The Bosh-Howard matchup rarely disappoints.A man can try to watch a game on tape-delay without knowing the score, he can try to avoid all human contact, he can answer the phone with a warning instead of a hello, he can not check his email, he can cover his ears in the elevator, but alas, he can not avoid his wife randomly changing the channel in the middle of Lost only to land on The Score for a millisecond and in that millisecond what might you guess was on the ticker? Oh yes, TOR 99 ORL 95.
Let’s get right to the final meaningful possession, with the Raptors up three with 23 seconds left and Orlando inbounding, Bosh and Graham make a mess of the screen set by Howard. Either Bosh didn’t fight through like he was supposed to or more likely, Joey didn’t switch like it would have made sense to. The result was Rashard Lewis – who had already hit 4 threes – getting so wide open that he had to do a double-take, the shot rimmed out and the Raptors escaped. Let’s go in Memento style to the previous play. Raptors are nursing a single point edge and Orlando’s bound to get the ball back, we need a score to ensure overtime at the worst and Triano has Bosh going one-on-one with Howard near the three-point line and launching a jumper with one foot outside the arc – big splash! Thank you, Chris, please don’t do that again.
There’s something special about a win when you’ve gone toe-to-toe with a great team in their building and come out on top by playing sound possession basketball. The fourth quarter saw us bend but not break, a 7 point lead had been whittled down to 1 because of a 5:15 stretch which saw us only get two points. With Bargnani fouled out and fatigue setting in, our earlier crisp ball-movement had died down considerably and we had resorted to giving Bosh the ball against Howard hoping for something to happen. That something was Bosh going 3-6 FG and committing 3 turnovers in the process. Things looked a little shaky when we went to him twice more with 2:12 left but this time he finally decided to try to get fouled and put the pressure on the terrible refs to make another makeup call, a count I’m sure they lost midway through the first quarter. He ended up getting four crucial FTs and earned the right to say that for one game at least, he carried us on his back in the fourth. The Magic missed some makeable shots in the quarter but I’m inclined to give our active defense the majority of the credit, especially an undersized Joey teaming up with Bosh to slow down Howard.
The Magic have killed us in the past by getting in the paint and kicking back out to their shooters who’ve drained threes till we’re crying in despair. Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu have been as tough as matchups come for us and even with Nelson out, the threat of Rafer was was still there, at least until it was neutralized by Calderon by doing something very simple – give him space. How many times this season have we seen Calderon play a guard way too tight and get burned in the process? Raymond Felton, Devin Harris and Rajan Rondo immediately come to mind. With their PG’s offensive impact neutralized, up next was Hedo, and life was much more difficult for him with Marion around. He was 4-12 and had to work harder for his 19 points than AltRaps’ Lower Brass “date” has to for $20. His impact on the game was minimal leaving Rashard Lewis as the only support for Dwight Howard.
I don’t recall many wasted possessions by the Raptors in this one, it seemed like they played the “right” way on every play except the one at the end of the third quarter when Kapono passed up a look to give Voskuhl a shot at his first three since 1999. The way we moved the ball in the first quarter against an athletic Orlando team was impressive, the timing of Jose’s passes to flashers using screens to cut to the elbow/wing area was precise – there was no delay in the passes which usually allows the defense to catch-up. Bargnani was the beneficiary of a couple of these which he converted through soft jumpers. He had Howard coming out to guard him just like we’d want him to and everything was roses until he picked up his second foul. The defense against Howard wasn’t great but passable, playing with two fouls does that to a player. He had 12 first quarter points which had Howard scratching his head, however his decline started when he picked up his third foul late in the second quarter. He came back in the second half and picked up two phantom fouls which slowed his offense while making him a liability on defense, he eventually fouled out in the fourth.
