Zach Randolph killed us. Yeah, that Zach Randolph.Had a chance to digest this loss and as terrible and ugly it was, it wasn’t against a horrible team as some might think. We should’ve won this game, no question about it, but you have to factor in how well the Grizzlies played before you lay it on the Raptors, which we will deservedly do. We were atrocious on the defensive glass and our man defense was broken down too easily, mostly because of some very inspired play from O.J Mayo and Mike Conley (10/10/6) who exposed our ever-present weakness at PG. The offense is raw and too simplistic, it works well when there’s an open game going on but in situational plays when you need a bucket (as we did late), it tends to fail because all NBA teams up their defense when they really need to. Hedo Turkoglu was brought in for exactly the situations we encountered in the fourth quarter but couldn’t produce the result, or some might argue, wasn’t given the context to do so. Whatever the case, whatever the excuses, we didn’t get it done, and there’s plenty things to blame to go around.
First thing to realize is that Memphis got spanked in their opening game by Detroit and were out to atone themselves. You knew this one wasn’t going to be as easy as it looked on paper when you had a motivated Zach Randolph and a fired up O.J Mayo working in tandem. Mayo and Conley’s agenda was to either push it against Calderon or rise and shoot it over him which they did with full effectiveness. Calderon was back-tracking for most of the first quarter as the barrage of drives followed by dump-offs and kick-outs started to get Randolph, Gasol and Gay into the game. You knew if Memphis kept this pace our defense was going to be tested hard, I was hoping they’d get fatigued and start playing lazy but other than a few stretches in the third quarter, they were solid.
The Raptors didn’t start off too poorly either, Hedo Turkoglu got into the offense courtesy of some step-back jumpers off the high screen (which Gasol and Randolph were reluctant to come out on) and assumed ball-handling responsibilities while looking threatening using the screens. Mysteriously, we never saw any more of that for the game as Jack and Calderon assumed ball-handling and creative duties for there on out. Perplexing indeed. The offense was crisp to start with, a lot of slashing from Wright, DeRozan, Bosh and even Calderon, who executed one of his high-screen turns for a score. A 22-23 first quarter deficit seemed a good position to be in considering how well Memphis started off, our 4 first quarter turnovers and how poorly Bargnani shot the ball.
In order to control the paint dominance of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, Triano introduced Amir Johnson midway through the first but all he did was pick up an over-the-back foul and allowed Randolph two easy scores. Very disappointing because Randolph is a very build and you’d think he could use his athleticism and reach to bother Randolph if he only tried a bit harder. It was clear that his head wasn’t into the game and Triano went with Rasho who performed well for the rest of the night. However, a frontline defensive stand needs all your big men to step up, not just one. Memphis outrebounded us 45-36 with Randolph and Gasol going a combined 19-29 FG. There were so many interior rotations because of offensive rebounds and penetration that it pitched everybody against anybody and allowed them plenty of paint scores. Even though the duo of Bosh/Bargnani got the better of Gasol/Randolph statistically (49/18 to 49/14), we can’t be satisfied, those numbers for opposing bigs are way too high, especially when you’re losing the guard battle.
Jack came in late in the first and started looking for the Bosh v Randolph matchup in the half-court and it resulted in a lot of success. Bosh had 18 points in second quarter and without that contribution this game would’ve gotten out of hand. Andrea Bargnani couldn’t control Gasol in the post who cleared him too easily on the boards and the block; if that wasn’t bad enough, his offense left him, after missing four early shots and committing three turnovers, he decided that he wasn’t going to shoot, a cardinal sin for a shooter. It was 53-49 Memphis at the break and you’d have to consider the Raptors lucky to be in this one considering how disjointed they looked. Bosh though, looked amazing. He played a free brand of basketball which was very similar to his Olympic role, not too many set-plays but jockeying for position, hitting the glass, running the floor and just playing active basketball. The more I think about it, the more I believe that he should be playing in a freer role with limited plays run for him, he’s far more effective when he’s not asked to do anything in particular.
