How do you know when things are going good: You don’t drop the ball when tying your laces.Brilliant game by the Raptors. Totally and utterly outclassed the Bulls from the opening tip. This was about the closest to playing a perfect game the Raptors have ever had. So sitting there the whole night and watching the game, I had this surreal feeling where I realized that this is what Laker/Celtic/Spurs fans feel like every single game. Not once did I have that pit in my stomach where I knew it was all going to fall apart at any minute, which kind of made the game boring because I wasn’t on the edge of my seat.
You know what though? I’ll take it. Those anxious moments have taken years off my life.
This game was won in the first quarter, masterfully. It all started with attacking Noah in the paint. The guy is their heart and soul, there is no question. Rose is the future, but Noah is the guy who comes to work and does all the things necessary to win. His stat line in the first 4 minutes: 4pts 2rebs (2orb) 1ast. Neither Bargnani or Bosh was able to do anything about him. The Raptors had a 5 point lead when he got pulled after his 2nd foul, but I worry how he would have worn down Bargnani over the course of the game if he didn’t pick up those fouls. How did they get him into foul trouble? DeRozan and Bargnani attacking the rim. Not from getting nicked on the wrist during a shot, even though most of the Raptors points came on the perimeter, it was play in the paint that won us the game. *mental note*
It was all DeRozan in the 1st, Heir Canada reminded us how valuable a shooting guard who can attack off the wing is. 3-7 in the frame, but 3 ridiculous dunks that cost me my sandwich as it flew out of my hand while I was cheering (my dog quickly grabbed the schnitzel from between the buns, fml).
Back to DeRozan, 11pts in the 1st but nothing for the rest of the game. With all those free looks at the basket, I would have liked if he got more. We literally moved away from him after his good work to start the game. If the commitment is to develop him, last nights game was a perfect opportunity to teach and let him make some mistakes and succeed in a game situation.
The second quarter saw a surge by the Bulls. They attacked and attacked and attacked, relentlessly. Pargo was the spark-plug that lit the Bulls offense early, what a solid piece this kid is. They seemed to score at will, but the Raptors matched point for point. The difference was that a lot of the Bulls points were the result of one-on-one play, but the Raptors moved the ball around and got someone a great shot. The Bulls got 6 assists in the frame, but they were more a case of the shooter hitting a tough shot then a playmaker creating a good scoring opportunity. The Raptors did the latter, it was nice :)
Highlights:
Defense
Yes, they are talking, and it’s a beautiful thing. The Raptors helped each other on precision rotations; every time a Bull would get close to the paint, people would collapse and rotate forcing tough shots. The Raptors forced the Bulls to beat them on the perimeter, and they couldn’t.
Offensive Rebounding
18 for the night, wow. Rebounding as a whole was perfect (53), but when you get 18 more possessions, you put yourself into a situation where you can win. Bosh pulled down 7 himself. To put that into perspective, Noah led the Bulls with 7 total rebounds, just saying (Max Player).
Bench Play
The bench did nothing the night before, but after the starters logged massive minutes against the Wizards, you knew these guys would get the call. And they answered. The bench combined for 48pts 24rebs 17ast 5st 2blk. With no starter playing more then 29 minutes, the bench drove this game for us. You know things are going well when Jack stops in the middle of the game to tie his shoe laces, and the Bulls just watch, epic.
Coaching
Great substitutions, perfect minute allocations, the right people got the ball at the right times. Hot hands were fed. Aside from DeRozan not getting enough burn, Triano was at his finest.
Heart
A night after winning a tight one in overtime, and the starters logging big minutes, no one would could have blamed the Raptors if they folded the second game of a back-to-back on the road. But these guys had different plans. They played aggressive, got out to a lead, and played as a team to withstand the run that never gained any steam.
I think pride is a good word here. I am super proud of the Raptors performance the last two games. They solidified a big road win with a statement win the next night. Let’s make these team meetings a weekly occurrence.
64 Raps
I’d say last night was more of a castration.