The Magic’s only source of consistent offense was Dwight Howard who they dumped the ball down to on every possession. He got 30 on 16 shots and was 10-21 FT which is something any team will be happy to live with. He usually makes his living against us by hammering home offensive rebounds but the Magic as a team only managed 11 second-chance points and Howard was restricted to only 9 rebounds. While the Magic struggled to find diversity in their offense, we were firing on all cylinders – we shot 67% in the first quarter thanks to Bargnani’s early play and Marion’s intelligent recognition of when to go in the post combined with Calderon and Parker’s ability to find the mismatch when he was switched against Courtney Lee or Rafer Alston. Marion had his nasty little hook shot working and made his moves with purpose. He finished with 17 points but the more impressive aspect of his game were his 15 rebounds which went a long way in the Raptors pummeling the Magic 49-35 on the glass. Our big men (even Voskuhl) did a great job of boxing out Howard which left the cleanup duties to the wings and Marion took full advantage.
There was a play in the first quarter which summed up the level of cohesion in our offense. Bosh received the ball after Bargnani was involved in some screen action on the wing and as Bargnani cut, Bosh found him with a hard two-handed pass which came straight out of the Princeton playbook. It was one of those rare moments this year that I’ve rewinded the PVR to check out a Raptors highlight. If Chris Bosh’s primary responsibilities were being a hustle player he’d be the best in the league. He finished with 24/12 and for the 6th straight game showed just how well he can use his wiry frame to get rebounds. He had no business getting his four offensive rebounds, just sheer desire. Where this was all season is a different issue. Triano matched him up with the Orlando bench in the second quarter and it worked out well for us, he took it to Gortat and Battie as the Raptors were able to maintain their slim 4-7 point edge throughout the half.
There are a couple plays that I’d like to point out which demonstrate how different this Jose is than the one we’ve seen all year. Twice he had Dwight Howard matched up against him on a switch and both times he took it right at him for a layup. It’s a simple no-nonsense play but I recall tearing my hair our earlier in the year when Jose used to simply pass out of these obvious mismatches. He also picked up a clever charge against Anthony Johnson in the backcourt by using quick feet to anticipate his path. Quick thinking-on-his-feet Jose? Haven’t seen that guy all year long. I have to point out that the refs were terrible in this game and that half of Bargnani’s fouls were total BS, but, they gave us a lot of 50-50 calls in the first half. Of course they took those back in the second but still, worth a mention.
The starting lineup accounted for all of our 27 points in the third quarter. Jose was quick-hitting Parker spotting up in the corner, he was pushing the ball on the break knowing Marion’s trailing and will either get a chance to score in transition or get good post position. Bosh was strictly on the perimeter all night long but managed to knock down a couple shots against Howard who was forced to be the creator on this night instead of his guards who couldn’t find the space to create. He tried to draw the double and kick-out to the nearest passer but their ball movement couldn’t beat our rotations which were always there. The Magic did have a lot of success by re-posting Howard after the initial kick-out, they often caught us in two minds whenever they went back to Howard as the help didn’t know whether to re-double or complete the rotation they had set out to make. Open threes for Orlando were rare and mostly in transition, they average 10.2 threes on 39% shooting, last night they had 7 threes on 27% shooting. In a five point game that’s the difference right there (and Howard’s 11 missed FTs).
The key stretch in this game happened when Bosh and Bargnani both went down with foul trouble at 5:30 of the third quarter with the Raptors holding a 66-65 edge. Jose Calderon scored 11 of the 15 Raptor points to end the quarter and gave us a 7-point buffer to play with in the fourth. Three of the jumpers were assisted by Joey Graham or Shawn Marion who had managed to attract help in the paint and the fourth was Jose recognizing Anthony Johnson going under a screen, very intelligent basketball by our much-maligned PG.
