal the game? Does it matter you get a 17 point lead only to see it fizzle to 2 by the half? Does it matter if you lost by 40 or 1 when you still lost? Does it matter some are sitting here analyzing the life out of the whole game or particular possession when they lost? Like I said before and you did now.. you can “pin” the loss on multiple guys, they lost as a team. To sit here and a say in no way shape or form was it Jose’s “fault” and “blame” rebounding solely is fugazzi. Hehe : ) THEY lost, plenty of blame to go around. Rest assured no one would be getting it either if it were Sam coaching, but Sam himself. Guaranteed.
Johnn19.. if read the most of my comments (and other peoples as well), you would see that I agree. Thing is, he deserves as much blame as anyone else, no? Are we talking about rebounding as much right now if he doesn’t TO over the ball, misses tho two shots, or gives up the ball on the 3 like he did, down the stretch? Maybe we are, BUT WE ARE NOT LOOKING AT THAT AS THE ONLY REASON THEY LOST, ARE WE???!!! ARE WE BLAMING REBOUNDING ON THE FIRST HALF MELTDOWN??? Plenty of reasons, don’t just single out and exonerate Jose because of his stats.
I really don’t like the idea of all three big men on the floor at the same time. All three of them need to be involved in the offence and this is almost impossible when they are all on the floor. Ideally it would be nice to have JO come off the bench, but rest assured he will cry like a bitch if that happens, so it makes more sense to start him for the first 6 minutes, then rest him and have him play agaisnt the second unit. MAYBE if Barg’s was able to actually back down a smaller defender and shoot over him he could play the SF. I still don’t understand how he is unable to shoot a 15 footer over a smaller defender?
Thoughts?
Also, Barg’s (took his cold off the bench) and Bosh (very early in the shot clock) taking ill advised threes in a decisive fourth quarter??? That’s just terrible and lazy.
Then again if are going to get into the blame game, as I said before, as the leader of the team, the QB, his play down the stretch and the fact the ball ends up in Bosh’s hands with the game down the line, his defense, deserve mentioning. Let’s not look at his double double and say oh, had a good game. Cuz really he didn’t. But you wanna run around your living room doing the three finger parade in your Jose jersey, and the bitching out the bigs..be my guest.
Of course, because you are Raptor fans, you want to be positive because it wasn’t an outright blowout.
Of course, some know better, because the Raptors, like all bad/mediocre teams always have a few good moments …that doesn’t mean the SAME bloody problems aren’t going to keep happening and they won’t still be a bad team.
How many times over how many years will it take before the kool aid drinkers (not here necessarily) cotton on to the fact that Bosh is not a Batman???
I guess with a generation that uses the term “nazi” for someone who thinks spelling words correctly is a good idea and “rape” when a sports team loses a game, the abuse of a word like “superstar” shouldn’t be a surprise…but for fuck’s sake…how is it possible that people seem to think we have a player of the same calibre as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Magic Johnson on the Raptors??
All of this is leading to a HORRIBLE over-payment in 2010 and YEARS of lottery dwelling, like Minnesota….
Why do some people NEED to believe this? Why is it seen as blasphemy to say “this is a really good player that you want on your team just as long as you have at least 2 other players in different positions who are as good or better”?
When do you think the insipid media in this town will stop asking stupid questions in those fucking scrums as if by their very mumbling and mewling, they can force a player to be something he is not?
Since the aim of this season was never to be just mediocre (and certainly not to be flat out horrible), until a major trade is made, and cap damage is accepted, there is really no reason to be the least optimistic.
it IS possible to have a ‘good’ game (overall) with moments that are not so good. JO had a ‘good’ overall game, but several poor moments late that were pivotal. ditto jose. when a team’s as thin as the raps, they need their ‘big’ guys to step up & be big. yesterday, if you were to look at the stats & the outcome (1-pt loss to a very good, deep team), you’d say jose, JO & bosh had ‘good’ games. evaluating the ins/outs of why they lost reveals something further…that despite their respective efforts, each, in their own way, came up short in one area or another, at critical junctures of the game that ultimately proved to be the undoing. we can spend countless hours rehashing what happened throughout a game – missed FTs, late rotations, sloppy TO’s, not boxing out, etc. each play that happens during the course of a game is a result, in part, of what happened in the play(s) prior to that.
but let’s put aside the final possessions for second. you’re up 16 in the 2nd Q, at home. you’ve played like garbage over the last few weeks, your coach has been fired, it’s the first game back at home after a miserable (albeit entirely predictable) road trip…and you can’t hold a 16-pt 2nd Q lead? i mean, not even to the half? it would have been one thing to gradually lose that lead over the course of a quarter or two, but they GAVE IT ALL BACK IN ONE FUCKING QUARTER! when a team doesn’t have the horses to hold onto a double-digit lead at home, well, it’s time to start the tear-down.
nunya – well said…rap ‘o the day?