Seriously… Deng didn’t even try to take the ball from Jack as he tied his shoes? Remember how embarrassed we were during the Bobcats and Hawks games? Couldn’t imagine being a bulls fan after that.
Hah! I never really thought of it like that, but maybe fans of perennial contenders do get bored of all the winning all the time! Maybe all the terrible games, laziness, and organizational missteps of the Raptors actually make a good, solid win feel that much better! It certainly feels damn good right now.
Without the sour, the sweet just ain’t as sweet.
It’s a good day to be a fan of the Toronto Raptors.
That’s why Lakers/Boston fans are cocky douches.
It was really nice to see the Raps on the other end of a blow out this time. I still can’t believe the Raptors outrebounded the Bulls by 21! Bargnani had another so-so night but the thing that impressed me is that he’s still grabbing rebounds – even on his off-nights. Of course with the Bulls shooting there will be lots of opporunities.
Raps Fan, you were saying that Derozan didn’t get enough burn but he did get almost 25 mins in playing time and it was a blowout. How much playing time would you have given him? No starter went over 29 mins.
I second the idea of the weekly team meeting, it seems to have caused good things to happen, and more communication between the team members is a positive thing.
Or hire a teacher for ESL classes (even for those who purport to have spoken English as a fl!).
You might want to start English as a second language with some of the American players first even though you’re likely bashing the Euros.. Have you heard Wright and Jack speak?
No I wasnt bashing the euros and my parentheses content was a tongue-in-chk to what you are suggesting. This is actually not about English or language per se but really more about cultural and attitudinal howto/s between some very young men with v. different backgrounds.
On second look I see the parentheses and get your point. My bad!
Yup…super proud indeed! Keep it up!
New nickname for Demar:
DeRo the Hero.
Anyone claimed that one yet? I wanted to wait for him to hit a game winner to bust it out but that may never happen since Triano refuses to play him in the 4th quarter.
I like Raps Fan’s Heir Canada more. Seems appropriate.
Well according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_in_basketball DeMar’s nickname is “Smell”. lol.
“Smell” – DeMar DeRozan (When Demar dunks on someone the opponent will have smelled DeRozan)
LMFAO @ Smell hahahahaha
“Smell” it is!
“Heir Canada” also has apparently been added.
We can even cheer “WHAT’S THAT SMELL?” when DeRozan is doing a big dunk…
Personally, I’d rather not associate our promising rookie with our lazy, selfish, ungrateful ex-player-who-shall-not-be-named.
But, at least it’s better than Kid Dynamite. Devlin wouldn’t know clever if it punched him in the face, kicked him in the balls, and then stepped on his throat.
Im a fan of D squared
I like “Double D”.
Like, Devlin can say, “Oh my Double D’s all over your face.” or “Suck on thems Double D’s”
LOL!
Kid Dynamite? What is he , a boxer? Sounds like a boxer to me
Continued improvement by DeRozan is the wildcard that could result in something more than an average season – rest assured if he continues to play this way teams will adjust their defenses – it is importantthat he be able to hit some outside shots when they back off him to keep defenses honest.
Another thought I would like to throw out – Chicago has regressed significantly since last year when they took Boston to the brink in the play-offs. They made a decision to let Ben Gordon go – he was viewed they way many of you view Bosh – a good player however not worth the big money contract. The flip to that is what is the alternative?
Not a particularly apropos comparison imo…while both are good players (even v. good sometimes), Ben Gordon was asking for 10-11 mill. while we are talking max. money (20+ mill. at least) for Bosh. One is conceivably a tradeable piece the other a franchise buster if you have it wrong.