A couple defensive plays in that third quarter were classic: Parker picking Lee’s pocket to find Marion for a dunk and then coming up behind Lee to knock the ball out to start the break – aaah, haven’t seen that kind of creativity in a long time. That quarter also saw Bargnani get turned around and guard Howard in the post with his arms up and back facing him, it showed a commitment to playing defense which hasn’t been there most of the season. Our offense was great, it was great because we were moving the ball and whenever we stopped doing that, like in the fourth quarter, we struggled. The “dump the ball down to Bosh and wait for something to happen” approach has never worked and if this team, as it stands, has a hope in hell of doing anything meaningful, our offense has to be 100% team-oriented. We don’t have a dominant player like Dwight Howard who everyone else can leech off, we’re going to have to work as a highly efficient and cohesive unit to get the points we need and hopefully maintain he defensive effort required to slow down teams enough to let our offense be the advantage. A lot like the 06-07 crew.
They asked Bosh how the winning felt knowing that you’re not going to make the playoffs, he said:
It’s not over. It’s not over yet dude. We’re going to keep playing, we still have a chance.
Nice game but let’s not get delusional.
Liners:
- An optimist might say this team has found himself and that injuries, coaching change and trades were the reason for our failed season.
- A pessimist might say that this team plays great when there’s no pressure.
- The defense by committee on Howard in the fourth quarter was key – Joey Graham and Chris Bosh pushed him our far enough to force two misses.
- Shawn Marion gave Jack Armstrong a post-game interview. I have no idea what he said but it sounded like defense sharing ball guy hard running off white dudes layups missing out.
- If Bosh misses that jumper, he’s the goat.
- Shawn Marion dominated Hedo Turkoglu on both ends.
- I know his left handed finish fell short, but that was a sweet hesitation move by Roko.
- Kapono ended up on the bench after Pietrus faked him out at the 5:43 mark of the fourth quarter.
- Courtney Lee blew by Anthony Parker twice in the first quarter and it looked like it was going to be a long night. He never did it again.
- I know the game means nothing but this one felt sweet.
- Some bad news, we have overtaken the Knicks and are now picking 9th.
Thanks for reading and do check the Roll Call which is classic as usual. @raptorsrepublic
87 Raps
That means we’ll get the first pick this year WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
wow sounds like it was a great game. Unbelievable that these raps are on a 5 game winning streak.
Either by rigging the draft or luck in 2007, Portland had no business to be in the top 5 lottery picks that year, they really played hard in that losing season and never said TANK in the Oden/Durant draft and then they got #1 for some god-forsaken reason. Was it good Karma then? Are we going to be that lucky? maybe, *shrugs
All this love for Bosh’s game last night would be all mute had he missed that J….did you expect anything but !!!!
Khandor your man love for CB is somewhat slanted,cant do no wrong,Bargs is shit !!!!
Had he missed that shot, we still could have grabbed the rebounded for a re-set.
Bosh made a tough shot in crunch time. Let’s applaud him of his play last night and give him (and Khandor) a break today.
My referance to Khandor was from yesterday…having said that,if that shot had not fallen,I would hate to see the venom flowing,so relax with the applaud when due…I guess you are right,the first clutch shot all year deserved some praise.
Did you see the deer in the headlights defence ? near the end of the game
I appreciate the hustle by everybody last night.
Bosh did not win the game ,the entire team won the game,including the big pasta’s play in the first half.
Dude, Khandor hasn’t even commented yet, give him a break. And so what if Bosh missed the shot. HE DIDN’T, so give him his props, and stop knocking him for making a tough shot (I didn’t realise it was possible to do that)
after watching a lot of games this year, there have been a lot of clutch situtations where we are down by a couple or up and need to ice the game where bosh misses the shot or makes a stupid ass play.
Bosh should not have taken that shot. i applaud him for making it because that was one hell of a shot. but our coach should have come up with a better play that “ball to bosh, bosh stand around hold ball, give a couple of fakes, then just toss er up” we need better set plays for crutial situations. I dont remember the last time I hve seen us run a good x’s and o’s play in a clutch situation
Yes, we should have gotten a better shot, buts that not on Bosh. Getting the ball with 6 seconds left on the clock, if he drives and then has nowhere to go, there’s not enough time to pass out and get a shot off. What I’m saying is, don’t rag on Bosh for the play, he made a great shot of a crap play.