PEACE, people!
That article by Feschuk, makes lots of sense. We can all complain about the rebounding woes, but it will never change, unless we get a rebounder. I agree #44. I think one of three bigs would help much more if they coming off the bench.
But The reason why I liked the 3 bigs in the starting lineup was because Hump was the next guy off the bench and J-moon was dropped lower into rotations.
BC needs to loosen that tie and let some blood flow to his brain.
Yertu, yes it’s possible but it’s meaningless. I’d rather have some guy shoot bricks and be a TO machine, but come up with needed plays in the clutch. That’s just me tho.
Nunya, “let’s wait until the end January, shall we? Let’s not lose our heads here.”
Hey guys,
I’m surprised no one has mentioned how Blake ‘openly/blatantly’ PUSHED-OFF Calderon with his left hand to score his winning 3pt shot – and the Ref who was in perfect position (standing below the mid-court foul line) didn’t call a foul. (But we all know Ref’s don’t dare call fouls in the final 10 seconds).
Perhaps the reason the Ref didn’t call the fould was because the Blazers/Aldridge were called for an offensive push-off the previous time down the floor – at which time Bosh made them pay for the turnover by hitting a go-ahead jumper.
All things considered, the game was typical Raptors basketball: run up a double-digit lead, fall behind by double-digits, come back and lose in the final seconds of the game.
As you said Arse, it was a tummy-turning lose.
Things don’t look too good in the Raps Republic with the mighty LBJ at home up next on the schedule.
” I’d rather have some guy shoot bricks and be a TO machine, but come up with needed plays in the clutch. That’s just me tho.”
What makes you think there would even be an opportunity to be clutch if this is your strategy for the game…?
As many people noted, the most disappointing part of the loss isn’t the three in Calderon’s face as much as it is the squandered 16 point lead. And that truly was a team effort in futility.
Where did I say that was a strategy of any kind? The point was, I’d much rather live with a guy who has an awful game but comes up in the clutch, then some guy who has a good game and chokes. It really is possible someone has a bad game and the team is still in it, it is a team sport after all. You are telling me you have never seen a game where a guy does that? 0-7 from d.t. but nails the game winner?
Hey guys,
My comment on 33, do you think it would work? I think it’s a pretty good play but I want to hear your thoughts,
thanks
James, c’mon. That was no push off, at all. Check you tube. It’s on Dime as well, the majority of people don’t see a push off. Would you call that a push off in a pickup game?
Dino Gunners, hard to comment. What if the Blazers doubled hard and forced O’Neal into a turnover? Does O’Neal have the presence of mind to know that he has Kapono open and two cutters (if they cut). Would he make the right decision and pass or just force up a shot? Will the cutting cutters be able to finish in traffic (because you know O’Neal’s man will leave to block).
On paper it looks good but on paper most plays look good because they rarely know for sure how the defense would react. In this case if the screener’s don’t force a switch you’re back to square one and you’re then asking O’Neal to go one-on-one. Also, JO had most of his success against Pryzbilla, not Oden.
Gunner, too many things would have to go right for it to happen.
Gunner, it would be sacraligious (sp) if Triano don’t have Bosh on the court for the final seconds of the game – imagine the ‘online reaction’ if the Raps fail to score with Bosh on the bench. It’s completely illogical.
Dino Gunner,
Because you asked …
I would initally position the players as such: o’neal on the strong-side elbow, kapono on the weak-side corner, parker on the strong-side corner and graham on the far side of the top of the three point line. Calderon would inbound it to O’neal, and run to the top of the three point-line, closer to o’neal and about 4 feet away from Graham.
Without the benefit of some sort of initial screen … O’Neal is not going to be “open” to get the 1st pass from Calderon. That’s the first problem.
O’neal would post up oden, while always keeping his eyes up.
Having O’Neal “post-up” vs Oden … in the middle of the court, at the Right Elbow, 15 feet from the hoop, with his “eyes up” … is a recipe for disaster. That’s the 2nd problem.
Kapono is going to run off a double screen around the three point line about as soon as O’neal gets the ball. He will run off graham’s screen and then calderon’s screen. Whats crucial is for calderon to set a solid screen so that the trailing man would seperate or Blake (smaller that Kapono) would have to switch.
Setting a staggered screen with the 2nd screen by your PG, who is not a very “physical” player, to begin with, is generally not a good idea in the NBA, i.e. it’s too easy for his defender to Switch-out with quickness and deny this 2nd pass in the play’s sequence; and, you’d be asking Calderon to do something which he’s not adept at doing. That’s the 3rd problem.
