Anybody else sick of these douchebags laughing it up every time?Well, that offense sure looked like it hadn’t been practicing much. A third quarter filled with a barrage of bad shots and defensive mistakes pegged the Raptors back as they dropped another one to their hated rivals who brought out the human victory cigar, Brian Scalabrine, midway through the fourth. We soon followed it up by bringing out the human white flag, Marcus Banks. Overall, the defensive display was disappointing because all we’ve been hearing about is how hard the team is working on it and how much progress it’s making. The best thing you could say about it was that it was quick and active in the first quarter and a half; but only in the second half of a game when fatigue kicks in is a defense tested to its limits and we showed that we have lots of work to do in the next two weeks.
Turkoglu got his first taste of the pre-season and shockingly played like someone who hadn’t been practicing. He made three plays that might’ve reminded you of the Turkoglu of last year: a post-up turnaround jumper, a nice no-look pass in transition which led to a dunk and a post-up on the right wing which incited a double leading to a Calderon three – assist Hedo. A couple of his passes got picked off and he spent a good chunk of the time on offense trying to figure out who was supposed to set a screen for him. Basic confusion associated with somebody who hasn’t been part of the team. That’s the story of the Raptors this pre-season – finding chemistry amongst strangers and fighting through early injury/fatigue of two major pieces. It’s one of the topics of discussion in my chat with Jessica Camerato of WEEI.com in Boston. You can listen by clicking on the play button below or directly in iTunes. You may also download the file if you’re on a mobile device.
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Before the game I mentioned how Jose Calderon needed to show us something. He did, he had a noticeable bounce in his step, knocked down a couple open jumpers that will soon become mandatory for him and played well enough on offense to make us ignore the fact that Rondo was still doing whatever he wanted out there. Still, Rondo deserves some respect and I’m inclined to call this matchup even – 12/3/1 for Jose 6/8/2 for Rondo. After yesterday’s interview about him being a 100% and feeling better, last night’s display was encouraging. He twice broke down the Boston defense on drives in the first quarter; he hadn’t done that all pre-season.
Triano didn’t play Calderon and Jack much together, instead allowing both to dictate the offense in separate stints. I thought Jack brought some tempo into the game, the C**tics like to put mild pressure on the PG in the backcourt and the guard usually stops and passes it out wasting a couple ticks of the clock. Jack noticed this and hard-dribbled his way out of the pressure to set up Weems for a couple easy scores and got open looks for Bargnani and DeRozan who couldn’t knock them down. Two of his shots were taken too early and without evaluating other, better options but overall he had a solid game. Our PG duo didn’t get exploited and held their own, good enough for me.
Bosh started off the game taking two terrible fadeaways but soon regrouped with the help of Bargnani and Calderon who got him two easy dunks in a row to get him back in the game. After that he knocked down a few jump shots, got to the line and ended with 20 points in the half. Bargnani’s first quarter play was beautiful, he was the most active player on either team, breaking down Perkins, grabbing offensive rebounds (7 rebounds in total) he had no business getting and knocking down two jumpers to keep everyone honest. Unfortunately, that was it from him on offense and he proceeded to clang everything after that. A life of a jump shooter indeed. DeRozan had a great baseline cut for a score against Pierce and then turned in the post against Allen for the same. He even gave the mega-c**t a nice shoulder to the face to shake him up a bit. But just like Bargnani, that was it for him and he didn’t have a field goal the rest of the game. The long break he took in the second quarter killed his early rhythm.