Well stated. $10 million dollar contracts are not out of the ordinary and can be traded even if the player is one dimensional like Gordon, but max contracts on players if that player is not a dominant game changer pretty much all the time become franchise busters unless the franchise is the Lakers , Celticsor Yankees etc who will get several of these players. The Raps will not and will stay under the cap so spending 35% or more of your cap room on one player of 13 is crazy unless he takes you over the top.
good points – so if/when Bosh leaves and the team takes a step back as a consequence you will be okay with that
As Pizzaman alluded to much depends on how the franchise deals with the cap restrictions (luxury tax). It is now about 20 games into the season with Bosh playing the way he has. He has shown two negatives already that a max. player in my opinion should never possess….a lack of leadership during the past couple of weeks (not calling a team meet, demanding change from the coach or chewing out the teammates he feels are slacking it) and tanking it in a couple of games/not overcoming tough defenses because he was pissed at the lack of team cohesiveness (which he could have tried to do something about by acting on my first point).
Bosh in my view is a v. good complimentary player (like a Pau Gasol or a Ginobli…v. good players but not deep-into-playoffs team leaders). I would love to keep Bosh and add a Wade eg. Barring that he has pretty high value currently and much would depend on the player/s coming back in a deal. It is therefore simplistic to just make the comment that if Bosh leaves the team would degrade. Yes it would not be nice if the exchange were brutal (ala Vince) or he just walked. Building the team sometimes involves some tough descisions and addition can sometimes be achieved thru judicious subtraction.
Besides, the descision is not just the team’s. Bosh has the hammer here.
I absolutely will. I hope he does not leave but he’s not worth max money to this franchise because he will not take us to the semi finals or finals since there will not be any money left to round out the team further. If he leaves then we can get another rebounding big man for around $10 million who also scores about 12 points a game as well as maybe another great wing or guard and spread the scoring around. I really dfo not think our wins and losses will change much just who is the star.
damn dudes. you cant let that crackhead alt raps see you type this kinda level headed stuff. you’ll disturb his masturbatory cb4 session which is surely in progress as we speak…..bleh,i can almost hear alt busting, “cb4! dbl dbl! grab those balls! max money! GET ME PREGNANT!, arrrrrgggghhhhh”
The problem with not having Bosh is that, whatever people feel about how far the team can go with him as their best player, it can go even less far with Bargnani or Hedo as the best player on the team, unless the Raptors are suddenly able to draft John Wall.
That’s the major complaint I have with people not wanting to give Bosh max money. Sure, he’s not worth the same as LeBron, but the Raptors aren’t getting LeBron, and there’s a massive dropoff between the 1st and 2nd best player on the Raptors, right now. You think the Raptors won’t be successful paying Bosh, they’ll sure be a lot less successful not paying him.
so you want 6 years handicapping this team with a monster contract on a dude with bad knees so we can watch chris get dbl dbls and we be a treadmill team and cheer for chris while we blame the rest of the team for failing?…or use that money on multiple pieces and maybe a couple lean years where we build through the draft?…..i have zero allegiance to any one player on this team.smart contracts attract me. but if one guy is going to eat a major portion of the yearly cap he better thrill me like a dirk,kobe,wade or lebron and be the one making the shots in the 4th qtr…..look at elton brand.whats philly desperately trying to do?look at okafor.do we want to be another team that just gave max money to a big man that doesnt have the intangibles to take over a game and now they wanna get rid of him?
for this team to succeed we need every single player on the same page as we’ve seen the last 2 games.if not.were fucked.chris will get his buckets and boards but chris does not have it in him to whip the troops into a frenzy ala kg when things aint clicking or to go out there and pull a kobe and take over a game or make that crazy defensive swat to protect a lead…..thats important dont you think?
if bosh isnt here there will no doubt be a void but also a complimentary piece added to the squad to make up for it…look at the rockets they are better without tmac and yao and with tmac back they dont even want him to ruin the chemistry as they try to trade him.
it isnt about getting the best talent on the team its about finding the best collection of talent that combines to be a force.you cant automatically assume doom and gloom if bosh is cut loose or traded.
Trugoy, if you expect the Raptors to play like the Rockets have without their stars, you’re headed toward disappointment. Sorry, but the Rockets have shown success without one or the other star before; when have the Raptors ever played well without Bosh?