Triano has got to go. I was watching the Celtics-Bobcats game afterwards (great game btw) and Doc Rivers was pulling out some brilliant plays when his team needed them the most. It’s got to be nice to have a defensive guru like Thibodeau so you can concentrate on running beautiful sets.
After watching that game I came to the conclusion that Doc Rivers is the best set-play coach in the NBA today. Just fucking brilliant. We need some of that action. Triano’s play calling is garbage and Smitch’s was probably even worse.
So Doc Rivers is brilliant? Hm. How brilliant was he BEFORE he got KG and Allen? I mean seriously… Of all the ‘brilliant’ coaches, he isn’t one. Pop, Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan maybe. The rest? Very hit and miss depending on the players. So yes, constructive criticism is ok. Comparing one mediocre coach to the other, not very helpful.
I said he was brilliant at calling set plays. I never said he was a brilliant all-around coach. That’s why he has a great staff backing him up.
Tom Thibodeau perhaps? The same guy working with the same coach with the same Paul Pierce is the key to their brilliance? Not anything to do with having Rondo. Or Allen. Or KG. Riiight…
i can’t agree. The Celtics offense on most nights stagnates in the 4th quarter, but Paul Pierce happens to be mr clutch. The play in crunch time, most often, is give the ball to pierce, see if he can hit a fading midrange. If Pierce opts not to take the shot, then he looks for Allen coming off of a series of screens. Every time.
We don’t have Pierce – we have Bosh. Bosh is not as good as Pierce, and should not be the go-to guy in these situations, but thems is the breaks.
Kudos CB4 on hitting a tough tough shot.
I already mentioned Tom Thibodeau.
Yeah, it helps to have great players, but the players aren’t the ones drawing up the plays, they are the ones executing them. Doc Rivers is brilliant at drawing up plays.
Verbatim,
Did you see the play that Doc drew up for Rondo at the end of regulation last night? Got the guy a wide open layup in less than 3 seconds and he just happened to miss it.
Doc rivers brilliant???? he is decent, but he is very much a mile from the likes of phil jackson, popovic, riley, or even larry brown or sloan. yeah, they were the worst team 2 seasons ago, then they won the championship coz the celts basically traded more than half of their team to get kg and ray. that’s with the help of an ex-celtic from another team. doc couldnt get even past the first round when he coached the t-back-led magic, i remember them blowing a 3-1 lead in the series against detroit. and during his first stints with boston, the same results.
triano just needs more experience, come on he’s just on his “interim” rookie year in the league. but i could say he’s better than sam mitchell. i’d also take him over that euro-italian guy being mentioned. however i would suggest hiring special assistants, like charles oakley to help toughen up our guys.
if we got chris bosh playing alongside lebron, and wade and we won the championship with triano as our coach, i bet you would also say that triano
Blah!
Great effort by the boys tonight. I’m glad their not tanking because playing hard now gives marion a reason to stay. Gives the team and fans hope going into next season. I’d rather them play hard and develop the chemistry instead of thinking about moving up a spot or two in a weak draft. Roko almost killed us in the fourth. Once he came in… Magic started a run against us. but these games are all valueable experience for roko to learn from this summer and hopefully by next season become a good backup pg. The future doesn’t look too bad afterall.
…and the positive play will help attract free agents/trade players (even if only marginally) and increase trade value of our assets. The bottom line is that the team is playing in way I don’t think any of us felt they could based on the performance this season. We can talk about no pressure (which based on the fact these guys actually believe they have a chance to still make the post season by running the table, the pressure theoretically should be immense) but they are sharing the ball, rotating crisply on D, anticipating plays and busting their asses on both sides of the floor. It’s a good sign, lets enjoy it a bit until they are officially eliminated.
I also don’t think anything this team does now will have any bearing on what Colangelo feels needs to be done next year (with the possible exception of Marion). This stretch just makes it a bit easier for him get the moves done.