At half time Triano must’ve instructed Bargnani to resume shooting and it paid off. He hit four shots to start off the quarter including two threes, but only took one shot in the second half of the third. Explain that. Our offense was chugging along based on the individual brilliance of Bosh in the first half and the spurt by Bargnani early in the third, but very little was coming out of any planned processes. Memphis on the other hand was firing on all cylinders, they had Randolph hitting jumpers, Gasol carving space inside, and Mayo and Gay supplying the long-range bombs to maintain the spacing. The Raptors were truly torn, on one hand they wanted to protect the paint but on the other, the Memphis guards had only proven too well that they were liable to burn any cheating.
Guard scoring was a problem. Calderon only had 4 points in the first half and 8 through three, that’s not acceptable production given the fresh young faces he’s up against. Having a veteran PG in these situations is supposed to prove an advantage but instead we got outplayed at that position by their two young guns. I’m not sure whether aggressiveness or ability is the issue at hand, he clearly looked for his shot early but when the jumper wasn’t falling with any consistency, he lost touch with the offense and the only purpose he served was bringing the ball up the floor. After shooting 1-6 against Cleveland, he went 6-13 tonight, mostly due to a late spell of scoring when the game was out of hand. More importantly, his defense on Conley was terrible. His effectiveness is adequately reflected in his 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls.
I would’ve liked to see Turkoglu as the primary ball handler in that third quarter. DeRozan’s a rookie so I’m not expecting much but there were definitely opportunities for him to score which weren’t taken advantage of. For example, I only counted two weak-side cuts from him; also, Conley’s three inches shorter than him and I would’ve liked to see DeRozan in the post. Other than the first quarter we didn’t involve their big men in any pick ‘n rolls, something they struggle at defending. Again Jay, I’m looking at you.
Bargnani’s emergence and Bosh’s continued solid play in the third coincided with the Memphis guards cooling off, just a bit. DeRozan played with some energy resulting in two scores and then Jack came on to play his best defensive stretch of the game, he got in the face of Conley and forced turnovers which led to points. We won the third 30-23 and went into the final frame with a 3 point lead which could only be considered precarious given how open the game was. Not to mention the liability that even a brief cold stretch on offense would spell doom since we hadn’t yet proven that we could actually stop Memphis from scoring.
After Belinelli’s beautifully set-up three gave the Raptors an 8 point lead with 10:07 left, Memphis called timeout. That did us in because they came out playing with the energy they started the game with, it’s not surprising that an 8-0 run followed. This included a Conley blow-by, Gasol overpowering Rasho on the glass, another Randolph jumper which under normal circumstance you don’t mind him taking, and a DeMarre Carroll jumper after some great ball movement against a stretched defense. From that point on our offense hit the wall and if it weren’t for some fortunate calls by the refs, it would’ve been over sooner.
The late fourth quarter offense was more about confusion than cohesion with players not having any idea what to do or where to be, our PGs getting caught in two minds of whether to drive or defer and our bigs not even positioning themselves to try and snatch that inevitable rebound. Calderon couldn’t create anything off the bounce and Jack looked lost playing the off-guard. Wright should’ve been given the task on Mayo who had proven that he could knock them down from outside over a shorter player, his jumpers at 2:43 and 0:47 killed us. Bad coaching by Triano. I also don’t understand why Nesterovic was taken out at the 9:00 minute mark of the fourth quarter and never returned. He was the only one who looked like he could control Gasol and box-out, but instead Triano went with with Jack-Calderon in the backcourt, a combination that makes no sense since it’s becoming obvious that Jack is more comfortable at the PG on both ends of the floor. I thought a big lineup of Rasho-Bosh-Bargnani-Jack/Jose-Turkoglu/Belinelli could’ve served us well.
As much as we can find blame in the offensive sets and lack of creativity, in the end this is basketball, a sport where effort, commitment and dedication to being competitive is rewarded. Our big men didn’t compete defensively against theirs and that’s why we lost. Triano summed it up curtly in the end:
“They came out with a lot more passion and hustle for the basketball. You could see it in the way they chased it off the glass the whole night. They pounded it inside and we had no answer to their size.”
It always scares me when I read that kind of a statement this early in the season.
Our offense needs direction through action, not just direction. Jose and Jack need to take it upon themselves to create shots for their teammates while Triano figures out just what to run. I get a feeling that if we rely on Triano’s sets to bail us out in the fourth quarter, it’s going to be a long November. The other option is to give Turkoglu the ball and let him play point-forward for 20 minutes a game and get used to the tendencies of Bargnani, Bosh and DeRozan, it could just work wonders in the long run.