There won’t likely be room for a $10 mil free agent if Bosh walks. Only way what you’re saying will happen is via trade. If he walks, the likely scenario is a MLE contract plus minimum salary players.
Pizzaman, you’re talking out of your arse.
“The Raps will not and will stay under the cap”
Stop there. It’s clear from this statement that you have no idea how anything works.
If Bosh really is the Bosh of the last 2 games there’s no question that he’s a max player. He’s still not Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Garnett or Duncan but he’s absolutely a max player.
If Bosh continues to play the way he did last night and the night before, he’s probably right in the middle of that list.
add a blossoming DeRozan (how good is HE gonna be?) and … we might really have something going on here.
Do you think he’ll be better than Jason Richardson?
Hard to say who he’ll eventually be as good as (or better), but all things considered (age, relative inexperience, attitude … and that he seems to grow in leaps and bounds) I think he could easily be as good as Richardson … without (hopefully) the off-court troubles that Richardson has had. We’ll have to wait a bit yet, but I think his upside could be higher than that. I’m excited to see how good he gets to be.
It’d be premature to think that he won’t be as good as Jason Richardson. He’s got one year of college ball experience and has always played off-the-ball unlike Evans and Jennings who are shining right now.
He’ll be as good as his mid-range jumper, from what I read he works very hard at it, comes in early to shootaround and games to work on it etc. He should be getting physically stronger which will help his slashing and finishing, although the Raptors training staff seem to have very different definitions of what “stronger” means than the rest of the league, so I don’t know how that’ll work out.
The comparison to McGrady is apt.
Also, Pierce became a threat in the league once he got stronger and worked on that pull-up of his, it made him 10x the threat he was before. Same with DeRozan, he’ll always have the athleticism, it’s what he mixes his athleticism with that will define him. The smartest thing Triano’s done so far is to give him the starting job, it will pay dividends if he just sticks with him.
T-Mac with a team-first attitude and effort on defence would be incredible…
Re: JT being responsible for inserting DD as a starter…I believe that might well have been criteria for him getting the job. I heard BC in an interview taking claim for giving DD “quality” time during the season rather than being a bench warmer. I believe there might also have been a veiled ref. to Bargnani’s handling by Smitch and he did not want that happening again.
off-topic: there is an interesting segment on Donaghie (tonite’s 60 minutes) the betting ref. Some amazing insights into NBA reffing. About Iverson in particular.
As good or a good amount better, but he will be smarter than Jason Richardson in BBall IQ and motivation.
He can’t be compared to Garnett and Duncan until he plays at this level in the playoffs and becomes a force on the defensive end.
Doesn’t need to compare with KG and TD, after those guys retirement later, there is not too much option on the market. If you look at KG, no matter how good u r, if you working alone on a bad team like T-wolve, you still a “question mark”. I think if CB is playing at SAS, not toronto, he will play as good as TD (behind parker and the coach.)
also, if we could use CB to trade either KG or TD, do you think Raptors could become a deep playoff team?? I don’t think so! Do you??
It’s an open question. How much of Duncan’s success is attributable to the people around him and the strength of the franchise, and how much of their success is attributable to Duncan? Bosh hasn’t shown the ability to lift his teammates yet. He’s not yet in Duncan’s league.
MJ Fan, you are completely right, Duncan was good, but now he is in the ‘twilight’ of his career, the man is averaging less than 20 points and he is drained out, and KG isn’t too far behind him… CB on SAS would play way better than Tim, no doubt about it!
TD 5 years ago, I don’t know about that, but today, CB > TD for sure!
Still love TD!
It’s myth that Duncan has declined. Per 36 minutes, Duncan is has averaged between 19.2 ppg (9th season) and 22.6 ppg (5th season), 10.5 rpg (2nd season) and 12.2 rpg (7th season), 1.8 bpg (last season) and 2.8 bpg (8th season). This season he is averaging 21.1 ppg (5th best), 12.1 rpg (2nd best) and 2.4 bpg (5th best). He’s also averaging a career best .551 from the field. The only thing that has changed is how many minutes per game Duncan is playing. A career low 32.1.