It’s only 5 games for sure but the significance of this run besides showing that Marion can fit with the rest of the roster is that it might indicate Bosh has accepted a less glamorous role on the team. Ball movement and rebounding are what made this streak. Bosh has been a ball stopper for most of the year but now he’s not. And as Arsenalist pointed out, he’s really going after it on the boards. If he accepts that as his role on this team do you keep him? I think the short answer is you keep him if he accepts a little less than the max contract. Still don’t know if that’s on the cards.
Well said.
#24….well said.
Definitely – Bosh is the key whether he stays or goes.
Can’t say it any better, but I think this 2009 Summer draft can at least get us something that we can fit in to this system see if he can quickly develop a some kind of consistent dribble-drive skill-set for the future. MoPete could of been that guy to an extent beofre, but he did not stay in consistent good-shape through his run with the Raptors.
YAY for tsn2….ugh
just stream that shit :P
streams also give the benefit of having non-raptors organization commentators….nice to see this
Chris Bosh [PF] was having serious trouble taking it to Dwight Howard [C] until the final 2 minutes of the game. Isn’t that supposed to be an advantage on the offensive end?
Oh God, here comes War and Peace…
Vol.1 – Basketball Acumen
Vol.2 – Top Notch GMs
Vol.3 – Biased Differentials
Vol.4 – Denial
Vol.5 – Irrelevance
Vol.6 – Closed Circle Argument
Vol.7 – Carpal Tunnel from Scrolling
Vol. 8 – Intentional Verbosity
Vol.8 – Rap of the day?
burnnnned
the man isn’t even HERE yet and you guys started the flaming :P
That’s how haters keep it real.
From King Hater himself…brotherhood!
Arse,
no mention of Marion missing FTs?
And what would a realist say?
Cut a few tribal honkers some slack. Save up the anti-BC vitriol for an end-of-season rant and let those of us who enjoy shiny trinkets enjoy our shiny, meaningless trinkets. And now, I’m going to get a Mensah-Bonsu jersey. Wonder if I can add a “fuck you Alt Raps” patch to it?
If that jersey is not in pink.. I will be disappointed.
Trust me, me calling this what it is, will be not be of any determent to the full upswing of “We knew we were contenders” sentiment that is sweeping the RapsNation faster then you can say BoshMVP, based on the headlines that I am reading in the web articles section. Jose All Star, Bosh Clutch, BIG game.. etc.
I’m sure season ticket renewal is thru the roof this morning, merch sales are booming and all around hysteria and Finals talk is floating in the minds of all the “basketball experts” around. I’m come on.. we all know this team is one SG away from taking the chip.
I can only imagine the comments if they somehow get to 5-7 games below .500. Somewhere, BC is saying: “I told you so, on paper and on the court baby, BEST TEAM ever assembled”
The Win was a fluke.
Bosh hitting the shot was a fluke. Lewis missing that open 3 was a fluke. Marion missing 2 FTs was a fluke. Getting the offensive rebound off of Marion’s missed FTs was also a fluke.
As I like to say: Fugazzi!
Re: “An optimist might say this team has found himself and that injuries, coaching change and trades were the reason for our failed season.
A pessimist might say that this team plays great when there’s no pressure.”
After watching this season I’m more inclined to agree with the pessimist. I need a lot more proof before I would be inclined to change my mind.
Wow, it seems like this win against Orlando has confused people more than anything. If they lost by 20, we’ll complain “they don’t care, they are who we thought they were”, but since they won “it’s meaningless, they’re not gonna make the playoffs” (which is true) and “it was a fluke”. Call it whatever you want, but they won a hard-fought game in an elite team’s home and showed heart – and showed how good the core of Calderon, Bosh, Bargnani, and Marion really can be when clicking on all cylinders, even though Bargnani barely played in the second half.
Definitely. Quit bitching and enjoy the ride while it lasts.
i can only partially agree…
its not worth another season of this just so that they can come alive the final 15 games.
in the little picture scheme i will enjoy the wins and treat every game without season bias…
but in the big picture i want to know who the raptors REALLY are.