Despite all the good things happening early and Boston playing poorly, we were still in a tie game, why? It’s because our defense let us down and we took terrible, terrible shots. The 44-32 rebounding differential for the game speaks exactly to what it was – Perkins, Davis and mega-c**t getting rebounds over Raptor bigs that seemed surprised at the way the ball was bouncing. The number of long offensive rebounds we gave up was ridiculous, the concept is a simple one – if it’s a long shot, chances are you’ll have a long rebound. However, we don’t have professional rebounders on this team and Bargnani and Bosh generally collect rebounds that bounce naturally to them. Instinct and desire rarely comes into the mix. Maybe we would’ve been better off if Reggie Evans hadn’t gone down with a sprained ankle early in the first half, who know. I was a bit surprised to see Amir Johnson come into the game so late in the second half considering how we were having energy and rebounding issues. Whatever, it’s pre-season, maybe Triano wanted his main unit out on offense to get a good run but in a game where both teams shot 46%, the -12 rebounding sticks out.
I won’t criticize the offense much since Triano already admitted that he hasn’t put any of his sets in. We do look like a bunch of strangers out there, I counted four steals by the C**tics that were a direct result of a Raptor passing the ball to where he expected somebody to be. You have to think/hope those issues will be fixed before the season starts and we integrate our main playmaking combo of Turkoglu/Bosh into our offense. Last night when our offense suffered the defensive effort also took a hit because that’s just what happens when you can’t score and are getting run at by the other team which happens to have great chemistry. Boston maintained a very comfortable 10-16 point lead from the third quarter onwards which we showed no signs of biting into. Boston is too good of a defensive team and we’re too disoriented on offense at this early point. Jumpers and one-on-one play followed with Bosh taking it upon himself to salvage something only to meet a disciplined defense that’s only too trained to stop star players. To beat them you need consistent offense from multiple sources and last night we didn’t have enough firepower.
The lobs into the paint killed us. Bosh, Bargnani and Rasho all were terrible individually in the post against mega-c**t, Baby Davis and Kendrick Perkins (I know) who positioned themselves nicely for lob passes which were delivered with no help coming from the weak side. Even Mike Sweetney (who looks like he ate Oliver Miller and Tractor Trailer) got the better of Rasho on one of these occasions. We hedged on every high screen they ran and it took its toll to the point where our bigs were spent midway through the second. The physical presence of the Boston bigs was obvious and you could see that they wore out our frail, wiry big men who aren’t designed to bang like that. Rasho had 6 rebounds in 15 minutes and takes the award for Surprisingly Good Stat Line From Someone Who Didn’t Look Like He Was Playing Well.
The tale of two wings. Sonny Weems and Marco Belinelli. The Italian reminded us what the worst case scenario for him is and it’s not pretty. Think the chucking of Delfino combined with the clumsiness of Kapono and the bone-headedness of Fred Jones. All his shots came in the first 14 seconds of the shot-clock and none of them could be classified as a good shot. In fact, they were all off-balance, coming around screens ala Reggie Miller down by 1 with 0.6 seconds left type shots. I would’ve yanked his ass after the first two misses just to make a point.
Sonny Weems continues to show us that he’s better than what we thought he was. 12 points on 6-10 shooting while looking like he belongs. Sonny was running the break hard and I don’t mean just leaking out and finding a corner to camp in, I’m talking speeding up to get past his man while going straight towards the rim putting the pressure on the PG to find him – Jack did twice successfully, Calderon tried once but turned it over. You don’t have to run plays for him, he’s not a defensive liability and he’s shown he can get you points if the defense is napping and you got a point guard who’s willing to make the pass. So far so good.
The academic defensive philosophy is better but to play the style of defense Triano wants us playing we’ll need to be in peak physical condition because it relies on constant help and recovery. The Raptors right now are nowhere close to that. The awareness also wasn’t there today, early in the game we were switching randomly which resulted in matchups like Calderon v Pierce which the latter exploited to his full ability. I don’t think that was the plan. The notion of defensive responsibilities needs to be further instilled in every member of the team, especially the second unit which was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Belinelli, Weems and DeRozan were getting caught in screens so easily that you could make out the lack of communication between them.
Big man defense is an issue. Evans got hurt early and Johnson didn’t play significant minutes which means our two hustle defenders who bring in rebounding didn’t have a say in the game. We also catch a glimpse of how vulnerable we are when Bargnani is having a subpar defensive game while not producing on offense. It becomes a lose-lose situation and it’s in exactly these times that Triano would have gone to a different option off the bench were it a real game.