As soon as each screen has finished his screen, he cuts towards the basket. Kapono finishes at the elbow of the three-point line hopefully with seperation. There are now a myriad of options for o’neal all at different times. He could finish his post-up move (which he was having success with yesterday),
O’Neal had little to no success “post-up” yesterday vs Oden. O’Neal success, when it happened at all, was vs Joel P. That’s the fourth problem.
he could pass it to parker for a corner three if the blazers double hard.
The Blazers would not be Doubling against the O’Neal vs Oden match-up. That’s the fifth problem.
He also has the option of finding two cutters both coming at different times.
Neither of those two cutters would be open because of who you have setting those screens for Kapono, i.e. Graham & Calderon [two "littles", whose defenders can both Switch-out vs Kapono, instead of one or two "Bigs", who defenders would have more dfficulty with this action] That’s thesixth problem.
Finally, he has kapono open or with a smaller defender at the top of the elbow / three point line.
This “smaller” defender would have a significant “quickness” advantage over Kapono, and should easily be able to prevent JK from receiving the pass-out, in the first place. That’s the seventh problem.
I am positive this play would have had success.
I am also sure this play would have been effective than Bosh pretending he was solomon
With the seven problems there, I’m not so sure about THAT.
PS. Please don’t be upset. That’s just what I see from what you’ve described there. No harm; and, therefore, no foul … hopefully. :-)
Gunner:
James is correct, Bosh needs to be on the floor. I think it should be instead of Graham. Then you could just run the same play, and have Bosh setting the screen up high in the post and then having him cut to the net and hopefully Oneal finds him out of the post.
No, no worries Khandor, I asked for people’s opinion of it. What I was trying to do was to create a play where there were mutliple options for the raptors at mutliple times. I realize that there were some problems with the play I made up, but thats the thing, I made it up. Im no basketball expert, just commenting on what I see. The rationale for having Jose set the screen (I know that’s not his strength) is so the switch would result in Kapono being guarded by Blake. I think Kapono would be able to get a good shot against a smaller player who has to react to multiple actions that are happening throughout the play. I hope that clears up why I thought this play would have success. My primary option is Kapono for the 3, thats what the play is designed for, the rest are multiple options for O’neal to choose from. I dunno, I was trying to come up with something that might come out of a jazz playbook, with cutting, posting up and screens. Finally, i agree arsenalist, flux that lots must go right, but I would assume that practise would limit the number of mitigating factors. Thats what I assume practise is for.
Yertu,
Blake blatantly pushed off Calderon and should have been whistled for an offensive. The refs missed it. I’m not sure what else you wanted Calderon to do in that circumstance. He recovered as best he could and got both hands up and forced a tough shot (with an ugly release that I was sure was going to miss).
Here is the video for your review:
http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-Steve-Blakes-Game-Winning-3-Pointer-For-The-Blazers-Against-the-Raptors-Blog-15673
You know that comment Roy ‘indirectly’ made about our defence? So the Sun writes an article about how he shouldn’t have said that blah blah. I was bored so I looked for blazers take on it. http://trailblazerscentercourt.blogspot.com/
I found it… interesting =]
look closely…that was a clear push.. but no ref will call it this late in the game – plus he made it so give him some credit.
The picture up there with the caption “The Raptors try to learn a playbook for the first time” is BEYOND funny and sad at the same time!
OMG, are you serious? i’ve seen the play, about a dozen times too many. was there a bit of a push? of course. was it anything that doesn’t happen (and go uncalled) routinely during the course of any game…sure. could it have been called…maybe. it would have been a gift. and a bad call. it looked worse than it was (the push) because jose was on his heels headed back/left to ward off blake’s drive.
what could jose have done? well, as mentioned, he could have got up tight, overplayed blake’s right hand, forcing him to go left, put up a truly contested shot (by shutting off his right, blake wouldn’t have been able to create space – he wasn’t going to try the same dribble-jab move to his left – which could have allowed jose to contest the shot more effectively), or passed off. normally, i’d have no problem with blake taking the shot (over the alternatives for the blazers), except that he had been hot all game. if he’d been forced to pass off, say to roy, and had roy hit that shot, well, that’s what big-time players do, and it’d be easier to live with. i guess. maybe.
and blake’s release may be ugly, but that’s his shot.
the epitome of a paranoid fanbase…complaining about a no-call instead of complaining about the multiple opportunities they wasted.
Not paranoid at all man…if you read my first post I said, don’t blame it on Calderon, blame it on the rebounding and Bosh’s lousy game. You seem to be stuck on one tough shot.