In other words: “Shut your mouth, drink your beer, clap your thundrstixs, and don’t ask any questions”. Aka.. being a homer.
It’s been an extremely disappointing season. Why not deal with the offseason when it happens and start appreciating the effort these guys are putting forth?
I’m supposed to be thankful that they are putting in effort… NOW? I’m supposed to be thankful for them putting in effort while getting paid millions of dollars?
If anything these rat f bastards should be thanking me for still watching this garbage.
Sorry, I’m not the kind that “takes what he can get”
This “win streak” aka “collecting garbage wins vs crap teams” means absolutely nothing. At all. In any way shape or form. All it’s doing is restoring faith to the the blind masses, that are dying for some kool aid, because it’s been running low over the last few months.
That’s way too harsh. Maybe this streak means nothing but you can’t discount the possibility that the team has finally gelled and may be evolving into one with a bit of backbone. Some players/teams are born with it and some develop it. Maybe the Bosh-led Raptors are developing into something they weren’t. Maybe they’ll fold next season when games start to matter. Would I put money down on the former development? No way but this isn’t just beating up on bad teams. Chicago is mediocre but has talent and something to play for (and perhaps the worst coach in the league). Orlando has an outside shot at a championship this year. Sure the Raptors didn’t step on either teams throat and put them away early but a month ago a fourth-quarter comeback by either team would have had the Raptors folding like a house of cards. For the last week or so, they fuck up and fight back. That’s what’s oddly encouraging.
We’re all homers. Even you or you’d be writing self-congratulatory posts on a Lakers or Celtics site.
I don’t think that’s harsh at all.
The “core” of this group has supposedly “gelled” after being together for how long? Wow, at this rate we will make the Finals by 2065. And you are making this assumption after a 5 game win streak vs what kind of competition? Or an Orlando team that, in the grand scheme of things, could have cared less if they beat us. For the most part, it didn’t even look like they were interested in playing until the 4th. They were waiting on us to f up but then were like: “OK, I guess if we have to play.” Also, did we beat them last night or did they lose the game?
Sorry Sam, these wins mean absolutely nothing. We all take from them what we want. Chicago and Orlando should have beat us… they just had some miscues. Like you said, we don’t step on teams or crush them. We try to hang around and hope for the best in the last q. We blew the lead again last night, the Magic turned it on when it was go time and we came very close to folding like a house of cards, like we always do and as was the case in the Chicago game. No difference from before, at all. Did you miss the hot potato passing when we needed buckets? The bricks? I really could care less about Bosh making that shot..I will bet anything that was green light to take the jumper the next 100 times in that same situation.
And no you don’t develop it, you are born with it.
Ease up my man. I think you’re foaming at the mouth and it’s starting to spray.
Frightfully sorry about the Jackson error but didn’t Kobe clang a few before he became the game’s premiere assassin?
One last word for you and let’s let this sub-thread die
Yup, Kobe was born clutch – Phil told him to airball those game-enders in his 1st year.
It’s too bad Phil wasn’t coaching him back then, eh?
And that’s ONE game you are talking about, he played limited minutes in his rookie year. But, yeah it took him 5 years to make his 1st clutch shot… sure!
Ease up my man. I think you’re foaming at the mouth and it’s starting to spray.
Frightfully sorry about the Jackson error but didn’t Kobe clang a few before he became the game’s premiere assassin?
One last word for you and let’s let this sub-thread die
I’m fine, I got my shots. I guess we had a different span on the learning curve for this team.
Just irked how the kool aid is flowing again, as if this whole season never happened and how BC has managed to turn contender talk into rebuilding mode without anyone noticing, or caring at least. Next, Triano will come out with a Gentry type statement.. “We are 5-0 this season. We got 8 games to go”
The kool aid isn’t flowing. Most of us are sitting around saying, “I can’t believe I just took a bite of that shit sandwich. Is it just me or does it have a kool-aid-y aftertaste?”