It would’ve been nice to get a win but we’ll have another chance in a couple days.
Great chat and stream tonight – 106 people! As you can see we’re evaluating the Intense Debate commenting system these days, this is by no means permanent, we’re just seeing if it adds anything.
68 Raps
Bosh was great in the first half but the second half he really stunk up the joint. On three or four different occassion he took it upon himself to charge from the 3 point line towards the basket against 2 defenders while losing the ball and forcing him to foul while having the refs ignoring his flopping of the arms while his team-mates just stood around and watched (sort of like last year). Then after getting his fifth foul he was send to the bench sulking and was seen mumbeling "come on guys!" after playing so badley. More like "COME ON BOSH!"
Also I just wish that someone throws a ball into Rondo's smugged face as he is laughing at up with KG and Pierce, seriously we really need to beat them in the regular season! I just have that bad feeling that we are going to see Lebron and Shaq laughing it up in the season opener if we don't turn things around.
No No No!!! .. JT is attempting to camouflage the power of the New Raptors when it will all be unveiled in the regular season. What JT is looking for now is the last few players who will be part of the regular rotation. I hope 'Deforce' will not be an unstable rookie still learning the game .. otherwise he may end up in the D-league fer sure …..
Nice to hear commenting from the other bloggers. It was refreshing to hear someone knowedgable about the game not be such a pessimist. I mean, she wasn't a doe-eyed optimist either, just showed a nice understanding of what kind of team we had and where our strengths and weaknesses were. Shit, half the bloggers think Parker is still on the team! I thought her prediction was bang on, too (.500).
I watched the first half and what i saw was, essentially, that Toronto's Bigs were getting beat to the punch all the time after coming to help on the screen. This completely discombobulated the d and demoralized us. The Celtics try to do that. They play a confidence game to see if they can knock you out early. If they don't, they try to do it again at the beginning of the third. First time we passed and the second we failed. It may have been fatigue–but I think it was just a lack of chemistry.
Frankly, I really think Triano is trying to pull a Smitch here where he's gonna try to "spring" the new side pick and roll stuff on our opposition come the regualr season. Hopefully there's enough time for that, given that there's only two weeks left.
"… trying to pull a Smitch …"???
At the start of last season, Smitch came out with his famous proclamation: "We may not be athletic, but we're basketball-wise!!" … and that cost him his coaching job.
Perhaps the New Raptors are more athletic, but NOT basketball-wise … Is that what you are concerned about ??!!!
FAQ spurious Smitch quote count is now at 97 and still rising.
Stay tuned!
dont know why
I don’t mind that we lost.
Winning against Boston in preseason would only pacify us the next time around. I don’t want our players walking with struts because of a W in preseason.
I would much rather give today’s W to Boston, and take our W on the next meeting. This is the kind of team, that if beaten today, will play us twice as hard next time around.
so sad but true.
Next game against the Celtics is this Sunday, and I suspect the Celtic coach will allow the Raptors to win on their home court in this preseason game … because that will help promote season ticket sales. It would be impolite if the Celtics attempted to win on Sunday …..
As a preseason game – that wasn’t a bad one to watch.
The feed was good until 3 minutes left in the game, picture quality was watchable.
Hopefully no one was expecting a win tonight?
Garnett and Bosh canceled each other out – but not until Bosh “lost” his game after the half and Garnett “found” his!
Bargs, Johnson and Nesterovic were outscored 30 to 12 by Perkins, Davis, and Williams. That hurts! But both groups of bigs got 16 boards! They got their points inside, our guys (Bargs) were clanking jump shots.
Anyone surprised that the Celtics pushed around the Raptors? The Cs are going to push around almost everyone! Could be why Cleveland went and got Shaq!
The Raps can beat this team but their jump shot has to be falling – just like Orlando. The Magic couldn’t push the Cs around either – even with Howard!
