The ‘*&$$!(*!’edition.
Banks – does he even exist?
Bargnani – rough night. His shots seemed to be either short or long. One of the rare nights this season that I audibly groaned when he hoisted a shot. Had a fantastic drive for a dunk in the second quarter and 2 nice blocks, but his greatness this night ended there. Needs to pass the ball more in certain situations.
Belinelli – he had 3 fouls at the 6 minute mark of the 2nd quarter but that didn’t stop him from hooking up with Jack on some timely 3s and using screens to free up a lane and attack the hoop. He was abused at times on the defensive end of the ball, but held his own at others. Solid game.
Bosh – toughest game of the year for him, bar none. Without Hedo and with Bargs having an off night, the Nuggets could afford to zero in on CB4 and that they did. He was frustrated all night, had no trips to the line in the first half, got T’d up in the 4th for showing up a ref and finished with a lowly 13 points.
Calderon – did a good job on Chauncey early on. Had a great shooting night (missing another free throw though) but his lax defense in the second half opened the flood gates. A surprising three turnovers. Still, head and shoulders above how he played early in the season.
DeRozan – his best game of the year for both point production and effort. Stuck with Carmelo when he was on him, took it at him, and scored some hoops that hopefully will kick start his confidence. He needs to attack the paint more and if he can do it against the Denver bigs, he can do it against anybody….and should.
Evans - faker.
Jack – he did a good job at finding people tonight, including the above mentioned Belinelli and a nice alley oop to Weems. His 4 turnovers hurt, though, especially getting called for a cheap foul in the third on one possession then a travelling call the next. We were still in the game at the time and it seemed to start the ball rolling the other way. The 9 and 6 are good, though.
Johnson – bad night for the big man. He attempted no shots from the floor and picked up 5 fouls in 10 minutes. He was able to pull down 5 boards and had his usual active hands everywhere the ball was going, but on a night where we needed bodies to compete, he came up short.
Mensah-Bonsu – picked up a rebound and took a charge within the first 30 seconds of entering the game. He’ll be a welcome addition until Reggie comes back, but after that he will probably take POB’s role on the bench. If you want to see him play, you better find a contact that can get you into a Raptors practice.
Nesterovic – bit better effort tonight. He needed to step up a bit since Bargs had early fouls and Amir was off his rocker. Still has yet to bring what many thought he would upon his return to Toronto. Thank God he’s cheap, otherwise this was a big waste of a roster spot.
O’Bryant – saw some action, hit a jumper, pulled down a couple of boards. Lovely. A man of his size should stand out in garbage time. Instead he blends in like he was a piece of hardwood.
Turkoglu- took the night off. I think he’s afraid of Melo.
Weems – another nice game in limited minutes. One of the Raptors in the second unit that had pep in his step and showed his athleticism. When we hit our lull in the 3rd, he was the only guy to step up on both ends and play like he cared. Good minutes, making Jay’s job that much harder.
Wright – got the start in place of Hedo. Started the game like he was a one man show. Took a charge or two, chased down loose balls, bought some popcorn from the vendor. He then sat down to let the bench come in and he was never the same again, finishing with just 17min and 5 points. Did he choke when given the opportunity? Don’t think so, but he certainly didn’t sustain his play when he subbed back in.
Driving The Bus: DeMar DeRozan
Under The Bus: Amir Johnson
Game Theme:
42 Raps
First game I missed and I’m glad.
Denver is probably the second best team in the west. Loss was no surprise to me – but man, they beat us pretty bad every time. I hope we get sweet W against Denver in TO. It is about time.
Triano playing Andrea and Bosh for pretty much the entire 3rd quarter really hurt us defensively tonight. They looked like they were dying. It’s a shame Amir got into foul trouble as soon as he did.
On a postive note, (if there are any) and excellent performance from Weems and DeMar’s sets a career high with 17 points.
Bargnani had three (3) blocks, this forum really does not like him.
“Without Hedo and with Bargs having an off night, the Nuggets could afford to zero in on CB4 and that they did. He was frustrated all night,”
So for Bosh our franchise player to be successful he needs Hedo and Bargnani. Agreed.
Bosh was rarely double-teamed. The single (physical) coverage on him made him a non-factor
+ no love from the refs tonight…
Actually, this forum is about even on Bargs. You have people who believe he is a good player for the Raps and vice versa.
F**k! The ref’s called a lot of bad fouls in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but no excuse to hang your head and drag your feet; no mental toughness… Those transition baskets in the second half were down right embarrassing.
I totally agree man. The Raptors were consistently getting beat down the floor! Another hard game to watch, and if the players dont start showing some heart (besides Weems, Derozen, Amir.. without 20 fouls) they may need a reality check. And not the other kind of check, cuz they have a whole lot of that.
Will our franchise player get the max
He will only get a big payday if he can accomplish the following things.
1. Not panic in the 4th quarter, not holding onto the ball too long, handling more physical guys during the stretch. What are his current stats during the 4th quarter compared to other players and previous years.
2. To sustain this through the whole year. Last year well you know what happened.
3. Not get injured. Has missed a lot of games the past few years and was not 100% for many of the games he did play.
4. Choked and played terrible in the last two playoff series. Totally outplayed by his franchise and star players from the other team. Playoffs are more physical and less fouls are called. Can Bosh thrive in such a scenario.