Can someone explain why John Hollinger says that the Raps have a 0% chance of making the playoffs?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds
It seems to me that if we win the rest of our games and Detriot or Chicago loses the rest of their games, then we are in. Presuming that none of the other four teams between us make a move. Is there something I’m missing?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying its going to happen or anything, it just seems like a 0% chance should actually mean ZERO PERCENT.
No regard, no regard at all.
well, if it’s true that it requires both detroit & chicago to lose all their remaining games (and the raps to win-out), and i don’t care enough to confirm that, then the raps have no shot, since detroit hosts the bulls on the 13th…and last time i checked, one of ‘em will have to win, thereby eliminating the raps.
of course, many, if not most, realized the raps were gonna miss the playoffs months ago.
Are you SURE they can’t both lose? C’mon I don’t have much to live for.
The 0% means that in the 5,000 times the rest of the regular season was played out the Raptors made the playoffs 0 times.
Scary to think that this win, as exciting as it was, would lead anyone to think we don’t need big changes…or that sacrificing a deep and talented team by overpaying Bosh would be a good idea.
The series of flukes and lucky strokes that happened last night really were a bit of “magic”…
Great to be able to watch it online and avoid the Armstrong/Rautins/Devlin clusterfuck but I did hear Armstrong call it a “playoff” type game, missing the obvious point (as usual) that of course it was NOT a playoff game for Orlando.
one could argue that a W last night meant far more to orlando than it did for TO…which means, in theory, anyway, that orlando SHOULD have brought a playoff-like mentality. they just didn’t show up…they do what many upper-echelon teams do with shitty teams – played down to the level of the shitty team, expecting their superior talent to win it for them. hey, we’ve seen the raps do it plenty of times (of course, they aren’t upper-echelon…but they are ‘better’ than a number of teams they’ve lost to this year).
How did it mean more for Orlando? It’s in their best interest to avoid Detroit in the playoffs and get Philly in the 3-6 matchup.
I thought Orlando played their usual game, I don’t think their defense was bad at all, we shut down their drive ‘n kick game which is how their #1 means of killing teams (dump to Howard and wait for double is #2). Our defensive rebounding prevented them from going nuts on second-chance points, game over.
i think they’d rather have home-court against whomever than play for a specific match-up. i know everyone’s saying how they want to avoid the pistons, but fer chrissakes, i think the raps could give the pistons a run for their money at this point, they look horrible.
after rashard lewis missed that three i almost ….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4
Joey’s defense on that play was terrible. Can’t believe they didn’t have a plan for a simple screen set by the Magic’s best screen-setter.
khandor’s feverishly trying to figure out how that last play was bargnani’s fault…
kidding, kidding.
LOL
lol
Well, if he didn’t foul out, he could have been there to contest that shot.
Bargs should have used his reverse reverse crystal ball and realized that.
Why do we need Pops and Joey on this team next year? I say bye bye Joey, Mr. Mensah-Bonsu, here’s a one-year contract with a player option – go crazy.
It was a bad defensive set for us. Lewis had enough time to call him mom and ask how she was doing before taking the shat. If it went to OT, I don’t think we would have made it out disneyland on a positive note.
Nice win but Triano should not be the coach for next year.
BC’s biggest weakness in the past (TOR and PHX) is sticking with rookie/cheap coaches that are decent but dont translate into playoff wins..
But next year BC’s ass is on the line so he might have get the best possible coach for the team next year
How can a guy be wide open for 2 or 3 seconds when you are in crunch time? Is that just Graham or Bosh not putting in the effort, not communicating, or just don’t have enough basketball IQ to defend? I think it’s the last one. One of the best three point shooter, Rashard Lewis, misses the shot, and Raps win.
Before that, Bosh attempts a super-difficult idiotic contested shot that goes in. Go figure. Raps are still the same team we saw the whole season.