If the Cs stay healthy they are going to be one very tough out come playoffs!
Many encouraging signs from the Raptors tonight – but there’s a lot of work left to do!
I think a problem the Cs bigs are going to encounter into is if teams run against them. Perkins and big baby lost 45 lbs combined big deal, they need to lose 45 lbs each. I say make the fat boys run.
With Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes now with the Magic, I think they have a better shot at resisting the Celtic’s “pushing around” than we do.
Is it just me or does the chick being interviewed sound like shes reading from a script. “Eddie House is a catch a release sharp shooter” Oh really you don’t say I thought he was a distributor. Like come on stop trying to sound like you know what your talking about and say something insightful.
and 60 wins BULLLLL!!!!!!
Jessica Camerato … cool podcast. Sweet listening to a female voice talking basketball. More like this, please.
The Raps just need to keep improving each game in the preseason. So far I think it’s fair to say that they’ve been moving forward each time on the floor. I hope Reggie Evans’ ankle isn’t a big setback.
I thought we can beat the C**tics tonight. I'm so very upset of the outcome of the game. Garnett was fucking feeling it, and so does Pierce (I hate his fake shots.. ugh!!)
Why does our team suck? I mean, we hired Colangelo guy inorder to re-build this team and be the contender in the east. But it's already 3 years but right now we are still the same as the 2005-06 season. Most of my friends aren't Raptors fans anymore because our lone Canadian NBA team always lose. They always make fun of the Raptors because they sucks, Lakers are better than them, and fucking etc. Why can't we have players who can play like Perkins and Big Baby? Why don't we fucking sign players who play like them who's from Europe or Africa? This is what the Raptors are good at — signing players who are from overseas. I'm pretty sure we can find at least one very good international player who can play with us!
Man, I hope everything will be just fine in the regular season.
get a grip.
chances are, when the games actually count for something, marcus banks won't be playing at crunch time. this game was a measuring stick and yes, there is cause for concern that the defense took a step back tonight but i'd hate to see your head explode before the season actually starts. be easy kiddo…. don't jump off the ship before it leaves the dock.
WOW man its preseason smoke a J and chill. And teams like the Lakers are good because they are willing to go over the tax. We are not and so aren’t a lot of teams. In fact it has been argued that it is hard if not impossible to win an NBA championship without going over the tax. So just accept the decent b-ball that is put on display with a hopeful 3rd round exit. The Leaves fans accept it we need to.
lol love the crazed rant followed by “I hope everything will be fine”
First and last warning, idiot. Clean up the language or go away.
You make some good points, but you must be realistic about the New Raptors, a team with 9 new players and only 3 core veteran players from last season. In effect, Colangelo blew up the Old Raptors and began an total rebuild .. so you shouldn’t expect instantaneous win results.
It’s going to be a long, hard slog before this New Raptor team gels and even looks like a NBA team. Optimistically, things will come together by Xmas … but more realistically you may have to give it a couple of years.
Easy answer. Money. The top teams spend over the luxury tax.
To make the league fair. Make it a hard cap. Than you will see
real competition. Just look at the NFL and the NHL with the new
cap rules. Makes for an exciting league.
I think that an important point is missing:
Celtics used KG to cover Andrea instead of Cb4.
This say a lot about who is really scaring them.
are you kidding? lol
Yeah. You can’t take anything from that. Trust me, when the chips are down and the games actually matter, Perk will be on Bargs and KG will be on Bosh. Doc would be silly to do it any other way.
A few buzz words that we have all been hearing….guarding our house,and team !!!!!
Bosh’s 2nd half was downright “all about me,getting mine !!!”
JJ at times reminded me of Mike James…
DD is showing some guts to continue to “attempt” to go to the hole,and is getting hammered…again did anybody get in the pricks face after dropping DD on his ass…of course not !!!!!!!
Turk was rusty as expected,but did show some nice signs…
I can’t think of a better time to start practising the teams “secret offence”.