Liners:
- Memphis shot 51%. I don’t care who you are, the chances of a team winning a game when the opposition shoots higher than 50% are slim. Especially when you’re -9 on the glass.
- If you’re looking at Bargnani’s 6 rebounds and giving him a reprieve, you’re wrong. He had two great offensive rebounds but overall, he was poor in his box-outs and recognitions.
- They had 26 second chance points, we had 24. Somehow I felt theirs hurt more because they came at the end of more grueling defensive possessions.
- It’s sad that in a game where we were looking for any of our big men to step up, Amir Johnson couldn’t even make it off the bench.
- Impressed with Belinelli’s demeanor and decision making. Not the greatest quickness but fundamentally sound, would’ve even rather had him on Mayo than Jack. Height advantage and all.
- PINP even at 52, thanks mostly to Bosh. Speaking of him, I can’t imagine he’s content despite his performance because of Randolph’s big game (30/7).
- Best Lineup: DeRozan, Bargnani, Bosh, Turkoglu, Calderon going +7 in the 3rd. Johnson, Bargnani, Turkoglu, Belinelli, Calderon going -7 in the 1st. Check the game flow for more.
- Antoine Wright – I see his value but I question his usage.
- Who’s a better assistant coach? Damon or Alvin.
- Turkoglu with a team-worst -20. That is a stat nobody wants to see. Ever. We know that +/- is usually BS but when your playmaker is stuck with that number it means he wasn’t making many plays but getting played.
- Frayed Ends of Sanity
As always, thanks for reading. Up next is the Magic on Sunday. One quick site note, you’ll notice that we’ve integrated Twitter logins for comments. If you have an account, you can post using it and tweet your comments. It helps us spread the word.
26 Raps
Look at Calderon and Jack’s FG% in the first 2 games. This won’t last. They’re both nowhere near comfortable playing together, playing with the new guys, or even playing period.
Ironically, the one spot we have depth at (PG) is our most weakest link (both our starter + backup). Our PGs need to step up their games. Wright, Belinelli and DeRozan showed up with consistent efforts in games 1 and 2. But Jose and Jarrett can’t seem to knock down open trey’s when asked to do so – and if that continues for much longer, the Raptors are going to have a tough time scoring this year.
It’s time for our PGs to wake up, and smell the 2009-2010 season, because they’re the only 2 Raptors still in pre-season form.
Agreed. We won’t be winning with any consistency until Jose Calderon and Jarret Jack get their shots back. A lot of the shots Calderon took last night were automatic last season with his hamstring injury. If he doesn’t get back to that, we’re gonna have long nights at the office.
You should perhaps review that game again. If you think Randolph’s 30 all came aganist Bosh you’re sadly mistaken. Rotations had Barg’s guarding Randolph as well and in box out situations and he got eaten up. Outside of the 3rd quarter when he was scoring Barg’s played like crap.
Calderon played like crap the whole game.
I wasn’t surprised that the Raptors lost against the Grizzlies tonight. Since the Grizzlies was relocated in Memphis, the Raps was 2-5 when playing in TN; the Raps are 4-10 during first road game of the season. Now it’s 4-11.
So what your saying is that its Tennessee’s fault? Hmmm … Lynchburg, Tennessee is only a couple hours away. Perhaps the team visited the Jack Daniel’s Distillery and did the “tour”. ;)
The Distillery is in a dry county. No samples. FYI.
I dunno, Randolph was definitely being controlled in the first half…I’m not sure you can blame Bosh for letting him score 30. He’s having to constantly rotate and help because people can’t guard their guys.
Basically, it seems impossible to win if 3/5 of your starting line-up (Jose, Turk, Bargs) are playing poorly.
I don’t know if Jose is hurt or something, but his lack of defense and poor decision making on offense really hurt. Turk was invisible. Bargs let Gasol walk all over him. Which is very odd to me, as I feel he did a great job on the Cleveland front-line..
I think there will be some growing pains with this team (sorting out the PG situation), but I also think that the future looks bright. Maybe I’m crazy, but if you guys get Bosh/Bargs to work on a consistent basis, you easily have a top 3 NBA front-line.