On the other hand, because of games like this, I don’t consider Orlando to be a good playoff team this year. Simply not good enough defensively. I mean, would the Raps ever be able to beat Boston or Cleveland once in a season, let alone twice? I don’t think so.
The last minutes of the game was terrible but the rest of the 44 min the raps played their asses of and derserved the game. The magic are athletic team that are more up-tempo and they can score in bunches. Defensively their better than they played yesterday they got the length and size to play with the Cavs and Celts. I think if they can get the second seed and face Boston in the 2nd round with homecourt, I believe they can beat them.
Guys lets be serious for a minute. I never would even think of trading bosh as he is gunna get serious consideration for MVP next year. He is da man and numba one raptor 4 life.
Some seriously delusional comments there from a diehard Bosh fan. If you know anything about basketball, I think you would agree that Bosh is not a superstar, let alone a franchise player. If you still want to believe that Bosh can carry a team by himself, then nothing can be said. Basically, for Raps to succeed, it has to be Bosh + another superstar wing player. Otherwise, he wouldn’t deserve no MVP. As VC said, “MVP? Are you kidding me?” (not that I like VC)
You need to nunyaed.
Colangelo was hired to build a treadmill team that makes the first round only and keep costs low. He’s not building a winner.If MLSE wanted a winner then we would have won years ago, don’t you agree?
Cheap coaching, cheap scouting, players who play no defense or rebound have been rampant since 2002. What has changed in that time, Nothing.
What happens next season when we start 6-19? You’re going to blame injuries again and…Oh we have new players we need time to adjust bla bla
Colangelo works for Peddie. Peddie reports to a Teachers group. They don’t give a shit about who plays with Chris Bosh and that we need a new All star SG.
There going to build a competitor and risk losing millions of dollars paying these players? What if we loose in the playoffs? Too much money at risk here. A treadmill 1st round team will keep costs low all while selling hope to the fans that they are trying to win.
How’s JP Riccardi’s 3 year plan going?
Robert Sarver, James Dolan, MLSE, Donald Sterling, if you have bad ownership your fucked, period
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s actually quite difficult to build a championship team.
Only five teams have managed to win a title in the past decade, and of those five teams, three of them only did it once.
I admit MLSE is pretty incompetant and is way too concerned with turning a profit, but come on, it’s not like a franchise can just will themselves into a championship. It takes time, patience, intelligence and a hell of a lot of luck.
we had all the players and draft picks possible an we blew it.Had a competent owner purchased the team and hired to notch scouting years ago we could have had a lineup of.
Billups
Mc Grady
Carter
Bosh
Camby
Roy
Josh Smith
Iguadala
Al Jefferson
Biedrins
All these were Raptors or potential Raptors. But MLSE is cheap so we get Jim Kelley.
if you’re going to play revisionist historian, you at least have to factor in common sense, no?
would a team consisting of billups, mcgrady, VC, bosh & camby be so shitty that they’d have been in a position to draft guys like roy? you’re taking what happened in the past as though it all would have remained the same (i.e. the raptors selecting in the same position in the draft each year), without factoring in the notion that a lineup featuring the above would (one would think) have been an upper-echelon (or near upper-echelon) team, perpetually drafting late in the first round.
you’re also (conveniently) ignoring the fact that each of the guys above was a max-level guy (or close to it), meaning that the bench would more than likely have been filled out by scrubs, D-leaguers, formerly decent role-players & future euro-ball all-stars – and not the guys in the 2nd list.
i’m not arguing that mistakes haven’t been made – there have been plenty. but it’s a fruitless exercise to repeatedly go back & revisit what could have been as a whole. if you want to examine each mistake, by all means, have at – but if you do, you can’t then add-in all the subsequent picks they blew, because had they not made the previous mistake, then their fortunes would have changed, and they wouldn’t have then been drafting in the same spot.
Damn this conversation was actually non-frustrating to read… for once I wasn’t looking for the “IGNORE KHANDOR” widget
LOL
Easy now, you might get Fluxed…but very valid point indeed.