Marco….as much as JT sits DD when he fucks up…uhm…he continues to launch off balanced shots,at ill advised times.sit his ass every time .
As much as I bitch,I did see some positives,and I will continue to have hope…thats what fans do.
The more I see Bosh, the more I feel that he isn’t worth max money. There’s no doubt that he’s the best player we have right now (perennial all-star too) but I don’t see breaking the bank on him. If the Raps can get Beidrins, Randolph, and a 1st round pick for him, I say go for it. During his time with the Raps Bosh has transformed from a shy easy to like kid into an egotistical all-star who is quick to point the finger at others when things go bad. I think it’s time for Bosh to look in the mirror when things go awry for the Raps. He has enough talent around him to win a bunch of games this year. I really hope he drops the “I’m the man, b ut it’s everyone els’s fault” attitude.
Max money for Bosh is a bad move. IMO LeBron, Kobe, and Wade are the only players worth max money right now.
Where and how do you see this attitude from him?
And why do you think that Randolph and Biedrins would make the Raps better? Who attracts double teams with those guys on your roster?
It’s not enough to attract double teams. You also need that guy to know how to take advantage of it. I don’t think Bosh does. Either he doesn’t, or his coaches don’t. Bosh hold the ball too long, then more often than not, jacks up a mid-ranger. He said during the summer that he recognized from watching tape of last season that he stops the flow of the offense, but I haven’t seen evidence that he has any new ideas.
I agree that Bosh is not worth max money but if you think that GS will give up Beidrins AND Randolph and hey, what the heck, lets throw in a first round pick, my friend it ain’t gonna happen. You will take comfort in knowing that the GS fans on their blog suggest totally biased and crazy deals that favour their team also just like you favour the Raps so I don’t blame you BUT that deal WILL NOT HAPPEN (-: and if it did, the GS general manager will be gone the next day. Beidrins is a double double guy, Randolph is an up and coming star, a double double guy also probaby like as 17 and 12 guy (maybe 17-11) and also you want a first rounder? Come on dude, give us a real trade scenario and it will be considered. Not trying to be insulting to you in any way but if that deal ever came true, it would be an early christmas here in TO.
Here we go again with the max money talk. Geez H Fiddle sticks! If Chris Bosh get max money from the Raptors or any other team then guess what HES A MAX PLAYER!
I read that deal online somewhere but you’re probably right for sure. My main point is that I really think having Bosh as the leader for the Raps, and a max money player is a mistake.
I love the Raps. I don’t miss a game. I think they got a great squad this year, skill wise and attitude wise. I love the way they are trying to win as a team and then, IMO, there’s Bosh. He seems to have become more of a “me” player in the past couple years and it doesn’t sit well with me. As the old cliche goes, “there is no I in team”, yet Bosh can’t seem to grasp this. Another blogger mentioned that Bosh draws double teams- who cares? He rarely kicks the ball out of the double anyways, choosing instead to take the double or even the triple on. He may still score from this situation from time to time. But this is very difficult to do and more often than not he is unsuccessful, yet he keeps doing it time after time. I think that either (a)Bosh’s basketball IQ is questionable, or (b)Bosh thinks he has a better chance to score through a double (or triple) team than his wide open teammate does on the kickout. I think the answer is b. I think he would gladly kick the ball to any of his Olympic teammates. Not so much for his Raptor teammates. I think that Bosh’s ego is detrimental to the Raps. He’s supposed to be our leader. I say stop blaming everyone else and lead.
Losing to one of the elite 5 doesn’t bother me too much. Most of the players stat lines don’t bother me too much (except Bargs shooting but Derozan getting to the line 7 times is nice). The fact that this was preseason and Hedo’s first game makes it even easier to swallow.
What bothers me is the 44-32 rebounding and losing the game in the 3rd quarter. Typical of what happens to the Raps when they lose.
Plus nobody likes the Celtics… who doesn’t want to see them get beat(even in preseason).