Not having Reggie Evans hurt us for this one.
I hope the big fella comes back sooner rather then later.
has anyone heard anything about reggie?….i have a feeling he’s more injured than we thought at first..a bad sprain could be worst than a break, 4-6 weeks sometines
Considering a timeline was never given, he’s probably out indefinitely until he recovers from the sprain.
The raptors need to respond on Sunday morning. When Gasol/Randolph can man handle the glass, imagine what Dwight Howard will do.
thats just scary
I don’t think its easy to lay this blame on any player (or combination of players). Both teams played well… but Memphis had a little extra something they brought this game. Their defense last night actaully reminded me a bit of Boston. They did a fantastic job of clogging the lane. Few easy buckets. If it wasn’t for Bosh this may have been a blow out.
Bargs shot poorly… but he was putting in some extra effort on the glass (although it may not have shown on the stat sheet). Unfortunately his defense was rather weak. Didn’t try to contest shots, was out of position, and Gasol (in his limited minutes) had Bargs deep in the paint every time down the floor.
Jose, Jack, Hedo, Wright, Marco and DD all had their moments (both good and bad). Was real disappointed in Jay not leaving DD in once he started to get things going in the second half. Damn that kid chases every rebound and puts the effort in on D. He really looked like he wanted to prove something in the second half. He looked pissed. I wasn’t worried about the PG defense as this game was lost in the paint and on the offensive boards. Hedo made a couple real bad choices on offense late.
Bosh was a pimp… don’t want to criticize because he was fantastic… but in the forth he seemed to settle for some jumpers a little more than early in the game.
Rasho… thats the Rasho I remember. Always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Got some key rebounds and put backs.
Jay.. he’s pulling the Smitch when it comes to timeouts. Trying to save them for late game. They are nice to have but I would rather stop a run earlier. He should have used one before Memphis tied the game at 88. He’s not at home… stop the momentum. (and what was with the attempt to go extra small… Hedo, Wright, Belli, Jack and Jose. Thank goodness the refs wouldn’t allow the Marco sub)
All in all.. a game we should have won… yet can’t be too upset about with how well Memphis played. They just seemed to want it more.
I’m not sure I agree with you. If you play significant minutes (i.e. 30+) and you aren’t producing (Jose), then you should be held accountable for some blame.
I agree with you when you say ALL of Memphis brought an extra effort and showed up to play.
But, can’t we say the same thing about CB4?
Or about Rasho Nesterovic?
Or about Marco Belinelli and Wright (on D) or even DeMar (not forcing the issue, but doing the little things).
Most of the Raptors did their jobs, Jose Calderon (my favourite player, so perhaps some biased here) simply did not.
I honestly hope he’s working on his shot next practice, because he needs to start being an outside threat.
To be fair and not lay all the blame on Jose (and even Jack’s poor outside shooting), Turkoglu’s second half was somewhat unimpressive as well, I’ve seen him be more dominant.
And I also agree with Arse, bad coaching move to take out Rasho. He was playing really well, and gave our team a boost in the limited minutes he was out there.
Let’s hope Rashard & Carter being out + this demoralizing loss gives us enough to get over the hump and beat the Magic on Sunday.
But Doug Smith said it best,
“The truth of the Raptors lies somewhere in the middle of what transpired here Friday night and the euphoria of Wednesday at home.
They won’t be as consistently excellent as they were against the Cavaliers; they won’t be as terribly bad as they were here for stretches against the Grizzlies.”
Oh I’m not saying there isn’t blame to go around… everyone but Rasho deserves some (and very little to Bosh…)
But people are sitting here giving it to Jose, who did have a sub par game mind you, and yet so few words of Bargs. He stunk it up on offense for 3 quarters and was non-existent on D. But I find it hard to lay it on his shoulders when he really looked like he was putting in an effort out there on the glass and battling for position (losing unforunately). Down low was were Memphis won this game not on the perimeter.
And Hedo’s ridiculous turnover couldn’t have come at a worse time.
First thing to realize is that Memphis got spanked in their opening game by Detroit and were out to atone themselves.>>
The officials screwed the Griz in the first game with 4 of their starters in foul trouble after about 8 minutes of the first quarter.