Obviously, DUncan is getting older, but he’s as productive as he has always been and Popovich playing him less will only help them in the playoffs.
You think Garnett is better than Bosh right now?
kg is a better leader.i wish bosh had 1% of kg’s leadership skills.we’d be contending. im sure in closed door meetings in boston kg HAS the floor whereas bosh didnt even speak at the raptors team meeting. chris is sick of talking sorta like vince became sick of dunking?
Garnett was criticized in Minnesota for being, well, a little too vocal at times. It’s funny how all the problems Garnett had seemed to fade away as soon as he was traded to Boston. Same with Pau Gasol to the Lakers.
In Minnesota, Garnett was screwed for life when the Joe Smith trade happened, NO, actually when a rookie Ray Allen was traded for Stephon Marbury on the ‘96 Draft a year after Garnett was picked. If McFail did not do the illegal Smith trade, he would of picked garbage players anyways. The only sucessful pick he made during the Garnett Era was Rasho and Wally Z, which is not saying much.
Garnett would get more out of this group of teammates.
If Garnett never recovers his explosiveness, certain aspects of his play won’t be better than Bosh’s. But he’s a much better defender and on a team like the Raps where scoring is not a problem but leadership and defence are a problem the team would be better off with KG. Perhaps there are NBA teams that would be better with Bosh than Garnett (Charlotte?), but Toronto’s not one of them.
As per the above – if Bosh can evolve to the point where he lifts his teammates and can perform in the clutch then he can enter the KG/Duncan conversation… We can’t assess that until the spring.
And did he do just that on Friday?
Against the Bulls (who suck) in December (nowhere near the playoffs), yes. He’s a very good player – he just doesn’t belong in the KG/Duncan conversation yet.
Friday
heh. I was worried when I saw the headline “A good chance Bosh is gone” in “latest web articles” on the front door and as the page was loading I was thinking to myself “if this is anyone but steve simmons…..”. nuff said.
http://bit.ly/6upPux
Seeing Donaghy up close and personal like that – just now on 60 Minutes – was just as interesting as (I’m sure) we all thought it’d be. Personally, I thought he showed himself to be much less of the pond-scum character I’d come to think of him as. To my mind, he looks more credible (at this present time) than David Stern. There’s going to be a lot more interesting talk about all that he said. And wrote about.
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[" Back to DeRozan, 11 pts in the 1st but nothing for the rest of the game."]
I found Derozan started to force plays, and probably should’ve attempted to dish off more to one of the other Raptors. As he matures, he’ll come to realize how he can create open shots for his teammates.
That being said, I’m impressed – he’s playing a tough position (re: opposition) – and I can see more coming in the future.
With an improving DeRozan, a “there’s more potential there” Bargnani, plus a Hedo who’s still not where he can be, along with the developing Bench, this Raptor team has the ability to “wipe out” teams like the Bulls, as well as give Orlando & Cleveland, a run for their money. Anything less then a play-off position (and a decent run) is simply not acceptable.
On another note, I was a little hard on AltRaps (after Chicago) for his Roll Call and a certain level of bias that I wanted to address. Truth is though, it’s the Roll Call that I enjoy the most. Sweet and to the point.
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If only Derozan could really start breaking out this year. Vince left when Bosh was getting there, and it would really just demonstrate that Toronto can’t keep talent if Bosh left before Derozan really hit his stride. If VC had stayed and Bosh became what he did, who knows where this team would be now.
They would still be losing, because Babcock would still be at the helm screwing our draft choices as we post “almost” made it 38-39 win records.
“which kind of made the game boring because I wasn’t on the edge of my seat”… I will take this anytime of the day rather than having my blood pressure shoot up because the Raptors are playing beach volleyball rather than basketball.
It was one helluva weekend for Raptor fans. Wish they can do that every singke game.