What a loserish attitude this is. “Losing to the elite doesn’t bother me”. Its only pre-season but this is where the tone for the real season is set, if you start taking in losses and beign OK with it the attitude carries over.
So throwing a hissy fit when you do lose is the way to set a tone? Crying maybe? Getting mad? Getting frustrated? Give everyone a spanking and sending to there room without supper?
How about taking your lumps, looking at what you did wrong and trying to improve on it next time.
Guess you didn’t bother reading everything I posted, and I like how you (intentionally?) didn’t include part of my quote.
Why is it that the Elite teams never dominate in the preseason? As long as I have been watching basketball, it is always the crappy teams that go on preseason winning streaks and than get smoked to start the season.
While the elite, teams often put ho-hum records, teach their backups what needs to be done in situations, and than step up to the plate when the season starts.
This is one of the reasons that coaches are not too fond of having their preseason games televised.
Not only are you as coach using substitutions that you will never use in regular season. The other coach is doing the same, therefore the predictability or game plan goes way out the window.
Don’t get me wrong, players want to succeed, but the coaches never play their best cards, the rotations make guys that are on fire cold, and the coach is more interested in seeing how his young players get exposed, so that he understands his own weaknesses.
Remember, preseason is more about exploring your WEAKNESSES, than your strengths. Once you see something works. You stop it, and move on to something that does not.
While the elite, teams often put ho-hum records, teach their backups what needs to be done in situations, and than step up to the plate when the season starts.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you say “teach the back ups.” that’s what preseason is about “teaching” the good teams have time to teach the less talented because they are so stacked. When the show starts for real everyone is ready to go 1-12 not just the first 5.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2009/10/14/11392856-sun.html
Triano says in this article that “8-9 guys will be an ideal rotation”…….. meaning once Wright comes back, Sonny Weems will be out of the regular rotation :S
That’s kind of surprising to me, considering how well Weems has performed for us thus far, I figured he would’ve earned at least SOME minutes in the rotation.
Starting 5: Jose, DeRozan, Turkoglu, Bosh, Bargnani
Bench: Jack, Belinelli, Wright, Evans, Nesterovic
Scrubs that will warm the bench: Weems, Johnson, O’Bryant, Banks, Douby
Man… I was really hoping to see Amir & Sonny play some good minutes.. hopefully they will continue to compete hard in practice to earn a spot in the regular rotation.
what makes you think that wright would automatically move ahead of weems in the depth chart? just because he was projected as a starter or one of the first wings off the bench doesn’t mean that’s how it’ll work out, especially if weems shows he can be competent at the 2/3 when the games count. the supposed advantage wright has is his defensive ability, but if weems can show that the drop-off from wright to himself isn’t great in that regard, then perhaps weems’ superior offensive ability (which says more about wright’s offensive ’skill’ than it does about weems’) will garner him more minutes.
didn’t watch any of the game. but a note about VL was interesting:
‘We also catch a glimpse of how vulnerable we are when Bargnani is having a subpar defensive game while not producing on offense. It becomes a lose-lose situation and it’s in exactly these times that Triano would have gone to a different option off the bench were it a real game.’
now, the way i see it, even when he has an above-average offensive game, it’s usually a break-even proposition, considering what he doesn’t provide defensively/rebounding. so, in the grand scheme of things, a good offensive game from VL doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot if he’s going to continue to give back what he provides (& more) by way of poor D & rebounding. with bosh’s increased strength, couldn’t he handle guarding 5’s, with a better defender/rebounder (amir?) starting at the 4; bring VL off the bench @ around the 6-minute mark, he still gets his minutes, but gets to go against tiring starters and/or bench guys.
as it stands (without Wright having played) I’m of the thinking it will be Marco being moved down in the depth chart. That shot selection and % is not exactly screaming that he is deserves minutes.
wish I could edit sometimes – “that he deserves minutes”
Yertu .