5. Able to play at this level if Bargnani or Hedo goes down due to injury. Defenses have not been double teaming him this year because Barg is shooting extremely well and Hedo can take it the the hoop.
6. Play defense. Has not improved at all. Just waits under the basket for the rebound.
Well, we were all expecting a loss tonight.
Yep, and I thought we might have gotten a win.
somebody needs to tell marco that the only way a mouth guard can guard your mouth is if it’s actually in your mouth and not outside of it
Man Marco’s the least of our problems. He’s showing some pride/swagger, and we need more of that. And no, I don’t mean Bosh throwing the ball down and getting a technical.
Marco is not the least of our problems.
Bosh is the least of our problems right now.
hey he’s playing great, i’m just saying that he’s defeating the whole purpose of wearing a mouthguard, it’s like wearing goggles on your forehead or a jock strap on your wrist or something
Dejavu
Bosh is looking like last year. Strong start 10 games, then became a RuPaul for the rest of the season.
No way Max money IMO. When it counts (PO) he will disappear as usual.
Dude, get a grip. It’s one game, in the toughest arena to visit.
Raps fans… the most fairweather of them all… just read above
i’m embarrassed for you guys
It would seem that this site is full of whiners and haters…just wish they would pout somewhere else.
It is ok to criticize barg, beli, calderon,jack but Bosh is off limits. Because we want constructive criticism, we should not labeled whiners and haters.
You can criticize him all you want, but make it fair. One bad game and you already resort to name-calling and saying he will fail in the playoffs.
1st playoff series I can understand him struggling as he adjusts to the playoff tempo. 2nd time the team was crap, there was no chemistry, and up against a team that had significantly more talent.
Plus he averaged 24/9/4 in that series, so criticizing him makes no sense anyways.
Are the Bosh haters back out from their hidey-holes after one subpar game?
I am not a Bosh hater. I think he is good player not great. He reminds me of a Elton Brand or a Zach Randolph, guys who can get 20/10 but never delivered for their teams. They are complimentary players not franchise players.
let’s trade him for kobe bryant or lebron james – then we would have a franchise player.
You remind me of a Leaf fan, or perhaps a complimentary blogger.
haha…complimentary blogger….nice touch!!!
We Lost to Denver, which is not a suprise especially when we do not have Hedo and when Denver was well rested. However, the team has some problems that need to be addressed:
1) Offence at times seemed to be very stagnent. There was no movement, no cutting, no drible penetration from point guards ….
2) AB was over looked when he was posting up many times.
3)Lack of leadership on the floor at times was apperant especially when Denver made their run at the end of 2nd quarter.
“Offence at times seemed to be very stagnent. There was no movement, no cutting, no drible penetration from point guards …”
This was the biggest problem attributed to the missing Turkoglu. Even though the 2nd unit played above their abilities you need your SF and SG to break down the offense and create opportunities. Didnt happen. Wright is decent but kills the O.
Raps were all gassed by the third, might be an ugly one tomorrow
You mention the defensive mistakes for Bargnani, Belli, Calderon…but what about Bosh. Did he play a perfect game on the defensive end. Is there a reason why you cannot criticize him for his many defensive lapses.
You need to add ‘refs’ to the lineup. Here – I’ll do your writeup.
Refs – decided that Denver needed to get back into it in the 2nd quarter, resulting in 3 Donaghy’s. More of the same in the 3rd, as Denver was allowed a ridiculous number of fast breaks off non-calls on the offensive glass.
The timing of the calls was definitely suspect.
Amazing how the Deadspin excerpts really do influence my viewing. I now also have a hard time not wondering if some of the non-calls/phantom calls we see are part of a intentional ref strategy. Disheartening.
Am I the only one who was pissed off by the bowing and kiss blowing of J.R?
Why didn’t someone give him a hard foul after that!?
Yeah, that was low. We’ll beat them in TO, no worries.
The Raptors would have had a hard enough time beating just the Nuggets, but having to play against the Nuggets and the Refs they had no chance. During stretches of the game that I saw Bosh was called for goaltending on a perfectly legal block, Jose was called for a foul on Carmelo when Anthony had clearly fouled Jose first and on and on.
I won’t go so far as to say that the refs cost Toronto the game, but if the calls were more even this one would have been a nail-biter.
You can’t win them all… and at least we didn’t get beat by 40+pts like we did last season in Denver (the game that got Smitch fired).
Bosh was mad because the Raps were getting fouls for doing the same things the Nugs were doing to him for free!
The Refs made a blatant attempt to keep the Nugs in the game during the first half.
Throwing a few foul calls the Raps way at the end when it was meaningless!
Agreed on the home style refereeing.
Where are all the plaudits for Bosh, et all’s domination on the boards?
19 to 3 on the off boards and 48 to 33 overall, with CB 8 offensive 14 totals. Goes to show how overated rebounds are to team results some times, as Rap’s are continually killed for their rebounding.
CB was due for an off scoring game as the Ref’s refused to give him calls when he was being mugged inside all night, and he was averaging 10 points/game from FT’s in his 27/28 totals, and tonite only 1 point.
Nothing wrong with his effort, or shooting 6/13 mostly jump shots, and 8 offensive boards, in only 32 mins.
I didn’t expect a win, so the fact that they were in it for the first half was a pleasant surprise. Still a ways to go before we compete with the elite teams like Denver.