Not a lot of teams can overcome that unless they are playing against really inferior competition.
Last night they got a better break on the calls and played up to snuff.
No surprise here.
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I think that the Raptors should buy out Johnson unless they can find a sucker team to take him in a trade. Paying $3.4 million to a guy who will wind up sitting on the bench and accumulating DNP/CDs is not a very wise decision.
From what I have seen and know it is my opinion that Johnson has lost all interest in playing professional basketball. Most likely he has managed to save a good chuck of the $10 million he has made over the last 3 years.
Two years ago he wanted to become a writer of computer games
This year he wants to become an actor.
No where have I heard from him that he wants to become a NBA starter.
Raps should dump any way they can and fill the roster spot with someone who wants to play.
kinda hope JT throws Bargnani around the gym for that one. It’s not even that he fell back into sasquatch ways that we’ve seen sometimes during previous years, kind of clumsy and uncoordinated … it was the lack of focus near the basket at either end. I don’t know if rebounding is a skill as much as it is an attitude (under the basket) … but if the Raptors are going to make serious noise with this team, Bargnani is gonna have to get some.
Thank God we have a second fiddle like Bosh to, you know, play ball when don Drea can’t be bothered. He was utter sheit all night. Put a body on someone fer crissake. This is exactly why the offence can’t be run through him as the no.1 option on a nightly basis.
Bosh has done everything he could to win both games and almost did this one as well. You can’t ask for more. THAT it what a ceiling means. I mean it has to STAY there. Not come crashing down every other game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPaxhP2SBHQ
I was sooooooooo surprised with the progress of Marc Gasol. He actually earned that 20 pts and 10 rebs last game against Detroit. The reason….HE LOST 20 lbs and toned up his muscles. I bet we all underestimated how quick and mobile he became, I DID! This guy is at least on the same level of LaMarcus Aldrige. Is it me or did Zach Randolph look like he was actually behaving on the court? I guess that happens when you stay away from Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury.
I think our team is still “learning” and same with Triano as well because he should of made timeouts much more sooner to address defensive issues with our team.
Guys Lets be serious, everybody is talking about how Turkoglu was brought in for the type of situations we saw in the fourth quarter. The reality is you cant expect that from Turkoglu when he is on the Raptors. Will the Turkoglu Hype just stop. Can we all agree that we wasted 50 million dollars. Turk can create some plays and make a three pointer- THats it. He’s slow, he’s defense is average at best, he can’t take it to the net. If we wanted a guy that is a better three point shooter and was faster we should of kept Kapono ( as silly as that sounds) In all honesty for fifty million dollars we could of got Ben Gordon, who is fast, can make plays, and is Clutch ( Boston vs Chic playyofs), OK YES TURKOGLU made a clutch shot in the playoffs that is being replayed on Raptors tv too frequently but does he offer a team like the Raptors anything? NO! I wanted him to do good, I really. I do believe the Raptors will barely make the playoffs.
Lets see the hate responses,,,
“Can we all agree…”
No, we can’t. That’s why there’s a comment section. Turk is overpaid for too long, but he still brings a lot of skill, smarts and experience to his position.
I mean, you’re trashing Hedo while praising Kapono and Ben Gordon? Ben freaking Gordon? Ben “look at this impressive shot that was only difficult because i dribbled the air out of the ball while the shot clock ticked down” Gordon? I bet the Pistons were wishing they had Hedo when they lost to the Thunder last night.
Geez… some people you’ll never please…
Ben Gordon? Ok, granted he’s got some game and is a machine on offense… but D? you’re bitchin’ about Turk’s D? I don’t think Gordon even plays on that side of the ball… he’s usually floating and waiting for outlets! As well on offense, BLACKHOLE! Give him the ball, you’ll never get it back.
Kapono? Are you for real?! again, when he is stationary and has nobody checking him, yeah, he’ll hit the three… but have you seen him create? have you EVER seen a player step out of bounds more than this chump? let’s not even start with the D… HE HAS NONE!!!
Canada1990… before you make all these bold statements, i’d watch a few more games of basketball first, ‘cuz honestly, going on what you say, doesn’t seem like you watch many.
We can’t blame Turk after 2 games…