You must be Kandor brother-in-law or cousin because you like to use VL as a moniker for Andrea (kandor would like to see him traded,period). Had you seen the game (on justin tv) you would have seen that half way thru the third period , our team was still in it (6 points behind) but the team started making mistakes (turnovers by JC and Hedo) and the offense with all the starters still on the floor grounded to a halt. AB had 7 rebounds (3 on offense),1 steal, 1 block and I am 1000 percent sure he will be a starter on the Raptors team for many years to come.
AB did a solid job on the boards (the sad part we have to call 7 rbs good for him) but he also shot 2-8 from the field and only took 2 fts.
I wouldn’t say that is an acceptable result. (everyone has bad games ofcourse)
What Yertu is saying is accurate… for how great ABs offense (usually) is, his lack of defense and rebounds can counter that. If AB can’t overcome that… I’d say having a better rebounder/defender start and AB coming off the bench isn’t a bad idea. (although we’ve seen what he has done coming of the bench before and its not usually pretty)
Again just preseason and one game. Its just one everyone (fans especially) wanted.
7 rebounds IS good — considering he played 22 minutes!
I’m not sure what there was to “dislike” about that post. :S
cesco – you must be new. khan & i have, er, a bit of a contentious relationship.
i use VL because i’m the one who coined it. in case you’re unaware, it means ‘vegetable lasagna.’ the point is that while vegetable lasagna can be quite satisfying, it leaves you wanted something a little more substantial, something with some meat, y’know? & that’s bargnani, at least to me…for all that he brings in certain facets, he’ll always leave you wanting more, and those areas in which he is lacking are EXCEPTIONALLY important with respect to his position for a team to be successful. especially with below average rebounders & defenders at other positions (PG & SF; bosh is an above-avg rebounder & avg defender, and the 2-spot is unknown at the moment, but will likely be avg at best in terms of both rebounding & defending, overall).
i’m under no delusion that he won’t be a starter, just like i’m under no delusion that he’ll ever be anything more than below average on the glass & an adequate defender…which is why my expectations for the team, with him as a building block, aren’t that high. i hope i’m wrong – if i am, feel free to rub it in.
That’s a lot of words to explain the metaphor behind that nick name. You must be very proud of it! Well done!
mauro – I dont think you should read that much into KG covering Bargs, and Wallace on Bosh, it wasnt that Boston is more scared or Bargnani, its just a match up thing. Putting a lankier defender on Bargs makes sense, as KG can do a better job of stopping the dribble penetration and contesting his shots. Bosh tends to get intimidated by physical play so you put wallace on him, and keep him closer to the basket where more cotnact is permitted
Didn’t catch the game, but the box score on espn.com says Wallace didn’t play
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291014002
If they put KG on Brgs, who’d they put on Bosh? Perkins?
Kind of random, but how come articles that involve Boston have the E and L in celtics replaced with stars? Are we not allowed type their team name? Im confused……………
Replace “EL” with “UN” and you find your answer. Great team that play like a bunch of c**nts. That is how the RR community feels about those clover leafed pansies in Boston.
No, that’s how a select bunch of people do. I, for one, think it’s childish and shows how jealous some are of a talented bunch of ball players.
It might be so, AltRaps … but some just think it’s funny. Childish? For sure, in my case … but it does make me laugh. Last night, my wife heard me SAY it out loud and didn’t say anything … but later asked, “so how’d they do against the C**tics?” (Huge laughs.)
I also think it’s childish but I’m up for anything that helps build some animosity towards a rival…even if the opposition couldn’t care less.
*applause*
KG may be a dick, but he ain’t a cunt.
Pretty sure he’s a c**t man.
I think some of you should just relax, this is preseason. Preseason means nothing. Just look at the Leafs, they had a good preseason and now they look like they can’t even beat a team of 12 year olds.
Please only panic when the real thing starts. Also whats with the love in with Biedrins? I just don’t understand why some of you want to trade Bosh so much. How is trading a 25 year old all star gonna help the team.
Preseason is where scrubs bring their “A” game to leap-fron another scrub and earn regular season minutes and legit rotation players test their “B” and “C” moves and play lacklustre defence to avoid contact. The only thing we will learn is which of the scrubs will play themselves out of minutes and who had too many donuts in the off-season.
It’s obvious why we need Biedrins. Since Bryan obsessed with Bargnani a below average rebounder at his position, you need someone to pick up the scraps in rebounds and Biedrins does really well there. Randolph is very young(younger than Bosh) and can be a good power forward. Ideally, Bargnani should not be a starter. He would be best used as a Gordon type- a spark of the bench playing starter minutes while real rebounders set the tone at the power forward and center positions. Having Randolph and Biedrins as “starters” does help in rebounding. If we can not rebuild round a star(”Bosh in this case”), I foresee us going with the detroit pistons “bad boys” style with no real superstars.And by the way, superstars on teams are usually shooting guards and shooting forwards not power forwards(”Nowitzki is an exception”). The best Bosh can be is a Pau Gasol kind of help to a real superstar like LeBron or D.Wade.
jose calderon -his penetration really hurt the C’s last night, anytime he we went to the paint the C’s defence broke down or was mis organize which result in bosh lighting them up early in the quater, but couldn’t do it for 48 minutes overall performance was B+
Derozan- attack ray allen hard and even got to the foul line several times, also hold Ray to a poor shooting night but faded in the second half and started taking bone headed shots, overall his performance was C
Turkoglu- defensively paul pierce torture his ass, couldn’t keep up with him all night, but had 5 assist in the first quater hedo. Started coming around in the second quater but coach took him out overall C-
Bosh- brought more fire into the half of the game like he came to a dragon fight he even knock garnett and pierce on the floor at the same time but couldn’t stay out of foul trouble and faded in the second half of the game was so so on defence overall performance A-
Bargani- bargani got T for …….(seriously i dont know) grab 7 boards was -12 on +/- (highiest on the team)couldnt guard big baby, perkins or garnett, seriously bargani look like he forgot to eat his pasta before last night game overall performance D-
Jeez, the Raps and their fans should have bigger things to worry about than the inevitable bitch-slap, beat-down they get from Boston each and every time they play. I swear, I’ve never seen a whinier fan base in my life. Good luck getting to .500 this season. Should be an angst-filled, anti-joyride.
Perusing the gamut of incredible and hilariously sad comments, I have one answer for what was the question of all questions: why do we suck? Easy, you suck because your team can’t play defense. You have two absolute swinging porch doors at point guard and center, and you’re starting a teenager at shooting guard. The only above average defender you have is Chris Bosh, and he’s really only played good defense when he was on Team USA.
On top of your defensive deficiencies, you lack any real toughness. The nutgrabber Reggie Evans is pretty much the only player on your team who is capable of being tough, and he plays the same position as your best player.
Don’t you have better things to do than bitch and whine about other fan bases bitching and whining?
Hard to respond to his points, I guess.
Why give merit to a troll?
Hey Ryan nice to have you aboard. And it’s nice to see you dispel all those myths about what wankers Celtics fans are. C**t
I thought it was a decent game for the Raps, loss or not. I saw improvement in the areas I wanted, like in Calderon looking to be aggressive and DeRozan hanging tough. I was disappointed with the control that we showed. The ball is moving now, which is great, but it will take a little more time before we see controlled ball movement to players in the right spots.
I hope we get to see Pops tonight – he’ll get a good ovation. He may be injured though…
The C**tics beat us on the boards (+8orb) and that was the difference in the game. Giving them 8 more offensive possessions and allowing them to take 8 more FGA was the determining reason we lost, since both teams shot a very similar FG%.
Unless they show some improvement in their rebounding, this team won’t show any improvement in their record over last season.
Just came across this Sun article before last night’s game. Good foreshadowing.
”
Being ready at any and all moments is key to playing with Turkoglu, who fills a much-needed role.
“You have to because if you don’t you’re probably going to get hit in the head with the ball,” Bosh said chuckling.
“